15 Things ’80s Kids Did on Halloween That Made the Night Unforgettable

Halloween in the 80s was unforgettable due to the mix of freedom, creativity, candy, TV, homegrown fun, and just enough horror that the night offered. Children sprinted down streets with pillowcases and pumpkins, collecting candy, had trouble putting on plastic masks, traded candies, and dared other kids to go near scary houses. School activities, homemade haunted houses, scary tales, family pumpkin carving, and party games expanded the festivities beyond trick-or-treating. A costume could be bought off the rack or sewn using anything the family had. When the night came to an end, kids counted candy and relived each terrifying moment and each funny prank.

1. Racing From House to House With Pillowcases

Halloween nights always meant neighborhood marathons for 80s children. They scurried from house to house, their pillowcases or plastic pumpkins or grocery bags getting increasingly heavy with each stop. The pillowcases proved particularly handy since they could carry much more candy than an inexpensive toy pumpkin. Kids would talk about paths taken, recall who gave out large candies, and run away from houses that were known to give raisins or pennies. Porch lights were used as the simplest way to signal that children were welcome. When children finally arrived home, tired after the night out, all the collected candy would be poured out on the floor in a huge mound.

2. Wearing Plastic Masks With Tiny Eyeholes

Kids born in the 80s went door-to-door on Halloween wearing costumes consisting of a plastic mask and an identical vinyl tunic. Boxed costumes of such type were produced by such companies as Ben Cooper and Collegeville in the images of such cartoon characters as Spider-Man, Darth Vader, Strawberry Shortcake, and superheroes. Masks appeared to be quite attractive in shops, but putting on a mask outdoors turned out to be a whole experience itself. Usually, kids tried to pull a mask over their heads in between the houses so they could have a good look at the pavement. Moreover, the character’s name or image was always presented in the costume under a mask.

3. Sorting and Trading Candy on the Floor

However, after trick-or-treating, the real bargaining could begin. Kids dumped all of their loot on carpets of living rooms, tables of kitchens, or floors of bedrooms to sort it out into piles according to colors. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Snickers, Milky Ways, M&M’s, Tootsie Rolls, Smarties, and candy corn were worth different trading currencies. Sometimes, one kid gave up several pieces of undesired candy in exchange for a beloved chocolate bar, while another kept favorite pieces safe from brothers or sisters. This process extended Halloween to after the last house because each piece of candy entered a little marketplace. Children counted, compared, traded, and even hoarded some candy for later.

4. Watching Halloween Specials on Television

Television also helped create a special feeling even before many of the kids from the ’80s ventured out into the outdoors. This included special TV shows for different seasons, including cartoons and scary movies that would come on during the month of October every year. “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” was a show that was always shown. Other TV shows that created the special atmosphere included “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” produced by Disney, and Halloween episodes from sitcoms. If you missed the TV show one year, it was another whole year before seeing it again. They might watch the shows dressed in their costumes while the parents were finishing up their dinner and getting ready for trick-or-treaters.

5. Visiting Homemade Haunted Houses

A dark garage, a basement, a school gym, or even a community center would easily turn into a scary experience with very basic elements. In the 80s, kids used to visit homemade haunted houses organized by neighbors, church members, schools, or local communities. Individuals dressed up behind a sheet, jumped out of the corner, made chain noises, and walked around guiding people with a flashlight and some colored bulbs. Cardboard coffins, cobwebs, rubber bats, and sound effects of screaming completed the experience. The tricks were simple, but imagination was doing all the hard work. Kids used to grip each other’s hands, scream really loudly, and laugh upon coming out of the room.

6. Carving Jack-o’-Lanterns With the Family

Before the invention of battery-operated Halloween decorations, a carved pumpkin was likely to be the central decoration at one’s own house during the holiday. In the 1980s, children were involved in selecting the right pumpkin, covering the tabletop with newspaper sheets, and seeing how adults opened the top of the pumpkin. Then the children helped to take out the seeds and pulp using spoons or bare hands, and discussed whether the face had to be weird, frightening, or funny. Sometimes families cooked pumpkin seeds with salt. After it grew dark, a candle was inserted into the pumpkin, so it glowed on the porch like a jack-o’-lantern.

7. Making Costumes From Whatever Was at Home

It should be noted that not all Halloween costumes worn in the ‘80s were purchased. Lots of children made their own costumes using household items, such as bedsheets, cardboard, makeup, and other stuff available at home. A bedsheet was dressed up as a ghost costume, a parent’s oversized shirt was used to make a hobo, and cardboard was used to build the body of a robot or armor. With the help of face paint, lipstick, cold cream, and costume makeup, kids could create bruises, whiskers, scars, or some monster features on their faces. Sometimes, children came to school parties in their costumes made by parents the previous night. Homemade costumes allowed for some changes in case there were any problems with torn pieces of clothing or cold weather.

8. Telling Scary Stories With Friends

With the darkness falling, children from the ’80s challenged themselves by scaring themselves with stories. Sleepovers, porches, basements, and backyard events were ideal settings for stories involving ghosts, murderers on the run, haunted houses, and mysterious individuals. Tales like “The Hook” were popular urban legends amongst young listeners and always varied depending on how they were repeated each time. Flashlights underneath one’s chin made an old story sound creepy enough. With no distractions from cell phones, it was hard not to pay attention to the details. Some kids would later wish they had never heard these stories at bedtime. Nonetheless, that fear of walking down a dark hallway was part of Halloween fun.

9. Going to School Halloween Parties

Halloween festivities usually started before the sun set as Halloween parties at schools in the 80s were common practice. Depending on the school policy, kids either came with their costumes in a bag or wore them in the afternoon parties. Teachers arranged various games, parades of costumes, crafts, and tables decorated with cupcakes, popcorn balls, cookies, and punch. Sometimes, parents used to bring homemade snacks for the whole class, which is not typical anymore as safety rules have become stricter. The school day was particularly festive as normal classes were transformed into Halloween activities, while desks turned into party tables. When the last bell rang, kids left the party feeling excited for the evening trick-or-treating.

10. Playing Halloween Party Games

Halloween parties kept 1980s kids busy before or after going trick-or-treating. There were apple bobbing parties where children would try to catch a piece of fruit floating in water just by using their mouths. Some parties involved doughnuts hanging from strings, musical chairs, scavenger hunts, or games of guessing what was in the bag. Adults used food items such as spaghetti, gelatin, or peeled grapes to create gross games by telling the kids that they were touching brains, slime, or eyeballs. Games did not require much in the way of equipment and could be played in the kitchen, classroom, church hall, or even in the basement. Everyone would crowd around, laugh at people who failed, and cheer those who succeeded.

11. Renting a Scary Movie for a Sleepover

Halloween night did not have to end for older children as soon as trick-or-treating was over. A visit to the local video rental shop provided entertainment for the night when VCRs became a household thing. Friends went through shelves looking for horror movies, monster movies, or thriller movies, and took a tape home with them. Movies like “Poltergeist,” “Gremlins,” or “The Monster Squad” provided varying degrees of fear for brave souls. Pizza, popcorn, soft drinks, and Halloween sweets were all within arm’s reach. Rewinding the tape was the standard part of renting it. Darkness, sugar, sleeping bags, and rented movies made Halloween so grown-up in one’s own living room.

12. Collecting Candy in Plastic Pumpkin Buckets

Plastic buckets shaped like pumpkins, painted bright orange with jack-o’-lantern grins on their sides, joined the Halloween tradition in the 80s. These lightweight containers were easy for young kids to hold since they had small handles. Children carried them from door to door, enjoyed watching candy go in, and proudly showed their parents how much they had collected. The one problem with this container is that it did not hold a lot. Some kids transferred the loot to a bigger bag at home, while others convinced their parents to carry some extra. Regardless of the problems associated with the buckets, they continued to be part of Halloween due to their inexpensiveness and festive nature.

13. Daring Each Other to Approach the Scariest House

Each neighborhood had at least one house that seemed really scary during Halloween. 80s children challenged each other to walk up the driveway, pass through the dark lawn, or knock on the door with homemade monsters all around. Some residents enhanced the scary image of their houses with props like artificial tombstones, skeletons, darkness, sounds of screams, or even an adult standing still near the entrance porch. However, sooner or later, the temptation of the reward would overpower kids’ fear, and bravery would win. The scarier house became a neighborhood attraction for the day, and getting past the house’s front steps was a worthy story for the next day’s retelling.

14. Carrying Flashlights Through Dark Neighborhoods

For those trick-or-treating in the 1980s, it was not uncommon to do so at night on the darkened streets. It was easier to have some simple decoration lights, and costumes were not all that great when it came to being visible. Flashlights then became an essential tool on Halloween. Children would walk around with thick plastic flashlights trying to locate sidewalks, stairs, curbs, and the kids who had run ahead. Sometimes the batteries ran out of power, and kids started shaking their flashlights and hitting them to turn the light back on. Some parents would even advise them to stick together and pay attention to traffic.

15. Counting the Haul Before Bed

The night was not complete without a tally of the candy that was collected. In the aftermath of taking off the costume and getting tired legs to stop, kids from the ’80s used to sit near their trick-or-treat collection and judge the performance of the night piece by piece. Candy bars got put into one heap while hard candies were put in another, and all the candies that were disliked were reserved for possible trades. Sometimes parents used to check out the wrappers of the candy or put some limits on how many sweets the kids were allowed to eat before going to sleep. Some special treats were even put away in hiding places from greedy siblings.