Halloween has changed over the years, from your first time trick-or-treating to not remembering the last time going. Little things here and there that remind you of Halloween as a little kid. NHS students share the smells, movies, and candies, all of which give them Halloween nostalgia.

Sophomore Mabel Wal describes Halloween nostalgia as “a dream.” Her mom brought all her ideas for Halloween costumes to life, which was such a magical experience for Wall. 

“She would take my idea of what I wanted to be and she would turn it into real life. It was so great and I loved it,” Wall said.  

Some of Wall’s favorite costumes included her fish and her Ruth Bader Ginsburg, both of which were homemade by her mom. She still celebrates Halloween to this day. 

“I never stopped celebrating Halloween,” Wall said.  

When she was younger and it came to Halloween day it was a big deal, especially the trick or treating part and hitting all the good houses. 

“I loved trick or treating, I trick or treated on Bethel College Campus,” Wall said. 

 A Halloween movie that gives Wall nostalgia is Halloween because she watched it often when she was younger with her friends. Mabel believes we should still be celebrating Halloween in high school like we did in elementary school. 

“We should absolutely still celebrate because it was superior to now, it was better, it was more fun,” Wall said.  

Her favorite candy to receive when trick or treating was the individually wrapped packages of life savers. 

“My favorite Halloween memory was trick or treating with Ani dressed as Mary Poppins,” Wall said.  

A specific smell that brings Wall back to her childhood around Halloween is “a raw cut open pumpkin.” Halloween was never scary to her even as a kid 

“I always loved how my mom made me homemade costumes from scratch,” Wall said. 

Kayden Campbell, also a sophomore at NHS, describes Halloween nostalgia as “fall, Pinterest, downtown girl fall aesthetic.” Her all-time favorite costume from Halloween, when she was a kid, is a black cat, and was her favorite because it is so easy, especially as a last-minute costume.

“I dressed as a black cat five times,” Campbell said. 

She does not decorate her house for Halloween, not even as a kid. She would like to but unfortunately, her mom does not like Halloween so they don’t bother getting decorations. 

“I celebrate Halloween still to this day, but my mom doesn’t,” Campbell said. 

A movie that she said gives her Halloween nostalgia is The Nightmare Before Christmas because she watched it a lot as a kid. 

“We obviously should still celebrate Halloween, I don’t know why no one dresses up anymore,” Campbell said.  

Trick-or-treating was a big deal to her as a kid and her favorite candy to receive in her Halloween bucket was crunch bars. Her favorite Halloween memory was going trick or treating at a house that gave her and her friend apple cider, but as they were leaving she spilled it on her friend. She also would go to the pumpkin patch and she enjoyed it, but she shared a scary memory.

“We went in the corn maze and got lost for three and a half hours with no water but, they said they would come to find us after two hours but they never did,” Campbell said. 

Some key words that she describes for Halloween that give her nostalgia are “dirty plastic, candy, and the weird smell of a fog machine.” 

“Every Halloween, I’ve been a baddie since birth always dressing up in baddie fits,” Campbell said. 

Junior Daniel Hernandez describes Halloween nostalgia as the leaves falling from the trees, pumpkins, and candy. His favorite costumes included Roblox characters and dressing up as zombies with a friend. He does not decorate his house for Halloween with the exception of carved pumpkins. Celebrating Halloween isn’t much of a thing for Hernandez anymore, he only goes trick-or-treating with his little brother. 

“Trick or treating wasn’t really a big deal to me as a kid, I didn’t care,” Campbell said. 

If he were to choose a movie that brings him back to Halloween as a kid it would be Coraline, because it reminds him of Halloween. His favorite candy to receive as a kid when trick or treating was laffy taffy.

“Specifically the green apple laffy taffy,” Hernandez said. 

His favorite Halloween memory is getting ready with his friends, and enjoying each other’s company. 

“We should still celebrate Halloween to show spirit,” Hernandez said. 

He enjoys going to the pumpkin patch because he likes to pick out a pumpkin and carve it. He describes Halloween as smelling like “pumpkin spice.” 

“Halloween only scared me sometimes,” Hernandez said. 

He likes to go to haunted houses during Halloween, “only some of them are scary” he said but not all.

“I wish I would have celebrated Halloween more to get into that Halloween spirit,” Hernandez said.