What are you being this year? Who are you dressing up with? What are you doing this weekend?

Halloween is just around the corner, yet for many teenagers, the holiday has quickly turned into a social event in the surrounding weekends, filled with unnecessary stress.

As WHS students grow up, the excitement one felt as Oct. 31 approached has been replaced with anxious thoughts about how they will be spending their Halloweekend.

Teens spend the weeks before planning what they will wear and most importantly who will participate with them; it’s apparent during casual lunch conversations, as well as on social media. Many feel the need to dress up with a group for their Halloween celebrations. Many teens would rather be part of a group costume than boldy dress up by themselves. But dressing up with a group costume comes with added challenges.

It can be frustrating when trying to include as many people as possible in the costume, as well as finding an idea everyone agrees with. Group chats fill up with screenshots of Pinterest boards and shopping carts. When friends do not agree on their costume right away, the task of satisfying everyone becomes harder, adding more conflict to the month of October and the specific holiday itself.

In addition, some students scramble to find Halloweekend plans in hopes of actually celebrating the holiday and getting the perfect Instagram post with their friends.

When you’re not a part of a defined friend group, you may find yourself not celebrating Halloween at all. Or you may have to face an awkward encounter when asking people to be a part of their already established group costume.

The holiday used to be much less complicated because it was a time to express yourself, celebrate at school, and eat candy. However, Halloween has drastically transformed from being a simple, exciting process of choosing your own costume, into a social event for teenagers which creates a month of angst.

As transitioning into a new school year is hard enough, stressing about a simple holiday like Halloween is, to put it simply, pointless and unnecessary.