And no, it was not in a flaming brown paper bag :dubious:
On my way out the door to work this morning there was a mason jar stuffed with, well I don’t know exactly as I was in a rush, but it looked like maybe a pen and a key chain and other assorted tchotchkes. There was a note saying I’ve been “Booed” and to pass it on by “Booing” two other friends in the same manner. So, a form of the old chain letter, if you will.
I have no earthly idea who could possibly have done it. I don’t have any friends in the area and I barely know any of my neighbors. Those few that I’m casually friendly with really don’t seem the sort to participate in this kind of thing. Also, I was up super late last night and it was not there at 1:00 am when I let the cat in so someone was out lurking in the wee hours. The mind boggles.
Have you heard of this, er, tradition? Would you participate?I wouldn’t begin to know who to pass it on to, and frankly I’m a bit busy to be putting together not one but two goody bags. On the other hand, I feel like someone did me a kindness and I’ll feel like a Halloween grinch if I just ignore it. What to do?
This is very common in suburban America. At least where I live.
Around here, the treats are always food based, not tchotchke-based, but maybe different areas of the country do things differently.
The basic process is:
[ul]
[li]I get booed, with a treat and a piece of paper with a picture of a ghost, or other halloween-type character, with the word “Boo!”[/li][li]I tape the paper on my door or in my window to prevent others from Booing me again[/li][li]I copy the paper two or three times, and leave some anonymous treats with the pages at other folks who have not yet been booed.[/li][/ul]
That’s about the extent of it. It is obviously much more common in neighborhoods with a lot of small kids, as they eat this stuff up, both literally and figuratively. As to why they picked you, it is probably because someone wanted to reach out and be nice to someone they don’t know well, although it could also just be that you were one of the few houses that hadn’t been booed yet.
As far as doing it yourself, you can just grab some treats at the store and throw them in a couple of zip-loc bags, so it doesn’t need to be time-consuming. However, I wouldn’t feel obligated if you really don’t want to do it. It is supposed to be anonymous, so no one will know if you are the Grinch.
In my neighborhood, booing the neighbors is very popular with the kids because of the mystery and required stealth. It’s supposed to be a secret who booed you, so the kid may go to great lengths to get the treat on porch and ring the doorbell (considered a requirement in our neighborhood) and get away without being caught. Then the booee kid who hears the doorbell runs to the door and tries to catch the booer. They have a lot of fun with it.
I’d say you have a neighbor kid who just wanted to include you, or quite possibly all his friends had been booed already and he still wanted to play, so he had to pick someone.
So will the alleged kid or whoever gave it to me know if I don’t pass it along? I’m directed to put the hand made “I’ve been Booed” sign in my window ( presumably to let others know I already got my treat?). I’m not worried about being egged or anything, I just don’t want some little kid to feel bad.
If they are watching you that closely 24 hours a day to know for sure that you didn’t, then it would be creepy. I think you are safe in assuming they either won’t know or deserve to be offended.
