The trick-or-treaters of Omaha — at least the ones in the neighborhoods of Westside Wired staff members — had a disappointing showing this Halloween. Their enthusiasm was lacking, their outfits were less than original and they sucked the life out of what I remember Halloween as.

I am not sure about you, but I was always pumped for Halloween. I was like a kid on Christmas Eve: filled with excitement. I couldn’t wait to don my costume and parade around town showing off how great I looked while trying to collect as much candy as possible.

For the entire month of October I anticipated the moment when my 10 closest friends and I would race off, leaving our parents in the dust trying to get to the houses first so we could get the best candy. We challenged each other to find the most houses that gave out full sized candy bars, and begged our parents for 15 more minutes, even when our hand were so frozen we couldn’t tear open a wrapper of candy if we tried. When we got to each door we screamed and yelled as loudly and politely as we could (although yelling and polite don’t generally go together, but rules are bent on holidays) begging for candy like our lives depended on it.

This year, although the weather was excellent (by late October standards) a large number of parents chose to drive their kids from house-to-house. Who does that?

If a kid wants candy, he should have to earn it by walking from house-to-house, or else parents should just go to a Walgreens and buy him a bag: it has the same meaning. I understand that yes, it might be safer to drive your kids from place-to-place, but it takes away the fun and abnormality of the holiday. Many kids (especially in Omaha) get to ride in a car each and every day. Allowing them to do this on Halloween is wrong.

Halloween used to be a time of joy and excitement, as a child I would spend weeks researching, looking and narrowing down options for the perfect costume.

For me, my costume was always homemade, and hand embellished. This years costume were obviously store bought. I have nothing against store bought costumes and I do believe that there are some good ones out there, but the number of terrible swamp monsters and evil demons that roamed the streets was disappointing.

Halloween is the time of the year where you can literally be anything. You can let your creativity soar, and while wearing a black cloak is probably a fun time, Halloween gives you the option to do so much more, and this year kids did not take that opportunity.

Overall, it didn’t seem like kids were having fun. The number of trick or treaters seemed to be down and their spirits were crushed as they mumbled the words, “trick-or-treat.” That is not what kids should be like on Halloween.

I don’t know what has caused this decrease in the Halloween spirit and the commercialization of the holiday. It could be that kids would rather sit at home and play video games. It might be that parents are lazy and no longer feel the need to encourage their kids to partake in the unique experience that Halloween is. But no matter what the cause, it shouldn’t be this way. Halloween is part of childhood and should be done properly with enthusiasm and enjoyment.

This year, the trick or treaters really dropped the ball and  hopefully a new round will come back in vengence next year ready to take on and enjoy Halloween like it should be.