After Christmas and their birthdays, I think Halloween is the most exciting day of a child’s life. Where else can you find the fun of dressing up with the joy of free candy?

 

When I was a kid in the 1970s, not only was Halloween night exciting, so was Halloween day. We were allowed to wear our costumes to school and participate in a parade around the gym. Parents and other family members were encouraged to come and watch. 

 

I would get so excited about Halloween as a kid that I’d spend weeks beforehand trying to decide what I should be that year. I don’t remember all my choices but I do remember being a Native American, a devil, a Planet of the Apes guy and a vampire. Remember the plastic teeth? By the time you took them out of your mouth your gums would be bleeding and you’d be drowning in saliva because they made it hard to swallow. 

 

One year when I was around 10, I decided a ghost holding a baby ghost would be the most ingenious getup ever. I talked my mom into finding me an old white sheet that I cut eyeholes in. The baby ghost’s head was a ball I tied another sheet around. Eyes were drawn on and walla! Costume completed.

 

In theory, it was a great idea, in practice, not so much. The sheet kept shifting around all night so I couldn’t see, I kept tripping on the material and I got tired of holding the baby ghost before we even made it to the end of the block.

 

Although not a rousing success, the ghost costume was still 100% preferable over the costumes we had when I was even younger. Everyone over 30 knows what I’m talking about. The plastic, “ventilated” Halloween face masks that came with either a plastic smock or jumpsuit, depending on the character. They made a swish, swish sound when you walked.

 

Those masks were the worst. As a general rule, the elastic band that held it in place would either catch in your hair or snap off within minutes, leaving the wearer to hysterically beg his or her mom to staple it back on. You couldn’t go trick-or-treating without your mask!

 

The eyeholes were hard to see out of and the nose holes were hard to breathe out of. The mouth slit was a joke. You’d stick your tongue out of it because you couldn’t help yourself, even knowing there was a greater than 50% you’d cut it on that sharp opening. 

 

Luckily for us, the plastic smocks made it easier to wear warm clothes underneath our costumes; Halloween in Minnesota is rarely warm. There’s nothing more devastating to a child than having to wear a coat over the costume they’d agonized over.

 

Parent-free, we wouldn’t quit until we’d hit every single house in town. Then we’d finally head back home, dump out our haul and sort it by categories. Over the next few days it would disappear fast, until eventually there’d only be a few pieces left that you didn’t really like, but you’d eat anyway.

 

We also went trick-or-treating for UNICEF, carrying our little orange boxes around from house to house to collect change to help children around the world. That’s another reason why my ghost costume was a disappointment, I didn’t have enough hands to carry the baby, my orange pumpkin candy bucket and the UNICEF box!

 

When my first two children were little, after they’d sorted their candy I’d tell them they had to put it in the cookie jar, which, of course, gave me free access to their chocolate. When my third was old enough to trick-or-treat, she would have nothing of it, instead insisting on keeping it in her room. I had to get my fix by sneaking in when she was gone and raiding her stash.

 

To my disappointment, living in the country we rarely get trick-or-treaters. I love seeing them all dressed up and high on sugar. If you’re bringing your kids out this Halloween stop by. The pumpkins will be flickering and the candy will be waiting. It’ll save me from having to eat it all myself.