Did you get any trick or treaters? Does your neighborhood get into the spirit?

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I know this really only applies to the U.S. and Canada, and maybe countries that celebrate the Day of the Dead.

Man, I love Midtown. There are neo-pagans down the street who always get very into the holidays, although technically they're celebrating different holidays. They had a big display in their yard for the last few weeks, and they'll have another one around winter solstice. In our old neighborhood, an elderly couple in a big (10,000 square feet, 13 bedrooms kind of big) house decorate their whole front yard with headstones and cobwebs, effectively turning their house into a haunted mansion. And most people who want trick or treaters put up lights, as it's the best way to signal that you have candy and welcome visitors.

I love Halloween. Not as much as Jeremy loves it, but I do love it. It is the only holiday we have left in which children go from door to door, and I just think that's swell. In fact, I wish we had a similar tradition in the winter -- I'd be more than happy to hand out candy twice a year.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999

Answers

Hardly any. Our city council confused the issue, saying that trick or treating should be done on Saturday, rather than Sunday (Bible Belt City). I was expecting to be blitzed both nights, but we had hardly any. Most went to the mall. The kids were too confused about which nights to hit where.

I still love the holiday though. A holiday where you can look as weird as you want, you are encouraged to scare or trick people, and y ou get free candy...what's not to love?

--Al of Nova Notes.



-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999


We have a fairly active block here in St. Paul; this Halloween, since it was warm, most of the people on the block were out on their front porches and lawns handing out candy, which was a new one for me. Everybody had some kind of lights or lanterns or torches going, so it looked neat and spooky.

This year, we only got a couple dozen trick-or-treaters, but, miracle of miracle, they were all wearing costumes! Last year, we got three times that many, and 2/3 were just wearing street clothes. Depressing. I was planning to adopt the schedule of, say trick or treat, get 1 piece of candy; wear a costume, get 2; wear a COOL costume, get 3.

Everybody got 3 pieces of candy; even the Hmong family that came by (mother and 6 kids aged 3-12, all wearing street clothes except their faces were painted like Pokemon; kinda creepy, so that got them bonus points).

I dressed as a pirate: poofy white shirt, black swashbuckler pants, boots, belt, stuffed parrots safety-pinned to my shoulders, pirate chest full of candy... and some parents didn't get it. They asked, so, what are you, a bird trainer? Their embarassed kids had to say, no, dad, he's a PIRATE! Jeez.

Speaking of giving out candy twice a year, I heard an unconfirmed rumor that some school districts were agitating to have Saturday be the Halloween Observance day, so the kids didn't have to be out on a school night. Bah.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999


We had one set of trick or treaters, three kids in all, and the little buggers DIDN'T even dress up!

We never have alot but this year was just sad

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999


We didn't decorate with lights, but I carved some great jack o'lanterns and put up some plastic skeletons I had around. I'm like Jeremy, I love Halloween much more than Christmas, but I don't want to get into decorating in a big way - I don't want it to be a big consumer holiday, though it's probably too late for that.

Pat put on a wig he got at a garage sale and answered the door with funny voices and stuff. "Why what's this? A VISITOR!!" The children seemed to like it. We got a good crowd and had only a little candy left.

When three little boys came up, Pat told them they could have all they could grab in 4 seconds, then counted down. They went WILD and got huge handfulls. He was a little shaken. I chided him about forgetting what it's like to be a little boy.

I like dressing up, but I want Halloween to keep being a childrens' holiday. Even though I hate children too.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999


Where I live, most of the communities celebrated Halloween on Saturday night. On years they do this, there's alwasys a few areas that still do it on Sunday, which leads to lots of kids out for two nights. We had around 100 kids, mostly of the appropriate age and dress. Our youngest was around 1 year, and dressed as a bananna. I don't know how old the oldest was, but we did have one girl walk up smoking a cigarette dressed as (?) a 'ho. There was a mother and son team costume of a pimp and a 'ho (where's her mother of the year award?), and we had one duo as Clinton and Monica. My kids went as a red ninja (the youngest) and Death (my oldest). Death wore a long hooded robe that exposed his ribcage. This was a hollow breastplate equipped with a device shaped like a heart that when squeezed pumped fake blood through the transparent bones. Quite gruesome, but this may very well be his last year of trick-or-treating so I sprang for the expensive costume he HAD to have.

-- Anonymous, November 02, 1999


I carved a Pumpkin and a turnip. I thought about dressing up, decided a corset would be constricting and that I wasn't in the mood for constriction, and ended up hiding in my room, coming out for candy runs.

I fear trick or treaters. I don't speak child, I don't like answering the door, and I never know what to say if I do. Odd, being that Halloween is also my favorite holiday (maybe a family thing). We did get a few trick or treaters, but not many. My theory is that the kids in this neighborhood have, for the most part, grown up.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999


We live in a small rural community, and our house didn't get one. However, there are a few wonderful blocks that really go all out. My son and I drove over there with my mom, and I decided that we would walk home. It was very dark. You could hear teen-agers screaming off in the distance. Some people hid in there front yard, and as we passed them, they would jump out at us. Very haunted house-ish. My son is four and thought it was very cool.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999

Lots of trick-or-treaters, though we didn't participate due to a death in the family, and we didn't buy candy or even get home Halloween night until after 8.

But -- I wanted to let you know that when we had a particularly rambunctious toddler and were certain he would destroy a Christmas tree, we bought a particularly beautiful short tree and set it on a table in front of the window. From the outside, it looked like a normal tree. And even on the inside, it was lovely -- even if it didn't go all the way to the ground.

It's an option.

Happy holidays!

Pooks

-- Anonymous, November 03, 1999


When friends had a rambunctious toddler and a Christmas tree, they put the tree inside his playpen, with him outside.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999

I live in an apartment off the street, so we don't get trick-or-treaters, have not in the past three years we've been here. I kept a bowl of candy near the door just in case, and we were home all night (we did all our Halloween party activity on Friday, and I was still exhausted from the UBERKUNST show on Saturday) but no wee urchins in zany costumes. We'd probably need to set up something at the entrance to the complex--but first I'd need to set up some agreement with the other residents. Too much work. Next year maybe I'll hang out at a friend's house in a place where they do show up, if I'm not busy doing mock eviscerations or something.

-- Anonymous, November 04, 1999


We had two pairs of children, which is probably a record.

Here in Britain, trick or treating is not a native tradition, although thanks to the forces of American cultural imperialism American Halloween practices are not unknown to us.

-- Anonymous, November 05, 1999


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