You probably remember Halloween from when you were younger. Dressing up, going out after dark for one night out of the year, asking strangers for candy, then eating all of that candy. It should be one of the best nights of the year. But Halloween, like Jason’s film career, is dying. Parents aren’t letting their kids go out, homeowners are leaving their porch lights off, no pumpkins are being carved. If you go to Wal-Mart, they already have Christmas decorations on sale.

  Costumes are a huge part of the Halloween experience. You might buy a costume from the store for your kids, probably a vampire or superhero, or maybe the year’s current movie icon. In election years, even the next president can be predicted by whoever sells more face masks. Unfortunately, “sexy” costumes have taken some creativity out of the dress up process. Want a last minute costume to turn heads? Be a sexy nurse, or tiger, or fork, or current film icon, or if you really want to, sexy Snooki. While I am not complaining about lady’s costumes, there is no reason for young girls to be a naughty leopard. Thought should be put into costumes, think for a week about what you want to be. The children have been thinking about it all month, and I doubt toddlers want to be a naughty leopard. That’s just something bad parents think is a good idea.

  Despite increased spending, it seems like the actual participation has decreased. This might just be more expensive products. As of last year, $72 billion was spent on Halloween, an $8 billion increase from 2007. Candy counts as the biggest chunk of Halloween spending. Costumes will make an expected $2.6 billion, while candy will bring in $6.9 billion. 52% of the candy bought is chocolate, that’s 90 million pounds of chocolate, out of 3.5 billion for the whole year. The most popular candies are M&M’s, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers.

  Some communities are banning Halloween altogether, mostly at schools. Some use solicitation as the basis, others use religion. At most, children only care about dressing up, and getting candy. They don’t care about All Hallows Eve, or Paganism, they care about having fun. The idea that Halloween is more dangerous than any other night of the year is unsupported. A study from 1997 to 2005 found that there is no substantial increase in sexual assaults on children. There will be hundreds of children and dozens of adults out on the streets, and almost every child has a cellphone. The threat isn’t coming from pedophiles. The biggest danger of Halloween is four times as many automobile deaths to children walking in the streets.

  Don’t keep a wonderful tradition away from you or your kids. Take them yourselves, or take them to a different neighborhood. Some churches host their own Halloween activities in their parking lots. If you don’t have kids and want to stay in, watch some scary movies, A Nightmare Before Christmas is good for Halloween and Christmas. Buy candy for yourself, since now that you’re an adult and can decide when and when not to be responsible. Try to come to terms that you have a skeleton hiding in you right now. Pretend to be a scarecrow on your porch and jump at people, then give then give them candy. Halloween should be the one time of year when you dress up as someone else, let your kids play pretend outside, ignore your health, and let things be scary.