Happy Halloween! Overseas as a kid, my family kept things simple for occasions like this one. Perhaps it was out of necessity, but honestly, all I can remember is the fun of it all.
You grabbed whatever plaid shirt and hat you could find, added a weapon or two, and you were a cowboy. Or a bandana around the head, yet another weapon (or four), and you were a pirate. My father would take a cork from a wine bottle, char it on the kitchen hob, and deftly draw all manner of moustaches, goatees or beards on our faces. I can still vividly recall his light sketches of some swirly moustache and marvelling in the mirror.
At this point you might mistake this for a frugality column, with the idea to reduce spending at all costs. Let me assure you it's not. The goal is to have goals - to have a plan in place that celebrations fit into. That way we don't shelve our aspirations for the future, like overseas holidays or a better car someday.
Years later I lived in Los Angeles, and perhaps because of Hollywood and the film industry there, Halloween was a much more elaborate event. It was not unusual in the weeks leading up for people to queue outside the costume shops in preparation.
Answering the door when the kids knocked and yelled "trick or treat!" might be a mum dressed in a full Marie Antoinette 18th-century frock. The front lawn might look more like a movie set, complete with a skeleton driving a classic convertible.
