By Hunter Haskett, Business Manager
For most people, summer consists of endless beach days and munching down on watermelon while watching fireworks. However, junior Charlotte Tyson is not like most people: On a balmy afternoon in July, as her peers lounge around on the beach, Tyson spends her time daydreaming about Halloween.
“Around July, I start thinking, ‘Oh my goodness, it’s almost Halloween’ then I tell myself, ‘It’s not time to get excited yet, it’s entirely too early,’ so then I have to hold off until Labor Day,” Tyson said.
With her love of Halloween beginning in middle school, Oct. 31 has become more than just a one-day celebration for Tyson. Nowadays, Tyson officially kicks off her Halloween season in September.
“On Labor Day, I always make some kind of Halloween thing,” Tyson said. “I’ll make some sort of Halloween shirt or I’ll bake something.”
The excitement for Halloween slowly builds up in her spooky lifestyle until the big day.
“The first week or two I start incorporating spooky things into my everyday life. I decorate my room and the upstairs area probably the third week of September,” Tyson said. “After Labor Day, I’m starting to wear my Halloween clothes and starting to do some fun, gory makeup looks.”
One of Tyson’s favorite parts of the haunted holiday is the interesting makeup. Throughout the month of October she likes to include fake blood and scars into her everyday looks.
“It’s really fun to do SFX (special effects) makeup and it’s just another reason I really like Halloween,” Tyson said. “I really like doing makeup and costumes. I like creating things.”
She doesn’t stop with decorating her face – Tyson also enjoys decorating her room and other areas around her house.
“My parents think it’s tacky to decorate for Halloween, so they won’t let me decorate the house until two days before Halloween,” Tyson said. “After that, I carve up pumpkins, I put out a lot of cobwebs and I like to put out fake ghosts.”
Tyson’s love of Halloween covers every aspect of her life from makeup to clothing, and even food. She loves to bake “spooktacular” goodies.
“I really like making ghost meringues,” Tyson said. “I just take meringue and I put it in the shape of ghosts and I put little chocolate chips for eyes. It’s really fun.”
As the calendar creeps closer and closer to the 31st, Tyson begins to get even more in the spirit by watching Halloween movies. She also spends her time making finishing touches to her costume and indulging in sweets.
“The week of Halloween, I’m at 100 percent,” she said. “I have my costume ready, I’m watching scary movies every night and eating disproportional amounts of candy.”
And when the big night finally arrives? One can find Tyson enjoying her favorite holiday with friends. “I usually will go hang out with some of my friends and we’ll watch a lot of Halloween movies, we’ll all dress up, usually just eat a lot of candy,” Tyson said.
As Halloween is just around the corner, one can definitely say Tyson’s intensive, month long preparation for the haunted holiday is certainly a fun and interesting way to get into the spooky spirit.
Junior Hunter Haskett can be reached at hasketthu0318@daretolearn.org.
