Halloween in the 80’s was the best! Whether you were a kid in the 80’s and got to go to school in your costume, or you were older and got to go to the raddest parties, Halloween in the 80’s was incredible. Yeah, sorry to disappoint you but the Halloween Spirit Store did not exist on every street corner like we have today. No, we didn’t have the internet to pull up Pinterest for inspiration either or Amazon where we could just click and we were done ordering our costumes. Halloween was pretty simple in the 80’s and it was all about creative inspiration especially when it came to costume selection. If you were lucky your town supermarket might have even advertised a Halloween Costume Contest that you could enter and try to win a prize for best costume.

In the 80’s most people made their costumes, held Halloween parties at their homes, and the kids pretty much had the reign of the neighborhood with limited supervision of parents. Here are a few things that were so great about Halloween in the 80’s. Maybe you remember a few of these.

• Plastic masks had limited holes to breathe and superhero outfits were made of plastic.
• Kids used pillowcases to collect their Halloween candy. Yes, life was pretty simple back then.
• Remember bobbing for apples at the Halloween party? Yes, no one washed the apples, changed the water, or even thought about the germs.
• Halloween playlists including Thriller by Michael Jackson, Pet Sematary by the Ramones, Dracula’s Tango by Toto Coelo, Weird Science by Oingo Boingo, Somebody’s Watching Me by Rockwell, and Ghost Town by The Specials to name a few.
• Candy sorting felt like an all-day event. No one ever had to hand over their candy to their parents because of too much sugar.
• Who remembers classroom parties at school? Yes, we had Halloween parties at school, and they lasted for what felt like hours. Mom’s brought homemade popcorn balls, cookies, or cupcakes and fruit punch was served by the gallons. The kids were all dressed up and paraded in costume from room to room through the entire school for all to see.
• Horror movies! Did you watch horror movies from the 80’s at Halloween? A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining, Poltergeist, and The Fly were a few of the many horror movies to come out of the 80’s.

Life seemed a lot less scary in the 80’s. Halloween back then made us think that monsters were only in our imagination. Unfortunately, today we have to be much more cautious. We often take our kids to trunker-treat parties instead of trick-or-treating, search their candy like it’s life or death for who knows what kind of craziness we might find, and then only let our kids eat a few pieces and either ditch the rest or take it to the local dentist’s candy buyback program. Well the Halloween season is upon us so I think I’m going to go dress up in my favorite 80’s costume all month long and pretend it’s the 80’s every day. Oh wait…I love the 80’s so I don’t have to pretend just because it’s Halloween! Nope, if you love the 80’s like I do, go ahead and be true to yourself this Halloween and rock your 80’s spirit.