I’m a 40-Year-Old Mom Who Is Completely Crazy for Halloween

Most people think of Halloween as a holiday primarily for kids, much like LEGOs and Mario Kart. After all, adults are the ones who sneak Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups from their children’s candy bags. Kids get them for free, while adults either purchase or craft their costumes. Adults tend to smile vaguely as kids dash around the neighborhood, ringing doorbells for treats. But I don’t care about that — I live for Halloween. As a 40-year-old woman whose favorite holiday revolves around candy corn, I absolutely love it. Yes, I eat it by the handful, and I even compete with my nine-year-old for the last Ghost Peep.

Let’s be real: Halloween is not just a “fun” holiday. It’s not an “extra” holiday. Halloween is the ultimate holiday.

I Live for Halloween, So I Can Be Whoever I Want

I could rattle off every Halloween costume I’ve ever worn, starting with a baby angel at age three. My top three favorites? Dying my hair blue and draping myself in a fish sheet to become “The Ocean”; dressing as a ’60s housewife with a martini glass, a cigarette holder, and a giant belly labeled “Pregnancy, Circa 1968”; and channeling Gwyneth Paltrow’s Margo Tenenbaum with a striped polo dress, fur coat, and my husband as Richie. Yes, my best Halloween costume was inspired by a Wes Anderson character. Grad school really changed me.

I’ve also crafted adorable costumes for my kids. One year, my youngest went as a hedgehog — not “Sonic the Hedgehog,” mind you, but an actual garden-variety hedgehog. I made it using felt and a glue gun because, as I said, I live for Halloween. I’ve even created Colonial outfits for my other kids. I have entire unicorn costumes ready to go, complete with headpieces, horns, and rainbow-striped arm and leg warmers.

This year, I’m perfecting my fairy costume. I have the ears, an impressive makeup collection that I experiment with nightly, and a beautiful dress. I’m planning to adorn myself with gems, spiky crowns, and tall black boots, while other parents look at me like, “What fairy has such perfect cat eyes?” And I’ll just smile and think, “STFU, mom jeans, you chose to look like an ordinary Tuesday.”

Halloween Means Pumpkins

I adore pumpkins. I love selecting them, especially the gigantic ones that make you think, “Who on earth would buy something that big?” Me! I’m the one who would buy that enormous pumpkin. I embrace Halloween and all its oversized, toddler-sized pumpkins. If I can lift it easily, it’s not good enough for me.

I’ll bring home several of those giant pumpkins, carve them open, and help my kids scoop out the slimy insides, which I secretly love. Once we’re done, I hand my little ones sharp tools and tell them to carve away. The results? Some delightfully odd Jack O’ Lanterns proudly displayed on our front steps, sometimes left out until mid-November because, well, why not?

I Live for Halloween Decor and Crafts

October 1st rolls around, and we dive into craft mode, making paper plate skulls to hang everywhere. Who buys those gingerbread Halloween houses? We do! We paint birdhouses as haunted houses and create tiny treat boxes for goblins to fill every night. We deck the halls with paper plate skulls, construction-paper bats, and toothpick skeletons. My husband even paints seashells pumpkin-orange for tiny jack o’ lanterns. I’m not kidding. We live for Halloween, and he embraces it with me because he recognizes how awesome it is.

Oh, and let’s not forget about the Halloween china. Don’t have any? I’m sorry; your Halloweens must be dark and dreary without special dishes and skull cups.

And We Go Trick or Treating

We trick or treat in the most over-the-top neighborhood around. Every house is decked out in elaborate themes, and every resident dresses up. They blast music, and the candy is often themed. People come just to admire the decorations, let alone snag free candy. They love giving my kids treats — and I mean handfuls of Reese’s, full-sized Krackles, and fistfuls of Starburst.

When we return home, we swap out our costumes (some of us), dump our haul, and settle in for our annual Hocus Pocus viewing the night before. After that, we binge-watch The Addams Family, particularly the line, “I’m a homicidal maniac. They look just like everyone else.” I recite lines with my kids while sneaking Reese’s from their stash. I don’t even need to steal — I’m an adult with adult choices, one of which is to buy my own candy. So instead of living on their meager offerings, I indulge in my own stash of peanut butter cups, Nerds, and Good ‘N Plenty.

This isn’t just a holiday; it’s the best holiday. Candy, unicorn horns, and The Addams Family? I live for Halloween. This year, I’ll dress up, devour candy, and enjoy excellent movies. I’ll whip up another hedgehog costume and create more construction paper bats. And yes, we’ll eat our regular dinner off our Halloween china because it’s HALLOWEEN, people! The greatest holiday there is.