A little tiger toddled around the community room of the Como Student Community Cooperative in Minneapolis’ Southeast Como neighborhood.
Her sister Johanna, a 5-year-old dressed in a glittered Toothiana costume, replete with wings and crown of foam feathers — “Toothiana is basically the tooth fairy,” she said — hung out with her mom near the apple slices and hot cider.
“I stayed up all night making that costume,” said Ingrid Johanson, the girls’ mother. “When I gave it to her, she said she hated it!”
But that didn’t stop Johanna from wearing the costume whenever she could.
Scores of University of Minnesota students and their families call CSCC’s 360 units home. Some children have lived their whole lives there, so they’re more than qualified to tell us the best ways to celebrate Halloween on and around campus.
A 3-year-old alligator named Samuel explained that to take in the mother-lode of candy, he and his brother get to stay up, “super, super late.” Super, super late means 8 p.m., his mom reminded him from across the room.
“Yeah, until it gets super dark,” Sam said.
The kids confirmed that all of the Halloween traditions are still alive and well: Rich people give out the best candy, and it’s best to go late at night when houses leave out bowls to pick through and to travel in groups to avoid getting spooked.
If you can’t go trick-or-treating, the best thing to do is throw a party for your friends, said Ryan, an 11-year-old vampire princess.
“It’s Halloween, for crying out loud! Have some fun,” she said. “There’s no reason why you shouldn’t have some fun.”
How do you prepare your house for a rockin’ Halloween party? Jocelyn, 9, also a vampire princess, suggested inviting all of your friends and doing up your house with a few simple decorations.
“Get some fake webs and hang them from your roof, and get some ghosts too,” she says.
Adeline, 7, who was dressed as a flamenco dancer, also suggested setting the mood: “And turn off the lights!”
There was a consensus on whether college students should feel free to go trick-or-treating. In fact, the group agreed that there was no maximum age for individuals to enjoy the holiday.
Jocelyn: Don’t be embarrassed to go trick-or-treating —
Adele: ‘Cause it’s just for fun.
Jocelyn: And if people say mean things about you …
Ryan: Say, “Are you a chicken?”
Jocelyn: Just say, “It’s not nice to call people those names and I can do whatever I want.”
Adele: And people are different!
Good advice, kids. Good luck hitting as many houses and apartment units as possible!
Check out the video of these costumed kids’ interviews. You’ve got to see the video to really understand where these kids are coming from.
