Thinking back to elementary school, Halloween was a time of absolute magic. By October 1st, everyone questioned as to what you would be dressed up as for the big day. Pillow cases were prepped to carry pounds of candy, and all your friends were called to arrive for Trick-or-Treating at 5:00 pm. Costumes featured childhood heroes in the form of superheros and the latest Disney Princess; there were witches, animals of all kinds, and even “scary” monsters. No matter what elementary school you attended, traditions of spooky hallways, Halloween bashes, and busy neighborhoods will fill memories for life. Here are some quotes from Scouts on what they can recall to be their favorite traditions and stories from their childhood Halloween.

“I always loved doing the Ghost Walk and Pumpkin Chase in Lake Bluff. The Ghost Walk in Artisian Park leads you through some woods with lights and different spooky props. The Pumpkin Chase is a 5k and a 1 mile fun run that anyone can do where a guy dressed up as a pumpkin leads the way for the course. The fun run is for kids from k-8 and it’s super fun racing through the streets of Lake Bluff.” – Brooke Stride

“My friends and I would all go together and when we were really young our parents would drive us around to all of the busiest neighborhoods with the houses closest together all over Lake Forest.” – Bridget Mitchell

“At St. Mary’s we would all wear our costumes to school at we would go on a little Halloween parade around the outside of the school to show off your costume.” – Tommy Hanson

“My friends and I used to draw a map of our neighborhood and pick out which houses we would hit first.” – Kelly Jean Camardo

“One tradition in Lake Bluff is going to the police station because they serve free hot dogs for everyone on the night of Halloween.” – Carter Horan

“We would always go to the Sheridan School monster bash where we’d all dress up in costumes and play games and dance.” -MJ Scully

“A tradition we had was a Halloween parade in my old neighborhood where we would march all the way around the ponds in our costumes. And also a funny costume I once had was my mom made me a water bottle costume and I was a water bottle for Halloween.”

“I had a great neighborhood for trick-or-treating so we would go to town” -Logan Hanekamp

“One tradition was the Cherokee haunted house. Everyone getting dressed up and going through the cafeteria line that they always transformed into the haunted hallway was pretty lit.” -Bill Avery

“We had a big party at Sheridan where we played games, went through the haunted hallway, and danced” -Shaffer Franklin

“My favorite costume has got to be my first Halloween, my parents dressed me up as a dog.” -Kelly McCaskey

“Every year we would trick or treat and end up at my grandmother Mimi’s house. She always has tons if trick or treaters at her door and we loved helping pass out the candy and being with her. She always had a movie on and something homemade to eat. Well, one year when I was really little like 2, I guess I decided I didn’t have enough candy in my bag so I slid out the door and went down the street to trick or treat by myself!” -JD O’Keane

“Going trick-or-treating with Brooke Stride, Mia Nedeau, and some other girls was so fun then heading to Brooke’s after for chili.” – Sarah Considine

“I used to live on a golf course so my dad would always stick half a golf ball on his forehead with fake blood and warn neighborhood kids to stay off the fairway.” -Elliott Sarno

“When Colin and I were little, we would go trick-or-treating with our friends separately, and then have all of our friends over to our house for a massive “candy trade” where we would play games like go-fish or uno and “bet” different candy on the games, and the winner would get to keep the candy.” -Sydney Martens

“Having free dress day at Country Day was always a big deal, so wearing Halloween themed clothes with jeans with my friends was always fun. A tradition my family always used to do was to get fudge stripes and stick Hershey Kisses in the middle to make witches hats to share.” – Sasha Sklarov

“Grace Spath and I were M&M’s in third grade which was definitely one of my favorite costumes.” – Ellie Pearson