Ryan Bridge: Halloween is the new fireworks

Halloween is the new fireworks for kids in New Zealand, and it's a hell of a lot less controversial. 

New Zealand First wants to ban backyard fireworks. Winston loves his horses and they get spooked. 

The Greens back a ban. They love adopted Greyhounds. And cats. 

When I was young, this time of year was all about shooting each other with Godzilla's. Smokebombs. Scraping all the powder off 50 sparklers to make a sparkler bomb. 

But these days Halloween is where it's at. 

The old English tradition has been overtaken by its American competitor. Well, it's not really American but the Americans have made it popular. 

That means it's a growth industry. 

If you're going to get Dracula teeth, you need Dracula blood. If you're getting the blood, why not get the whole costume? 

Australians are expected to spend half a billion dollars on Halloween this year. That's up on last year. 

If this trend continues, there'll probably be no point banning backyard fireworks, they'll just fizzle out on their own. 

And on the whole, that's probably not a bad thing. 

Better for kids to be scared witless than horses and dogs.