Kids fancied in intricate princess dresses or white bed sheets with holes cut for eyes scamper from door to door, ringing doorbells and knocking profusely to treat themselves to the essence that is Halloween. Ah yes, Halloween, the holiday that allows anyone to wear anything they have molding in the back of their closet without getting weird looks. A day where everyone can enjoy a little bit of sweets and a little bit of spooks, but I’ll admit, it was more for the candy. The best houses were the houses with a lone bowl on the porch that innocently pleaded to take one. What kid in this world would take one teeny weenie tootsie roll? A kid more insane than Chuckie, that’s who.

I for one loved trick-or-treating, -as a kid may I add- I’d meet with my family friends in Tacoma, and we’d storm the houses in Fircrest and skip jauntily in the dark of the night. Then, after heaving our full pillow cases rattling with candy, we’d return to our home and organize our findings and negotiate trades. The Kit-Kats and Crunches were gold to me, while Almond Joys had no value and were thrown to the parent pile. Although eating our candy rewards was delectable, the costumes were another story.

When you put on a costume, you put on another identity; you become that miniature batman, or that zombie cheerleader. I loved to be recognized as a certain character. But as the years went along, and there was more time for work-or-working than trick-or-treating, I found less time for the holiday, and it lost its spooky magic.

I say don’t grow up. Halloween is on a Friday; go have fun on Halloween that is if you aren’t going to the Football game against league rivals Bellarmine. But go trick-or-treating; dress up as something appropriate please, to save the eyes of everyone, if your family has a Halloween tradition, why not get involved in that? All I’m saying is do something, something legal.

If you don’t have time for Halloween, I’m sorry. Because you’re missing out on the last bit of your childhood. Go have fun, get candy, and dress up, because that to me is the essence of Halloween!

-Ripley of the Gig Harbor Sound