With Halloween 2018 over, I am left feeling a little incomplete. At first I couldn’t pinpoint exactly what was wrong because my family had done all of our usual traditions; making caramel apples, having extended family over, and handing out candy to trick-or-treaters. But then, after thinking about it, I realized why this Halloween felt different than the ones prior.

With each passing year, I feel like the costumes I see are getting less and less creative. When I was young enough to still dress up, I wore costumes like a princess, a doctor, and a 50’s girl. This year, while I saw a couple little princesses, the Fortnite characters (a popular video game) and scary clowns way outnumbered them. I wish I saw more kids dressed as cute, fluffy puppies or their favorite superhero because these costumes make my heart warm instead of racing from fear.

However, after I think this, I realize I have no room to complain because the next day at school I heard awful stories about how my classmate’s houses only got eight or so trick-or-treaters. With technology becoming more and more popular, I feel like kids don’t have the same excitement anymore about little things like dressing up for Halloween.

I’m lucky to be able to hand out candy to at least some trick-or-treaters, even if I don’t always agree with their costumes. Even though I’m a little saddened about the slow, but inevitable ways that Halloween changes each year, I’m happy to have the memories that I do from my younger years of dressing up.