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Whose Holiday Is It, Anyway?
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"Even if you don't know anybody, you can always start conversations based on someone's costume," said Nana Dawson-Andoh, 27, of Mount Pleasant. "It won't be that you're trying to hit on them necessarily, just that you really appreciate their costume." (Dawson-Andoh plans to dress up as a devil; her boyfriend will accompany her as a sinner.)
Camille Chatilovicz, 25, who lives in Adams Morgan, went out on Halloween night last year dressed as a Baltimore Orioles player. She walked into Town Hall, a bar in Northwest Washington, and immediately spotted Rafael Palmeiro, the former Oriole whose career came to an abrupt end after he tested positive for steroids in 2005.
Not the Rafael Palmeiro, of course. A Halloween poser. "I'd never seen this guy before in my life, and we literally gave each other a hug," Chatilovicz said. "Halloween's not your typical night out. You have a lot more interaction with your peers. You're all out for having a good time."
The good time isn't just limited to one night or a few hours. There are parties on multiple nights and multiple parties on the same night. Some people are strictly Halloween night revelers. Many, like Silverman and Chatilovicz, will host parties on Saturday. Others have begun the festivities even earlier. T.J. Peekin, owner of Costumes Creative in Silver Spring, attended his first Halloween party of the season Oct. 14. Many shops, including Costumes Creative, Backstage Inc. and Masters Costumes, began keeping extended store hours as of Columbus Day, and they say their clients are buying -- and using -- costumes and decorations earlier this year.
The District's Halloween Scavenger Hunt, an annual event now in its 19th year that sends roughly 200 costumed participants on a daytime bar-crawl-cum-trivia-hunt, is typically held on the Saturday before Halloween. This year, the event took place last weekend, a week early.
"We changed it because last year we were supposed to go from this out to four parties we had that night," said Stephanie Jones, 34, an organizer of the hunt. "It was a long night."
Long, indeed, and perhaps excessive? No matter: Excess remains a staple of Halloween, young and old. After all, there will always be overgrown trick-or-treaters in pursuit of more candy, just as there will always be overgrown revelers in pursuit of more party.
Julia Feldmeier, who has a nostalgic attachment to fun-size candy bars, works in the Metro section of The Washington Post.
