Halloween comes only once a year but people prepare for this one single night for some time. This tradition of mostly children dressing up as scary creatures of magical creatures has been around for centuries. The aim of this tradition is to collect candy or treats from the houses that you pass. Home owners often dress up as scary creatures and try to scare the children going house to house or they even put Halloween props on their front yard to make the holiday more festive.

Halloween Props

The more popular of Halloween props are the Jack-o-lanterns that are usually carved from pumpkins and lit inside by a candle. The pumpkins are carved with usually scary Halloween faces or happy ones and left on the doorstep by homeowners to welcome the children who visit.

Other Halloween props that have gained popularity are witches on broomsticks, hanging ghosts, black cats, mummies and other scary creatures. They come in cut-out figures or even life sized figures which are spread in the front yard for realism. Tombstones are also Halloween props that can be found in the yard during the holiday. These decorate the front yards of home owners for a more eerie feel.

Halloween has always been more associated with scary creatures than happy ones although; you can wear any kind of costume for the night. Costumes are essential Halloween props which are fully exploited by manufacturers and stores a few weeks before Halloween. Some younger children prefer magical creatures like fairies, pixies, wizards and witches compared to the ghouls and zombies that adults and older children prefer.

Trick or Treat

One of the main purposes of children dressing up and going out to the streets to visit houses is to get treats. Tradition has it that as the young children goes up a house and yells trick or treat, home owners hand out treat like candy, chocolate bars and others treats. For those houses that do not hand out treats, the young children are supposed to play tricks on them for not giving treats. To date, tricking home owners is not usually practiced anymore as this encourages meanness. The goodies from trick or treating are usually placed in paper bags or more specialized Halloween containers.

Others consider Halloween props in their houses as the tricks that home owners themselves play on the unsuspecting children who troop up houses for treats. Young children are usually accompanied by adults as they go around neighborhood houses for safety.