Happy Halloween

[Angela M...]

Well, here it is Halloween for another year and I don't have the nerve to get dressed up anymore. It is so cold out there that most kids and parents seem to have given up on going out for too long. It is almost 8 PM and I usually have almost 60 kids by now and I am at 26 so far. There have been some nice costumes but mostly covered up by winter clothing and as of yet no boys as girls this year. I did see some boys from up the street dressed as the Yobo's from Clockwork Orange and it was a good costume idea I have not seen for along time. There is usually one outstanding costume each year but so far no takers on that scale yet. Well I am usually empty by 8:30 but this year with two bowls full yet I will keep the lights on until 9 PM anyway.

[totalgirlie]

I did dress up on Halloween, but just for a couple short walks.  Our neighborhood has some 50 trick or treaters, going 6:30-8:30 or thereabouts.  No boys I could see that were dressed as girls....with the advent of cheap costumes sold at a couple stores, thinks aren't as distinctive as they once were.  A couple cute homemade costumes.  Hope everyone had a fun day!

[Betty]

It was rather quiet & uneventful in my neighborhood. In my area we have "Beggar's Night" on Oct. 30th where people "Trick or Treat" on Oct. 30th & the 31st. Home, school, or business Halloween parties & events can happen anywhere from 2 weeks before Halloween to Nov 1st. It's all in marketing to stretch a holiday or event way beyond it's normal time to increase sales & promotions. That's why so many stores & other public places are already putting up Christmas decorations by now.

Recently around here most people chose Beggars Night to take their kids out for trick or treat because it's safer with less fuss, & you're guaranteed nobody ran out of candy yet. When you run out of candy in our town, you're supposed to close your curtains or blinds, & shut off all lights in the front of the building to indicate you can no longer participate.

On Halloween there's too much mischief, crazy people, traffic, partiers, & drunks out. Most parents here have a Halloween party with their kids or at a family-friendly event on Halloween. Trick or Treat was finished the day before.

Beggars Night was stormy, cold, & it rained like hell. So less went out, or didn't stay out as long.

In my area there's not that many kids. It's mostly a lot of singles, new couples, or old couples. The Allentown Arts district is a strange place. I live in one of the cheapest apartments left in the area, in a Mansion coverted to 16 small apartments. In the building right outside my window is a single family fully restored mansion that sold for $240,000 3 years ago. That young couple just moved out last summer after selling it for $356,000. An elderly couple bought it. On the other side of my building is another mansion converted to 12 small apartments.

Across the street is a wealthy architect, local TV executive, & a rich property developer. That's always been typical of the Allentown Arts district. The poor starving artists, disabled, single parents on welfare, & people earning $100,000 to millions a year are next door neighbors.

This summer a single mom moved in the tiny studio apartment next door with 2 little kids. It was totally quiet there for the holiday. I suspect she took her kids to an area better for trick or treating or to parties. It's not a good idea to trick or treat large apartment buildings. Most can't afford a lot of good candy, so you get the cheapest crap... they only have a bag of cheap rock candy that you can get 50-100 in a bag for a dollar. Single family homes & doubles give out popular delicious chocolate bars. Also apartment buildings change tenants often, so the people are unknown. You can't trust what they may give your kids because nobody in the area knows them well.

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, not a studio. But the bedroom is my shop, workspace, & storage... no room left for the bed. So I live studio style in the rest of the place. My kitchen is just 10 feet from my bed. My primary computers, monitors, tablets, phones, & favorite laptops are all beside the bed. So when my COPD flares up real bad, I can still get something done, communicate, or be entertained at times I can't move around much. It was real bad during the holiday, so I'm glad I didn't get any trick or treaters, & didn't expect any. It would have been rough getting up to answer the door a lot.

I live in the back corner on an upper floor of the building. Most don't even know I'm here or this apartment exists. After almost 2 weeks of my COPD being worse than ever, I'm happy that the past couple of days, things have finally improved... I'm way behind on house chores & cooking to catch up on. I prepare a lot of food ahead of time to freeze or can so when my COPD gets bad, I don't have to do much to get something to eat. Quick easy ramen, oatmeal is handy in a pinch, but you'll die of malnutrition if you don't eat some other stuff too.

Most of friends near my town reported just 6 to a little over a dozen trick or treaters. They have lots of leftover candy. However a friend who moved to Arizona reports she went through 50 big bags of candy for the holiday & ran out. She had crowds of kids coming to her house. But I think they singled her out. She had left lots of lights on. Lots of pumpkins in front, plus she has a years-long reputation as the sweet little old lady who is very generous with lots of delicious chocolate bars... not that 50-100 for a dollar cheap crap candy. She gets those bags of mini chocolate bar variety bags, & gives every kid 2 or 3 of the bars. I'm sure kids & their parents make it a point to stop there.

Plus I think people trust places more where the door is answered by a generous sweet little old lady rather that a big unshaven hairy guy in a stained undershirt with a beer in his hand.

I hear there was a lot of crossdressing & drag events in the gay clubs. But there's a lot drag events in our local gay clubs every week. I'm didn't hear about any more people cross dressed on the streets for the holiday, than there would be on any weekend in my town.

[Angela M...]

Well Betty, by the time I put the lights out just after 9 PM we had 52 kids in total. I usually give out the little loot bags from the $ store filled with 2 little chocolate bars and some M&Ms and some Sour Patch or Peach candy's. About 6 items in all and the kids love it. Probably why they all run over here first when they start out and I love to see the costumes and remember when I got to go out. We are in an area with three schools and a couple of Day Care centers in a five block area so it can get busy. A few years ago it would be nothing to get 100 to 140 kids knocking on the door. This year was cold but the rain held off most of the night. We have gone from many young families 30 years ago to mostly older folks now selling up to more young families starting out. Homes in my area have been selling out in a matter of days the past year and two near me just divided their lots for new smaller homes to be built while another behind me was knocked down to put up a smaller single family home and a semi detached unit as well. I suppose this is their retirement income but the price of a new unit for themselves will cost them more or they will get a high end apartment or Condo.
I was sad that there were no cross dressed kids this year that I could see but most of the costumes were pretty good and  even the few teens I had made an effort for good costumes.

[Betty]

Yep, they were targeting your house too because you were more generous than some. They prefer those loot bags or even a couple candy bars, than some houses that give out 1 or 2 rock candies or tootsie rolls per kid (worth about 2-10 cents). Also their parents trust them going somewhere where the people lived there for a few years, than the new people & couples in the area.

Less houses participate at all every year, except in neighborhoods where almost everybody knows everybody. These days, you don't want your kids eating stuff from all sorts of strangers.

Even with the best of intentions, some strangers are really stupid. They let their own runny-nosed kid with the flu poke through the candy before giving it out. The candy wasn't stored in a clean enough place, or they just had a bug, ant, cockroach, or mouse problem, & may have gotten into some of the candy. Some may have picked it up on sale months ago, & may not be safe to eat after being stored for a month or more in a warm or damp environment.

Then there's bags of odd-name, generic, or no-name/brand candies imported cheap from Brazil, or China where they find living or dead bugs & larva, or mold inside the candy.

If I were a parent these day's, I'd just buy the candy for my own kids, & let them have a Halloween party at home, neighborhood center, or friend's house. I wouldn't want them going door to door unless I was with them so I knew they were only getting stuff from people I knew.

[Angela M...]

Yes Betty, that is the way to go these days as most of my friends and relatives no longer send the kids out, instead throwing house parties for the kids with games, candy and Best Costume contest's. At one time they would bring the kids by my house to show me their costumes and collect the bags I made for them but not in the last two or three years now.