After finishing this drawing from memory of my sister Judy and I in our Halloween costumes in, probably, 1958, I realized it's way off. She is actually only a little over a year younger than me. In this drawing she looks about five years younger than me. Sorry Judy. Though it does look a little like she did as a kid, whereas the drawing I did of myself probably looks more like I wished I’d looked. In reality I was skinnier, freckle-faced, and my scraggly hair was usually in pigtails that stuck straight out from the sides of my head.
I remember feeling excited about Halloween coming, when the first cool crisp fall day arrived. I was almost always a gypsy for several reasons. One was that I loved the makeup. Another reason was that we had really cool costumes, bought in Mexico. The gypsy-like (though really Mexican) top was off the shoulder, bright colors, and had shiny pieces of metal hanging from it. Though I wonder if it was really off the shoulder, and if it was, if my mom really let me wear it that way? Probably. The skirt was gorded, bright colors, flared out when I twirled, and I twirled a lot. It also, I think, had colorful shiny things like sequins and seed beads sewn on to the fabric. I tied one of my mom’s silk scarves over my hair and wore the gaudiest earrings I could find in her jewelry box that she would let me wear. I am not sure what I wore for shoes. Probably tennies or loafers with socks. It was usually cool in the fall, even in Southern California.
My mom would put two little dots of Cutex Hot Strawberry lipstick on my upper lip and tell me to rub my lips together. I wanted her to put it on thick from corner to corner like I'd watched her do on her own lips a million times but she would never cooperate. I also wanted eyeliner and mascara, blush, the works. She would sometimes use the Berol Draughting pencil (the same one she used on her own eyes, on crossword puzzles, on grocery lists, and on her drawings of floor plans and tile patterns) on my upper eyelid but it just gave a disappointing grey shadow when I wanted a thick black line.
My sisters and I headed out without parents as soon as it got dark. We carried huge sacks with us, sometimes even pillow cases, to collect our candy. Trick or Treating was serious business. We set out to hit as many houses as possible before having to come home, though I don’t remember having a curfew.
Some houses gave apples. We usually remembered which ones and avoided them. Some gave money, probably the people who forgot to buy candy. Some kept their lights off and didn’t answer the door. Those were remembered as people who hated kids.
The houses that were coveted (and word spread fast through the large network of kids in our neighborhood) were the ones that gave the small chocolate Mars, Three Musketeers (in those days they were larger and divided into three sections "so you could share with friends"), Almond Joy, Mounds, and Snickers candy bars. If anyone gave large candybars that was like a miracle, like winning the lottery. Some people made stuff like rice crispy bars and candied apples. It was appreciated but we really preferred the store bought candy. Gum was good, especially bubble gum. Loved the Kool-aid straws, Lik-M-Aid, the Necco Wafers, the candy corns and the strips of paper with the little pastel colored dollops of candy on them. My absolute favorite, still is – the Red Hots. They were rare. Tootsie Rolls, Rollos, Peanut Butter Cups, M&Ms – all fabulous.
While moving through the neighborhoods, once in a while we came across a haunted house. That was good, though it caused stress because if it took too long to go through it, it was not a good trade off since it was using time that could have brought in more candy. We appreciated when an adult took time to make it special, but kept it short. I always wished my parents would dress up and participate like some of those we saw on the streets. That would have caused stress too, probably, since they might do something really embarrassing.
The thing I remember most is the wonderful feelings of adventure, being out late at night with no adults, the freedom, danger, excitement, exploring, having new experiences, those feelings were beyond words.
My kids did Halloween pretty much the way I did, with hoards of costumed friends, staying up late, wandering all over the neighborhoods, coming home with enormous bags of candy. They Trick or Treated late into their teens, had a hard time letting go of it. There was a lot of candy-checking going on by then though, the crazy people were emerging with their sick candy-tampering ways. By the time my granddaughter came along things had changed dramatically. Halloween was a total adult-supervised affair with neighborhood events in lieu of Trick or Treating for those who didn't want to risk the candy-as-weapons thing. Trick or Treating was done only in neighborhoods where you knew all the neighbors, and parents always came along. Sad that the element of danger we so cherished in my youth had to be elevated to real danger, ruining it forever for everyone.
