German parents warn their kids that Knecht Ruprecht (above) will turn up at their door on Xmas and beat them if they misbehave

Living in Europe I have been denied a proper Halloween for the past three years. Believe it or not Germans prefer to scare the crap out of their kids on Christmas! It has been a tough pill to swallow as October 31st has always been my favourite “holiday.” As was expertly and hilariously explained in the most recent episode of The [Blank] Jones, Halloween is the one day a year when the evolution of child to dude to dad is best understood. With no job or disposable income, one of the most frustrating things about being a kid is the inability to buy the things you want, namely, loads of candy. Halloween offers the rare chance for kids to circumvent the shackles of parental discretionary spending and harvest a bounty of all things bad for you. Halloween also offers dudes the chance to circumvent the shackles of modesty and harvest a bounty other things bad for you — whiskey and single women dressed as French maids.

But for dads the holiday is something else entirely. It is an opportunity to flex ones creative muscles and use your kids as accouterments in elaborate and irreverent costumes. Here are some fantastic examples of creative dads employing their kids in Halloween get-ups. Special thanks to the peerless Jowita B from They Don’t Tell You for inspiring the idea.

Not an actual costume, but a great idea!

...um... she's someone's daughter, right?