I just ate two mini snicker bars and a mini bag of m&m’s. Ugh.
I think I’m going to tell H to bring the candy into his office,
We do not celebrate it ourselves , but I do hand out candy to the trick or treaters. We used to get a lot of kids until the last couple of years. We had a fair amount last night , thankfully in groups so we could watch a movie 
Two of my daughters are really into Halloween still…I don’t know where they got that from 
I’ve known my best girlfriend since the first day of first grade. She was wearing braids and a sailor suit. I had a cool barrette and a dress with a sunflower on it. We bonded instantly. Almost 40 years later…we talk on the phone almost every day, and we see each other once a week.
And Halloween…is our mutual most favorite holiday:)
Every year, we take a long weekend and run away together sometime in October. We hit multiple haunted houses, visit creepy places, go to antique stores and farmers markets, and do silly touristy things like carousel museums and ancient Indian villages.
We’ve done award winning houses like Erebus…super creepy historical places like the Ohio State Reformatory…where The Shawshank Redemption was filmed (super terrifying place!). We did an under ground cave haunt that knocked our socks off, and have done literally dozens of others. We’re always looking for the new experience.
This year we did a burial simulator where you actually get into a coffin, and experience a virtual reality burial. (kinda gross, at the end when everything is dark and silent, they pump in the odor of decomp!) We did a couple of zombie safaris with paint guns, and because my bestie is into creepy history, we visited the site of a horrible disaster in a small town where a guy went nuts and blew up a school. Was extra creepy, because we also visited the cemetery, and found dozens of children who perished that day. Was very sad and unsettling.
Mostly, we try to keep our haunted tour trip fun and light hearted. Nothing we love more than a haunted forest, or a town full of Halloween shops.
My kiddo and her best friend come home for a weekend in October and we make our traditional trip to the fantastic Niles Scream Park…which is a frightful night full of fun. It’s kinda like a night carnival with three haunted houses, and a hay ride and a field of screams. Where else can you eat an elephant year and walk through a vortex tunnel? it’s wonderful…and it’s tradition.
This year we spent Halloween proper at a drag show supporting a gay friend in a costume contest. Was an absolute blast.
S20 is a big guy and felt he’d get comments if he went trick or treating, so he dressed in all black with a plain white mask and creepily or down right frighteningly (depending on the kid’s age and initial reaction) handed out candy. He had a blast despite initially being sad about not going out himself. He also set up a computer hologram with spooky music and a white sheet in a window; zombies banged and scratched at the window all night, moaning, attempting to escape our house! The kids loved it–even the tiny ones. It looked great, too, especially with our carved pumpkins, dancing ghosts, and a hanging skeleton witch!
I started the night walking around with my fifth grade D and a friend and his two year old. D, of course, still loves Halloween, which is great. She’d been eagerly putting together her costume piece by piece for weeks! She enjoyed going around with the 2 yo, who was adorable; he’d softly say, “Trick or treat… Thank you,” then loudly exclaim, “More! More!” as we walked to the next home. He lasted for many houses until he suddenly pulled of his minion hat and stated, “Done.”
One of the highlights was when a fire truck came into the neighborhood with its lights on (no siren), pulled to the side, and 2 firemen jumped out and passed out handsful of candy to everyone around (even me)! Then down the street they went to so it again. So great!
A neighbor asked where my costume was; usually, I dress as an leprechaun, but I couldn’t find the head piece and was too busy (lazy) to search.
Then, 5th grade D went around with D18 and her friend. D18 is small enough to not get comments and is so pleased that she still feels she can go trick or treating!
It was a gorgeous, fun night all around.
Sophomore in college D kept sending me pics or face timing me with 4 different costumes she created for the weekend. My favorite was Chipotle Queen of the Year, which she made mostly with Chipotle bags and aluminum foil! She has always really gotten in to putting together unique costumes (which I used to do, too, when the kids were younger–then, a couple started asking for store bought ones, lol, and/or making them mostly on their own). Once, she created a hermit crab costume!
Bonus: H excitedly bought many bags of candy (all types that we like just in case ), and, although we had a lot of trick or treaters, we had 1/2 the bags left! Score! Speaking of H, this was the first Halloween in 19 years that he didn’t go around with our kids! He helped S at our house. It was bittersweet for him.
^Nice! Love the fire truck!