A Halloweenie Meanie

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

I used to go trick-or-treating elsewhere too. Not because of the old estate thing, but because it was fun to go with my cousins or friends. I was an only child, and either had to go with my parents (sort of fun) or with my friends (tons of fun).

Not to mention some people don’t live in *safe *neighborhoods - you wouldn’t want your kids walking in these neighborhoods.

I also don’t understand people who say “I don’t wanna stay up giving candy”. Werll, don’t! Most of the time, the really little kids - the ones whom I want to give to anyway - are done by 7 or 8 PM. At 9 PM I turn off the lights in the front of the apartment. I’m not opening my doors to anyone else after then, most kids should be in bed.

I have no problem with people who just say flat out “I don’t want to”. But it occurs to me if you’re only half-heartedly against it, there are ways to limit it and make it less annoying.

But 250 kids, holy Og!

22

We’ll have some stuff, but not a whole lot.

Most of the kids in my neighborhood don’t trick or treat (new to the country, have no clue and/or their religion forbids it). Instead, I’m taking my little one to the mall for the trick or treat they have there. I’m even dressing up! It’s not much, but probably more than most of the teens do nowadays.

23

I’m giving back midterm examinations on 'Ween. Now that’s mean.

24

Last year we were so excited to be celebrating Halloween in our new house. Picked up some (modest) decorations, set up some atmospheric music, bought a decent amount of candy, and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited.

Not 1 trick-of-treater. :frowning: It then occurred to us that we never really see any kids in our neighborhood, and we live on a really steep hill, so not many tykes were willing to brave the climb. Plus, we figured that tnt is probably passe and organized events are the new social model (since we have no kids, we never got the memo).

So this year? Nothing.

25

My workplace always does Halloween big. It was up to personal choice to dress up, decorate, give out candy, etc. It was very fun and individualistic, but those of us who didn’t feel like doing the whole Halloween thing weren’t badgered. There’s always a party, and a good time is had by all.

This year, a newly hired person has appointed herself “event organizer” and has decided that different departments must dress up according to a theme and compete against each other. This is taking things way too far. I don’t and won’t dress up and don’t approve of the whole theme competition thing - all the individualism is gone. Now instead of the whole thing being fun, it’s going to be the Halloween grinches vs. the “team members”.

If this keeps up, I’ll just take Halloween off next year.

26

I’m the anti-cerberus: I’ve cancelled classes for Halloween, telling my students that I need the time to decorate my house and scare the Hell out of the kiddies!

I hear all of you on the teenagers/no costume thing. I got a lot of that for the first time last year. I vowed that this year I would either not give them anything or give them some really sucky candy, saying “Hey, if you’re not going to try, then I’m not either.” Ditto for parents who come up, leaving their too-scared children behind. If you’re not a kid, not in costume, or not willing to brave my house, then you’re not getting candy.

27

A kinda Halloweenie Meanie here. I’m not giving out candy at home, but at work several day cares are taking little ones to various (pre-planned) places Monday morning between 10 and Noon for trick or treat. We are one of the places that volunteered. So, little ones in costume will show up and go from office to office trick or treating. That’ll be fun. Then, at lunch, we’re having chili, cornbread and fixin’s as an office “trick or treat.” Plus, several of us are bringing extra candy to have in the break room to ensure that everybody at work stays on a chocolate high all day. :smiley: My kinda trick or treat!

28

You know, as much as I love my office’s annual Halloween party, I’d boycott if someone tried to pull this. It actually happened the year before I started working with the company. Employees were told that their costumes had to reflect the subject matter of their publications. That’s might be OK if you write something fun or exciting, but we publish legal materials. I heard the costume contest was a real snooze-fest that year.

The whole point of Halloween is to be creative with your costume. If it’s just another assignment, why even bother?

29

This is what I do for the teenagers carrying a pillow case hoping to score free loot:

I have two bowls of candy. One is filled with primo-chocolate-mini candy-bars. The other is filled with a delightful potporri of candy corn, circus peanuts, and belly-button lint. Guess which bowl goes to the young ones in costume, and which goes to the surly, greedy teens? :smiley:

30

Door-to-door trick-or-treating may be on the way out.

Or it may just be the community I live in (in Los Angeles), but 'round these parts, the kids go to the malls or local amusment parks for TorT, and/or to parties at private homes or rec centers. It’s not easy or safe to get around to more than a few houses, plus the anthrax paranoia in '01 put a lot of people off it.

Fact is, it’s not an ancient tradition. When my parents were kids in the '30s, it was unheard of. You went to a private party, and pranking the neighbors afterwards was optional. In fact, TorTing may have grown out of that: “Give us candy or we’ll egg your house!” But society has changed even further since then. People don’t know their neighbors as well, and a lot of communities just aren’t safe. I’d be sad to see Hallowe’en go completely up the spout, but I don’t think changing the focus marks the decline of Western civilization or anything.

31

I’d actually prefer a party rather than running around seeking candy.

It was okay, and one year I even went out for about four hours and got almost two pillowcases full of candy… but I always prefered dressing up and playing games to seeking out candy.

Actually, I was talking with Mom after I posted earlier. We’ve decided not to give out candy at all. Not worth the trouble. We’re going to go over to the mall and wander there, then we’re going out for supper. If I buy any candy it will be to put in my lunch.

Oh, and I see Hallmark has Halloween cards out now. Why? Who needs another reason to give out cards?

32

Nope. Halloween is about candy. Kids dressing up in fun costumes with their friends, and heading out for some candy.

Halloween is for the kids, people! Let them have a little fun.

I do the same thing! The teens that don’t dress up get a small piece of candy that’ll give them fewer calories than it took to walk up my lawn. They’ll get the message eventually.

On the other end of the spectrum, if I see a little boy or girl all dressed up, walking around without any friends, I’ll usually give them both candy and a toy. I love to see their little faces light up.

But, I still feel like I fit into the halloween meanie category. I hate dressing up, and I avoid costume parties. Not sure why, although I’m sure it goes back to my childhood. As a kid, once I spent weeks creating a robot costume out of cardboard, aluminum foil, laundry bottles, anything I could find. I worked hard on it, and I was so proud of it. While trick-or-treating…just a few houses down from my own, the class bully recognized me, called me a dork, and punched me so hard in the stomach that I doubled over.

Not a fun night for me.

33

They can have as much fun, if not more, at a party. Costume judging. Who Can Tell the Scariest Story. Substantive food, like hot dogs or pizza, to balance the sugar. Music and/or videos. Games. And so forth.

I’m not knocking TorTing, but I agree with Inigo (which doesn’t happen often!). It’s not all about the candy.

34

Yes it damn well is all about the candy. (Although I’m never dead sure what candy actually is. I have a sort of mental picture, but it may be completely the wrong one. Over here the generic word is “sweets”.)

The trouble is, you have gone and exported this annoying “trickle treat” custom over here, when we already had a perfectly sensible one of our own that came less than a week later. Now, instead of children dragging around an effigy of the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions and requesting a “penny for the guy”, we have – like the worst of the accounts above – kids either not in costume or escorted by a Responsible Adult, or both, traipsing from door to door mumbling something and expecting a handout for it.

Any red-blooded Englishman knows that the last couple of days of October and the first few in November are properly spent accumulating cash for a few small fireworks to go “ohh, ahh” over in the vicinity of a large bonfire, although these days the crippling public insurance premiums forced on us by a paranoid compensation culture are killing off the village displays, and paradoxically this might even mean more private fireworks parties, and so much the better for them.

Guy Fawkes. It’s the reason for the season. Away with your mediæval Night of Misrule and your wannabe pagan retrofitting. Remember, remember the Fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot! I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot.

35

Sorry, but most of you all are grouches.

36

There’s nothing wrong with “going dark” and not participating. It’s a hassle and an expense, and if you don’t want to, you don’t have to. No biggie.

I, however, have three small children who will be ruthlessly pillaging my neighborhood for candy, so I feel I must reciprocate and let others’ children do the same. I do like the belly button lint idea for the surly teenagers, though. :slight_smile:

37

Although those who long for “the good old days” should fully expect to have their houses egged, their windows soaped and their yard TP’ed for doing so.

38

OK, we’ll forget for a moment that you’re conflating Samhain and Hallowe’en, which are not he same thing - it’s like saying Mother’s Day and Beltaine are the same - no…they have some similar elements, and may possibly have originated one from t’other (though unlikely), but they aren’t the same thing at all.

But put that aside for the moment. It is perfectly in line with Samhain to go trick-or-treating or welcome trick-or-treaters. Why? Three reasons I can think of:

  1. Samhain is the last harvest festival of the year. It’s time to bring in the last of the crops before winter. Children may symbolize this by “harvesting” apples (the last fruit) and, by extension, other sweet things.

  2. Samhain is, as you say, the festival of the ancestors. We leave out offerings of food for the ancestors, sacrificing the last of our harvest to the spirits to assure plenty. It’s not too much of a stretch to leave out offerings for actual people. In this case, cute little people dressed as the dead (and cheerleaders, who should be.)

  3. The veils are thinnest and it’s the time when the spirits are roaming most freely. Children go out and represent these spirits wandering the streets. Have you ever been holding a Samhain seance only to have a spooky knock at the door at just the right time? Try it. It reminds us that the world works according to its own sense of humor and timing, and ritualize it though we may try, the greatest insights come unbidden.

39

Same thing happened to me last year. There just weren’t many kids in the neighborhood; just college kids and old Russian ladies. This summer I moved to an area with a lot of kids and families, though, so I’m hoping for at least a few. I guess I should find out when they’ll be coming round…

40

Mal -I found this funny, "children dragging around an effigy of the last man to enter Parliament with honest intentions and requesting a “penny for the guy”.

I was in UK a few years ago during the last week of Oct. I saw some kids with guys and the woman I was with kept saying, “it’s too early–they’ll get nothing from me”. :slight_smile:

Too bad about the fireworks, though.

I truly don’t understand Halloween in France or UK (even though I think Halloween “started” in Scotland, no?)–it just doesn’t seem right somehow.

And WhyNot beat me to it. I thought that Halloween (or All Hallow’s Eve or something like that) was essentially the noc the dead walked. The division between us and the netherworld was supposed to be narrowest on this noc–hence the emphasis on skeletons, mummies, zombies, decaying people, monsters etc.

I am all for trick or treat. Someone upthread mentioned that alot of folks don’t know their neighbors–here is good opportunity to do so. Halloween in a mall is NOT halloween–it’s some kind of artificial display that has no heart.

this is a chance for kids to put on another identity, to explore what it feels like to BE Superman or SpongeBob or a witch or whatever. I love the theater of Halloween–and it is our ONLY holiday that allows us to revel in “otherness”.

I don’t understand the need (and the media reinforcement) for Xraying candy, checking apples for razor blades etc–these all smack of urban myth to me.

Don’t want to be a part of the spectacle? That’s fine with me. But let’s not whitewash this into “harvest festival”, like my church did a few years back; let’s not commercialize(mercantilize?) it by putting it in a mall–Halloween is about knocking on a door and not quite knowing just what the response will be.

We need that, IMO.

Irrelevant Aside:
Who else has fond memories of collecting for UNICEF with the orange boxes that you put together at school?