Anyone into Halloween stuff?

By the way, this is actually the first year that I will not be going out trick or treating with one of the kids in over two decades. Have been doing it for 22 years, now, but my youngest just turned 13 and he is "much too old" to go out for candy. Note that this is a typical pattern for middle-schoolers who, when they go on to high school, start to realize what they have been missing and start going out trick or treating again. I see high school kids mixed in with elementary and younger kids trick or treating all of the time. Middle schoolers, not so much.

It is 55F/13C degrees which is a perfect Fall day up here, sun is still out, not a raindrop in sight. It will be dark by 6:00pm for sure. Almost time to fasten the seat belts (and lash the dog to the bannister...)

 

Okay, time for the final report on Halloween 2014 in RI:

Total Kids Served: 124

Largest Group At One Time: About 12 kids.

Time Period: First two kids showed up at 6:05pm; last two kids showed up at 8:10pm

Best Costume: Actually, the costumes were a bit disappointing this year. No real creativity (e.g., I was expecting some Ebola hazard suits or some other current topic) or anything that had not been done before. However, two sisters in the 8-10 years old range, came dressed in fabulous, matching witch outfits. My wife said that the costumes were from the movie Maleficent and were obviously bought at the Disney store and were likely very, very expensive.

Best Sales Pitch: A very tall Grim Reaper showed up near the end (obviously a high school aged boy) and was trying to be scary, silent, etc. But when he saw that we were giving out large candy bars, be began begging to be allowed to take a second one. He made such a good pitch that we agreed (though that is absolutely against our rules) and he spent the next couple of minutes thanking us profusely.

Missing out: After the first couple of visitors, my 13-year-old suddenly realized that answering the door and giving out candy bars to kids is a lot of fun and volunteered to take the next group. We fill a very large bowl with a wide mix of the candy bars and tell the kids to dig in and pick their favorite, which the kids love and they happily dig through the bowl to find that special candy. On his first try, my son was not prepared for the enthusiasm of the group of 5 or 6 little kids that he was serving and they accidentally knocked the bowl out of his hands and a few dozen candy bars hit the floor and the doorstep. He scrambled to pick them up and promised to hold more tightly on the next round. He answered the door the rest of the evening.

Who had the most fun: Our dog, of course. She was tied to the stairway banister so that she could just make it to the door (but could not go far enough to actually reach the kids) and she was so excited every time the doorbell rang, the door was opened, and groups of kids would scream "trick or treat" and then squeal in delight as they saw huge candy bars as their booty. The dog did everything that she could to encourage them to pet her and she got quite a few of them to do so. After all while, she would begin whining if the doorbell did not ring quickly enough between visitors. Of course, we were regularly giving her doggie treats as we passed out candy to the kids, so that just made it doubly better for her. She was absolutely wiped out from excitement when it all ended and just basically flopped on the floor near the door (just in case someone else came) and stayed there for the rest of the evening.

Big Candy Bars Win the Day: More than half of the kids expressed shock, joy, and/or wonder when they were presented with our bowl of large candy bars to choose from. Some of them ran down the front steps with their booty and yelled to their parents and other kids on the street that "This house is giving REAL candy bars!"

Conclusion: We had about the same amount of kids that we did in 2013, so no records were broken but a lot of fun was had by all. And, we now have 26 candy bars left over to enjoy, unless my daughter wants to take them back to college to share with her roommates and friends which appears to be quite likely, apparently.

 

Sounds great, glad you had fun. We didn't have a single visitor by our door last night. None. What a boring neighborhood we live in!

I know it will sound silly to you, but what is "big candy bars"? Those large Snickers or Mars bars?

 

I should have explained this term. They are the "normal" sized candy bars that you might buy for yourself in a convenience store for $1 - $2. Around holiday time, all of the grocery stores offer "Halloween-sized" candy bars which are the very tiny or miniature candy bars (1/4 size?) Most people just give out the "Halloween-sized" candy bars (occasionally, they will let kids take two of them, which is still less chocolate than a normal-sized candy bar) to save on costs. We give out the "normal-sized" candy bars (we get them significantly discounted at a big box buying club) and, relatively speaking, they are the "large-sized" candy bars. They are not as big as the candy bars you get at a movie theater for $4.00, but they are full-sized and really light up the eyes of most of the trick-or-treaters.

And, yes, we gave out Snickers, Three Musketeers, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, Hershey's Chocolate Bars, Nestles Crunch, Skittles, Almond Joy, Mounds, Butterfinger, and a few more brands.

 

Even scripting companies give offers on Halloween ... LOL

 

Halloween 2014 is now officially over in my household. Yesterday, my daughter took the remaining candy bars to college with her to share with her roommates, etc. On to Thanksgiving and more great stuff to eat!

 

Eating candies was great stuff? Americans crack me up. Everything has to be made out of corn syrup and sugar for it to be great. My wife makes great desserts but I can barely eat them. Everything is so freaking sweet. And when she tries to make stuff using less sugar the kids barely touch it. It's a dilemma.

 

Well, the reality is that I did not have a single candy bar this Halloween due to a miserable diet that the wife and I are on until the holidays. But I am confident that chocolate is one of the main food nutrition groups.

 

halloween. It’s my favorite love/hate holiday of the year.
it's a time to be creative, have fun, and take part in a huge neighborhood celebration. I especially love the guy who dressed as a hot dog while his dachshund dressed as mustard.
But unfortunately, most parents didn’t think it was safe for their kids to walk around the neighborhood after dark. So most trick-or-treaters were already home by the time I got back from work.