Boooo to Halloween 2.0

Good Ol’ Halloween memories

I started to begin with “Back in my day….” Thankfully, I caught myself. I don’t want to be that person who sits around lamenting about how much better things were when were kids. I understand how nostalgia works…it allows our brains to access old memories, sort of run them through a filter and that lets come out sweeter, warmer, and fuzzier than they actually were.

My first memories of trick-or-treating date back to when I was about 4 years and old and living in Chicago. All I really remember is seeing more candy than I’d seen in my life, and it wasn’t all good, either. That’s what happens when you’re the youngest sibbling. I’m sure my brothers raided my paper bag and got all the good stuff, the Lemon Heads, the Boston Bake Beans, and the Sweet Tarts. I was left with some kind of taffy in black and orange wrappers that stuck to he candy. When you put it in your mouth, you ended up consuming the waxy paper too.

These old school Peanut Butter candies were not my favorite!

My best Halloween memories are in Compton, California. We moved there one summer when I was 8 and lived on a block full of kids my age. By the time fall rolled around, father planned a neighborhood Halloween party. Score one for Dad! There was plenty of candy and games, but it didn’t compare to the kinds of Halloween or, “fall” parties, my kids became accustomed to. No pizzas delivered, no bouncy houses, no adults either, just children having a ball. Oh, and the costumes back then were not nearly as sophisticated as they are today. I think I was Tom of the “Tom and Jerry” cartoon. When I find the underwhelming photo, I’ll post it, I promise! Was it really a great party or is that my nostalgia kicking in.

Halloween is still marketed as a holiday for kids, but somewhere in the last 20 years, adults have really taken it to another level. It could be a combination parents not wanting to miss out on the fun their kids are having and social media and technology merging to heighten almost every experience. That’s all well and good. My issue is that is gone from fun to frightening.

What’s fun about this?

If you look at today’s costumes and decorations they are gorier and darker than they used to be. In my suburban North Texas neighborhood, and all over the country, people are upping their Halloween decoration status to surpass Christmas! Trick-or-Treating is no longer a candy grab for kids, it’s a cash grab for merchandisers. In this economy, I say “ good for them,” but I just wish they would consider what must go through small children’s minds when, while being strolled down their block, they get a glimpse of skeletons rising from graves!

Just an ordinary fall day in Corinth, Texas.

 I think there’s a time and place for the horror show this holiday has become—like teen and adult Halloween parties or haunted houses that at least make you aware that you’re going to be scared.

If I were a little a kid this Halloween, I’d stay inside and order my fun-sized Snickers, candy corn, and grape Now and Laters, and watermelon and green apple Jolly Ranchers, from Uber Eats. There’s an idea for you entrepreneurs…Uber Treats…Halloween Candy Delivery. You heard it here first, I think!