LOL Oh my.

Wow, what a great photo reminder of what it must have been like back then!

It brings to mind the Halloween scene in the Judy Garland movie "Meet Me In St. Louis" Love that movie!

Nobody had a 'store bought' costume when I was a kid seventy years ago. Nobody drove children to go trick-or-treating outside their own neighborhoods either.

Same here, Chisue. I grew up in NYC, and we lived in an apartment building (the one in the photo). We had all the trick-or-treating we could possibly want without ever leaving the building. My mom, who died when I was 9, was very creative, and I had some great costumes. One I remember especially fondly was a very busty Mae West.

Rusty, years ago when I was the crossing guard outside a primary school, I was often asked to come in and judge various dress up competitions for Book Week and such. My main criterion was that it had to be made by the child (with help from a parent perhaps), not just a bought outfit. I remember one little girl was thrilled to get a prize for her self made costume, telling me that her older brother had announced that her costume was "stupid", "ugly" and would never win :-D

One mother was outraged that the Easter bonnet she had decorated for her daughter didn't win. I told her that the prize was for the child's effort, not hers.

A nearby library was happy that it's costume exchange outfitted a whole bunch of kids. Same concept as hand-me-downs in my day, I guess, but using a wider net since families are generally smaller.

We did have the paper store bought masks, but yes as Chisue said, we used mostly home items or home-made to be pirates, gypsies, indians, cowboys etc. I think that some would no longer be acceptable.

I dont think commercial costumes existed when I was a kid. You put it together yourself. I was a gypsy when I was six on Long Island and then a Rainbow fairy because of a school play in second grade-that costume with its leotard and multicolored Tutu was passed down when I couldn't wear it. After that it was hobo or gypsy again. When I was older I once went to a party as "death" but in White with a paper mask that I built up in layers. So amazing no one knew who I was. Inconvenient for the food.

I was not allowed to trick or treat as a child, but then our nearest neighbor was half a mile away.

I do remember that a popular costume was a white sheet with two eye-holes cut out, but you would need to have a throw-away sheet to make this.

No one ever trick or treated our house when I was a child either. I wished my family lived in NYC instead of a farm back then.

Sheets tend to rip when they get old, Lars, so then they become candidates for costuming.

If you have space to hang on to them for a while. It helps if one knows where to find whichever item when the need for it appears.

ole joyful

PITA: when I returned later to change "the", related to "item" to "whichever", my assistant editor added almost a line of a third to a half of the word alongside what I'd written, so I had a good bit of deleting requirerequired. - See?

Also when I go to "Submit", if I haven't punched "space" after the last portion of my writing, it disappears

Seems part of the Houzz-keeping system.

No purchased costumes in my childhood either. I remember a popular costume kids could make was a ”bum.” That wouldnt be acceptable today.

Fun to see that photo @Alisande.

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and we did not purchase costumes. One year my mom made me a beautiful butterfly costume, but most years we just used something from our closet in a different way and begged mom to use some of her make-up. Gypsy, hobo, cat, go go girl and so on.

We did not purchase Halloween costumes for our kids either. The goal was to use things we already had and create sometiing different. My favorites were the Statue of Liberty and a scarecrow. A bit more planned than the costumes of my day but it was a fun.

My kids were born in 1973, 1975, and 1978. I never purchased costumes for them; it was much more fun to create something. At least it was more fun for me--I think it was fun for them too. One favorite Halloween memory was when I turned my two little girls into flowers--a red zinnia and a yellow sunflower. Five or so years later, my oldest wanted to dress as Madonna. That was less fun for mom. :-)

i remember dressing up three boxes with foil and going as a robot ...

No store bought costumes here, my mom was a wiz at sewing. The store costumes were printed plastic hospital style gowns with plastic masks you couldn't see well out of. The kids always ended up wearing the masks on the top of their heads. Some of the homemade costumes I wore were ballerina, cowgirl, clown, hobo, gypsy, princess and pirate.

I believe the last time I went T or T was when I was 12 or 13. Even then my friend and I didn't decide to go out until the last minute. I don't remember what I threw together, but my friend put holes in a pumpkin leaf bag for her arms/legs and stuffed it with newspaper.

All is commercial hype now days. Bleh!

Myself and my kids, who were born in the 70s, made up our own costume. Like so many other things that we consume. these new character things are just consumable junk that ends up in the landiflll. And, unlike that old pair of pants that you may have used in your costume in 1970, these things are forever materials in the landfill.

I enjoyed the photo from the past. So many things were not such an artificial hype as they are today.

Of course, today, you would be less likely to go as a gypsy or a hobo due to political correctness. There is going to be someone who finds offense with so many of these characters.

I guess it is still OK to be a princess or a pirate or a ghost, though.

Halloween in 1980! My kids.

So cute, Kathy! Thanks for sharing. Was the baby in the pumpkin? :-)

Where I grew up, cowgirl would not have been a costume.

One year I went to a Halloween party in Hollywood dressed as a sailor, which I did not think was much of a costume, but it was extremely popular. However, I could not sit down while wearing it because someone would immediately sit in my lap and say, "Hello, sailor! New in town?" I hadn't counted on that happening.

Not in pumpkin, DH behind holding him up!