Sunday, November 1, 2015

Halloween is so over

In three-and-a-half hours of trick-or-treating last night, we had six children come to our door: three, two, one, and none. It was dark, it was cold, it was raining. We gave generous handfuls of candy and one pencil per child.

Child: “A pencil ??”

Jaded brat!

Me: “Yes, a pencil. It’s a good pencil; it’ll last a lot longer than the candy.”

And now we’re left with 100+ pieces of Heath and Hershey and eighteen more Ticonderogas in our house. They’ll last a very long time.

When we last did Halloween, several years ago, we had just four children show up. I would imagine that many younger families now forage only at friends’ houses. Or they might choose to avoid the sugared debauch entirely. (Who can fault them?) The days of going from random house to random house for treats seem to be on the wane, at least in this neighborhood.

comments: 10

Frex said...

It was a very warm (for MN) Halloween here, and children were out in hoards.
I was walking around the lake in the early evening and saw lots of cars cruising along---parents dropping off/picking up kids at intervals---so the kids didn't have to walk the long distances between mansions...
[They seemed to be inner-city families come to the rich areas, not local rich kids.]

While I don't object to neighborhood hopping [my generation did it too, though I didn't--it was much more FUN to trick-or-treat in my own familiar landscape gone spooky], in my mind getting rides within neighborhoods is totally cheating and those children deserve ONLY pencils.
--Fresca/Frex

Michael Leddy said...

I am glad trick-or-treating flourishes elsewhere. Someone in Elaine’s childhood neighborhood reported 300 kids last night.

All of our trick-or-treaters had a driver nearby. In our driveway, in one case! (Someone we knew.)

Chris said...

"The days of going from random house to random house for treats seem to be on the wane": yes, Random House has never been the same since Bertelsmann took it over. ;-)

I'd estimate we had 100 kids. We gave out no pencils, but one kid did give me a glow stick.

Michael Leddy said...

Thanks for noticing the “random house.” And congrats on your glue stick. : )

Michael Leddy said...

Correction: : ).

Frex said...

Correction: hordes. :)

Michael Leddy said...

I was correcting my smiley, which showed up as :
) on my Mac. But here on my iPad, it’s fine. Overthinking, as always.

Michael Leddy said...

Oops — glow stick. I had glue sticks on my mind. (Had to buy them.)

Berit said...

We also did not get any, but then we never have in 9 years here. The first few years I waited with bated breath and a dragon's hoard of fun size chocolate treats. Recent years, I did not prepare, but this year, I did again.

I think complaining about the pencil when there is also (good) candy is really poor form. Good candy is anything other than the cheapest money can buy (smarties, tootsie roll, peanut butter Mary Janes, I'm looking at you!)

Michael Leddy said...

Yes, and candy corn.