People Are Petitioning to Permanently Reschedule Halloween to a Saturday

As any college student will tell you, no matter what day Halloween actually falls on, it always falls on a Saturday. This is thanks to a handy invention/super annoying portmanteau called Halloweekend, which ensures that revelers get a full weekend of costumed partying in addition to whatever festivities occur on the day itself if the 31st happens to fall on a weekday.

Now the rest of the world is trying to celebrate the holiday college style — at least in terms of scheduling. A petition to officially move Halloween to the last Saturday of October is picking up steam, according to CNN. Launched last year by the nonprofit Halloween and Costume Association, the petition argues that bumping the date to a weekend will provide a “safer, longer, stress-free celebration.”

Unlike the undergraduate Halloweekend innovation, which was designed to give college students two to three extra days of drinking in costume, this petition seems to primarily have children and parents in mind. Bumping the holiday to a Saturday will hopefully prevent school and work schedules from the chaos of shifting bedtimes and post-sugar high fallouts. Meanwhile, a Saturday celebration means trick-or-treating could kick off during daylight hours, which the association says is much safer for children.

If moving Halloween to a specific day rather than a specific date sounds crazy, remember that we actually already do this for some holidays. Thanksgiving, for example, is always on the fourth Thursday of November. Choosing to always have that particular holiday on a weekday actually seems kind of counterintuitive in light of the new Halloween petition, but we also always get a long weekend out of the deal, so maybe they were on to something after all.

Anyway, the Halloween and Costume Association’s petition currently has nearly 60,000 signatures, so there’s a chance this shift could actually come soon to a calendar near you. Either way, remember that there’s a college student in all of us, so whether Halloween falls on a Saturday or a Wednesday, there’s nothing to stop you from blacking out in a costume all weekend long.

Editor’s Note: RealClearLife, a news and lifestyle publisher, is now a part of InsideHook. Together, we’ll be covering current events, pop culture, sports, travel, health and the world. Subscribe here for our free daily newsletter.