Why Are Costumes So Much Fun!?

​In our family, Halloween was our favorite holiday and a lot of time and thought went into planning our costumes. I'm not talking about the kids, I'm talking about us adults. Of course the kids were excited about what they would be for Halloween, but let's be honest, they can pretty much wear costumes whenever they want.

Halloween is no longer just a child's holiday; about half of adults dress up for this celebration and spend more on their own costumes than what is spent on kid's costumes. There are good reasons we "adults" enjoy this activity so much.

When else is it socially acceptable to be silly, dress up your pets, wear something that you would never wear in public (even though you always wanted to). It's a fun escape from being a total grown-up. Costumes make us powerful. We are free to play a role, at least temporarily, outside of our normal everyday selves.

The best part of Halloween and costume planning is the unlimited opportunities to be creative in ways that don't usually present themselves in the workplace or daily life. It's a different kind of creative thinking with no limitations and no requirement to be practical or realistic about anything. That wonderful world of unlimited imagination that our children know how to embrace but I think most of us are a little out of practice with.

I have always felt that being an adult is highly over rated and tends to get boring.

My solution is to wear costumes or fairy wings whenever possible. I've found that it is more "socially acceptable" to do this when I'm with my grandchildren.

If you don't have children or grandchildren to provide a social barrier for this kind of behavior, the next best thing is to just plan more costume parties – why wait for Halloween.