Proof that you're never too old to dress up for Halloween:

Julie Vera

The Saturday before Halloween, I stopped in at Gibson Costume Shop off of Broadway to look for a mask. The place was mobbed — with adults. Adults of all ages and persuasions trying on costumes for rent, buying Dubya and Hillary masks, face paint, wigs, etc. There were pirates, French maids, monsters and Scream-ers.

A couple with a baby in a stroller walked in. One of the frazzled workers barked from behind the counter, “No strollers in the store!”

Dang!

In the case of Halloween, treats are for kids; the tricks definitely belong to the grownups. It's the one day a year when you can be someone else without recrimination. You can hide behind that mask or wear that outrageously sexy outfit. You can mock somebody else and get creative. You can display your worst fears or best features, and nobody will (immediately) assume you're weird or drunk.

It's the one day when you can say, I find this scary! Or, this person is a joke. Or, if I could, I'd be this other person. Or, this is my fantasy.
Kids don't think that way, they just think dressing up like Batman is cool. They don't grasp yet the psychological impact of being able to free oneself from the confines of what is considered normal adult behavior. That's some heady stuff.

And the money thrown around on Halloween definitely is not child's play.
The National Retail Federation reported that Halloween spending in the U.S. in 2006 was at nearly $5 billion, up from $3.2 billion only a year before. Spending in 2007 is expected to surpass $5 billion.

In this economy? In the middle of the worst housing market slump in years (hundreds of thousands of people have lost their homes to foreclosure this year)? In the midst of still-rising record gas prices? And a gallon of milk costs four bucks? In this climate, people still are spending $5 BILLION on Halloween?

You betcha.

That is the power Halloween wields over those of us too old to go begging for candy with the kids. We'll plan our costumes for weeks, if not months; we'll throw down some serious cash. We'll put more thought into this one night than we do into our financial well-being at retirement age.

But it's gotta be worth it. Why should kids have all the fun? They already get free candy and get to be pushed around in strollers.