Costumes by the company Ben Cooper were popular during the 1970's - 1990's.
Halloween was always fun while growing up. I started trick-or-treating at the age of 2 back in 1980. I don't remember it, but I was bundled up and ready to go that year. I was decked out as Ishy Bat (above), who was a character from Kooky Spooks, which were characters that were advertised on TV from 1979-1981. They were short lived.
Halloween was different back then. I'm not sure what happened through the years, as things started changing in the late 1990's, at least that's when I noticed it in my area. During the 1980's and into the early 1990's we us to have nearly 100 kids on Halloween night. That number dwindled down to 35- 45 kids by the mid 1990's. We roughly had 15-25 kids on Halloween night during the early 2000's and by 2005 we had about 10 kids. There were two years in the early 2000's that we had 0 kids.
Stranger danger might be some of it, but in reality, I think people just aren't taking their kids trick-or-treating as much because it's not the 'in' thing anymore, like Halloween us to be. A lot of parents may not want to walk with their kids, so they take them to something like trunk-or-treat or some place where trick-or-treating is done in one safe area/spot.
I remember reading about how Halloween was canceled in 1969 when the Zodiac killer was on the loose in the bay area, among other areas in California. Needles/blades in candy and apples were an issue during the 1970's as well. Stuff like that has always been around, but with social media and the news media the way it is today, you're going to hear about every little thing that occurs across the country. So things like that are still there.
1981 was the first Halloween memory that I had at the age of 3. I was a clown that year and remember being so tired from walking 2 hours, but at the end of the night my bag was full of candy.
I was Yoda from Star Wars in 1983 and it was my first costume made by the company Ben Cooper. More than likely you or your child has worn a Ben Cooper costume. If you don't remember the pain on your face and lips (from the plastic), than you probably never wore their costumes. They were fun and cheap on the budget, but by the end of the night you were ready to rip that mask off your face.
We moved to Highland, MI in August of 1984 and I was an Indian that Halloween. I don't recall dressing up as an Indian, but I do remember the wig I had on. It was always fun going to school and dressing up as something/someone else. In recent years I've seen teenagers dress up as nothing. They'll wear a white t-shirt and pants and that's it. It's like... what the heck? It's Halloween.
1985 I dressed up as an Executioner (Mr. X) and just by looking at this costume... it wouldn't fly nowadays. It was homemade and I made the axe myself. I used an empty paper towel role for the axe handle and cardboard to make the cheek (axe head) and I wrapped aluminum foil over it. I used duct tape to tape it to the handle. The aluminum foil covered up the duct tape. I put some dirt on my pants to make them look dirty.
It's not just trick-or-treating that has changed, but also the costumes. Teenagers us to wear scary costumes, but nowadays you hardly see anyone in scary costumes. The little kids I can understand, because a lot of their costumes are cute and some are actually homemade, which look awesome.
I tend to watch scary movies, not just on Halloween, but the weeks leading up to the night event. Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is my go to network for classic horror, but over the air networks (free TV) like This! and Movies! are good as well.
I don't think Halloween will ever be like it was during the glory days of trick-or-treating, because if there's less people going year after year, there will be less people passing out candy. It takes two to tango. I'm glad and thankful that my Halloween days were fun and special.
Halloween 1992
