A Halloween version of car camping?

I hate to be all, "When I was a kid, a can of Coke cost five cents..."

But honestly. When I was a kid, none of us dressed like sluts. We just wore kid costumes. I was a really good witch one year, with a long papier mache nose that my mom had made for me. My brother liked to be a cowboy.

I remember one year I was a bunny. But not a sexy bunny. A big, dorky, white, flop eared bunny. They weren't supposed to flop. We just couldn't get them both to stand up at once. And of course since I wore thick glasses, I was a big, dorky, white, thick glasses-wearing, flop eared bunny. With sandals. Because it was hot. It was Bangladesh, after all.

I know Halloween has gotten popular all over the world in recent years. Who doesn't like a holiday with costumes and tons of candy? But in the 70s in Bangladesh and Egypt? Not so much.

We went to American or international schools, so of course we'd celebrate with a parade at school. But then Halloween night? We'd get all dressed up in our costumes. And then our parents would drive us around. Because the houses with Americans were few and far between.

There was no house-to-house trick or treating. There was get in the car, drive, park, get out of the car, and run up to the house all excited.

We'd go to the door, "Hi Mrs. Novins! Trick or treat!" and then the parents would chat a bit, and maybe have a cocktail, and then we'd load back up in the car, and we'd drive to the next house. I suppose it made for more drama per house, but it lacked that excitement of tromping around in the dark with a bunch of your friends, wondering what you're going to get at the next house.

And of course you were never going to pull any Halloween tricks. Like that was ever a consideration when you're standing in a nice living room with friends of your parents. It was more "Treat or treat! And Mr. Davis? Can I have a grape lolly pop? I hate cherry."

The good thing was, you had more time to select candy.

I think they must've given us a lot of candy per stop, because we'd always wind up with a ton, and the whole adventure can't have been more than ten houses. But ten long houses. I'd wind up falling asleep in the car on the way home.

See? We did American kinds of things...In a modified kind of way.