The children hoot and holler while traveling from house to house on this special night. It’s the one night a year where people don’t get judged by what they wear, or what they put on their faces. It’s the one night a year when people can be themselves. Halloween.

“We have a tradition of making our own costumes each year,” freshman Monzeratt Hernandez said. “This tradition has been passed down from my great grandma. We always try and get it done early in October because it’s so time consuming.”

The freshman also has a film tradition with her family.

“Every year we love watching scary movies,” Hernandez said. “We all snuggle up on the couch and try to agree on a movie without killing each other over it.”

While Hernandez stays in on the couch, freshman Melanie Gonzalez goes all out for her celebration.

“Our family tradition had always been to dress up as characters from The Addams Family,” Gonzalez said. “I dress up as Wednesday Addams, my dad dresses up as Gomez, and my mom dresses up as Tish.”

After she’s done trick or treating, Gonzalez likes to play a little prank on any trick or treaters she comes across.

“I dress up as a clown, mummy, or just this past year, Frankenstein,” Gonzalez said. “Then, I hide somewhere on my porch and jump out at kids coming to get candy.”

As for freshman Leslie Barron, she celebrates her Halloween with family.

“Every year we hold a themed Halloween party,” Barron said. “My family comes from all over just for this. We usually hold it the Saturday on the week of Halloween. My favorite theme we’ve done over the years has definitely been the ’80s one.”

Hernandez’ favorite Halloween goes way back into her childhood years.

“The best Halloween has got to be when I was six years old,” Hernandez said. “My younger sister and I dressed as clowns. Our mom went all out on our makeup and costumes. It was crazy.”

Unlike Hernandez, Gonzalez celebrates with her friends late into the night.

“My favorite Halloween was when I was in eighth grade,” Gonzalez said. “It was just really fun because we went to House of Torment and that was the first time I had gone out with my friends on Halloween.”

Barron’s favorite Halloween was also from when she was a small kid.

“My favorite was when I was 10 years old,” Barron said. “That year we had a Halloween party like always and I dressed up as Marilyn Monroe. It was so cool because I had on her signature dress, the heels and red lipstick.”

As for Hernandez’ plans this year, she just chilled out and ate popcorn.

“Nothing really astonishing happened this year,” Hernandez said. “We basically passed out candy and watched like three scary movies. I put on clown makeup though.”

Gonzalez went for the relaxed Halloween celebration.

“We planned on going trick or treating for about two hours or so, but it was raining a lot because we spent Halloween in Houston. Then we just spent the rest of the night passing out candy,” Gonzalez said.

Barron’s family kept with their themed-party tradition.

“We ended up having a big party with my family just like old times,” Barron said. “The theme was super scary and I loved my costume. Halloween is just a great way for me to express myself in different ways.”