What’s happened to Halloween?

One year at a Halloween party, I was channeling my inner Hermione Granger, and it was awesome. I had a pleated skirt, gray sweater and knee-high socks complete with a wand I had bought at Target. It was cute, fun and one of my favorite characters.

Now, at this party, I kept seeing girls stumbling around in booty shorts and fishnet tights, claiming to be cats, bunnies and other animals. Clearly they’ve never seen a cat before because I’m pretty sure cats don’t wear fishnets.  

This got me thinking. Why do people choose to wear these revealing costumes or things that just shouldn’t be worn as a costume? Cats, bunnies, cops, nurses, soldiers, Disney characters and many others have been deformed into these weird, ugly costumes.

To be a bunny, you need a set of tights, a leotard, and thigh high boots. Cops all of sudden wear skin tight bodysuits. Cinderella now wears a dress so short, you can see her crotch.

I remember going to parties as a child and trick-or-treating in my neighborhood, watching all the other kids dressed as their favorite movie character or superhero. I saw Batman and Superman swinging bags of candy around, the Scooby Doo crew making sure to keep close to each other as they walked through the crowds of other trick-or-treaters.

Childhood Halloweens seemed so much better because we weren’t concerned with dressing to impress. We dressed to be something we admired or something we thought was totally awesome.

My point is not to attack girls who choose to dress as a slutty cat, and I’m not saying that girls need to reevaluate their costumes. My point in all of this is to ponder the fact that Halloween costumes have changed so much since my childhood. I used to dress up for school, wearing football jerseys or wacky clothes for an ‘80s look.

Halloween used to be a time to dress as something you’re not and have fun. Now, it seems to be a competition of who looks the hottest.