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Halloween was like a right of passage for kids when I was growing up. At first, mom and dad have to take the kids out for trick or treating and then comes the first Halloween where we were allowed to trick or treat with no mom or dad...just friends. It was a pretty cool feeling, because we no longer went out for the candy....it was just the chance to hang out with friends with no parents looking over our shoulders.

Halloween was like a right of passage for kids when I was growing up.

Do you remember it as elaborate as it is? When I was a kid, it was about carving a jack-o-lantern, going out trick-or-treating for a small amount of candy, and then coming back home and watching monster movies on TV. And that was about the extent of it. I went overseas for a few years, and when I got back I was astounded to see the huge holiday it had grown into. Now the stores fill with Halloween decorations for weeks on end before Halloween. In my day, you had to find a Spencer's Gifts if you wanted something other than a plastic halloween mask. It is now one of the three of four largest holiday retail events of the year.