10 Ways to Take Your Halloween to the Next Level

Halloween is my favorite. Costumes. Pie. Candy. Fall. Scary movies. It is truly a beautiful time of year and an occasion that can be celebrated over more than one night. But as great as Halloween is, it can easily be dismissed as a “childish” celebration, resulting in all that fun being begrudgingly avoided. All that nonsense stops now, as I’m here to talk some sense into you before you make any brash, un-fun decisions. By the time we’re done here, you’ll realize that Halloween is for everyone, every year—forever. So kick your feet up, throw on a hockey mask, and check out 10 Ways to Take Your Halloween to the Next Level.

Actually Get Dressed Up

This might be the No. 1 rule of not sucking on Halloween. Actually, it’s the No. 1 rule of life. Whenever you’re encouraged to spend the night being whoever you could imagine yourself to be, you do it. This really just applies to Halloween, but it applies to all the Halloweens you’ll ever encounter for the rest of your life. Trying to “show Halloween a thing or two” by not participating in its most fun tradition will do more harm than good. Word will spread that you’re too good for Halloween, and all the fun people will remember that during their weekly meetings about who’s fun in school. There’s a chance I made that last part up but you get the idea. Put a little effort in and enjoy the celebration—at the very least it might help you get out of gym.

Actually Get Candy

Everyone has their own personal age limit as to when to stop getting candy, but I think the socially acceptable age is 18. Once you’re outta high school, it’s time to hang it up. With that said, why not push it to the limit? I was out in those crisp, autumnal streets all the way to end. We’re talking about free candy here people! Nobody’s too good for free candy. Nobody ever grows out of free candy. So cherish the time you have schlepping around your drool-stained pillow case and loading it up with that milk chocolate-y goodness.

Eat and Make Pumpkin Stuff

Over the last decade or so, America has unfortunately managed to ruin the deliciousness that is pumpkin. They’re squeezing every last spicy drop of out those poor little orange balls of seasonal delight, and because of it, people are losing faith. But I say stand strong. Don’t let corporate America ruin an amazing and versatile treat that we have at our disposal for only two months out of the year. Even if you’re not into eating it, carve one up and throw a candle in it. A well-carved Jack O’ Lantern can even be used to control the flow of trick or treaters coming to your crib. You can literally write “Our Candy Stinks” if you want to keep it light. Or maybe a really intricate picture of a ham sandwich if you want to attract a more sophisticated crowd. Or just rip the guts out and have mom bake up the seeds like a Halloween vet. Yeah, do that.

Play it Cool the Night Before

It has long been known that the night before Halloween is the night when stupid decisions are proactively made. Which is, in fact, stupid. Listen—don’t get me wrong, I make dumb decisions all the time. Sometimes it turns out okay and sometimes I learn from my mistakes, but either way, those decisions weren’t dumb on purpose. And really, those are the only kind of decisions you make the night before Halloween. Now this doesn’t mean that you should stay in the house playing video games by yourself until your eyes water. You should still get out there with your buddies and have a blast, just use your brain. Chicks love guys that make great decisions. They do well in life.

Wear a Costume to School

Halloween is like an unofficial school holiday. There’s always some kind of event or party going on, and even if there’s not an official one, cool teachers always have some candy and/or do something fun. So why not get in the spirit? Nobody is going to tell you to get changed unless you try too hard to make a statement, and nobody likes that. I say take advantage of the opportunity to wear something weird to school and actually have it be celebrated. I mean, dress weird everyday; who cares, it’s the best. But I get how high school works—you do what you have to do to stay up. I’m just saying that it’d be foolish to not take advantage of a free pass like that. And think about it, the more people who dress up, the less likely a teacher is going to take anybody seriously, which means the less likely it’ll be that you have to do actual work. It’ll be like a day off without the sleeping-in part. Which is nice.

Don’t Be Bigger Than Handing Out Candy

If someone asks you to chill and hand out candy for a bit, don’t put up a fight. First of all, the young kids finish getting candy at like 7:30 p.m. And if you’re reading this, you’re probably not one of those kids (and if you are one of those kids, you’ve got cool parent—good for you). What I’m saying is to just give back from time to time. A little thing called karma will be keeping an eye on you and might just repay you sooner than you think. Like, maybe you grab your buddies and hit the streets at 8:30 and the third house you go to is filled with arcade machines, big screen TVs, and free sneakers in your size. That happened to me once and it was magical. Please don’t ask me to verify any details—cameras didn’t exist back then.

Go to Halloween Parties—All of Them

Going to as many Halloween parties as you can is great for many reasons, but my personal favorite is having an excuse to wear multiple costumes. This does take a little extra effort, but it’s definitely worth it. First of all, you’re bound to see the same people at multiple parties, and nothing makes a quietly strong statement about your commitment to fun like showing ’em different looks. Secondly, you get to flex your creativity to see how much imagination you have left in the tank. If you’re coming through with two or four strong costume options, people are going to want to have you around on the regular. Who knows what kind of great ideas are going to come from the kid who crushed it as a zombie gym teacher, vampire dad, and ghost uncle? Feel free to use those suggestions if you’d like.

Think Long and Hard About Your Costume(s)

Which brings me to my next point. Regardless of how many costumes you decide to go with, make sure that every one is well thought-out. Anybody can head to the Halloween store and grab some superhero kit off the shelf and throw it on. Be better than that kid. Put some thought into what you wanna rock. Send a strong message of fun and creativity. Get crafty with it. Some of the best costumes I’ve ever pulled together have been from what I’ve already owned. If someone has to ask what your costume is because it’s worth talking about, make sure they love the answer. Set ’em up with the well thought-out, attention-grabbing outfit, and then knock ’em down with the reveal of what it actually is. Think about whatever made you laugh the most in the last few months and make that your costume. More often than not, if you loved something that much, it’s going to be a winner.

Let the Kids Have Their Fun

The backbone of Halloween is certainly trick or treating. It’s a wonderful tradition for kids of (almost) all ages to amass a fallout shelter’s worth of candy in one sugar-fueled evening. On top of all this, these kids get to pretend to be whomever they want for the night. This is quite literally a dream come true once a year for millions of kids, so don’t be too cool and screw it up for them. Even if it’s your younger sibling, let them enjoy it. One day you’ll need them to do something for you, and before they say no, they’ll remember that brisk October eve when you patted them on the head and said, “Don’t forget the full-sized bars at the Flanagan’s house” and still say no. But it’ll be a great memory—for them.

Don’t Ever Get Too Old for Halloween

I know the whole growing up thing makes you want to rebel against anything you might have remotely enjoyed as a kid, but the buck stops at Halloween. Halloween is a timeless holiday that can be a blast every year for the rest of your life, so chill on being too cool to get into it. Fun people love Halloween forever. Don’t you want to have fun forever? Doesn’t that sound like the best? Feel free to bag up Santa and the Easter Bunny and toss ’em in the trunk, but let the weirdly shaped blinking casket in your front yard that your dad loves so much shine bright for all eternity. You can be whoever (and whatever) you want on Halloween, so go be fun.