I missed out on quite a few Halloweens because it was our tradition that the husband takes the children trick-or-treating while the wife stays home to hand out candy. The first two years at our house, there were a handful of kids who braved the long trek from the road to our house along a winding driveway LOL. I decorated and put up lights and tried to make it as welcoming as possible. But the trick or treaters dwindled down to none as a more conjested street in our neighborhood became known as THE street where you could get the most candy. Still, I focused on getting the children into their costumes and let my husband take them out, because he enjoyed standing on the street corner with his buddies, passing a flask around and shooting the bull.
My son, particularly, loved to dress up for Halloween and designed elaborate costumes. We had to begin working on them as early as July. One year he dressed as Legolas so we had to obtain a tunic, vest, cape, leaf pin, gauntlets, leggings, blond wig, boots, two swords, a bow, arrows, a quiver and a sword belt. Whew!