Trick or Treat!
Halloween is a time for costumes, hay rides, carving, and of course free swim in the afternoon. I was passing out candy this year for the “real” Halloween, and I was thinking about how much better it would be if we were all getting ready for the Halloween Dance on BB1. Halloween at camp is one of my favorite times of the summer.
Watching the trick or treaters walking around this past Friday, and counting the number of Elsa costumes, I thought to myself, how weird is it that there are not many group costumes. The kids walk around with friends, however, they are all in individual costumes. One group that I saw walking around was: Elsa, Cookie Monster, a Ghost, a Pumpkin, a Hockey Player, and a Unicorn. WHAT!? Those costumes do not go together at all. I know that they are all friends, but there was no uniformity with their costumes.
That is a big difference from the camp Halloween. At the Halloween dance, a lot of times, people dress up as a cabin, or in large groups (shout out to the upper staff canteen treats) with funny camp costumes. We all gather at center court on BB1 to crown the Halloween costume champion per each division. I actually won my only year as a camper. In 2006 I was a sheep. I had a lot of help from Arts and Crafts and Textiles and it took a lot of time; but that canteen treat was totally worth it! In fact, one of my favorite costumes in recent memory was two years ago, when the whole cabin of Delta dressed up as a Neapolitan ice cream.
You see groups of campers dressing up together, helping with hair and costumes. You start to realize that the individual becomes part of a whole. Part of the camp magic is everyone creates a community of goofballs. Large groups dressing up as swing sets, and camp meals, and oxymorons is what camp Halloween is about.
The recent additions of the hay ride and watermelon carving give the summer months an air of fall authenticity. They are a lot of fun. Uncle Wayne, on the hayride, tours us around the circle, and down cadet row. The watermelon carving leads to some messy fun in the dining hall.
Whether you are remembering the Halloween in July, or just enjoying the candy from the past week, A Happy Halloween to all!