I saw a few up and down the street, but I think today's helicopter parents will only let their children go to houses of people they know. Also, last week I was passing a nearby (Catholic) church, and they were advertising a "Trunk or Treat", so the perfidious Mormon practice has found its way East.
For the last three years in a row I couldn't keep the candy coming fast enough. I must've outspent myself each consecutive year to keep up with the little goblins, and still would run out of chocolate before I ran out of trick-or-treaters.
So tonight I decided to play the Grinch for a change. I took the night off and treated myself to a Broadway play on tour. Fiddler on the Roof. The price of that ticket was about par to what would've spent on chocolate to hand out to the little ones.
Trying not to feel too badly. My first trick-or-treaters of the night were two grown adults, with no children. They were going up and down the street for candy before the children started. Since I was leaving anyway for the Broadway play, and no candy in the house, I ignored them. Then high tailed it out of here.
It was a grand time at a classic old theater that is rumored to be, yes, haunted. I checked around and didn't see any ghosts out tonight. They probably come around after the patrons leave and the lights are off.
We have nearly a full bowl of leftover candy. Probably had fewer than 25 kids show up. I'm going to stop buying the big bag of candy from Costco in the future. I do think the whole trunk or treat thing has pretty much eliminated the kids running around the neighborhoods like we did back in the day. I did see two young boys around age 8 or 9 just run across the street right in front of a car. Scared me to death and I am sure that driver was shook up, too. Very near miss.
We had about 200 of the little moochers. It was a pretty steady stream for most of the two hours that we were open for business. My wife made some chili that we ate out of large mugs while we sat in the front yard and handed out candy.
We had significantly fewer T or T’ers this year. We live in a tract in the middle of town. We used to get a steady flow. Took grandkids out for a block or two. Saw no other groups on the streets.
Me too Ziller. Rural crime is rampant here. The criminals know they probably won't get caught as the RCMP are too busy dealing with the opiate crisis....but they discourage us shooting the rat bastard crooks.
Happy 'DAH' (day after Halloween)! How's the candy belly/ licker head?
Who used to [still rolls] 'roll' (TP) yards/ trees, friends/ frenemys' homes?
Still toilet papers, 'specially those bigguns! Or just 'bye' 'em! (They didn't have them bigguns' when we'ze littluns)
Look fer 'dem trees (might use dronz deez dayz dough). Different papers "roll", and tear [some are terrible] differently... and, surely enough, come down - or don't - or biodegrade, "differently".
I [we] didn't think about the art - and science - of it in my youth, as I certainly wood today: recycle, materials, methods, effects, photography/ documentation, blog/ story about it(?), maybe even leaving clues that lead other ways, and lighting, and SOUND, for sure.
Are/ Were you a roller? Did your yard get rolled? Are/ Did your kids/ parents do it?
person had hidden a straight-pin into a piece of candy that an 11-year-old girl bit into. The pin punctured the roof of the child's mouth. The hospital was checking the pin for traces of contaminants.
These reports occur every so often. A few may be valid, but most of them turn out to be hoaxes. Children should accept only individually wrapped candy, no fruit or anything home-made.
On a somewhat frivolous note, the ultra-tiny candies are sometimes called "Fun-Sized." I call them "Not-Much-Fun-Sized."
this morning, (definitely a straight-pin, not a hollow needle) lying atop a bloodied tissue. As far as I could tell, there have not been reports of any "contaminants" on the pin. But the roof of this child's mouth was punctured.
While I dearly love to see little kids in costumes, I don't think I will encourage trick or treaters next year. The various church "Trunk or Treat" activities can't possibly be as much fun as the old house-to-house trekking, but people weren't this nasty, either.
It saddens me, to think that people in our own neighborhood would do such a hateful thing (and this was fairly close to where we live. Less than a mile.
In my old Deep-South ward, we had various booths and adventures set up in different classrooms, some geared to older kids, some to little ones. Adults dressed up too. (No covering of faces with masks, but face paint was OK. I have my triangular ears, on a headband, painted on the little split-lip of a cat, and a bouncy, feline tail. It was LOTS of fun. We had a good time at our parties.
I think the think that the "Trunk or Treat" thing is lame, but it is safer than taking a chance as our poor local girl did.
A police report near where I live found a needle inside some candy in an upper class neighborhood. This type of psycho crime against children knows no boundaries.
I hope the perpetrators are arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law and then some.
That's the kind of house trick-or-treaters park on the doorstep.
I've had repeat trick-or-treaters. I didn't count how many but judging by the candy I went through they must really like our neighborhood.
Last night was the first time in years I took Halloween off. Going to the theater was totally worth it to me. I'd not seen a professional production of Fiddler on the Roof before last night (except for the movie version.)
Watching a high school performance back in Ogden, Utah my junior year played by Mormons just isn't the same as watching the stage play from Broadway on tour. :)