DaytonDailyNews.com

Another Halloween is in the books. Another year of picking costumes, carving pumpkins and sorting out the candy loot is pasted into family histories.

Where I live, Tuesday was Beggar's Night — the night designated in our part of southwest Ohio to go trick-or-treating.

Growing up in California, we didn't have Beggar's Night. Every year, we began our door-to-door ritual at nightfall on Oct. 31, and came home when the houses ran out of candy or when we got too tired to go on — whichever came first.

I still don't quite get Beggar's Night. Although from a parent's perspective, I can appreciate the limited hours of the event.

"Sorry, we have to go home now," I am relieved to tell my kids. "It's 8 o'clock — those are the rules."

What I don't understand is why the day is anything other than Halloween. When I moved here I was told it was to keep the kids from being out late and pumped with sugar on a school night.

But that is not always the case. This year, for instance, Halloween was on a Wednesday, and Beggar's Night was on a Tuesday. Why was that day chosen?

Maybe they just change the day in an attempt to trick busy, distracted parents. By introducing that margin of error, sometimes you question whether you've gotten the day and time wrong.

My husband and I second-guessed ourselves Tuesday as we ventured down an empty street at what we thought was the right time.

Between a sparse crop of trick-or-treaters and this year's adjusted time change, we truly felt like beggars as we stood on the sidewalk watching our sons — in broad daylight and dressed to entertain — pound on strangers' doors to ask for sweet and salty sustenance.

But, regardless of my misgivings, the kids had fun. All they knew is they got to run around in their cool costumes and be given the kinds of foods that they usually have to beg their own parents to get.

Halloween, at its root, is just a kid's holiday; it's all about fantasy, friends, candy and staying up late.

Even really little kids, even the ones who are scared to approach the doors of neighbors and who hide from fellow costumed creatures roaming the sidewalks, will tell you they love Halloween.

And one of the primary reasons is because they learn to take part in what the big kids are doing — even when they don't quite understand the rules of the game.

I remember when my younger son was about 21/2 and got to go trick-or-treating for the first time. At one of the first houses, his candy was dropped onto the porch in front of him.

For the rest of the night, every piece of candy he was handed, he then had to put on the porch before he would put it in his bag, thinking that was how he was supposed to do it.

By now, at 6 and 8, my kids have the rules down and were in their Halloween prime.

This year, they were still easily frightened by most Halloween displays, but were not afraid to boldly knock on an unfamiliar door — even when dressed as a whoopee cushion and making the kinds of noises that all little boys (and a suprising amount of grown men) really like to hear.

And I hope that joy sticks with them for as long as possible.

Because, whether they get to go out on Oct. 31 or on Beggar's Night, it makes no difference to them.

To them it's all Halloween, and it's all just plain fun.

Contact Jill Kelley at (937) 225-7325 or

jikelley@DaytonDailyNews.com.