If I May: When is Halloweekend?

Each week, I have the opportunity to comment on the issues of the week, draw attention to something flying under the radar or perhaps start an important discussion. This week, I am doing all three, bringing attention to an incredibly important issue that merits a discussion: Which upcoming weekend is the real halloweekend?

This year, Halloween proper falls on a Wednesday, the worst day of the week for it to happen. Were it to be Monday or Tuesday, we would celebrate the weekend before, of course, and also perhaps celebrate the night of. Were it to be Thursday, we would celebrate that night, as well as the following weekend. And of course, if it were Friday through Sunday, we would celebrate on the day of. But no, it had to be on a Wednesday, bisecting the week and causing all sorts of confusion. Sure, there is Bar Night that night, but that’s not an all-inclusive celebration.

So we arrive at the question: will we celebrate the weekend before Halloween or the weekend after? It seems from my brief “reporting” (which consisted of overhearing a few conversations about this, asking one other person and seeing a poll on the Class of 2021 Facebook page) that the consensus is that this coming weekend — the weekend before Halloween — is the real Halloweekend. Friday and Saturday will have Halloween events, and then Wednesday will be the final hurrah. This is sensible, I suppose. It is a little awkward to celebrate a holiday after it has past, especially one so tied to the month of October.

However, I’d like to go to bat for the weekend after Halloween. First of all, the weekend before Halloween is Family Weekend. There’s all sorts of events going on, and the weekend already has an unusual quality to it. Meanwhile, the weekend of Nov. 2 is a plain, regular old weekend. Why not pumpkin-spice that weekend up? Instead of one weekend overflowing with events, we could have two “important” weekends back to back. Sure, Halloween parties themselves happen at night and most of the Family Weekend stuff is in the daytime, but you know your parents are going to want to have dinner with you, and if your family isn’t coming, you know you’re going to want to hop in with another family’s plans. This cuts into valuable Halloween-related time.

The weekend after Halloween extends the total number of days it is acceptable to celebrate. Wednesday is actual Halloween, Thursday is a weeknight that college students have decided is actually a “going out” night, then it’s the weekend. Boom. Four straight nights of Halloween fun. All the more chances to show off your costumes or show off the fact that you “don’t like wearing costumes” and “are no fun.” Either way, let’s make the right choice and wait to celebrate the weekend after.