As a kid, if you grew up in one neighborhood, you could get a rough sense for which houses gave out the good candy and which ones didn’t. On the good list were any kind of chocolate, candy corn and Nerds. My favorite was Charleston Chews since I only got those during Halloween. On the bad list were the lame people who gave peanuts, raisins, pennies or those weird honey candies. In retrospect, it was nice for people to give us anything at all but that’s not how my kid mind worked.

I made it a point to bring a pillow case rather than getting one of those pumpkin shaped candy holders to maximize my payload. Thankfully the case was never close to capacity but certainly enough to last for months. The first drawer ended up full of candies to be munched on with and without parental consent. My favorite costume was a skeleton. It was actually a mask plus pants and a shirt. I kept wearing the mask long after outgrowing the rest. In 4th grade a friend went as Freddy Krueger. His mom made a flour dough and pasted it all over his face knowing it would begin to separate giving him that pock marked look. Pretty freaky but it did begin to come off by the end of the night.

I’m embarassed to admit this now but I went as late as 9th grade trick or treating and didn’t bother to wear a costume. When folks asked, I’d say something like “I’m dressed a guy in a green shirt.” People didn’t seem to mind though.

What were your favorite Halloween memories and candies?