Hundreds of North Bergen youngsters flocked to the streets after school on Tuesday, armed with shopping bags, orange buckets and smiles, for the annual Halloween sojourn in search of more treats and less tricks.
Despite the less-than-seasonable temperatures and a bit of a winter’s chill, the township’s younger set was out in full force, going door to door in search of goodies.
And once again, the youngsters proved to be very original and ingenious with their choices of costumes. There were countless ghosts and goblins – traditional Halloween garb. But there were also kids wearing Regis Philbin masks – say what? – and of course, all the characters from both the popular Pokemon and Teletubbies television shows.
But who wants to be Regis Philbin for Halloween?
“My mom bought it for me,” said 12-year-old Eddie Olives, who was wearing the mask of the talk show/game show host. “I know who he is, but I don’t watch his shows. It’s a funny mask.”
Here are what some of the kids were wearing this year:
Two-year-old Anthony Duardo and his buddy, two-year-old D.J. Baggio, were a team. Duardo was dressed like a lion from “The Lion King,” and Baggio was a ferocious dragon.
Why was Duardo dressed like a lion?
“Because he wanted to be king of the jungle,” his mom said.
And Baggio was a dragon for a simpler reason.
“I liked his feet,” little D.J. said. “I like being a dragon because he has big feet.”
Five-year-old Michael Roman was dressed, head to toe, as the super hero Spiderman. When asked why, Michael replied, “Because I like being Spiderman.”
Michael Roman’s older brother, John Roman, 8, was a scary creature, complete with gown, skull’s head belt and white painted face.
“I’m Skull Sword,” John Roman said proudly.
There was no explanation what a Skull Sword really was.
“He’s just a real tough man who goes around beating everybody up,” John Roman said. Sounds more like a professional hockey player.
“I saw Skull Sword on television once and I knew I wanted to be him,” John said. “He was big and mean.”
Two-year-old Esmeralda Rivas was dressed as a cute bumblebee. Esmeralda would never be the kind of pest who would disturb the company picnic. But then again, she didn’t seem to bother anyone, because she was the most silent bee.
“She likes being a bee,” her mom said.
Five-year-old Ashley Rivas and 8-year-old Sherika Giraldo were dressed as maids, although the only cleaning up the pair of young friends were set to embark on would be cleaning up on candy collection.
“We like the way we look,” Sherika said. “We look pretty.”
Seven-year-old Tanisha Rivas was a squaw.
“No, I’m an Indian princess,” Tanisha quickly retorted. “I like Indian princesses and I like being a princess.”