As kids, our costumes were never shop bought. Halloween was a cobbled together affair with ghosts fashioned from old sheets and bin liners doubling as bat wings. My mum turned the kitchen into a witch’s grotto complete with pumpkins, candles, and fairy lights while all the kids piled in with sheets on their heads to bob for apples. It was all so messy and fun and makeshift; nothing like the elaborate decor and costumes you see in shops and houses today. Last week, Jason went to four different Sprit of Halloween stores to find a blue M&M costume. Red, yellow and pink would not do. So this year, I’m determined not to spend another penny on plastic rats and purple cobwebs. I’m throwing a ‘bloody’ sheet over the boxwoods and calling it a day.