I love Halloween.

When I was a kid Halloween was the only thing that made then end of summer and going back to school tolerable.

As the leaves were busy turning yellow, red and brown, my sister and I were raiding Mom’s closet and makeup drawer for inspiration.

A zombie punk rocker?

A Mummy was a possibility. After all I did have that Ace bandage from when I sprained my ankle.

Halloween is the quintessential equalizer: with a little creativity everyone can play.

I loved movie night at our house, the anticipation of a Saturday night, mid-month when one of the three main channels would feature the Charlie Brown Special, “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!”

My love of Halloween has not wavered.

Just the other day, I was nearly as giddy as my 3-year-old. He was busy hopping around the puddles at Carpinito Brothers pumpkin patch and I was still searching for the “most sincere pumpkin,” a chubby round guy with a two-inch stem and smooth sides. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to carving my pumpkin, triangle eyes, nose and a zigzagged grinning mouth.

Later that evening we carved our pumpkins, festooned our doorstep with spider webs and witches, then stripped kernels off Indian corn filling the house with popped corn smell coated in real butter as we watched, Roald Dahl’s “Witches.”

When I was a kid everyone wore their costumes to school, guaranteeing that no real school work would be done. Endless rounds of Heads Up Seven Up, arts and crafts, a costume contest and – best of all – the Halloween party, when moms paraded in with two-liter bottles of 7Up, sherbet ice cream and Tupperware containing the most wondrous chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with perfectly dolloped orange frosting and dotted with bats and spiders.

After school we twiddled our thumbs by the window, waiting for that sweet reddish hued dusk on the horizon – the universal signal for Go Time!

Kids took to the streets in packs. I can still feel my gloriously stuffed pillowcase swung over my shoulder, feeling as free as a Depression-era hobo riding the rails, sweating despite the chilly fall air that’s always tinged with that slightly smoky smell.

My sister and I trolled the neighborhood leaving no stone unturned, our battle cry was the simple door bell ring and “trick or treat!”

These days I try to recreate this feeling of freedom for my kids, despite the fact that more often than not schools don’t let you wear costumes and some don’t even let you bring treats to school.

But really, at the end of the day, all you need is a costume story, “I’m a lumber jack (pause) ummm, who got bit by a zombie. I have two minutes before I turn.”

AND a good neighborhood.

I forgot how important a part your neighborhood plays in a successful Halloween when we moved out to east Renton. It’s wilderness country compared to our old neighborhood, Renton Hill.

Our first Halloween at our new house I quickly realized how street lights (it was literally pitch black) and sidewalks (I nearly broke my ankle in a ditch) are essential to the whole experience.

That and other kids, of course! Our new neighborhood had so few kids that one house visited hadn’t seen a trick-or-treater in more than 10 years. She was so excited she rushed back into her house, returning with handfuls of sunflower seeds that she dropped into the kids pillowcases.

I have to admit that Halloween was a dud.

Now, we just go back to our old neighborhood on Renton Hill and it’s like we never left: Same guy on the corner still giving out full-sized candy bars.

The other day I read a headline; it said something along the lines of, “Will you let your kids actually eat their Halloween candy?”

Can it actually be true that parents are considering NOT letting their kids eat their candy?

What fresh nonsense is this?

One of the best feelings for a kid, or at least this one, was in spite of being dead dog tired, laying out my booty at the end of the night in an unbelievable circle on the living room floor, a kids version of being a millionaire for one night.

I’m not going to fib, that candy was sweet. And, after trading with my sis late into the night (she was partial to peanut butter cups and I adored Snickers), we savored those treats for weeks to come.

But even sweeter than a pile of Halloween candy were the memories created back then and in a different way today with my own kids; making memories to last a lifetime.

So, if you love Halloween as much as I do, add to my list! Share a story, or an awesome trick or treating neighborhood in Renton or a fun place to visit at www.rentonreporter.com and add to my list of fun things to do for families. I’d love to hear about it!