As Halloween is just around the corner, I like to remember some of my favorite memories from growing up. My family was not always able to get my sister and I the best costumes out there, but they always allowed us to dress up and get candy. For many years I would make my own costume with things that I had laying around the house to allow my sister have a better costume. We would always go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood. One year, around 5th or 6th grade, my goal was to make it around the entire neighborhood. I had heard some of my friends from the neighborhood were doing it that year, so we got together and walked up and down the streets. We made it to almost every house that year.
A tradition my family started when I was younger is we would go to the local college and go trick-or-treating inside a couple of their buildings. We went for many years. We would be able to get candy and do some cool science themed actives. My sister and I always loved to mess around and dress up.
As I have gotten older, I have had conflicts that interfere with being able to dress up and going out. I would have to do homework or swim practice, but this did not stop me from still participating. I would help my parents pick out candy to hand out and which then I would help hand out while working on my homework. I would love to see the children’s faces light up when they picked out the candy.
The past few years, I have been asking to hand out the candy by myself. My parents would give me money to spend on candy to hand out. I then would sit at the end of the driveway handing out candy. Instead of wearing a costume, I would do face paint. I have done different pumpkins and skeletons over the past few years.
Halloween is amazing time to express myself and bring joy to children’s faces. It was always a happy time for my family, and I love to give that joy to children when handing out candy to them.