princesses and pirates and ninjas--oh, my

Last night was my first Halloween in the house. I made it back in town in time to grab some candy for what I hoped would be many trick-or-treaters. There are lots of children in the neighborhood although my view may be skewed somewhat due to the after-school daycare that is down the street.

We grew up in the country. There was no walking out the front door to the neighbor's house. We were driven the few miles into town and mostly trick-or-treated at homes of people we (meaning our parents) knew. Dad would drive us wearing this burlap bag he turned into a crude, creepy mask. It really startled people. And we'd wear our old-school plastic costumes and plastic masks (that would surely be deemed unsafe these days due to the threat of suffocating or melting to skin if set ablaze). We did not take our candy to have it x-rayed. We did not stay out late. Instead, we went back home to revel in the glory of our loot.

In some ways, this Halloween was similar. I've grown accustomed to society being afraid of everything these days. I expected maybe a few kids whose parents took them around at dusk wearing much fancier costumes than the ones in my day. In fact, I had twenty kids (20!) ranging from the 4-year-old Snow White to the early teenage boys in street clothes and masks, just out to get a little free candy. No costume was super elaborate. None were handmade like I had in the slightly-less-old days. The thing that surprised me, though, was that no one came until it was honest-to-God after dark. The last few rolled in around 9:45. I turned off the light after that.

All-in-all, it was a good evening. It was fun to see the kids in costumes. They were all very polite. A few little girls even said they loved my house which totally scored them extra pieces of candy. My house has not been vandalized--from what I can see out the window anyway. And I'm only left with about half the candy with which I started. Not too shabby. I'm off to count it and organize it and revel in it...

Comments

Anonymous said…
Well, I got left at only 4 T-or-Ter's. They looked to be a group of about 12 year old girls trying to be scary witches; more emphasis on make-up than costume I think. They did offer their condolences at the fact that I only had 4 kids come by so that was nice.

So can it be like the old days to where we both count and organize candy and then trade for stuff we like or dislike?

BTW -- thanks for the card and candy

The Brother
We didn't have as many trick-or-treaters as I expected, but my kids got a ton of stuff! They dumped it all together and organized it all. And today I am home alone with it all day.....muahahahaha!
Katie Lady said…
Also from the country, and we would go into town to my grandparents and use it as our 'home base' and walk the neighborhood. Fun times.

We took Drew Bear out to the few houses of people on our block that we know, and apparently got a TON of kids come by while we were gone. We ran out of candy!
Anonymous said…
Yeah for having a good Halloween! We don't get any trick or treaters in our apartment complex, so I didn't get to enjoy short people in costumes. But my MOM's neighborhood gets between 200-300! So I think next year we'll take the baby there. Cuz man, you know those houses are stocked with some good stuff!! :-)
Anonymous said…
We took Hunter out to my parents and he seemed to have fun - well as much fun as a 9 month old can have!!! Out neighborhood never has many Trick-Or-Treaters but my mom's has at least 200 if not more!!

Katie
Anonymous said…
I didn't get to trick-or-treat as a child. :-( Those darned communists...

cph
Anonymous said…
According to the new quiz, I'm a winter. Intelligent, serious, calm, shy. hmmmm...

cph
StaceyG said…
We had very few kids. It was kind of disappointing. We turned off the light at 8:30 to get the kiddo in bed.

crowd favorites

100 things--thankful

hey, would you like to see the nursery?