This year was the first time since living at home with my parents that I have actually handed out candy to trick-or-treaters on Halloween.

In college, I lived in the dorms for two years, and not many parents were willing to send their kids into a building infested with young adults who were drinking and using Halloween as an excuse to wear very little clothing.

My junior year, I actually did transfer to a college closer to home and lived with my parents. But I also had a new boyfriend and going out with him on Halloween definitely took precedence over staying home with my parents watching a scary movie and having to get up every five minutes to answer the door and give bite-size Milky Ways to little Spidermen and princesses.

Senior year I was in my own apartment back in my old college town. Apartment buildings are not conducive to holidays like Halloween, so not much happened that year either.

The following Halloween I was four days away from my wedding. Handing out candy was the last thing on my mind.

Then last Halloween, my husband and I were in Florida celebrating our one-year anniversary.

So I was excited to have a normal Halloween this year, and I found it can be just as magical for adults as it is for kids. As I sat on the swinging bench on our front porch — fire pit keeping me warm and a cup of coffee in my hands — I watched large groups of kids, parents trailing behind them, wander up and down the street. They excitedly showed off their costumes, which was entertaining to watch. They whispered to each other as they came up our driveway, and they giggled and compared candy on their way back down. The moon was full, and the air was barely warm enough for a sweatshirt to keep me warm.

Every time a child came up to our house, I couldn’t help but grin from deep down inside, where I felt happy to be in this moment. No other day of the year allows anyone and everyone to drop by your house to say hello, and no other day of the year gives you permission to pass out ridiculous amounts of candy to make little kids happy. No other day of the year will you find all of your neighbors out for an evening stroll, laughing and talking loud, not worried who hears them and not worried about what time they got home.

Yes, it was fun to dress up as a kid and GET candy. I will always have special memories of going out with my brothers, laughing all the way from house to house, and having an hours-long bartering session in the living room, our candy strewn about in carefully-constructed piles.

But it’s also fun to be on the giving side of Halloween…to see all the costumes, the wide smiles as they find you have their favorite candy, to meet the parents (who are actually around your age now), and to watch it all from from afar.

In fact, I think I like this side better.

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