Costume Parties once a mainstay of fashionable society are now more or less seasonal events, relegated to the time around Mardi Gras and naturally Halloween. In Britain, fancy dress parties are a bit more common and are often used to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries or have a common theme like cocks and hens or Tarts and Vicars.
In the United States, in almost every region, the celebration of Halloween is synonymous with dressing up. Children have parties at school and in the local communities, in addition to the annual pilgrimage for candy known as Trick-r-Treat. Selecting a costume is a time honored tradition and some are store bought or homemade but every year is chance for self expression.
For adults, Halloween is a time to embrace their inner child and be someone else if just for one night. Many adult related costume parties during the Halloween season will be themed, as in ghouls and goblins, famous characters, old Hollywood, to name a few. Halloween costume parties are also a great way for organizations to fund raise. Costume parties are fun and exciting and offer an organization with a ready made reason to have a party.
No one is exactly certain why Halloween became a time known for dress up and costume parties. Some scholars and Halloween buffs think it was a combination of traditions, which include Europeans processing through their towns in ceremonial dress, some urban American traditions from the turn of the century, and the general Celtic tradition of “fairy pranks” perpetrated by young boys on Halloween night.
Regardless of its origin and its connection to Halloween, costume parties are fun, fanciful and a great way celebrate the autumn holiday in style. It is just fun for people of all ages.
