From Country Roads to Sidewalk Strolls
Back then: Five houses and a dream. Now: Full wagons and full hearts.
Growing up, Halloween wasn’t exactly spooky season for me and my brothers.
It was more like gas-up-the-van-and-hope-you-hit-five-houses season.
We lived in the country, so trick-or-treating meant loading up, driving a mile, hopping out, snagging a couple of pieces of candy, visiting, then doing it all over again.
You had to really love a Reese’s or Three Musketeers to put in that kind of mileage.
Costume-wise, we had three main options.
Option one: the classic plastic costume.
And by “classic,” I mean it was a close relative of a hospital gown. Ya’ll remember the tie at the top in the back. It never stayed tied.
I remember dressing up as Woody Woodpecker prior to kindergarten. Five Nights at Freddy’s ain’t got nothing on that costume. Nightmare fuel my friend, nightmare fuel.
Can we talk about this? I am dressed up as Woody Woodpecker in the above picture. What he is supposed to look like is right there on the plastic suit. Blue feathers or whatever with a white belly. Why not make the suit, I don’t know, look like Woody Woodpecker? It makes no sense. Once again, a handful of people were going to see me that night, so it was what it was. I was Big Bird another year and the same thing. Mask looked like Big Bird, but the suit itself was not on point.
Option two: elaborate makeup.
One year, I was a werewolf. Pretty decent job if I say so myself. The makeup smelled funny the whole night. Once again, five people got to see it, so there was that. No idea why I am dressed as a plain-clothes werewolf in the below photo. I guess technically, a werewolf is just a man in clothes with the face of a wolf. Maybe the moon was “almost” full that night? There’s my brother dressed as a pirate waiting for his turn for pictures.
Fourth grade, I decided to level up and went as a vampire—slicked-back hair, church clothes, black cape, the works.
I even won "Scariest Costume"...right before accidentally ingesting fake blood and ending up sick on my grandma’s couch for the rest of the day.
My brother Sean collected candy for me that night, which mostly meant pointing at my limp body in the backseat of the van and saying, "Yeah, he’s dressed as a dead guy. Can I get his candy too?" No pictures, sorry.
Option three: fake it ‘til you make it.
One year, I was an Ewok from Return of the Jedi. I had the plastic Ewok mask... and one of Mama’s old sweaters…and a stick. If given a Yoda mask, I could have been him too.
Nothing says “space warrior” like raiding your mother’s closet.
Back then, Halloween was less about candy and more about visiting great aunts and uncles and grandparents.
And as for kids showing up at our house? You might get one trick-or-treater if you left the porch light on and prayed hard enough. Her name was Sharon.
Country living was great. It just wasn't built for mass candy distribution.
Fast forward to now, and Halloween looks a little different for my kids.
Once Karen and I had little ones, I wanted to give them a different kind of Halloween:
Buckets overflowing. Sidewalks buzzing. Zero need for a gas tank.
We'd head to Karen’s brother’s neighborhood, where the houses weren’t separated by fields and farm equipment…and the kids would clean house.
One year, they filled their candy buckets so fast they started dumping the overflow into the wagon we brought for backup.
Pros move early.
Each kid had their favorite candies, so there were full-blown negotiations happening right there on the sidewalk.
If you’ve never seen a 7-year-old broker a deal involving Reese’s Cups, Twizzlers, and a Dum Dum, you're missing out. Daddy got Kit Kats and Snickers when available. The Halloween candy tax is a real thing.
As they've gotten older (and we moved into a sidewalk neighborhood ourselves), Halloween has only gotten better.
Their costumes now border on full-blown cosplay.
No one is duct-taping an Ewok mask to an old sweater anymore.
It’s not just the costumes, though. It’s the traditions that we are creating just like my Mama did growing up.
Halloween now means a wagon full of candy, friends gathered around pots of chili and mugs of hot apple cider, and grownups strolling the sidewalks, catching up while the kids race ahead.
Brighton and I even had a good run as Batman and Robin.
At trunk-or-treats, kids would tap me on the back and whisper, “Batman, can I have a picture with you?”
And of course, in my best gravelly Batman voice, I'd say, "Absolutely, citizen."
Halloween looks a little different these days.
Less farm fields. More sidewalks.
Less fake blood. More hot cider.
But the heart of it?
Still the same: family, friends, and a big ol’ pile of memories. My Mama and Stepdad even make the trip north to still enjoy trick-or-treating. It’s a great thing!
P.S.
The kids still have no idea what a plastic Woody Woodpecker suit is.
And honestly? I'm not sure they're ready.