Gen X Mom Perfectly Captures What Trick-Or-Treating In The 80s Was Like

The holidays are just not like they used to be, and in some aspects, this is very good thing. However, there are some aspects of Halloween specifically that just totally got turned upside down. For parents, it can be a headache.

One Generation X mom went viral after reminiscing about how things used to be on Halloween, yearning for the good ole days of one night of fun (not ten trunk-or-treat events and boo baskets galore) back in the ‘80s. She also mentions the absolutely feral Halloween costumes that Gen X kids wore which were basically just plastic bags with vinyl masks.

“Our parents took about three or four pictures of us a year, and Halloween was always one of them,” Tiktoker Kelly Manno explained in her video.

“You knew before you went out trick-or-treating, you had to line up with your cousins in front of the fireplace in your highly flammable costume with your mom, chain smoking Virginia Slims like, ‘Say trick-or-treat!’”

She then details how unhinged Gen X kids’ Halloween costumes were, including masks that provided little ventilation.

“The eye holes in those masks never lined up with your actual eyes. We would push our tongue through the slit in the mask. We'd cut our tongue, but then we'd keep doing it again because we were, like, eating it up with, like, OCD and ADD, and nobody cared,” she joked.

“The great thing about our garbage bag costumes were that they weren't the actual, like, costume of the person. They just had a photo of who we were on the front.”

Manno also touches on how feral Gen X kids were about trick-or-treating. Kids were unaccompanied, running around the neighborhood in their garbage bag costumes without a care in the world.

“We walked so hard for our candy. We walked so far, if your mask was still working, and you were sweating under it like lip beads are sweating, it's just sliding around everywhere. We could hold our body weight in candy,” she said.

In another video, Manno calls out millennial parents for “ruining” the fun of Halloween.

“Like some of y'all parents have ruined Halloween. You have ruined it,” she began.

“Halloween was the greatest night of your life for Generation X. We would plan the whole night so we could be efficient. We would bring the right bags so we could be resourceful. The whole night was about adventure and fun and getting to know the neighbors, the community. All of the neighborhood was home because our parents stayed home so like. every porch light was on. It was amazing and all that's gone.”

She goes on to say that the “fun” of Halloween is gone because every single family is out with their own kids trick-or-treating so no one actually answers the door to give out candy.

“Everybody is out with their kids standing on the sidewalk with like, your $40 drinks,” she says, referring to every millennial mom’s emotional support Stanley or Yeti cup before impersonating parents yelling at their kids to say thank you and to get off the grass from the sidewalk.

“Your kids should already know how to say thank you. We knew how to say thank you. We knew how to stay off the grass because we had f**king manners. No one held our candy bag when it got to heavy. We would haul our body weight in candy,” she remarked.

Manno then launches into a tirade about the concept of the Switch Witch, which is a newer concept where kids leave their candy out for the “Switch Witch” to come and take before leaving a gift.

“... I want to know who invented the Switch Witch. Your kids leave out all their candy Halloween night and a witch comes and takes all of our candy and then gives your kid a present? For f**k's sake,” she says.

“It is Halloween night. Let your kid eat the damn candy. Let them eat till they barf. No wonder your kids are a**holes. If somebody took all my candy after Halloween, I'd be an asshole too.”

“You are ruining the best holiday ever. You've screwed it all up.”

Manno’s comment section was flooded with fellow Gen X parents who agreed with her brutal take on how today’s Halloween festivities play out.

“We walked MILES on Halloween. We deserved that candy 😂,” one user wrote.

“I can’t love this enough! Still the reason I looove Halloween, best holiday! Eff the switch witch, I hoarded that candy!” another wrote.

Another noted ,“The world we went trick or treating in, no longer exists. They are not the same.”

“Yesss. Now people barely go door to door… it’s trunk or treat at the church parking lots 😫😫😫😫,” another noted.

Others weren’t so on board with Manno’s opinion, nothing that Switch Witch actually benefited their kids.

“To each their own. I’m doing the switch witch this year and my son is excited. He’s not super into candy but there’s a toy he’s been eyeing so win-win,” one wrote.

Another said, “Unfortunately I could never let my kids out alone these days with a good conscience that they’d come home safe.”

“idk what’s wrong with switch witch… I would have loved getting toys when I was a kid. Toys last hella longer than the candy!” another said.