Some kids live for presents under the tree on a cool, Christmas morning, others prefer the hunt for Easter eggs as Spring begins and of course the Jr. Pyros of the world can’t get enough of the explosive destruction that is fully sanctioned by the 4^th of July. But for the sugar junkies and amateur cosplayers like yours truly, it’s all about thrills and chills of Halloween night. Though trick or treating becomes a frowned upon activity in your later years, it is about the greatest institution in the history of mankind for the children of the world on October 31^st and makes for some of childhood’s most exciting memories. The full moon looks to be rising and the Jack O’ Lanterns have been lit, so let’s get this spooky shindig on the road!

As a young boy the joys of the season always crept in long before I ever got near any Sweet Tarts or Smarties. The promise of candy to come was usually heralded by the appearance of commercials for the Pumpkin Kutter during afternoon viewings of Plastic Man on Fox-11. You remember this safety knife, with its molded pumpkin handle and rounded blade incapable of slicing anything but pumpkin flesh. Once I saw those kids happily stabbing away at their gourds, I knew it was time to start thinking about costumes.

Though there were always the generic choices like Clown, Army Guy, Knight or your choice of animal, I was much more inclined to portray my favorite characters from film and television. Though my Mom sewed some great costumes for me in later years, the lure of the store bought costume was often too great to resist. This is evidenced by my first outing in 1985 dressed as everybody’s favorite Muppet Jedi, Yoda. It may not have been as elaborate a costume as that kid from E.T. that goes walking by in one scene, but I don’t know of many pre-school kids obsessing over movie accuracy.

Yep, that’s actually me under that pokey, plastic mask holding my orange sack and flashlight in preparation for the candy harvest. You’ll also notice the green, vinyl(?) jumpsuit featuring an image of “the wrinkled one” that serves only to remind the 3-year-old me that I look nothing like the character I am supposed to represent. But I suppose that instant recognition leads to greater appreciation from the candy-givers and gets the sweet stuff in your bag that much sooner, so no harm done. If you look carefully, you’ll see the Jack O’ Lantern with black, Sharpie “mascara” where we traced his eye holes before maiming him with the Pumpkin Kutter that year.

Now kids always plan to keep their Halloween Haul to themselves, but the journey to filling your candy bucket is always much more fun with a friend. This particular night I was out with my buddy Scott from daycare. You’ll note that Scott went for the Garfield costume and was very committed as I had already removed my Yoda wear to get down to business. Just look at that demented grin on my face, the sugar had obviously taken effect by this point. But that’s also the look of glee from being up way past my bedtime.

To me the opportunity to be outside at night was a huge part of the Halloween mystique. Think about it, as a child you are told to come inside when the street lights come on and that inevitably means a bath and going to bed-BAH! But for one glorious night you actually wait UNTIL the sun goes down before you go outside and shake your neighbors down for a fun-sized Snickers. Seeing my neighborhood lit by mysterious moonlight as packs of 3 foot ghosts and goblins roamed the streets was a moment to treasure. But once our sacks were so full we couldn’t carry them anymore, it was time to return home and count our candy like Scrooge McDuck counted his gold coins.

Clad in a sweater worthy of Mr. Rogers, I waved good-bye to Scott as my little fingers began to sort through the crinkly, colored packaging of my favorite candy. As you can see there’s a Milky Way, couple of packs of M&M’s, a Baby Ruth, possibly a roll of Life Savers and a single Reese’s peanut butter cup. Of all the chocolate available to me on this night, for some reason this unidentified lollipop was my drug of choice. A vague sense memory tells me that it was peach flavored and by the look on my face it was mine all mine!

In years to come there was some fun to be had during the daylight hours as well, especially when my classmates and I got to show off our costumes at the elementary school Halloween parade. Taking place just on the cusp of over-protective parenting, in these days you could still come to school dressed as a homicidal maniac and get away with it. So you’d see several Freddy Krueger’s or Jason’s marching along with their implements of death next to Minnie Mouse and Raggedy Anne. The one costume you didn’t see a lot in these days were super heroes, so I aimed to change that.

Though Spider-Man has always been my favorite, I guess Superman patterns were easier to come by, so when I was 7 I got to march as the Man of Steel. The odd thing is, there is no photographic evidence of my Mom’s handiwork, which is a shame. But this is the exact pattern she used and that’s the awesome spandex outfit I wore as I wandered the streets for Halloween 1989. A homemade costume that looks this good is a major boost for a kid’s Halloween ego. You knew with absolute certainty that you had way more cred than the kid who raided his Dad’s hamper and smudged grease on his face to look like a Hobo.

Speaking of which, what happened to all the Hobo costumes that seemed to be a go-to Halloween costume from the 30’s through the 80’s? It’s like after 50 years kids wised-up and decided that looking like a drunk, homeless person is kind of downer. Or maybe they can’t resist the fact that today’s store-bought costumes have muscles built into them, lousy spoiled kids (grumble-grumble). Hobo’s aside, my Superman costume was fantastic and made its way into my year-round dress-up activities until the day I took scissors to it in an attempt to create a t-shirt, that wound up turning it into a questionable mid-riff.

While we’re on the topic of homemade costumes, I can’t neglect to mention the year I partnered up with my friend Christina to tour her neighborhood as Beauty and The Beast. I used to hang out with Christina’s family quite a bit and we would lip-synch to the entire Step By Step album from the New Kids On The Block. But by 1991 the New Kids were now the Old Kids and with the Disney Renaissance in full swing, it was totally passable to dress as cinematic cartoon characters. Although I had flown solo as Pinnocchio when I was 6, the time seemed right for a team-up. Or maybe it’s that I had a little crush on this beauty in particular.

Now Chrissy’s outfit was wonderfully crafted by her mom with the perfect satiny, shiny material and all the accessories to match. As for me, well I basically looked like the main character from the Lil’ Critter books in a Tina Turner wig. That being said, I did get to wear a prosthetic lion nose that I thought was pretty cool. It was like having movie make-up applied to my face, so I felt like I had transformed into The Beast. That Halloween was also my first experience with carrying a pillow case around as my candy receptacle. I had never been around such ambitious trick or treaters as Chrissy and her siblings, so it hadn't even occurred to me that one could accumulate that much candy in one night. I filled about half the case, but still that was way more candy than I knew what to do with.

As I turned 12 and prepared to enter Junior High, I knew that my glory days of candy hunting were over and so I decided to go out in style. Though largely ignored at the time of its release in 1994, The Shadow starring Alec Baldwin is one of my favorite films. So for Halloween 1995 I decided that rather than go a for a crowd pleaser costume, I would go for 100% passion.

Borrowing a black trench coat from my older brother, a red piece of fabric from my Mom and finishing it off with a black fedora, I was ready to roll as the dark crusader for justice. I had worked for hours on my maniacal laughter and catch phrases like, “the weed of crime bears bitter fruit”, but most people just looked at me in bewilderment. “Wait, are you that guy from that French poster?” “What? NO! I’m The Shadow.” “Who?” But it really didn’t matter, I knew I looked awesome and in the words of Ol’ Blue Eyes, I did it my waaaaaaaayyyy!