The BOOtiful Life Of A Special Treat Pail//October 304th, 2020

I have a real “thing” about trick-or-treat pails.

My parents had a pumpkin pail for me since before I was born. One of those old blow molds, with a puffy witch on the back. The pumpkin’s facial features were bumpy; tons of raised little dots stippled in his eyes, nose, and mouth. His teeth were more square than the ones you see today, and his handle was thicker. I’m not sure what ever happened to him, but I know he got a lot of use from me between the ages of four and seven.

When I was eight, however, what can only be described as a life-altering trick-or-treat pail event happened.

The year was 1995. I’m not sure what month it was, but I’m thinking it was teeny bit on the “early” side for Halloween things. I walked into WalMart with my parents and my maternal grandfather, who lived with us at the time, and, like any kid, immediately found some stuffed animal that I wanted someone to buy for me. My grandfather agreed to it without much coaxing; that’s just how he was. But then, we somehow stumbled upon a display of Halloween pails. 

The movie Casper had just come out a few months prior, and was already one of my favorite things. A movie about ghosts that allowed me to get into the Halloween spirit ahead of time? Yes, please. Kat Harvey had become my dream BFF along with Dani Dennison. I had a Casper plushie that I treasured, that had kept me company after taking a bad fall and cutting my arm earlier that summer.

And now, on a shelf before me in WalMart, there was a Casper Halloween pail!

I went crazy for it, and my grandfather told me he’d buy it if I put back the stuffed animal I’d begged for when we first walked in. I happily obliged...I don’t really think there’s ever been a time when I wouldn’t choose Halloween over literally anything else.

I was absolutely elated with my new pail, and couldn’t wait to use it. When we started putting the decorations up that year, it became part of my “Pumpkin Patch” display. It sat in a weird little open square in our coffee table, and I stuck inside it two “magic wands” that I’d bought from a local fall festival, one with a pumpkin, and one with a ghost, at the top. Every time I was in the room, I’d stare at that pail in anticipation of taking it out on Halloween night.

Halloween finally came, and I happily set out in my witch costume, hoping that I looked the slightest bit like Dani Dennison, with my Casper pail in hand. I was so excited about it, and I immediately started getting compliments, from both kids and adults. Everyone wanted to know where I’d found such a thing. This may have been my first real experience of feeling like a true Queen of Halloween. At one point that year I met up with a friend, who was wearing an amazing handmade bride costume, and we went to a few doors together. One woman complimented her and then looked at me and said, “...and you’re a witch.” But in my mind I thought, “So what? A handmade costume? I have a Casper pail!” I also noticed that the Casper pail, because it was so tall, could hold a lot more candy than the average pumpkin, and my aunt and I would do long trick-or-treat routes back then, so I knew it was going to be my go-to for years to come.

And it did. It truly amazes me when I think about all of the Halloween adventures that candy pail saw.

At age nine, I dressed up like a girl from the 50’s. That had always been my favorite era in time; I actually had a meltdown when I was around five years old because I realized I’d never get to experience it for myself. I tripped on a log in someone’s yard that night and ripped the tights I was wearing, skinning my knee as well, all while still holding onto my beloved Casper pail. The idea of losing or breaking it was scarier to me than any injury.

Ten was a rough Halloween for me. My aunt had bought me a beautiful, expensive and elaborate Cinderella costume from the Disney Store. I was so excited about it, and therefore made the mistake of telling some “popular” girls in my class at school. They were getting to a point of being “too cool” for things like that and were planning on dressing as “psychopathic freaks” (a term I had never heard before) for Halloween. I was teased mercilessly leading up to Halloween, but I fought hard to maintain my spirit, and that Halloween night, I set out, proud of both my costume and my Casper pail, and had a great time, just being myself and not caring anymore what anyone thought.

At age eleven, for some reason I desperately wanted to be an angel for Halloween. What I didn’t account for, however, was the fact that I’d most likely have to wear a jacket that night, which wouldn’t at all be conducive to wings! In the McDonald’s bathroom that year, while I was holding onto that same Casper pail, my aunt was trying to adjust the wings over the lightest jacket I could get away with wearing, and snapped the elastic on one side. We were able to get a straight pin from a woman on our trick-or-treat route that my aunt knew, but I spent the rest of the night trying to keep the wings attached while holding onto my pail at the same time. I swore off costumes with wings after that treacherous evening!

Age twelve brought a mild Halloween, with me in a pumpkin costume. That Halloween was such a salvation for me, having just started middle school and basically being perpetually stressed out. Halloween, and my beloved Casper treat pail, were the constant things I counted on at the beginning of that school year.

The last time I used the pail for trick-or-treating was at age thirteen, when I dressed as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. That year, Casper saw me through a seam in the dress irritating my stomach, but I was determined to go on. I also was annoyed by the fact that at some point, it got so cold that I had to wear a pink jacket over my costume, and ran into a girl from my science class at one house who looked at me strangely. 

When I was fourteen, I decided to get one of those “inverted” pumpkin pails, black with an orange face, because I thought it matched my costume that year. (I was a witch again, prominently orange and black.) I was also probably a little bit concerned that the Casper pail made me look too kiddie, as I was already hearing the occasional comment about being “too old for Halloween”. The Casper pail stayed around as a decoration, though, until my old box of childhood/teen years Halloween goodies mysteriously went missing. 

I was recently able to find and purchase my beloved Casper pail once again from Mercari. Though I know this isn’t the actual one I owned in childhood (though I suppose there’s a slim chance it could be, as I have no idea where my old one ended up) I can still see the reflections of all those past Halloweens inside it. Every costume. Every adventure. Every mishap. Every decoration admired. It’s all right there, overflowing inside this treat pail like candy after a long, productive Halloween night. 

When I grab it by the handle, it still feels so familiar, like childhood Halloween happiness. Like coming home.

Stay spooky, my friends.