Editorial opinion: Halloween is for house parties

Every edition, the Dalhousie Gazette’s editorial board, made up of our entire editorial team, debates a question until we come to a consensus. That consensus editorial opinion is summed up here, giving our readers a peek behind the curtain into the minds of the people charged with bringing you the news. 

In the spirit of Halloween, let’s play a game.

Would you rather pay $20 to get into the Dome’s Halloween event that you discovered from an AI-generated Instagram ad or dance like nobody’s watching in your friend’s living room while their house mix takes you back to 2016? 

Or the better question might be: do you think the Dome is ready for your “Queen Elizabeth, but-make-it-camp” costume? They might let you in, but would they really appreciate it the way your friends could under the dim light of an Amazon strobe light?

If we’re dancing on sticky floors this Halloween, we’d rather they be at our friend’s place — or at least at the place of a casual acquaintance your friend is sleeping with. 

You can catch DJ Blitz at the Pint or spend 30 minutes in line for the bathroom at the Shoe any weekend. You can split the G as many times as your stomach — or bank account — allows at Durty Nelly’s on St. Patrick’s Day. But Halloween is for house parties.

On the biggest party weekend of the year, we want all our friends in one place, in a space we feel comfortable, with the music in the hands of someone we trust — if you’re lucky, our arts and culture editor might even be DJing. Despite what staff writer Jack Amos says in his op-ed this week, the Gazette’s team refuses to accept that the party is over.

This isn’t a recommendation to wreak havoc on your neighbourhood this Halloween weekend — we encourage checking in with your neighbours before hosting. But consider this our petition: in a generation that can’t afford bar drinks or cover fees, Halifax police should ease up and let the Halloween house party live on. We should be able to host functions in our university homes — especially considering buying one will be a fantasy when we graduate.

The construction noise on Robie Street that’s been waking us up at 6:30 a.m. for the last two years is all fine and good, but we can’t turn the music up for a few hours one weekend? Gen Z is the socially awkward generation with our noses in our phones —  but we aren’t allowed to get together in our own spaces?

The bars are a stressful place to be on Halloween — our editor-in-chief even cried twice on those spooky downtown streets last year. They’re expensive, overcrowded and lack the ambience of that guy you did a group project with last year chugging Pabst Blue Ribbon out of a funnel in a mobster costume. 

So let’s head back to our apartments, send out some Canva invites, pull out the strobe lights and bust out our wildest costumes yet.

Long live the Halloween house party.