Not to start a Halloween controversy, but these are the top five reasons why I love Halloween. Your reasons for enjoying this festival of frights, magic, and possible Celtic rituals, might differ, but this isn’t your blog, so moving on…
- Candy. Seriously, this is really the main reason I love Halloween as a kid. Of course, now I can buy my own candy, I don’t have to go around the neighborhood and beg for it, but some really great candy choices are available in giant bags. If I bought a giant bag (or 3) of candy in the middle of July, people would think I’m nuts.
- Decorations. I love putting up all sorts of orange, black, brown, pumpkin, witch, cat, stuff all over the place. Oh, yes, and lights! I know, those are really Christmas-y, but I’ve fallen for the marketing and want to put up twinkling orange lights in my windows.
- TV Specials. OK, the only one I really look forward to is It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but I also enjoy the occasional Halloween themed episode of a sitcom.
- No presents. All you have to do is give out candy to kids. They have those already pre-sorted in the store for you. You just have to buy the bag that you will eat after no one shows up at your door. You don’t have to fight crowds, stand in lines at 3:00 AM or search for bargains to do it.
- Costumes. I love to see how creative people get. Sure, there are the lazy ones who grab a black witch hat and call it a costume (me), but I thoroughly appreciate a person who put some thought and effort into their get up. Obscure early century cartoons, random historical figures, little known superheros (I’m looking at you Blue Raja), all wonderful.
I’m with you, but not in the same order. Costumes are my favorite, followed by decorations. Candy comes in last – thought I do love to steal all of Levi’s Tootsie rolls 🙂
It’s so much fun to see how creative the kids (and their parents) can get. I totally love it when the parents dress up with their kids.
I used to love Halloween when I was a kid, but then after having a kid and living in Minnesota where it seems Halloween night is always icky weather I used to not look forward to taking him out trick or treating. But, then when I played in a band that was fun because I got to dress up 😉
It’s funny because I used to dread Halloween being too warm when I lived in California. Sweating in a costume was never fun!
I’m with Sheila on dreading the cold weather for trick or treating but the past couple years some of the neighborhood moms and I have stocked up on hot toddies in a thermos as we take our kiddos door to door – it makes the cold much more tolerable 😉