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Confession time: I have never been a huge fan of Halloween. First off, I don’t enjoy being scared. I don’t do horror movies. I still have nightmares from Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” video. Second, I’ve never had a great costume idea. Sure, there were the classics in elementary school including Princess Leia (homemade) and Wonder Woman (the plastic one from the store). But I never felt like putting in the requisite energy, especially as an adult, into creating a persona for one night.

Then there was the time I took my younger brother trick or treating and someone stole his candy. My friend’s boyfriend at the time jumped in his car armed with a switchblade to look for the dudes. Ah, precious childhood memories.

So scary movies and costumes aren’t my thing. But candy is. So is goofing around. So this year, I decided to have a little fun with Halloween.

My “Halloween” was actually last night. It took me a few years after moving into my neighborhood in Buffalo to understand the kids go out Trick or Treating on Beggar’s Night (Oct. 30) not on Halloween (Oct. 31). After some social media ballyhoo, it was confirmed that good ‘ole Kaistertown would continue with the tradition. Thank goodness. Because I bought nine bags of candy and, get this, I had a costume. Oh yes. This was me in the full spirit of the holiday.

Thanks to my friend Jen, I decided to go as Leslie Knope, the main character from the television show Parks and Recreation. In some ways, I think she is my alter ego. So I bought an inexpensive blonde wig, campaign buttons from the official NBC store and put on a suit. I ate whipped cream like it was my job and had waffles for dinner. I ran Parks and Recreation on a Netflix loop while I greeted Trick or Treaters and hopefully didn’t annoy friends, family and followers too much with my Leslie Knope quotes on Twitter and Facebook.

One girl asked me about my costume. Pretty sure she wasn’t a Parks & Rec fan, I asked if she liked my costume. She nodded yes. “I like yours too,” I said. And she gave off the biggest smile. I dropped two Reeses Cups in her bag. Another girl came to the door with a hole in the bottom of her plastic shopping bag that she used to gather her treats. I quickly grabbed her a new bag. Seriously, she can’t be losing her hard-earned candy! I mean it was wet and cold out there. She earned that chocolate.

In the end, I had purchased way too much candy and may or may not have consumed far too much whipped cream from a spray can. And I learned some valuable lessons:

1. Honestly, you can never have too much candy. Last year I ended up diving into my Luna bar stash which was wrong on so many levels. I’ll take the extra bag of Hershey’s chocolate bars. Winter’s coming after all. Best to have emergency s’more rations on hand.

2. It doesn’t matter what you are supposed to be, wearing a wig when you answer the door always entertains kids. And their adult supervision.

3. Whipped cream is awesome on Reeses Cups.

And most importantly,

It’s about having fun. It’s about being part of the neighborhood tradition. It’s remembering to wise up and not take the whole thing so seriously. Here’s wishing you a day to celebrate the pure joy of being whatever it is you want to be all the while being part of a larger community. Even if it’s a community of strangers who knock on your door asking for candy.

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