My son came up with a last minute costume. He is 13 and he just put on a pair of dark sunglasses. He only did this at a few friend’s houses but I have to give him credit. He went to the doors, and they asked “what are you?” he answered “I’m blind… what are you deaf… I said Trick or Treat.” He then patted himself down and said… “Did they mess with me again… they told me this was a pirate costume.”
I’m glad we have neighbors with a good sense of humor… and not very PC.
Sorry, I intended to put this in MSPMS or whatever it is called. Mods, feel free to move it if needed.
Done.
twickster, Cafe Society moderator
Yeah, you were posting in Cafe Society. What? Can’t you read?
Well… cute and imaginative, but frankly, I get annoyed at the teens and pre-teens who come around trick-or-treating without costumes, just looking for the free candy.
We went through over 500 pieces of candy last night – we live on a long, straight, well-lit street with no cross-streets, that’s become the Halloween Place-To-Be, so Halloween night costs us around $75. We’re happy to do it for the kids in costume, but the teen gangs who wander around around dressed in their street clothes are, frankly, annoying. Putting on a pair of sunglasses or wearing bright red socks is NOT a costume, however “clever” some post-hoc rationale may be. I don’t even ask anymore about what I think of as the kids too snotty to wear costumes; if I did ask, and got told, something stupid and insulting like “I’m dressed as a blind person because I’m wearing dark glasses, are you deaf? I asked for candy and you didn’t give it to me!” I’d probably not give them any at all.
“I’m dressed as a drug user, see, because I’m carrying plastic bag that I’m pretending contains cocaine.”
“I’m dressed as a teenager in the year 2008, because this is last year’s T-shirt.”
Baloney. Smart-ass justifications for having too much of a stick up their asses to go in costume.
I see years of cat collecting, fist shaking, and “Get off my lawn!” yelling in your future. 
Dija catch the part that he only did it at a few friends houses?
Personally, my standard is that a costume needs at least three elements to count. So, for instance, an eyepatch does not a pirate make, but an eyepatch, a hook hand, and a parrot on the shoulder counts. In this case, if he also had, say, a cane and a dog, then I’d count it as a “blind costume”. Maybe, just maybe, I’d count poorly-coordinated colors, but that’d be a stretch.
I’ll admit that “They told me this was a pirate costume” is clever, though.
Yeah, that’s pretty clever. It made me giggle.
In high school, I went out and bought a pair of blue jeans, a flannel shirt, and a pair of Converse shoes. Everyone agreed that I was wearing a costume.
I gave the clothes away the next day and went back to dressing well.
What really gets me is that they not only come without costumes, but won’t even get into the spirit of the occasion. They are often surly and ungrateful, mumbling “Trick or treat” under their breath and then expecting you to hold out your basket so they can dunk their ham-sized fists in and pull out half your candy in one go.
My first Halloween in America, i lost almost all my candy to the first couple of groups of teenagers. I learned pretty quickly that, even if you’re not going to send them away for not having costumes, you have to maintain close control over the distribution process.
13 year olds you goto love them
A couple weekends ago I was giving out recycled grocery-bag totes at an art fair for work. These were free bags, with our logo and decorations on them, of course. But, free. Free, free free. Early in the day people took them casually but as the day wore on it would look like metal shavings being drawn in by a magnet; once people caught wind that there was something free they swarmed. SWARMED. They got very snatchy, too. One guy stood there and did the “gimme gimme” motion with his hand as I struggled to free a bag from the pile.
So as to have enough to last the entire weekend, when the swarming started, we just doled them out on the hour and half-hour after that, one box at a time (250 bags). You would not BELIEVE how pissed some people were that showed up during off-periods and were told to come back at 2 or whatever if they had to have a bag. “TYPICAL,” one woman sneered as she walked off.
Not if they’re not mine, I don’t. Not anymore, at least.
thirdwarning, former room parent and class trip chaperone.
That stinks that they come without costumes, but I would still give them candy.
When I was younger (14-15), someone’s cell phone went off in our group right as some lady opened her door. The price of her smart-ass remark about “teaching us a lesson” and holding out on that 25 cents worth of candy was probably at least an hours worth of yard work cleaning toilet paper off her house and trees the next day. Lesson learned.
I like your son’s costume. Anyone can go out and buy a costume, but to have a little creativity with it makes it ten times better!
I feel as if I should clarify a few things. First, my son never planed to go trick or treating this year. Our neighborhood is interesting in the fact that some years you will get hundreds of kids, and others only a few. It seems to be decided by who is having the parties. This year, my daughter and other son both went to parties in other neighborhoods. This son just decided to stay home and hand out candy. This year turned out to be an “off” year and even though I bought roughly $80 of candy I only handed out a tiny fraction. At some point he got bored and headed out just to see what was going on.
My doorbell rang, and I was the first to get treated to his “costume.” It cracked me up, and I was also relieved because in previous years I have been met with a super soaker and only the phrase “TRICK!!!” (yes he was smart enough to miss by a few inches). I told him to go next door, knowing full well that Mr. D would call him out on his lack of costume. That worked well, and he was told he had to do it for Mr. M. I think he hit 4 houses total. Again, these were all people who know him well and “called him out” for just having glasses on.
My daughter in past years has been known to respond to the kids with no costume with a “Oh, you dressed as a loser!” and give them one Smarties packet.
I had a friend go as a blind guy one year. He had the cane and sunglasses but didn’t actually go to the door and get candy. He just stayed at the end of the driveway.
We had several people (even trick or treaters) ask if he was blind. It was fun.
Mr. S and I both LOLed. That’s one hilarious kid you’ve got.
Heh. Reminds me of when Lorne Michaels tried to give Stevie Wonder a “masterpiece art painting” with just Please Don’t tell Him on it.
One year, 3 teenagers came with t-shirts that said Costume. The next year, I was ready with a few pieces of paper that said Candy. Of course, I never saw another Costume t-shirt.