Happy Halloween Week 🙂

Isn’t it amazing how Halloween decorating becomes more and more popular with every passing year? When I was a kid, although it was an important holiday – especially to kids! 😉 – the decorations were much more sparse than the intricate scenes we see today.

Of course, when I was in grade school, the teachers did sprinkle cardboard cut-outs of jack-o’-lanterns and black cats on bulletin boards and throughout the hallways. You might even see an accordian-fold paper skeleton at a Girl Scout Halloween party – but there was very little outside decorating – anywhere!

As it got closer and closer to Halloween night, many families would carve a pumpkin, and that became the most commonly seen home decoration of the era. (Era? Yikes, I sound old!) 😉

The costumes were not as elaborate in those days either, but had much more of a homemade look. Mom’s make-up, her broom, costume jewelry, bed sheets, cardboard boxes, construction paper, poster paints, tin foil, etc. were magically transformed into costumes for glamorous gypsy fortune tellers, witches, ghosts, robots, spacemen, and more!

It was an innocent time – long before we had to worry about some nut tampering with Halloween candy. It was more the norm than the exception for people to create little “goody bags” of treats to pass out to each child. Grownups would buy several large bags of various Halloween candies and create their own special assortments to give!

In fact, as a child, my very favorite “treat” to receive was that little homemade “bundle” of assorted candies. They were either wrapped up in a decorative Halloween napkin that was twisted closed, or presented in a small Halloween-themed paper bag. Oh how I loved to return home after trick-or-treating and discover what was inside each one of those little surprise packages! 😀

When my own kids were little (in the height of the “only accept wrapped candy” warnings), I remember that I felt rather sad that they would never really experience the Halloween of my youth. They typically received a bunch of mini candy bars during their Halloween rounds. Good, but not the same.

The weekly question is:

What are your favorite memories of Halloweens past?

Smiles,