The night that was originally for honoring the dead is now a night, or several nights, of trick or treat, parties and both kids and adults dressing up in costumes. Women all over the world use it as an occasion to wear minimal clothes and spend hundreds of dollar preparing.

Because Halloween takes place on a Monday this year, people got a great excuse to celebrate all weekend, starting on Friday night, stretching into the early hours of Tuesday morning. And for three or four nights of celebrating, people needs costumes! An average American spends $72 on Halloween and about $6.8 billion is spent nationwide. Halloween costumes started to get popular back in 1930′s and when it comes to spending money on a holiday, Christmas is the only holiday that outranks Halloween.

If you really want to see all the freak flags fly, check out the annual Village Halloween Parade, one of the most popular and creative events in New York City where all costumed folks are welcome to join in the festivities. The Village Parade goes all the way from Spring Street to 16th Street on 6th Ave, and includes dancers and artists, thousands of people in costumes and 53 bands that play different kinds of music. One thing to beware of, 6th Ave is an absolute war zone – so proceed with caution!