My Modern Europe professor offered two points extra credit on the next exam for anyone who wrote a page on their Halloween experience. Well, I needed the extra credit, so here it is.

I must confess that, while I enjoy the perennial American holiday as much as the next Joe Six-Pack, I frequently forget to prepare for the holidays that need to be prepared for. My costume for Halloween, more specifically, never enters my mind until about a few days before. I’m normally told by someone what they’re costume is going to be, which prompts me to wonder the very same thing about myself.

This year was no exception. I didn’t actually begin thinking about my costume until the Tuesday before Halloween Friday. My first ideas were: John McCain, Jesus, Animal from the Muppets, or one of the guys from Flight of the Conchords. Then my sister suggested I go as “Muhna Muhna” from the Muppets simply because I look exactly like him, albeit without the lime green shag carpet sweater. This idea made sense, but I couldn’t pull myself to spring for a shag carpet for just a few hours of use. Some people call it being cheap; I call it being frugal.

So, on Halloween, about ten minutes before I was to meet some friends for our evening outing, I had the idea: I pulled out a plain white t-shirt and drew some primitive coins on the front with a Sharpie. I was, literally, “Change You Can Believe In.” Though I’m an Obama supporter, using his slogan was more sarcastic than sincere. I knew I would be explaining it to everyone all night, but I figured having a “costume” that made me laugh was ultimately most important.

Instead of going to a bar rotting of beer, vomit, and the loss of inhibition, I “trick-or-treated for the homeless” with Cardinals-On-Wheels, the campus commuters group. We canvassed Naperville asking for donations of non-perishable goods that we could donate to the local homeless shelter. We also secured a healthy booty of chocolate and sugary goodness for ourselves. That is, after all, what Halloween is all about.

Afterward we got together and rocked some board games and free food. It was a fun night full of fellowship, booze-free, that I actually remembered the next morning. That isn’t, apparently, what Halloween is all about.