Designer: Taylor Guzek
Oct. 31: a dark and chilly night filled with laughter and candy. The sound of doorbells ringing and little kids running around fill the air. People sit around a fire watching as the joyful kids compare and collect candy, reminiscing on old traditions.
Halloween is loved by many, from childhood to adulthood. Year after year, people enjoy the same traditions that bring in the fall fun.
“I like how it’s a chance to spend time with my friends. I love the fall season. It’s also so sweet to see the younger kids Trick-or-Treating,” senior Addie Schwind said.
As kids grow up, they might have dressed up as many different characters, like a favorite super hero, villain or princess. Waking up anticipating the night, hoping that this year would finally be the year that Trick-or-Treating wouldn’t require a guardian.
“My favorite Halloween costume as a kid was Darth Vader,” senior Jackson Clark said.
According to Mother Mag, in 2017, the most popular children’s costumes were any action movie character, animals, ghosts and Disney princesses. The joy of picking out a costume of something that one loves is undeniably one of the best feelings of the fall season for many individuals.
“As a child, I always had to make my own costume out of old dance costumes, so I was usually something creative like a superhero fox princess. But, when I got to have an actual Halloween costume, I was so happy. That costume was either my Elsa costume or my Harry Potter robe,” senior Danielle Drayer said.
As we grow older, so do the trends, traditions and costumes. While kids now dress up as “K-Pop Demon Hunters, young adults dress more maturely. Movies like “Scream” or, more recently, “Obsession” are a popular choice in costumes for people above the age of 16.
“My favorite costume recently was when I dressed up as the Joker last year. I got to color my hair green, and though it stained my sink and carpet, it was still fun,” Drayer said.
Costumes are a huge tradition during the fall season, but what is Halloween without candy? Trick-or-Treating is a key part of most people’s childhood and as people grow older, passing out candy to little kids is just as fun.
“My favorite tradition was going door to door, ringing the bell and getting candy,” junior Brandon Rader said.
According to Little Sleepies, the most popular Halloween candy in America, as of 2025, is Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. A favorite tradition to most are candy trades, after Trick or Treating getting together with friends and enjoying trading for your favorite candy.
“My favorite Halloween candy is either Sour Patch Kids or Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups,” Schwind said.
Little Sleepies also stated that candy corn, licorice and circus peanuts are America’s least favorite Halloween candy, though candy corn is a Halloween staple. Candy corn is an aesthetic staple for the fall, but people don’t always enjoy the waxy texture or taste. Along with just candy corn, there are many other candies people don’t enjoy that are popular during the Halloween season.
“My least favorite Halloween candy is definitely Almond Joy. I hate them.” Clark said.
Candy and costumes are a huge part of Halloween, but it’s missing one staple: Pumpkins. Carving Jack-o-Lanterns is a memory in most kids’ lives including scooping out the seeds, cutting a face into the thick orange skin to then put a candle inside making it glow.
“Carving pumpkins is iconic, but you get to be so much more creative with painting pumpkins,” Schwind said.
Painting pumpkins has become more popular throughout the years. It gives kids the creativity with less of the mess and danger of the tools. What’s better than making a jack-o-lantern if not watching a fall movie with friends
“My favorite OG Halloween movie is ‘Hocus Pocus’ for sure!” Schwind said.
A favorite Halloween tradition of most is watching movies, fun movies like “Charlie and the Great Big Pumpkin” or “Hocus Pocus”. Horror movies are just as fun with the thrill of being scared while huddled up around a fire eating candy.
“I love being able to hang out with my friends and watch horror movies,” senior Maddie Patton said.
According to IMDB, there are tons of classic horror movies. “Friday the 13th” is the top Halloween Horror movie. This classic follows a group of teenage councilors who get stalked and murdered after reopening an abandoned camp.
“I have always watched ‘The Shining’ every Halloween, and I eat a bunch of candy.” Clark said.
The joys of Halloween travel year to year with different traditions, whether it’s dressing up, passing out candy, going to a party or just staying in and watching movies. No matter what, this fall festive holiday is a good time for all.
Speaking of Trick or Treating and Halloween parties, people also tend to dress up into different costumes in order to stay festive during the spooky season.
From ghost faces, to superheroes, to classic characters, pop culture and the latest trends play a major role in what people choose to do and wear on Halloween.
As Saturday, Oct. 31, the night of Halloween, creeps forward, friends and families begin making their way to Spirit Halloween or other stores to pick out their Halloween costumes. Others search for decorations and accessories to bring the sinister and haunting mood of Halloween to life.
According to the Art of Costume, in the 1920s, Halloween started to become commercialized from manufacturers selling costumes that leaned toward pop culture rather than classics like ghosts and witches. Additionally, Halloween in the 2000s had more creative and interesting costumes than in previous decades mainly due to the introduction of social media and memes.
A popular Halloween choice both kids and adults instantly recognize is Ghostface. Ghostface is tied to pop-culture because of all the “Scream” franchise’s popularity.
“There’s definitely been a lot of ghost faces ever since Fortnite bought the rights to it. There’s probably around 15 different variations,” Spirit Halloween manager Stephanie Jesse said.
Ghostface was added to “Fortnite” on Oct. 9 2025 and has rotated back to the shop multiple times since then and most recently appeared in June 2026. The ghostface is an item shop collaboration skin and has gained attention since. Besides video games, movies have also piqued many people’s interests.
“Micheal Jackson, probably because that movie just came out though. I had little kids come in who probably don’t even know who he is, wanting to be Micheal Jackson,” Jesse said.
For many, movies have become a way to get inspiration for Halloween costumes. Recent movies like “Micheal”, “Spiderman” and more have already begun influencing what Halloween costumes kids and adults want to buy.
“I am noticing a lot of people basing their costumes off of new movies that have been released and popular shows,” Halloween enthusiast sophomore Elizabeth Davies said.
With so many shows and movies being released in summer 2026 and fall 2026, people have specific characters they like and want to dress up as. But with new trends coming in, many old popular costumes are left behind. Some have been really popular in past years but aren’t so much anymore.
“A lot of super Mario and video game stuff. Not a horror video game,” Jesse said.
Even with new trends, some costumes can’t be replaced and have stayed persistent all throughout the years, and it may still surprise people.
“Ghost faces are still popular after all these years, which is mind-blowing to me, and Caroline too for sure. I even had customers mention how everyone’s on the Caroline dream,” Jesse said.
As the years go by, and more Halloween trends begin to merge, it’s easy to forget where children all started and what their first childhood costumes were. Seeing what the little kids wear now is a good reminder of the costumes that were popular when high schoolers were kids.
“I feel really nostalgic toward all the little kids who dress up as Disney princesses because that’s all I would be when I was younger,” Davies said.
It’s important to note that Halloween isn’t just about dressing up, it’s also about decorating and making the spooky vibe of Halloween feel real. Trends and pop culture affect the purchases of Halloween decorations and accessories as well.
Popular products like NeeDohs have gained popularity through social media platforms like Tiktok and Instagram and have also found their way into the sections of Spirit Halloween.
“The thing that people are asking for the most are not costumes. They are looking for stuff like NeeDohs or bag clips or animatronics. It is all like decor and accessories,” Jesse said.
With social media algorithms feeding inspiration, and the talk about Halloween costumes turning into purchases, the predictions for the most popular Halloween costumes are in.
“For kids, it’s definitely like the superheroes and Spiderman because the movie came out for that. There was even a kid who just came in looking for Spiderman, and Coraline for sure. I even had customers mention how everyone’s on the Coraline dream,” Jesse said.
With Halloween only getting closer, excitement is built on spending time with friends, brainstorming costumes and eating a lot of candy. While every Halloween brings new memories and experiences, some years cannot be forgotten.
“I’m most excited about getting a bunch of candy and getting to hang out with my friends while roaming the streets during the evening,” Davies said.
Whether Halloween is filled with people in ghostfaces, superheroes, horror characters or people from recent movies, the Halloween costume one picks can still be special to the person. While trends may come and go, the thrill of getting together with friends and family to pick up a costume never changes.
However, Halloween stems from much more than just costumes and simple traditions. It’s deep rooted in different complex celebrations in cultures and religions that have made this annual tradition the spooky, fall festivity it is today.
Halloween, then called Samhain, used to be a festival celebrating a harvest. It was seen as the time when the barrier between our world and the spirit world was the thinnest. It was celebrated with sacrifices, fires and costumes, according to History.com
Halloween is a fun holiday, but it’s also so much more than a scary holiday known for its treats and costumes. Halloween stemmed from celebrations long ago, and when Americans celebrate Halloween, they also celebrate the people who celebrated the holiday before, and their culture.
“Culture matters. Different mythologies and ideologies, they make up identity. And so, when we are celebrating Halloween, it’s important to know that we are celebrating the traditions of peoples who came long before us, and we shouldn’t forget that we are celebrating. It is fun to carve your pumpkin and do the fun thing, but you’re also honoring your history and a group of people who came before you and the way that they saw the world,” Mythology Teacher Rachel Hecker said.
Halloween stemmed from a festival celebrated by the Celtic people called Samhaim, which marked the end of summer. Samhain has been celebrated likely since before the medieval times, and it was known as a magical time.
“No Samhaim religious rituals are recorded in either myth or history, but most agree that Halloween’s association with food, fortune telling and the otherworldly likely began with the marking of summer’s end and the beginning of the dark season,” author Lesley Bannatyne wrote in her article, “Halloween. A History”.
Samhain was a celebration of the harvest, the last big harvest before the winter. However, the Celtics believed it was the start of the new year. According to Celtic mythology, the new year starts in October, not in January.
“So originally, Halloween was called Samhain, and it was a festival celebrating the harvest and the new year. And what happens is like a big harvest, and everything’s kind of dying. It’s the end of the year, so they had their last big harvest, and then they went into a nice, long winter,” Hecker said.
The Celtics also believed that the beginning of the new year meant that the spirit world was the closest to the real world. They also believed that these spirits weren’t always nice. They would dress up in disguises to protect themselves and get the spirits to leave them alone.
“We celebrate that in a lot of different ways, but one of the biggest reasons that is known is the idea of dressing up in costumes. The reason that they did that is because the Celts also believed that because it was the new year, it was the time of year that the veil between the living and the dead was the thinnest. So, you could essentially cross over from the spirit world into our world. And those spirits were not always kind and good, so if you dressed up in disguise, for example, you could trick them into leaving you alone,” Hecker said.
Halloween also stemmed from a Christian holiday called All Saints’ Day, which was set on Nov. 1 and is what gave Halloween its name. All Saints’ Day was also known as All Hallows, and the previous day was All Hallows Eve.
“All Saints was set throughout the churchdom in the ninth century on Nov. 1. The church also gave the holiday its name. All Saints was known as All Hallows in Britain-Hallow, meaning holy or one who is holy and the evening before, All Hallows Even, then Hallowe’en,” according to Bannatyne.
“Essentially, immigrants would come here, and when they came here, they would share their stories with us,” Hecker said.
Halloween came to the U.S. through immigration. When people came to the U.S., they would bring their stories and traditions with them. They brought with them some very cool stories, such as the legend of Sleepy Hollow.
“A lot of aspects of Christian tradition kind of got put in, so All Hallows’ Day is now All Saints’ Day instead, according to the Catholic Calendar. It definitely changed a lot,” Hecker said.
Halloween has changed so much over years to become the day that it is now. It used to be a celebration of harvest and a time of spirits, but it has become a day for trick or treating and scary movies.
“It has changed a lot. It used to be more of a celebration of the new year. Now, it’s just one night and we go trick or treating. So it definitely has changed immensely over the years,” Hecker said.
Even though Halloween has changed throughout the years because of changes in culture and trends, many people still love to dress up, watch horror movies and eat large amounts of candy to stay celebratory during the haunting holiday season.
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