I Miss These Halloween Traditions Of My Youth [VIDEO]

As another Halloween approaches and we get the kids ready with costumes, buy candy and dig out decorations, I keep thinking back to the Halloweens I celebrated as a kid and I miss them. 

Now, when I say "back then" it's not harking back to the days of "talkies" and flappers.  I'm only going back to the days of "CHIPS" and the first "Star Wars" movie on the big screen.  It's not that long ago, but a lot has changed.

First, the store-bought costumes were craptastic back then.  You'd go to the store and see boxes full of costumes.  They were the kind that had the paper type masks with the rubber band back that barely resembled who you were supposed to be.  Truth is it was almost impossible to tell a Steve Austin "Six Million Dollar Man" mask apart from Gopher from "The Love Boat".  That is why the cheaply made body portion wasn't so much a costume but often an advertisement for who you were, clearly stating the name of the show or movie you were from.  Put on the mask and your sweat would help weld it to your face, pushing the poorly cut eye holes even closer to creating permanent damage.  Don't tell me you don't miss those costumes.

Once I had my costume, I couldn't wait to wear it to school.  My kids tell me they don't have a costume parade anymore and they can't dress scary at school, but it was anything goes back in the day and the costume parade was a highlight. You'd have a normal day, then in would come another classroom to show off their costumes.  This would help pass the time until we got to go out on parade ourselves and, ultimately, have our classroom party full of treats and a big yellow jug full of the infamous "orange drink".

Finally, trick or treating was a neighborhood event.  When I say that, I don't mean select neighborhoods in certain parts of town, but every neighborhood went out dressed up to get candy.  My group of friends and I would have a blast canvassing the neighborhood.  So many great memories were made on Halloween nights with my friends, it's sad to see fewer and fewer neighborhoods across the area trick or treating at all.  Sure, we had talks about about strangers and our parents inspected our candy, but we still went out there, flashlights in hand.

Now, it seems that fear of others and fear of not being "PC" has lead us to become overprotective and it has taken away some of the fun of Halloween.  Today, controlled, even indoor trick or treating has replaced the door-to-door, neighborhood building traditions of the past.  Costumes are simply ordered online a lot of times and kids aren't allowed to be scary and show off what they are into with their costumes.   Giving kids a little freedom of expression is not a bad thing, in my opinion.

There are those who still adhere to the traditions of the past, so there is hope.  I know my kids are still very excited about Halloween and they will be going out with us to trick or treat, and they can put on all the fake blood and zombie makeup they want as they canvass the neighborhood.

I'll just make sure that when they go to their school party, they're dressed like Gopher from "The Love Boat".

Best. Costumes. Ever.