Kilts and costumes

[Makeitstop]

There are far too few opportunities to dress as Robin hood, Zorro, The Phantom of the Opera, a Highwayman, Sinbad, Hamlet, The Crow, and other delightful swashbuckling characters...

Who's stopping you the rest of the year? I know I don't always wait for October 31st or December 5th to break out the old ninja mask. Granted it's not that out of place in the middle of winter, or at midnight in the woods, but still...

Actually, something the Scots might not be aware of is the practice of Halloween in North America. It is a bigger event than Christmas in some areas. More often than not, it at least matches Christmas. Halloween is promoted strongly starting around September 1.
It has become as much an adult event, again, sometimes more so, than the children's event.

Overall I believe it is second only to Christmas. Halloween supplies are being sold earlier and earlier and from a retail perspective it is by far the most important holiday other than Christmas.

Christmas still remains number one though. The Christmas season officially starts in September now (I remember a time when it hadn't even fully conquered thanksgiving) and is still growing. It's also celebrated by roughly 96% of America (sorry, I have no international figures) and the Christmas sales make up a disturbingly large part of the economy. About the only negative indicator when it comes to Christmas is the trend of replacing references to Christmas with generic "holiday" and "seasonal" terms. But that's another topic entirely.

BTW, I remember in Scotland, there was an expectation to have a trick prepared. It would be college age people doing the rounds not kids.

Same here, only it's more like junior high and high school kids. The basic idea is that you give them candy or they egg and/or tp your house (or worse if they're creative). And then later they do it anyway. Then again, that was never a problem when I was a kid, as my family knew how to make sure they were too afraid of us to ever try anything.