Halloween is approaching and I must say it is my favorite holiday.

I know most people like Christmas because of all the goodwill, gift giving, family, friends, cookies, tree trimmings, little kids playing with boxes instead of toys, etc. You can continue to fill in the blank for the rest of this column for all the reasons people like Christmas.

My reason for loving Halloween is small and insignificant to others but it trumps all the reasons I love Christmas. I get to dress up as whatever I want and nobody can say anything weird about what I am wearing.

I could come to work dressed as a pineapple and it’s acceptable. How weird right?

The first Halloween I remember was very cold. My mom dressed me up as a bunny. Probably a pink bunny. I remember wearing my footsie pajamas with rabbit ears.

Another year, my mom dressed me up as a pumpkin. I wore green tights with a plush pumpkin covering my body and a jack-o-lantern mask to cover my face.

I remember I was bummed that year because my cousin dressed as a clown and looked cooler than me. She also stole my candy every year. She was a punk! I love candy.

When you are still a little kid, but just a bit older, you are sparked with the idea of making your own costume.

I was a creative little bugger.

I wanted to be a pirate one year. I cut up one of my shirts so it was frayed, wore black pants and a hat. The kicker was my pirate hook. I found a plastic clothes hanger from a store and duct taped it to my hand. Ta-da! Pirate.

Then there was the year I wanted to be cool to my fellow 12-year-old peers. I dressed up as a cheerleader. Jeans, T-shirt and pom-poms equals instant cheerleader.

I like seeing homemade costumes that other people make.

For instance, my friend Ryan made a robot costume out of household products like foil and it actually looked really neat.

I saw a girl dress up as a table. She fit herself inside a huge cardboard box and glued plates, cups, forks, spoons and a tablecloth to the top. The only bad part about that costume was she didn’t fit through doors.

One of the funniest costumes I’ve seen was a man dressed up as a Hooters girl, but he wore the costume several days before and after Halloween. Different.

The more common costumes I’ve seen are boys dressed as girls, people dressing up as nerds, pirates, fairies, witches, cowboys, inmates, police and gorillas.

Although I always see it in the movies, I have never seen someone dress up as a ghost using a white sheet.

The second best part of Halloween is the candy. I like to buy candy and eat it. I always say I am going to give it out to kids but I really just eat it. Then I have to go buy more because if not, there are consequences. I’ve experienced having to turn off the lights and shut the blinds at my house because I ran out of candy too soon.

Nobody likes to see a sad little kid at their doorstep.

The annoying thing about Halloween is when you get a teenager at your door wanting candy. You reluctantly give them the candy and then they look at you with an evil, menacing look because your candy is lame or because you didn’t give them enough candy because they are larger in size and require more calories to survive.

So stay away from me this Halloween, you crazy teenagers!

Candice Boutilier is the Columbia Basin Herald assistant editor. She loves Halloween enough to reserve the day as vacation time months in advance.