Halloween was one of the holidays I looked forward to most as a kid. I mean, who would not like dressing up and getting free candy from strangers, right? But as I’ve gotten older, Halloween has lost its sparkle for me and I spend that last day of October thinking back to the good times when I was younger and could trick-or-treat without getting weird looks from adults.
Here are the top five things I miss about Halloween as a kid:
- School parties
Remember when your school would go ALL OUT for Halloween? Kids would wear their costumes to school, teachers would give out candy, and most importantly, you did not have to do any work? I always looked forward to Halloween being on a school day because it meant a day of fun. My elementary school would do a Halloween parade where you could walk around and show off your costumes to all the other kids. Man, those were the days.
- Finding the PERFECT costume
Remember going to a Halloween store and staring at the wall of costume photos until you saw the perfect one? Then, you had to tell a worker the one you wanted and what size and they would retrieve it for you from the magical costume room in the back. Or maybe you ordered yours out of a magazine, which you would first go through and circle the costumes you liked until finally deciding on one. Picking out my costume every year was a TON of pressure, but it was also the most exciting.
- Trick-or-treating, obviously
Sure, you can still dress up as an adult and go to Halloween parties and stuff, but the one thing you can’t do is trick-or-treat. There was something about walking from house to house and shouting in strangers’ faces as they dropped candy into your bag that I just really miss. And then you would struggle to carry your bag as it got full, which was both frustrating and exciting because it meant you got a TON of candy.
- The candy trade
The most crucial part of Halloween night for me was the candy trade. After trick-or-treating was over, my sister and I would dump out our bags of candy and trade with each other what we did not want. We traded Reese’s for Kit Kats, Twix for Snickers, and Sour Patch Kids for Skittles Sometimes we fought, but by the end of the night, we would both sit there and stare satisfied at our piles of sugar that we had selected for ourselves.
All in all, Halloween was the bomb as a kid. But it can still be fun as an adult if you try. While there may not be school parties or trick-or-treating, there are still other Halloween parties, couples’ costumes, and other fun aspects of Halloween!
So while you pass out candy on Halloween night, remember the fun you had as a kid and try to hold that moment in your heart. And most importantly, have a Happy Halloween!