Last Halloween, as I stood at my door giving out Reese’s peanut butter cups (Reese’s were the ultimate Halloween candy in my heyday, unlike candy corn…blech), I noticed that the costumes the children donned all seemed fairly elaborate. The princess was fully decked out from head to toe, as was the little race-car driver.

When I was a kid, it was all about the candy. The costume was just a necessary step to feed our sweet tooth. So while it was fun dressing up, it was scaled down by today’s standards.

For several years, I was a cheerleader. Why? Because I actually was a cheerleader. The costume was readily available and cute and still allowed me to knock on people’s door and demand my treat.

Ghosts, of course, were the easiest of all. Throwing on an old sheet and cutting a few holes in it screamed of simplicity. A matching pillowcase could be used to collect the goodies. In short, your entire costume was on your bed…how easy was that?

And then there were bums, which you don’t see much of these days because of its political incorrectness, I guess. But bums were all the rage back in the day. Messy, beat-up clothes, an old hat and a burnt cork were used to create that “I haven’t shaved in weeks” stubble.

Interestingly, as I got older, costuming became too much of an art form. I lived in San Francisco for many years and Halloween would fill me with a sense of dread…. how could you possibly compete with the elaborate costumes that people planned for months in advance? It felt less like Halloween and more like the Academy Awards.

This Halloween, I’ll probably be a witch…again. (Another easy-as-pie costume). And it fits my personality better with each passing year. [Insert cackle here.]

What were some of your favorite Halloween costumes over the years? What about the easiest Halloween costumes? The cheapest? The strangest?

This Halloween, send a loved one of our many Halloween ecards. And boo to you all!