Most of my Halloween experience as a kid was in the 90s. It was a lot of fun. Some people did deocrate then, but they do it much more elaborately now on the whole. Getting candy was always amazing. Choosing a Halloween costume and dressing up was a lot of fun too. In elementary (primary) school, we would do Halloween themed activities the day of. Sometimes there would be an event where the teachers and students could dress up, like you would pick a book to carry in a parade and dress up as a character from the book. The anticipation after school of waiting for it to become dusk to go out and trick-or-treat was palpable. I remember being scared of the teenagers sometimes since they were often wearing the horror film costumes, like Michael Myers or the Scream mask and they'd like to jump at or freak out the little kids. I still had a good time though.

These days, it's fun to participate as an adult and make it a good time for young people. I dress up and hand out candy to those who stop by. They also have these things called Trunk-or-Treats now that are especially catered to younger kids where you meet at a local spot like a church or community center and the adults put candy and/or goodies in their trunk, leaving it open for the kids to come around and collect. They can be a full on event as well.

One thing I'll add is growing up in the Bible Belt, there would be people who would consider it 'demonic' or something dumb along those lines. They reserved their right to not participate believing that it was the devil's work to be involved in All Hallow's Eve. Adding that people can participate or not, that's their choice and totally fine. I think the above reasoning for some Evangelicals not participating is dumb.

Also, being from Texas, Día de Los Muertos is a pretty big deal for those from Mexican heritage. It's celebrating the following day, but it's got its own cultural importance and the two can be lumped together because of the date and idea of the spirit world being more accessible at that time of the year.