I was talking to friends recently about how Halloween is like the second most popular kid in school, and Thanksgiving is the guy that gets picked last for kickball. If you were always overshadowed by the popular guy, how would you feel? Come on, you gotta give that turkey a chance! You should not walk into Target on October 20th and see more fake Christmas trees than Halloween costumes. Here are five reasons why Halloween deserves a second chance.

1. Halloween lets you try on a different mask.

No matter what your Halloween taste is, you are free to express it. If you feel like dressing up in a costume that will have your parents fainting (for one reason or another) you are free to do so. You are exploring how to be a different you, one night only. Can you do that at Christmas? Well you could, but it would go down in infamous family history. This year I went to a Halloween party dressed as a Flapper. That would be frowned upon at a Christmas party.

2. You get free candy for your effort.

You put all of this effort into your costume, and you might think "what's the point?" Well, free candy. That's the point. Yes, you should be cautious about the candy you take and where you take it from. (A sketchy van with a clown inside is totally a no-no.) But you do not have to be a kid to rot your teeth and trick-or-treat. You may get funny looks, but who cares? They don't know your life.

3. It brings whole communities together.

I can tell you from experience, trick-or-treating usually stops in a neighborhood once most of the kids grow up. We haven't had trick-or-treaters in my development in a long time. But the larger neighborhoods in the town open up their figurative gates for the trick-or-treating hours. There's somewhere for everyone to go for a night of fun!

4. Little kids in costumes...admit it, they're adorable.

I may be a little biased with this one because my family is overflowing with adorable children. Even if you have lost the Halloween spirit, seeing the excitement in a child's eyes can bring it back for a moment. They get excited to run around and eat candy that will rot their teeth, and you can't help but love it.

5. You get a breather before the Holiday madness.

Do not get me wrong, I love Thanksgiving and Christmas. But they are also two of the most stressful months of my life. What do I get that person? Is that person going to get me anything? How many pies and cookies do I make this year? Will I be able to stay within my budget? Halloween is a calm before that stressful storm enters into your mind.