Last night was Halloween, my favorite childhood holiday. Being a no-allowance kid (my parents preferred to dole out the cash on an as-needed basis), I was never certain when I might be able to gather enough funding to get my next candy fix...so Halloween was a once-a-year opportunity to stockpile treats.
In those days, most of us had homemade costumes: I remember being an Indian Princess one year (my sister's hand-me-down outfit from a school play), a cat another year (black clothes, whiskers painted on with an eyeliner, cardboard ears). For kids with mothers crafty enough, there was the occasional homemade-but-fancy costume, like the tomato suit my best friend wore in 6th grade. And don't even ask if we were carrying around those tiny plastic pumpkin buckets so popular these days---we used giant pillowcases or even garbage bags, the bigger the better.
Tiny buckets, no more homemade popcorn balls, and forget the rotten eggs and toilet paper---the biggest Halloween change I am noticing nowadays is the COSTUME. Being sick this holiday, I was relegated to the cheerful task of answering the doorbell at home while my own goblins went traipsing around the neighborhood with their Father. Here's what I observed in regard to costumes:
Homemade outfits? None in sight. Guess all these stay-at-home Moms around here didn't spend enough time in Home Economics in High School.
Infants and toddlers dress consistently as either princess-variety or superhero-variety. By "princess" I am generally meaning that they have long frothy gowns with tiaras and wands, sparkles all over (scary factor = zero). For superheroes the Power Rangers have apparently made a comeback, but only the BLUE one is in favor. I saw a Batman or two and even a Ninja Turtle; Spiderman must be out of vogue and Hulk is too hot for Texas treat-or-treat. In terms of scariness, I would have to also rate the toddler superheroes a "zero" (although I did get a lurch in my gut when I opened the door to three Darth Vaders standing silently with buckets extended).
Whore costumes seem to be pretty popular, in all formats: whore-cheerleader, whore-rockstar, whore-genie, etc. A "whore" outfit is anything that allows the pre-teen (gasp!) and teenage girl to show her entire stomach---and bellyring, in some cases---as well as load up on the eye makeup and hair extensions. Their Mothers were often escorting them as usual, beaming with pride from the sidewalk. The only accessory missing for most of these girls would be the 6" lucite stillettos favored by strippers, but I suppose those would be a safety concern on the Halloween Trek.
The no-costume costume, as in "I'm too cool to dress up for Halloween but I still want free candy." This category is strictly for the 14-and-older crowd, mainly boys. My Dad's rule of thumb was "No costume, no candy," but I admit I relented and gave them some anyway (not the good stuff though). Even the laziest teenager should be willing to wrap a scarf around their head and say they're a pirate, right? Or even easier, the girls can wear their usual school clothes and go as whores (see notes in the category above)!
Even more bizarre was the fact that many Trick-or-Treaters were more interested in the decor of my house than in candy. "Your house is so-o-o cool!" the girls shrieked, necks angling for a better view. My husband remarked, "Well, after looking in the doors of twenty other beige suburban mansions, ours probably is a bit of a freakshow." (I'm taking that as a compliment---I think.)
By 8:00 it was pretty much over, most kids being of the mindset that they had no need to really stockpile because they can get candy anytime! My own Power Ranger (blue, of course) dipped into his tiny plastic pumpkin bucket and pulled out a very standard-issue Tootsie Pop; our "witch" (read: princess in a black dress) dumped her bucket and went for the more exotic white chocolate Kit-Kat. Overnight, their buckets magically 'deplete' as their evil parents siphon off the brain- and tooth-rotting goodies.
But hey: this neighborhood has one thing going for it: not a single one of those black-and-orange peanut butter taffy candies in the buckets!