Think outside the box when it comes to costumes

IT is funny now to think that when I was growing up in the unenlightened 1970s, that every Halloween, we actually lived the gender-neutral costume utopia that many feminists would give their signed copy of The Female Eunuch for now.

When I was a child heading out house-to-house for Halloween (trick or treat was an alien concept I had only every really come across in Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books), we were severely limited in our choice of costume.

There was no internet shopping or even fancy dress shops and because the standard garb was invariably a black bin bag with a slit cut in the top for your head, the only way to tell boys and girls apart was by their choice of plastic mask, which weren’t on a par with the movie effects-quality face-wear available now. Those masks were more lucky bag quality (if you need a lucky bag explained to you then we’re in for a long day).