“Halloween here in New York,” said a friend of mine, “is some magical shit.” And truth be told, it’s true. The overlap in its popularity sees this celebration being appreciated no matter how old you are. If you’re a kid, there’s a good chance that Halloween is your favourite holiday (and the only time when taking candy from strangers is okay). And if you’re an adult, you’re given the opportunity to be transported back to your happy place by playing a culturally acceptable game of dress up.

Manhattan was bumper to bumper with Lady Gagas, Alex’s from Clockwork Orange, as well as the more generic brand of witches and ghouls. And if you couldn’t take their costumes seriously, to show you how serious New Yorkers are about this celebration, Sixth Avenue shut down for about seven blocks to accommodate the Village Halloween Parade, an event that was also shown in TV.

While adult revelers got their party on well into the night, the kids had their own earlier (and cleaner) version of the same. The pictures in this week’s picture gallery come courtesy of photographer Anna Delany, who took these snaps of kids in Harlem that we share with you because there’s something less creepy and more cute about a six-year-old dressed as Michael Jackson, versus someone five times that age.