Campus Kids Suit up and Head Into Cambridge in Search of Holiday Treats

When you were a kid and Halloween rolled around, you knew what you were doing.

You'd get your bed sheet, cut a couple of holes in it and ghost yourself down the street, grabbing whatever candy you could get your hands on.

Growing up in the Harvard Houses, however, the kids of masters, tutors and professors have to be a little more creative. After all, it's not likely that the sophomore pre-med downstairs will be waiting for the trick-or-treat knock with a bowl full of Sugar Daddies.

This year, Malia Preble and husband Scott Yang, both tutors in Kirkland House, are going all out for their children's costumes.

"My older daughter will be a skyscraper," Preble said, "and the younger daughter is Cinderella."

Alana Yang, 4 1/2, even came up with the skyscraper idea herself.

"It was either that or an eyeball," Preble said. "I was rooting for the eyeball."

The costume came together in four hours, welded out of foam core into a two-tiered structure. Total cost: $5.24.

"We looked up the Chrysler Building on the Internet and the hat will be in that art deco style," Preble said.

Preble said Alana and sister Keala, 2 1/2, will probably go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood behind the Divinity School.

"They are usually decorated pretty well there," Preble said. "Right around the dorms is the worst."

Marc Busch, assistant professor of government and social studies, will be taking his kids out trick-or-treating this weekend as well.

"I have two children and we are going to be Halloweening all throughout the neighborhood," said Busch, who lives with his family on Faculty Row behind Pforzheimer House.

"The neighborhood around PfoHo is good. We've always had good luck," he said.

Zach Busch, 4, is planning to go as King Neptune and his sister, 18-month-old Lelia, will accompany him as Ariel from Disney's The Little Mermaid.

"Zach is certainly up for this," Busch said. "A few years ago, the idea of standing in the doorstep and taking candy seemed odd to him. He always wanted to go in the house."

Busch, who admits to taking snickers from his son's candy bag, said Zach often gets more candy than he can eat.

The local trawl may be too light for the older crowd, however. The children of Mather House Masters Leigh Hafrey '73 and Sandra Naddaff '75 are being driven to Dedham for trick-or-treating.

Nathaniel and Ben Naddaff-Hafrey, 12 and 7 years old respectively, are headed for their grandparents' neighborhood, Hafrey said.

"I think Nathaniel is going as a soccer player and is going to wear his school soccer uniform," Hafrey said. "Ben is going as a commando. The commando thing is gradually coming together."

Leverett tutors Louis Miller and Catherine Fasbender said this will be the first year of trick-or-treating for children David, 3 and Pascale, 16 months. Pascale will be a superhero and David a skunk.

"The only piece of costume we have is a skunk tail," said Catherine Fasbender, applying the finishing touches of makeup to David's face in a trial run for Saturday's big event.

Kareem and Khalila Gibbs, the children of Kirkland House tutors Adam Biggs and Rakiya Muhammed, are also headed out in search of candy Saturday.

"We're not quite sure where," Biggs said, "but we are going to go out trick-or-treating."

Kareem, 3, will dress as a ninja and despite the stalled NBA season, Khalila, 15 months, will still go as a cheerleader for the Chicago Bulls.

"They're pretty excited," Biggs said. "We took a couple of days to look around for costumes. We've also had a little more candy around the house."

Conor Killen, two-year-old son of Dirk Killen '82, Allston Burr Senior Tutor in Pforzheimer House, and tutor Kristin Daly '89, will dress as Batman this year, combining holiday fashion and function.

"His dad likes Batman and [Conor] has cute Batman pajamas," Daly said.

Although Conor does not yet know about the Halloween plans, Daly said they will include the open haunted house in Jordan Hall on their Saturday itinerary.

"We'll visit just a few houses of people we know in the neighborhood," she said.