--- description: Boo-tiful vintage photos of costumes and jack-o'-lanterns title: Halloween History: Vintage Photos of the Celebration image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [History](/section/history/) ## History Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Pop Culture](/tag/pop-culture/) ## Pop Culture Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # See How People Used to Celebrate Halloween by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2014 1:00 PM CUT by [TIME Photo](/author/time-photo/) ## TIME Photo Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Oct 31, 2014 1:00 PM CUT Classic Halloween traditions like dressing up and carving pumpkins have been around for a while — much longer than [sexy lobster costumes ](http://time.com/3547024/sexy-halloween-costumes-history/ "undefined")and [deep-fried pumpkin space lattes](http://time.com/3502191/deep-fried-pumpkin-spice-latte-starbucks/ "undefined"). Here, check out how kids and adults in decades past celebrated the year’s spookiest day.  Children celebrate at a Halloween party in New York City circa 1940. Keystone—Getty Images  A young boy and girl crouch and bob for apples on Halloween circa 1935. Lionel Green—Getty Images  Blindfolded children search for a candle to try to blow it out in an old Halloween tradition circa 1900s. Bettmann—Corbis  First lady Betty Ford greets costumed school children on the White House South Lawn on Oct. 31, 1974 in Washington D.C. during a Halloween benefit for the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund. HENRY GRIFFIN—AP  A boy wears a knight costume. Michael Martin—Corbis  A Halloween festival held in Anaheim, Ca., on Oct. 20, 1962. AP  Children parade through Central Park in New York City on Oct. 30, 1966. Jacob Harris—AP  Participants in the 10th annual Halloween Parade in New York, Oct. 31, 1983. Ray Stubblebine—AP  Second-graders pick their pumpkins during a class outing Oct. 19, 1984, at a farm next to their school near Doylestown, Pa. George Widman—AP  07 Oct 1930 --- Children carve their own pumpkins for Halloween on Oct 7, 1930. Underwood/Corbis  A boy carves his pumpkin for Halloween circa 1900s. Underwood/Corbis  A young boy looks at a lit jack-o-lantern that he helped carve for Halloween, New York, 1949. Rae Russel—Getty Images ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3549068/vintage-halloween-photos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3549068/vintage-halloween-photos/"},"headline":"See How People Used to Celebrate Halloween","datePublished":"2014-10-31T13:00:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:13.043Z","description":"Boo-tiful vintage photos of costumes and jack-o'-lanterns","url":"https://time.com/3549068/vintage-halloween-photos/","keywords":["Pop Culture","Photos","photography","Holidays","halloween"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Photo","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-photo/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/pop-culture/","name":"Pop Culture"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3549068/vintage-halloween-photos/","name":"See How People Used to Celebrate Halloween"}}]}] ```