Retro Halloween is officially back. Cute is out, and decorations have returned to scaring the living daylights out of even the bravest trick-or-treater (or Home Depot shopper).
Of course, the costume aisle tells a different story. You’ve got Woodys and Buzzes everywhere (thanks, “Toy Story 5”), the now-classic “K-Pop Demon Hunters,” and Spider-Man, Spider-Man, Spider-Man everywhere. They’re (probably) licensed, (probably) quite comfortable and, unlike what we wore back in the ’80s, (probably) breathable and less flammable.
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As parenting styles changed, so did Halloween. Gone are the days of the unsupervised free-for-all. No more parents yelling, “Be home by 9, and not in the back of a police car!” No more kids roaming the dark like escaped convicts, dragging Mom’s least favorite pillowcases and squinting through plastic masks held on by a rubber band and a very, very small staple. No apps telling you where the best candy houses were. No trunk-or-treating. No safety escorts.
And with Halloween landing on a Saturday this year, there’s no school-night excuse to cut it short. This is the closest we’ll get to (dare I say it) the old days.
So grab your plastic pumpkin bucket and take an unlit stroll back in time. If you remember these, you remember old-school Halloween.
LET’S GO: 18 Old-School Halloween Things That Would Never Fly Today
No parents, no curfew, just a plastic mask you couldn’t breathe through and a pillowcase full of candy from total strangers. How many of these did you do?
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
LOOK: These Things in the 1980s Scared the Heck Out of Kids
From mail-order guilt to evil movie children to a candy rumor that had zero basis in reality, these are the fears that defined a generation of kids.
Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
