Halloween: It’s Not What it Used to Be

Here I go again. Making light of how old I'm becoming. As a kid, I remember anyone who was about the age I am now, was considered ancient. I don't think that anymore.

When I was young, I really looked forward to Halloween. We lived in an area where it was safe to trick or treat, and we always came home with quite a haul of candy. For my siblings and me, it was a big deal. Normally we didn't have candy available anytime we wanted something sweet. If we wanted a snack, it would be some sort of fruit or vegetable. That was better for us anyway.

The most exciting part of Halloween was not so much the haul of teeth destroying candy, it was deciding what kind of costume I wanted to wear. Back in the 60s and living in a small town, the choices were pretty slim.

There was the usual Disney characters, Batman, Superman and other superheros. Maybe a ghost or some sort of evil looking character. Every selection contained a flimsy costume with a string in the back to tie it off, much like a hospital gown, accompanied by that awful hard plastic mask with that expandable cord to keep it on your head. I hated that. It was too tight and dug into your skin. Most times after one use of the mask, the cord would break, but it didn't matter. No one wants to be the same character more than one time on Halloween.

Recently just for fun, I ventured into a few area stores that sell Halloween costumes and beyond. I couldn't believe all the things you could buy. In addition to costumes which seemed to be available from everything imaginable, including a few from my favorite TV show, 'The Office', there were animated characters, fog machines, lights, makeup, props, displays and much more.

If you are really into Halloween, you could spend a lot of cash. Halloween certainly has become big business since I was a kid. I think it's really cool that there are so many more options for Halloween fun. Too bad we didn't have all these choices back in the day. Although, I'm guessing my parents probably wouldn't buy any of it for me anyway. Happy Halloween.