Halloween ….

Halloween night 2019 had snow and freezing rain. We only got 6 trick or treaters and they were basically the kids across the street. Pretty said turnout and of course we had a lot of leftover candy.

I was thinking back about Michelle’s Halloween’s. Her first one I made a pumpkin cape and hat and yes she was my little pumpkin. The following year I made her a spider costume. She wore all black and then had a vest like structure with a web on the chest and the arms. For her 3rd Halloween, I made her a Hershey kiss. That year our Christmas card was Merry Kissmas. Sewing however with silver tissue lame was pretty awful.

By the time Michelle was four and attending preschool at St. Bartholomew, she had selected a witch costume. She had a basic black tunic and a reversible witch print cape. We bought a witch hat, but she wanted to be a pretty witch, so I added some tulle with sparkles on it. She had a broom and practiced her witch cackle. She had decided that she really did not like trick or treating. She wanted to be home passing out the treats at the door. Before we did this, we went to Gramma Mary’s house and to Aunt anee (Renee) and Uncle Jerry’s house, next door and got some big candies. Clarence? the guy across the street also gave her a giant Hershey bar.

Now we enter kindergarten and the Power Ranger phase, actually the PINK Power Ranger phase. This year we also got a store bought costume. I also made a costume our of fleece so it was a nice outfit for sleeping. First, second and third grade I have to be honest I think were dedicated to Barbie. I had made some fancy dresses with pink lace and my young Pinkey was happy. She liked to play dress up often. High heels, and lace capes were her go to. What a Fancy Nancy she was! By 4th grade she decided to be Pippi Longstocking. We added wire to her braids and drew some freckles on her face. The following year 5th grade was the year of the car hop I think. I have now decided that I need to do some research in looking at the photos. Halloween parties at St. Barts were the norm during school years. Later Michelle took over her own costumes of course. She made a doll with a key, Sallie from the Nightmare before Christmas, dolls and other fun costumes.

Of course my childhood Halloween’s were so different. This was before the razor blades in apples, Tylenol scares etc. So we could go out multiple times, filling baskets and baskets with loot. My mom’s Aunt Sarah lived over on Patterson and she always made homemade caramel apples – though not my favorite I brought them home to the family. We hit up the bar on Addison just west of Lockwood – Grandpa Byrne , our neighbor and adopted Grandpa worked. They almost always gave a small size bag of Yo Ho potato chips. They were super salty chips. The Certified Grocer on Addison west of Long always gave out Chocolate Milk.

Major costumes that I remember – my Mad Hatter, beige tights, a black jacket that got black paper crepe tails added to it and a gigantic hat made out of cardboard and spray painted black. In third grade I asked for a store bought Mary Poppins, and thanks dad for buying me one. My big sister Mary Ellen made Patti and I clowns one year. We used to go to Chopin Park field house for a party and we won Best Costume that year. We had mops for hair and red ruffles around our neck. She let us select our print and mine was pretty colorful and very busy. We used these later at a party for the Scalzitti children as their birthday party entertainment.

I should also mention that this year was the year that Evanston school district decided not to allow any costumes. It was about equity they said, but the sad thing is the children don’t get that.

It is the era of worried about everything so making sure that no one’s feelings get hurt and white washing everything…. What a sad state for childhood.