Halloween Redux
Halloween at the Dunne-Hosey Estates was a little different than we expected this year, with fewer trick-or-treaters than we've had in years.
We ended up buying almost exactly the same amount of candy as last year, 309 ounces (19 pounds, 5 ounces) but unlike last year, where we gave away all of our candy by 7:40 p.m., we had about seven pounds of candy left at 8:45 p.m., when we handed out candy to our last group of kids. Like last year, our neighbors, Jim Whitford and Lynn O'Meara, joined us on our porch and brought over their candy, about 5 pounds worth, and we handed all of that out as well.
Val and I noticed that we didn't have any trick-or-treaters at our door until almost 6:15 p.m., after always having kids right at 6 p.m. in the past. It seems like fewer parents packed their kids into their cars or vans to bring them to our neighborhood (Norwood, Utica, Bryant, Ashland and Richmond) than ever before. We did see a lot of neighborhood kids and parents, including Mrs. Prego and her newborn son, Serge.
Our leading costume this year was Spiderman, as well as several princesses, Barbie and otherwise, and a good number of ghouls and ninjas, but surprisingly, only two Star Wars costumes, both Darth Vader. Candywise, we gave out Snickers, Tootsie Rolls, Reeses's Peanut Butter Cups and Crunchy Bars, Hershey Smores Bars, Baby Ruths, Butter Fingers and M&Ms, as well as Starburst, Skittles and Twizzlers for kids too old or without costumes.
One indication of candy choice: When I left for work the next morning, I found two pieces of candy on our porch steps; a Tootsie Roll, with a large number of ants crawling on and around it, as well as a package of Smarties two steps higher, totally untouched.
For musical accompaniment, we had two CDs we played for our and the trick-or-treaters' entertainment: the "Shadow Creature" soundtrack (a locally filmed and produced horror movie) by David Kane's Them Jazzbeards, and "The Big Monster Bash, Volume 1," on Sci-Fi Western/Mouthpiece Records, a collection of old and relatively new rockabilly, 60s punk and roots rock, all with monster/ghoulish subjects.
As always, it was great to see Val enjoying herself so much on Halloween, probably her favorite holiday.
We ended up buying almost exactly the same amount of candy as last year, 309 ounces (19 pounds, 5 ounces) but unlike last year, where we gave away all of our candy by 7:40 p.m., we had about seven pounds of candy left at 8:45 p.m., when we handed out candy to our last group of kids. Like last year, our neighbors, Jim Whitford and Lynn O'Meara, joined us on our porch and brought over their candy, about 5 pounds worth, and we handed all of that out as well.
Val and I noticed that we didn't have any trick-or-treaters at our door until almost 6:15 p.m., after always having kids right at 6 p.m. in the past. It seems like fewer parents packed their kids into their cars or vans to bring them to our neighborhood (Norwood, Utica, Bryant, Ashland and Richmond) than ever before. We did see a lot of neighborhood kids and parents, including Mrs. Prego and her newborn son, Serge.
Our leading costume this year was Spiderman, as well as several princesses, Barbie and otherwise, and a good number of ghouls and ninjas, but surprisingly, only two Star Wars costumes, both Darth Vader. Candywise, we gave out Snickers, Tootsie Rolls, Reeses's Peanut Butter Cups and Crunchy Bars, Hershey Smores Bars, Baby Ruths, Butter Fingers and M&Ms, as well as Starburst, Skittles and Twizzlers for kids too old or without costumes.
One indication of candy choice: When I left for work the next morning, I found two pieces of candy on our porch steps; a Tootsie Roll, with a large number of ants crawling on and around it, as well as a package of Smarties two steps higher, totally untouched.
For musical accompaniment, we had two CDs we played for our and the trick-or-treaters' entertainment: the "Shadow Creature" soundtrack (a locally filmed and produced horror movie) by David Kane's Them Jazzbeards, and "The Big Monster Bash, Volume 1," on Sci-Fi Western/Mouthpiece Records, a collection of old and relatively new rockabilly, 60s punk and roots rock, all with monster/ghoulish subjects.
As always, it was great to see Val enjoying herself so much on Halloween, probably her favorite holiday.
posted by Kevin J. Hosey at 10:41 PM
3 Comments:
We had 75 kids this year, when we lived in the old house with a sidewalk, we had 150. But when I asked our neighbor from the old neighborhood how they did, she said they had a poor turn out too. Lots of older kids (up to high school) hardly any little ones, we wonder if they're doing alternative things like house parties or fire department parties. It was 65 degrees, so no coats, so it sure wasn't teh weather! Unfortunately I am plowing through the leftover candy.
We had scant few kids at our house, so we just focused on taking David out (we drove over to my mom's neighborhood, where nearly everyone gets in on the act) -- he made a mean haul, and good stuff, too: even a few king-size Hershey's and Reese's. I think the kids in our area went to festivals, school "trunk-or-treating" and the like. It sure wasn't the weather out here.
We have a ton of leftover candy now, too. I went into the living room after working for a while yesterday to find a whole pile of empty candy wrappers. I still don't know who the culprit was -- between a diabetic husband and a candy-grubbing kid, no one was talking.
It was fairly quiet here. The neighborhood is arcing to closer to death vs. closer to birth ages so that had something to do with it.
Plus the fire department had a parade thing down in the village... at least until they got a real fire call in the middle of it
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