Today Extra co-host defends Halloween ‘from the wowsers’

As it’s predicted Australians are set to spend half a billion dollars on Halloween this year, TV presenter David Campbell reveals why he and his family are die-hard supporters of the celebration and reveals the embarrassing Halloween costume that still haunts him to this day.

David Campbell and family are big fans of Halloween.

Well, it’s Halloween again and if you didn’t already know, it’s bigger than ever. It’s predicted this year Australians will spend close to half a billion on this spooky, skeleton dominated camp-fest.

I love this silly celebration. I have always defended it from the social-media wowsers who don’t like its American-ism, though we all know its origins lie in ancient Celtic traditions. And while I have always loved the great pumpkin night, it hasn’t always loved me back.

Back in my analog, wind-up camera youth, my primary school decided Halloween wasn’t just for Jamie Lee Curtis and the Myers family – perhaps we should try it as a school social day. I was thrilled.

You see, I was kind of a lonely kid back in the day – desperate to make friends but completely out of step with what was designated to be “cool”. The Nerds had not yet had their Revenge, so I was left to my imagination and way too many old movies as references.

So as All Hallows’ Eve approached, I had the best costume idea. It would win the hearts of bullies, charm the opposite gender and announce to all at Ingle Farm Central Primary School in South Australia: watch out for this crazy kid, he’s going places!

David Campbell and family in their Ferris Bueller’s Day Off themed costumes.

To achieve my costume all I needed was lots of black textas, homemade wire glasses and a piece of cardboard rolled perfectly to look like a cigar. You guessed it; I went as Groucho Marx. In 1983.

My faux pas was made even worse when I walked through the school gates and realised that nobody else was dressed in costume. Oh, you could see the occasional witch’s hat from across a hectic playground. Maybe a cape or two. The rest were Hang Ten T-shirts and Kmart jeans. I was fairly certain no-one had watched the 1935 Marx Brothers movie A Night At The Opera. Ever. This was so embarrassing. (It was even worse than the year before when I did a tight five-minute stand-up set for show-and-tell as Fozzie Bear, complete with his jokes and accent.) So I faked a migraine and in true Groucho style said, “Hello, I must be going.” I went home to scrub my face for the next few hours.

Read the full piece inside this weekend’s edition of Stellar with Sarah Harris on the cover.

Nonetheless, decades later, I leant all the way in to dressing up (and trick or treating) when my wife Lisa and I had kids. While the children got a sugar rush, we were high on something else – walking around our neighbourhood and meeting people we didn’t know.

We complimented other families on their costumes and hoped they would pick up on our theme of the year.

The secret to Halloween in this country, I think, is just that: community. It forces us to lower our guards, be kinda goofy looking and talk to someone who, on the average day, you might just walk past.

It teaches our children the value of looking out for other folks who live near or around them, and lets them be as creative as they want. We have paraded as Ghostbusters, and stalked the streets as characters from E.T., The Princess Bride, Jurassic Park... even Ferris Bueller had his now famous Day Off in my neck of the woods, and was rewarded with plenty of laughs and lollies. One day Groucho may crouch-walk through my streets. Not this year, but one day...

David Campbell co-hosts Today Extra, 9am weekdays, on the Nine Network.

Originally published as Today Extra co-host defends Halloween ‘from the wowsers’