A pretty good holiday for the kids. I know how fun it is for them to dress up and go out trick or treating. I remember How much I loved it as a child. this will be the last one for trick or treats for our family{sniff} since our kids are bigger. We like to carve pumkins, and watch It's the Great Pumkin Charlie Brown, a Halloween tradition for our family. It was fun in grammar school when the kids got to have parties. and have a parade.   UPDATE: Halloween is not so big for us anymore. my kids are way past the trick or treating and we stopped passing out candy years ago {for different reasons} I still buy the candy we just use it for our own family. Have fun tonight for those who still celebrate this holiday. UPDATE: another Halloween. ours was cold and dreary. glad my kids are past that age. Hope anyone who did celebrate this holiday had a fun one. oddly we saw few kids walk down our block. with this economy, the fear of "swine flu" and newscasters telling parents to be aware of "sex predators" I was not surprised to see so few trick or treaters. kind of sad really.

Best. Holiday. Ever!
Fun when I was a kid, still Fun as an Irresponsible adult. Halloween season Begins October 1st with the Ceremonial Nightly Watching of Horror movies. The decorations also come up around that time, The scarier the better. And of course the Costumes. You can not just go to the store and buy Some lame-ass costume the Day before. No, my friend. You need to plan in advance what you are going to be and begin Making it yourself as soon as Possible so that it will be Ready on time.
Booze is another important Staple of this Holiday. Ideally, you want to begin stockpiling Beer, Whiskey and Clear liquors around The first of the month. This helps ensure that you have an ample supply by the 31st. If you are a Heavy drinker, it may behoove you to begin Stockpiling booze in September or August. Once you have a fully Stocked bar, you are Halfway there. You also want to make sure that your Strobe lights, silly String, and blacklights are functional and well Stocked.
Lastly, the candy. You are going to want Plenty on hand for both friends and Trick-or Treaters. Luckily, candy is Easy to find and fairly inexpensive. It is also advisable to go to the Store on November first and buy enough half-priced Halloween candy to last you until June.
On October 31st, Dress up, find some close friends, and head down to Your local watering hole. Late that night, around 2:00 or so, follow Some Friends to an Afterparty. Be sure to drink some Gatorade in between hard liquors, your Head will thank you the Next morning. If you Happen to meet any attractive person of the Opposite sex (Or same sex, I'm not here to Judge) Remember to wear Protection.
Enjoy this Kick-ass Holiday my friends, and Try to Drink responsibly.

Will somebody please tell me when I'm too old for trick-or-treatin' in an outlandish costume?

Thanks.

While being careful not to condemn others for celebrating Halloween in the way they prefer, I must say that that type of celebration is not for me. I have been there and done that. I celebrate in a much different way, now. I like to recognize it as a day of harvest. I love the colors that come out this time of year, like for instance, what's on my door right now is a little wreath with a scarecrow in the middle of it that hangs on the outside of the door. Also, I haven't gotten around to doing it this year, and probably won't because of time issues, but I like to put out uncarved pumpkins, gourds, and cornstalks, and they all have a harvest flavor.

Halloween is my favorite holiday. It seems to encompass the entire month of October, which is probably the greatest month weather-wise throughout the States. Haunted houses, hay rides, pumpkin carvings all go on throughout the entire month, and the weekend of Halloween and sometimes the weekend preceeding are filled with parties. Bars and parties are packed with people who are having a better time than 99% of all other "regular" days out. When I was a kid I loved tricker treating and it's still awfully cute to see the little trick or treaters.

Halloween is OK, but honestly once you get past the trick-or-treating age, it loses ground to the other holidays rather quickly. When I was 8 I would have given Halloween 5 stars.

Although Halloween has never really been a big deal in the UK it was here that it was likely to have originated. One of the traditions the description states is "Trick or Treating" - this is an American invention and something that was not done in the UK until the original airing of ET made tradition known over here. I think it's pretty frowned upon in some areas, but I do know quite a lot of areas in Leicester do seem to actively take part in Trick-or-treating now.

I wouldn't really call this day a holiday though as we still have to work on Halloween, it's more of a festivity.

Personally I prefer the Day of the Dead (Dias de los Meurtos) because it is a time to remember the dead and to honour them rather than Halloween which is more specifically aimed at scaring off evil spirits that could damage the crops before they are harvested.

It's genre in popular culture though is something I've had mixed reactions to - there are some particularly good horror movies out their involving all manners of creature, but there are probably more cheesy ones out there.

most badass holiday regardless of what age you are.  the entire vibe, the weather, and the spookyness. i love it.

UPDATED OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HALLOWEEN:

By genghisthehun

ORIGINAL COMMENT:  November 1 is All Saints Day in the Christian Church and this holiday occurs at the same time as some pagans had a festival. Halloween is a contrati0n of the Eve of Hallows (Saints.) Most of the belief in witches, goblins and others comes from paganism and these creatures were supposedly afoot the night before All Saints Day. Many of the traditions of Halloween come down from various sources and have persisted all these centuries.

In San Francisco, Halloween is one of the best days of the year. There's something dark and pagan about it - it allows you to be somebody else for a day, and let those inhibitions go just a little bit more.

I hope I never get too old to enjoy Halloween.

Good excuse to put pumpkins and plastic skeletons in front of your house. Overall, a fun holiday.

One of my favorites since childhood. The costumes, the treats, the tricks; Ah fond memories.

Halloween is my second favorite Holiday because you get to act like a kid again,the weather is turning colder the leaves are really beautiful changing.I like handing out the candy and decorating my apartment for halloween also.

Five when I was a kid and four in college. . .ahh, the days of handing out prizes for 'the most offensive halloween costume' at college- I went to a party where someone came dressed as Anita Hill and went around accussing all the party-goers of sexual harrassment. . .

I have always loved this day, but the reasons have changed. When you are a kid it is just so much fun to dress up and be someone else for a day and to go around collecting candy and other goodies, carving the Jack O Lanterns were really cool too. Now I still love the Jack O Lantern stuff, but I now know that it is to help light the ancestors way, I honor my departed loved ones on this day and now I am the one handing out goodies : )

My favorite holiday. The only one in which all of the community participates in one simultaneous ritual. Certainly the most fun, spoiled only by paranoid and inaccurate rumors of poisoned candy, razor blades in apples, ect.

The origin of Halloween comes, not only from Celtic culture, but from Native American and Greek culture as well. I suppose Christians may be justified in saying it is an evil holiday, since its origins are Pagan (ignorance is shown here as Pagans did not worship the Devil or anything like that, they worshiped more than one god). But who am I to judge? Halloween isn't really a specific celebration anyway, at least not anymore. It is a holday of expression. It is just a day where kids and adults alike can be someone or something else. It is a way to escape every day lives. And it's FUN!

As a kid, I loved this holiday. It was right up there with Christmas and my birthday. Now, as an adult, I hate it (other than the fact that they tend to play a lot of horror movies on the TV during this time). Not to sound like Scrooge or a complete misanthrope, but I don't particularly like kids, don't feel like standing there all evening dispensing candy to these little goblins, and generally try to be somewhere else on that particular day. I do feel some degree of guilt about this, as I certainly collected enough candy from obliging adults when I was a kid. Then again, the kids have no hesitancy about leaving me soaped-up windows or some other "treat" of their own as revenge for my dereliction of my Halloween-duty, so that relieves me of my guilt and I figure we're even for another year...

Trick or treat! Smell my feet! Give me something good to eat! (numbah is such a child) UPDATE: Anybody who doesn't like an opportunity to dress up like a fool and beg for candy is a person I don't want to associate with! On a side note, is this day a protection racket for kids? Gimme some candy and I'll see to it that your house doesn't get egged!

Fun stuff! Kids get to dress up and if you don't like seeing kids dressed up having fun, you've got a real problem.

Candy and horror movies, and you aren't required to see family members that you don't want to see. What could be better??? It's also fun to dress up and be someone else for one night.

I was a hotdog this year :)!

Organized national begging day. We spend the rest of the year trying to keep kids of the streets and then on October 31 every year we send them out to beg for candy. Mean while every day there is a new story about how America is getting fat and how diabetes is more common then ever. This isnot a Hallmark day it is a Hershey day.

Halloween historically has nothing to do with the devil. That's just something the wacked-out right wing fundamentalist christians say because they heard it from their pastor, who has a room-temperature IQ. Look into the history of the Celtic festival of Samhain. It was one of the four seasonal festivals, along with Lughnasadh, Bealtaine, and Imbolc. Bealtaine, Lughnasadh, and Samhain are still the names of the months of May, August, and November in Irish (and a variation in Scots). Samhain was a time of contemplation of death and the beginning of winter. Pre-christian Celts believed that on Halloween, Oiche Shamhna, the barriers between the world of the living and dead was lowered, allowing the dead to return to where they had lived. Food and entertainment were provided in their honor (trick or treat). Of course, christianity can't have that, so the devil propaganda was used. Halloween should still be celebrated, and is a great holiday.

My rating has nothing to do with religion, Satanic beliefs or any of that stuff. I just don't like being pressured into dressing up and have never found it really appealing.

A lot of christians don't support this holiday because of how it's supposed to be satanic but I really don't think that the little kids who dress up in Winnie the Pooh outfits go home and worship the devil. In any case, I like Halloween really only because I get to eat the candy leftovers!

Hallowe'en (or Samhain) is also known as All Saint's Day in some countries and represents the unexplained. In England, because of this ancient celebration and all the old spooky haunted places, people used to go apple bobbing and the like, but more recently the American tradition of Trick or Treating has come over and what used to be a relatively quiet affair has now got more spark and fun to it, particularly for children.....the original dark side is less prominent. (maybe?) The Celtic countries from whence the celebration came marked the end of summer harvest-time; they use sundown as the time when the veil between spirit and the material world is at it's thinnest so that there is crossover of spirits to visit their relatives from the land of the Sidhe (Faeries and spirit) My cousin owns an art gallery called Gallerie Sidhe (pronounced shee-ee)

I don't consider it a holiday to 'worship the devil', or anything like that; it's just a time when little kids can get candy, and adults can dress up and hand out candy. What's the problem with that?

Halloween was a lot more fun when I was younger...hitting house after house picking up candy was a blast. Now, its appeal has died down a little, but it is an excuse to go to school with some crazy black makeup on!

Halloween is not an italian holiday but it's very famous now cos everybody adopted it...i admit i love to dress as a witch

Spend a lot of money on some scary, outlandish or trendy costume that your kid will only wear once and send him or her door to door to collect candy from strangers for a month long sugar high- oh boy.

Halloween will always be special to me because it was one of the biggest things that I looked forward to every year when I was younger. Dressing up and going out and getting as much candy as I possibly could. These days, however, the holiday has lost its meaning for me and I'm content with just dressing up and handing out candy. But its a great holiday for the young ones.

I get a kick out of so-called "Christians" who participate in a holiday that glorifies the devil. Unbeliveable!

Oh, I don't know. Name one other holiday when the city warns you to keep your pets indoors.

Still love to dress up!

Pure Evil. This is the most evil holiday ever.

I really enjoy Halloween even though I outgrew the trick or treating thing years ago. Of course, these days you have to be very cautious with this holiday, as there are certainly plenty of sickos out there. I do not subscribe to all this nonsense about it being a Satanic inspired day. When I see a little girl dressed as a ballerina or as a princess, and a little boy dressed as Superman or a cowboy, I know that they are having fun. Period. As long as we make it safe for them, I think it is a worthwhile holiday for kids.

YEEAAAH BABY! My favorite holiday! Tonight, I'm going down to my favorite club dressed up as a mammogram machine!

A delightfully fun holiday. One dresses up as their favorite character and goes out to get free candy from nice neighbors! It's also fun to watch the little kids go around and have lots of fun! I've dressed up as a Starfleet officer (from Star Trek), the Green Power Ranger, a NASA astronaut and various others on this holiday, nothing scary. In the end, a highly-recommended holiday to celebrate!

I just don't think much of it. But I don't like people whining about it being a pagan holiday or whatever.

The third best holiday after Christmas and Thanksgiving. I hate those damn people who egg houses. I am going to catch one next year and stuff an egg up their ass.

I think they stop Halloween all together, either that or have partys for the young kids,and stop the door to door begging.

If it weren't for all the really sick, I mean really sick, people out there who make this more and more each year an unsafe holiday for the kids... it would be a great holiday for kids to enjoy and pleasantly remember all though life! Now as a Christian if you are one or even if you are Jewish, what the hell are you doing celebrating a Pagen holiday???

I love Halloween. It's the one day of the year where you can dress up, look and act crazy or scary or funny and pig out on candy and it's all worth it! Another thing I like about Halloween is that is a relatively stress-free holiday. You don't have to worry about anything other than deciding what you'll dress up as, and the food is easy- go to the store and buy bags of candy. How hard is that? Halloween has a fascinating history- it's basically our oldest holiday, dating back to the pre-Christian Celtic tribes of Ireland and England, combined with an ancient Roman festival that celebrated the harvest. It's also a holiday of trust- the fact you can open your door to complete strangers and they trust you enough to give them candy is unique. I always loved trick or treating as a kid and getting compliments from people on costumes. Halloween rules!

Holloween is like the best. You get to dress up & go out & have fun with your friends!! :)

I love dressing up for Halloween, though I admit I don't do it every year. But when I do it's a complete gas. Halloween is a great holiday, and I don't care that it comes from pagans or The Day Of The Dead or whatever. It is a lot of fun! (Plus they play all the scary movies on TV for about two weeks!)

This movie has got to be one of the greatest horror films ever made. It's got suspense and chills, what more do ya need?

I'm 14, so I'm getting a wee bit too old for Halloween, but nontheless.. I dunno, it's just a hell of a lot of fun, especially on Smick Street, where I trick-or-treat. I looove Halloween!

Back in my trick-or-treating days, I remember EVERY year, there were always a couple of jerks who would leave their porch lights on, yet they'd never come to answer the door on Halloween. Even though, as Dirtdauber said, there is that age-old rule of "no lights, no candy", some people I assume liked to annoy kids by leaving their porch lights on all night, just to ignore everyone who knocks on their door. The dirty bastards! Looking back on it, I don't really see what was so great about going trick-or-treating anyway. Most of the people are too cheap to get halfway-decent candy (and I'd love to know where all these people FIND the orange and black wrapped pseudo peanut butter "candies"--I've NEVER seen them in ANY store!). And of course, getting a costume for Halloween anyway is no cakewalk either--usually hard to find the right things you need for what you want to be, so you wind up getting some cheap garbage bag costume of a ghost, pumpkin, or vampire. Yay?

Now there is a scary thought…a rater named Arsonist who says Halloween is their favorite holiday. Not wild about Halloween myself, kids ringing the doorbell and banging on the door all night. That’s ok for the first 2 or 3 hours then it just flat out gets annoying. Plus, nobody seems to honor the age-old rule of no lights, no candy. When I turn the front porch light off it is gone folks, stop beating on my door. Oh and for the soccer moms who bus their kids in from 10 miles away, stop it!!! I bought enough for our neighborhood not yours.