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31st Oct 2019

19 things you’ll definitely remember if you experienced Halloween in ’90s Ireland

seank

It’s that time of year again.

With Halloween upon us, we can’t help but cast our mind back to our childhood and we remember Halloween being a lot different back then.

Not necessarily better, mind.

Take a look below and see if anything’s familiar…

1. Black bin bags solved all costume woes

While kids today waltz around in picture perfect Frozen outfits, in our day all we needed was a roll of black bin bags, a bit of elbow grease, and a shit-tonne of imagination.

Bin Bag
Such a versatile material

2. Plastic vampire fangs

The most terrifying part of this costume accessory was your child-like willingness to let your friends also try them on.

3. Boys were vampires, girls were witches

While ghosts were unisex and wholly unimaginative.

Ghost Boo

4. It was your chance to stay up late and watch scary movies on Network 2

Which was an infinitely better name than RTÉ 2.

Network 2

5. You could always look forward to a special episode of Sabrina The Teenage Witch

Perhaps the best witch-centric TV show of the decade.

Sabrina So True

6. And The Simpsons Halloween Specials were still brilliant at that point

This being the era when the programme was not the complete and utter shit it is today.

7. You were a complete badass with your fun snaps

Armed with the ability to make very small banging noises, you were the consummate thug.

8. Weeks of bangers before AND after Halloween

Screamers, black cats, fountains, flibbertigibbets… Okay we made up that last one.

Fireworks

9. Your shite neighbours would turn off their lights and pretend they weren’t home

They weren’t foolin’ anyone.

10. Cheap plastic masks that cut into your face

“Do you have any masks that don’t have sharp edges that will cause my child pain? No? Meh, I tried.”

Plastic Halloween Mask

11. Back Street Boys ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)’ was the festive anthem

And remains an absolute tune.

12. Literally anything could be thrown into a bonfire

These were the good old pre-recycling days when all your household rubbish could be thrown into a bonfire, and if you did recycle it was because you had notions.

13. It wasn’t Halloween unless you’d watched Hocus Pocus at least three times

They just don’t make ’em like they used to.

Hocus Pocus

14. Inner turmoil over whether you were too old for this trick-or-treating craic

“At 9 years old, am I gettin’ too old for this shit?”

Fes Batman

15. It was egg or be egged

If you can’t beat ’em…

16. Bobbing for apples was all the rage

Because nothing says ‘fun!’ like trying to dunk your face into a bowl of cold water laced with child saliva, to sink your teeth into a pre-chewed apple.

17. Getting a pound while trick or treating was the Holy Grail

If only more of your neighbours would’ve forgotten to buy sweets.

Irish Pound

18. Everyone had a Scream mask

Everyone.

19. The quality of treats you got from neighbours determined how you felt about them for the next year

If it grew in the ground, they were wasting our time with that shit.

Monkey Nuts
Fuckin’ monkey nuts

 

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