Halloween fans, you’d better sit down for the latest news about the year’s greatest candy-centric holiday. Since 2018, the Halloween & Costume Association has been running an online petition to the President of the United States, asking to officially move Halloween celebrations. They’re suggesting that as well as observing the traditional date of October 31st in whichever way you prefer, there should also be a National Trick or Treat Day on the last Saturday in October. As of writing, they had over 125,000 signatures, close to their goal of 150,000.
The idea is twofold, designed to appeal to adult fans of Halloween and specifically to parents. First of all, they think that moving Halloween celebrations to a Saturday every year will suit people who have to work on weekdays, since it would mean they could still have a full day and night of fun, even if Halloween falls in the week (it’s on a Thursday in 2019.) Secondly, they think it will make it easier for parents who work in the week to be around for the Halloween activities, meaning kids get to take part in more daytime events, extending the fun for longer, and won’t have to go out trick-or-treating on their own.
The petition just got a boost from one very important Halloween authority: candy companies! Snickers was the first to declare their support for the plan, even throwing in a bribe:
A Thursday Halloween? Not Satisfying. Halloween on the last Saturday of October? Satisfying. If the Fed Govt makes it official, we’ll offer 1 million free SNICKERS to America. Join the petition! https://t.co/EycXXuc0tB
— SNICKERS (@SNICKERS) July 26, 2019
Just two minutes later, they were echoed by M&Ms:
Halloween. As it should be. Sign it 👇 https://t.co/HBgaEjjqLr
— M&M’S (@mmschocolate) July 26, 2019
Three minutes after that, TWIX gave the plan two bars up:
We signed it twice. Your turn. 👇 https://t.co/XtHEOmcryl
— TWIX (@twix) July 26, 2019
And 10 minutes after Snickers kicked it off, Skittles added their voice…
Petition the rainbow, taste the rainbow. 👇 https://t.co/JhX0U8k4a8
— SKITTLES (@Skittles) July 26, 2019
…and almost immediately, found themselves swept up into a totally different demand:
How about y’all bring back the lime skittle
— michaela🚀 (@mickie310) July 26, 2019
If you find it suspicious that four different candy companies managed to coordinate their approval of a plan to overhaul one of the most famous holidays on the calendar, note that they are all owned by Mars.
With Halloween approaching, we just couldn’t wait to celebrate – so @mmschocolate hosted the Newark, NJ community for our 4th annual Halloween event, handing out costumes & candy for a day of spooky fun! Thanks to all the families who joined us & all our volunteers! 🎃#MadeWithM pic.twitter.com/Z82YHcU0Ib
— Mars, Incorporated (@MarsGlobal) October 26, 2018
And in the petition, the Halloween & Costume Association wrote, “Instead of changing the date that American’s [sic] celebrate Halloween, we will be adding an additional day of festivities in partnership with Party City and other brands.” We have no official (or even unofficial) confirmation that Mars is among those other brands. But it seems that they are pro the move. However, while the official Twitter accounts of the candy makers are on board, another high profile Halloween-related family had a predictably alternative stance:
┏┓
— The Addams Family (@meettheaddams) July 26, 2019
┃┃╱╲ in this
┃╱╱╲╲ house
╱╱╭╮╲╲ every
▔▏┗┛▕▔ day is
╱▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔╲
HALLOWEEN
╱╱┏┳┓╭╮┏┳┓ ╲╲
▔▏┗┻┛┃┃┗┻┛▕▔https://t.co/EmFLKIHtj5
Far from allowing us more Halloween time, this petition restricts it to just one day.
Petitions to move the date of Halloween is irrelevant. We all know Halloween is the entire month of October. Problem solved.
— Meagan Navarro (@HauntedMeg) July 25, 2019
Everyone knows the last day of a month isn’t a specific day so much as a suggestive deadline.
However, a full weekend of guaranteed Halloween fun is too much for at least one person:
But mostly, the internet is pro-tradition and anti-petition. Emotions ranged from deadpan despair:
me reading the petition of people trying to ‘move halloween’ to a different day than october 31st pic.twitter.com/FUglQ9mi8K
— 𝕭𝖚𝖓𝖓𝖞 𝕸𝖊𝖞𝖊𝖗 (@grav3yardgirl) July 26, 2019
To threats of social disruption:
Apparently people are making petitions to move Halloween from October 31st to just whatever happens to be the last Saturday of October and if that happens I will RIOT
— vanora🕸 (@bogwitchxx) July 26, 2019
To concerns that people who don’t love Halloween just the way it is must be a threat to national security:
There is talk of a rival petition:
Does there need to be a LEAVE HALLOWEEN ALONE petition started🤷🏼♀️
— Bonnie LaFond (@lafond_bonnie) July 26, 2019
But for others, simply saving Halloween isn’t enough:
The President has yet to respond to the petition, leaving us to ask ourselves, is tradition always better — or do we deserve a weekend dedicated to Halloween every year? Will the promise of free chocolate be enough to win the doubters over? We have a few months to find out.
