Costumes

When children are left to their own devices, the Halloween costumes are pretty reasonable. When the adults get into the act, competing for the palm of the most horrific, the results are at best thoroughly tasteless. Most of the kids I know are happy with ketchup and imagination, until they go by Spencers and see the rotting corpse outfits.

I know that imagination doesn't move product, and that the holy dollar can always be made to move a little faster; and so we will always be afflicted with vendors trying to catch our eyes with ever more shocking merchandise. Still, if you must give a potlatch, why not skip the plastic tombstones and spiders and give out full-sized candy bars and pop? The kids don't really care much about hands reaching out of the lawn.