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Opinion: Halloween in 2013

Opinion

Opinion: Halloween in 2013

Besides your prankster sibling, friend or neighbor, who scares you at every intense moment of a zombie movie, what else really scares you on Hollow’s Eve?

Is your need for fear greater than your friends?  Do you throw a Halloween party and send out themed invitations?  Do you go out of your way to get friends together to watch horror movies you generally wouldn’t watch this time of year?

There’s more to Halloween than carving pumpkins, hanging rubber spiders and making spider webs out of cotton balls now.  Halloween is a holiday that American’s are spending more and more on each year to frighten and delight themselves.

Are you one of the many people that contributes to the second largest grossing holiday of the year?  Besides the obvious moral duty to buy your children costumes so they can collect candy from strangers, Halloween has evolved into a billion dollar a year industry.

Your neighbor isn’t just dressing up their children and staying home to pass out candy or turning off all their lights and acting like no one’s home anymore. They’re going to theme parks, costume parties and local haunted houses.

Costumes have taken over the largest percent of what we spend annually at 36 percent.  Candy only beats out decorations by three percent, a record high this year.  In the past you were ready for Halloween as long as you stopped and bought some candy on your way home from work.

Gone are the days when most of us stay home with a large bowl of candy to pass out and tell kids how cute their costumes are.

While we love waiting to see what all the local kids are wearing, Halloween is offering up more and more fun things to see and do every year, making it harder  to stay home.

Besides going to Scary Wood or a local haunted house, there’s something to do every week leading up to Halloween.  Your kids want to see the corn maze; you have to pick and carve pumpkins, buy your costume, get candy, and (if invited) attend your friend’s parties.

Once a holiday declared for youngsters, Halloween is fast becoming fun for adults of all ages.  Enjoying all the fun that kids have, but a little more evolved, our Hollow’s Eve has become an evening dedicated to celebrating.

Remembering lost loved ones at a day of the dead party where an alter may be erected to commemorate lost loved ones or maybe you take your best friends out to the newest “Carrie” movie.

Whatever you’re craving, be it scary, lavish, or fun, there’s something for everyone in this new era of Halloween.

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