I feel sorry for those poor deprived kids who have parents who think celebrating Halloween is evil.

[TheMightyFavog]

I feel sorry that they get to miss out on all the fun.

[RB TexLa]

1. They'll live. The sooner children realize what a hassle holidays are the sooner

they can mature.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Meh. I am all for kids having their fun while they can.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Me, too. We loved Halloween and always looked forward to it.

The best things, even more than the candy, were the costumes, and being able to run around in the dark all over the neighborhood and stay out late. In those days only the very little toddlers were accompanied by parents; once you got to be old enough to go to school you were old enough to go trick-or-treating by yourself. After we used up the neighborhood we'd finally come home and dump all our candy out on the living room floor to see what we got and eat some of it before our parents made us put it away.

This was also before people got all paranoid about pins in candy bars and razor blades in apples (not that we were all that excited about getting fruit instead of candy), so we didn't have to wait for the candy to be inspected before we chowed down. There were also these home-made popcorn balls that nobody liked much, and these weird little licorice-flavored wafer things. Didn't like those, either, or Tootsie Rolls. Never liked Tootsie Rolls. But there was always plenty of good chocolate.

It's still fun. I always get a kick out of the kids' costumes - lots of zombies this year.

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Dropped our kiddo off at 5:30 w/a pillow case and a cell phone. Picked him up a little after 8pm.

Sounds like he had a great time.

[liberal_at_heart]

32. didn't have the energy to decorate but

had candy for what little trick or treaters showed up. Had to drive one kid out to a party then take the other one trick or treating, then go back and pick up the one that went to the party. After we all got back to the house we watched the Addams Family. We all went to bed late but everyone got to have their fun. The kids got up a little later than they usually do, but still got off to school okay.

[riderinthestorm]

13. Halloween is a hassle? Really? WTF?

Now if you were talking the Hannukah/Christmas extravaganza, maybe. But Halloween?? This is one holiday that rocks.

[MrSlayer]

25. Maturity is overrated.

Particularly if it leads to sentiments like yours.

[KatyMan]

34. I always tell the kids...

You have to grow up but you don't have to get old!

[LadyHawkAZ]

27. I would think that teaching a child

to take a day here and there to do something totally fun would be a good thing? Maturity's pretty boring without it.

[AlexSatan]

29. I have no interest in having kids mature sooner

They are already maturing too soon as is.

[Javaman]

31. I find it said that you believe you have to forsake child like fun

for the blandness of "maturity".

[Laurajr]

2. I remember when

I turned 12 and didn't go out for halloween anymore it was a right of passage...I was growing up. Now every holiday is a huge commercial corporate staged extravaganza with no meaning whatsoever.

[riderinthestorm]

15. LOL!! My 16 year old is dressed up trick or treating as we speak!

With a dress up party that happened before they all hit the streets. Did you parents set the 12 yr old arbitrary line or something? Halloween just transcends ALL ages imho....

[HiPointDem]

21. it's up to *you* to make the meaning. what 'meaning' does daily life have, for that matter?

it's all commercialised & run by corporations.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. A little different take on that:

Last fall, just before Halloween, I was in a Walgreen's (which always has lots of Halloween stuff). There I saw a girl who looked about 12, with a younger boy who was probably her brother. They looked to be of Somali descent; the girl was wearing a long skirt and head scarf. The kids were looking at all the Halloween stuff, and I heard the girl say kind of sadly, "I sure wish we could celebrate Halloween." I suppose her parents were immigrants who wanted the kids to stick to their traditional culture, but it must have been hard for these clearly Americanized kids not to be able to participate in a holiday that all the other kids really enjoy. Probably the same is true of kids whose parents think Halloween is "sinful."

[Shrike47]

5. Maybe we're a little backward around here but Halloween seems pretty simple

The kids seem so excited and happy and so do those grown-ups who wear costumes.

[earthside]

6. Yup. The religious fanatics are killjoys.

Everything in their petty little lives revolves around fighting perceived persecution and blind obedience to their 'religion' --- the adults rule every breathing moment of their children's existence.

For the kids, it isn't usually just Halloween but the conventional celebration of Christmas and Easter, too. So they end-up always being the 'different' kids ... and we all know how mean kids can be to each other.

On the other hand, the rotten thing about Halloween now it that it has been commercialized and turned into an adult holiday .... it has pretty much been ruined as just a fun time for pre-teen kids to go out trick-or-treating. Once again American materialism and excess has to corrupt everything.

[riderinthestorm]

17. .

I don't agree though that the adults have corrupted Halloween - I think the joy an adult finds with the holiday is shared by the kids. I love that its become so inter generational. That's a good thing imho.

[OkieGranny]

7. We may have overdone the decorating a bit

Parents are dragging terrified children to our door to get candy.

[susanna]

20. I so wish we could...

we're in an urban area with a strict curfew, so all trick or treating happens between 4 - 6 pm when it's still light out. My hubby and I always dress up, but it's just not the same.

He's an electrical engineer who has always wanted to do a sweet light/soundshow at night and scare the kids. I'm not to proud to admit I would like too, as well. Maybe someday.

[Ilsa]

9. Me too. I decorated the outside of the house

for tonight. Kids had a ball at my "scary" home.

[Eleanors38]

11. I'm with you. Helps neutralize the sour puss factor nowadays.nt

[SomethingFishy]

12. It's understandable...

I mean ever since I was a kid and learned how to sacrifice a virgin on Halloween I just have to do one every year. It's like the traditional turkey for Thanksgiving. It got to the point I had to start going door to door looking for virgins as they are hard to come by these days. This year we had to go to our local Witchery and purchase a "lifelike virgin", hopefully the demon we were appeasing didn't notice the difference.

Plus it's just a Commie holiday, all this giving stuff away, trading, sharing... I mean.. The Horror!

[msongs]

14. kids are naturally greedy so they love halloween....and the santa part of xmas nt

[hughee99]

16. Can you imagine not getting to participate in an essentially secular holiday

because of the religious origins?

You get to decorate the house and get free stuff without having to go through any of the religious bullshit, and it's fun for everyone. A lot of people call that "Christmas", these days.

[Auntie Bush]

18. Halloween was always my favorite holiday as a kid.

I have so many fond, fun and scary memories! My BD is Oct 30th so I always had a lot of fun parties...no wonder I looked forward to Halloween. I remember one party when my Mother filled the living room with 2 feet of leaves and we jumped around in them, tossed them at each other and just had a ball! The next year we got wall to wall carpeting and that ended the wild parties, but I still have my memories.

[Brickbat]

19. I feel sorry for people who don't hand out candy because they think the holiday is evil.

It really does make me sad.

[ibegurpard]

22. My street seems to be the go-to place in my city for Halloween.

I probably spent $150 on candy and I don't have any left.
I wouldn't trade seeing all of those cute kids in their costumes though. What fun!
I loved it as a kid and I love seeing kids enjoying it now.

[AnotherMother4Peace]

23. I just had to make a candy run! There's been so many kids this year & the costumes are great!

I went through 2 huge bowls of candy - I do believe this is the best Halloween ever!

[Lydia Leftcoast]

24. The whole "Halloween is devil worship" myth started with the rise of the fundamentalists

in the 1980s. All the time I was growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I NEVER ONCE heard anything against Halloween except from Jehovah's Witnesses, who don't celebrate any holidays or even birthdays.

Besides, Halloween means "Eve of All Hallows," i.e. Eve of All Saints' Day, which commemorates the saints of the past, followed by All Souls' Day (Nov. 2), known as Día de los Muertos in Mexico, which commemorates all the departed.

[Zorra]

26. Me, too. Those poor kids.

I still have a whole lot of fun on Halloween.

[CuriousAboutPolls]

28. I hear you

I hear you. I am a children's entertainer and I make balloons at birthday parties, restaurants, etc. I have had a lot of parent's say "don't make them anything to do with Halloween." I had one girl asking her mom if she could have a pumpkin, without a face. Her mom is like "No, we don't believe in that." You don't believe in pumpkins? Sheesh, with no offense to anybody who believes in any faith....just let them enjoy their childhoods and decide on their own path in life.

[riderinthestorm]

33. The religious brainwashing must start young... pretty sad. Welcome to DU! nt

[LibertyLover]

30. Agreed, but then

for me and my family, Halloween is a two-fold holiday. Halloween is the fun and scary part with neat decorations and candy. But then there is the more serious Samhain, the holy day when we remember our beloved dead and honor their lives. Samhain is my favorite sabbat out of the 8 on the wheel of the year.