Before I get into this rant, I just want to say I have nothing against kids dressing up in silly, funny, or scary costumes just for the shear fun of it. But at the risk of sounding like a grumpy bastard I have to ask why, oh why do we celebrate Halloween, or more specifically, why now?
The meaning of the holiday is based in Pagan and Wiccan history. It is a harvest festival and a celebration of the end of summer. It was believed that this day was the one day of the year when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is the thinnest and so communication with ancestors past should be easiest on this day. It began hundreds of years ago in Great Britain and Europe when the Celts would worshipped nature and had many gods, including the sun god. The Sun God made their crops grow and dictated their work and rest times. They believed that during winter the sun god was taken prisoner by Samhain, the Lord of the dead. On the eve of their new year, October 31, it was believed that Samhain called together the spirits of all the dead ancestors. On this day, after all the crops have been harvested and stored away for the winter all the cooking fires would be extinguished. Then the Druids would meet, light new fires, and offer sacrifices of crops and animals, and they would dance around the fires. This was to celebrate the changing of the seasons, from the season of the sun to the season of darkness.
Somewhere in the eighth century, as Christianity spread throughout Europe came All Saints Day, Perhaps invented to confuse and water down this non-Christian ritual. This was a day to celebrate and remember the lives of the saints. This is probably where trick or treating came from. Young men would dress up as saints and go door to door asking for food to give to the poor and needy.
I have digressed from my intended point in this post however. However you look at it, this is a celebration that is supposed to come at the end of summer, after the harvest. Here in New Zealand (and obviously the rest of the Southern hemisphere) it is spring. Our pumpkins are just being planted and are nowhere near ready for carving. We should be celebrating this holiday in May. To celebrate it in now is to completely ignore the real reason for the tradition in the first place. But hey, as long as the big department stores are making a killing selling costumes and candy who cares what it really means right?
...end of grumpy bastards rant.
8:01:54 PM 
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