November 1, 2003

You say goodbye, I say Hallow(een)

Posted by pete at November 1, 2003 1:44 AM

Some minor items of annoyance on the morning following Halloween:

1. Infants should probably not be brought trick-or-treating, especially when the temperature is pushing 80 degrees and their parents insist on wrapping them in full body costumes. None of the kids pushed to our front door in strollers had any idea what the hell was going on. And I'm not even sure all of them were alive.

2. If you're going to have the audacity to grovel for candy at my house, put on something resembling a costume. Adolescents wearing street clothes and holding their loot sacks out get jack squat. Try that shit in the Heights, where they tend to get desensitized due to sheer numbers.

3. Complimenting the 8' spider on the front porch will get you extra candy.

4. Coming back for seconds will get you a kick in the ass. Figuratively speaking.

5. If you're still dressing as a Power Ranger, you need to hit Mom up for a new costume. Pronto.

As far as specifics go, we went through about 13 bags of candy in a little under an hour and a half. Some of the trick-or-treaters liked the big spider, about half as many commented on the pumpkin carved in the "Batman: The Animated Series" motif.

Here's a rundown of the costumes we saw tonight, again demonstrating my affinity for pointless list-making:

Witch: 9
Cat (inlcuding lions and cheetahs): 7
Vampire: 6
Spider-Man: 5
Ballerina: 3
Cheerleader: 3
Death (or variant thereof): 3*
Hippie chick: 3
Mighty Morpin' Power Ranger: 3
The Hulk: 2
Ninja: 2

We also had Bob the Builder, a shaolin monk, a dad dressed as Michael Myers, the Crow, a samurai, Pocahontas, a kangaroo, and the girl who crawled out of the well in "The Ring." Seriously, she creeped me the hell out.

In between fattening up the children of America, we watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and several "Treehouse of Horror" episodes. I'd have to say it was a successful evening all around.

* I'll give extra points to the kid who corrected my hailing him as Death with, "I'm the Grim Reaper." Glad he cleared that up.

There's a big difference you know.
hehe sorry just thought I'd leave my sarcastic mark on the Grim reaper comment.
-jess

--Posted by jessepence on November 1, 2003 3:59 AM

If you're going to have the audacity to grovel for candy at my house, put on something resembling a costume. Adolescents wearing street clothes and holding their loot sacks out get jack squat. Try that shit in the Heights, where they tend to get desensitized due to sheer numbers.

By our next door neighbor's count, we had about 1400 kids in three and a half hours. That's a lotta candy. And for what it's worth, there were very few uncostumed teenagers.

--Posted by Charles Kuffner on November 1, 2003 8:59 AM

Given that Darin was out and I was on my own for much of the evening, I wasn't sure how to handle the multitude of "Adolescents wearing street clothes and holding their loot sacks out" (I imagine many of them were the same that hit your house).

Since they were as big as / bigger than me, I'm afraid I caved and gave them candy when I would have much preferred telling them to go the hell away.

--Posted by erica on November 1, 2003 4:16 PM

This brought to mind a childhood memory I haven't thought of in a long time...of a Halloween, right after getting home from trick or treating, and my Dad running off two other kids from my neighborhood (2 brothers named Earl and Chris) who hadn't bothered to wear costumes.

I remember him telling them that they could have at least worn the camouflage jackets the two always wore around the neighborhood and pretended to be soldiers.

And I remember the next day, Chris telling me that my dad wasn't very nice.

--Posted by BSTommy on November 1, 2003 9:59 PM

The Grim Reaper kid should have gotten a whole bag of candy for being a droll pedant. That's hard to pull of when you're a kid.

--Posted by Scott Chaffin on November 2, 2003 11:24 AM

I only got one batch of teens. And all these 17-18 year olds chicks had skimpy costumes. Needless, they each got an extra piece of candy.

--Posted by on November 2, 2003 12:42 PM

I don't know what planet you're on, but I can assure you that Power Rangers are pretty much the number one topic of conversation in my son's four-yr-old day care class, and not passe at all. He only has one (a birthday gift) but I have seen Rubbermaid tubs full of them at his friends' houses.

--Posted by David on November 3, 2003 9:48 AM

Point taken. I currently live on Planet Double-Income-No-Kids (though that's going to change in about a month), so I'm willing to accept that my estimates regarding the shelf life of the Power Rangers are off.

--Posted by Pete on November 3, 2003 10:32 AM

I wonder if your Grim Reaper was based on this Flash movie:
http://www.loservillex.com/reaper.html ?

Probably not, but I now know which religion to choose.

--Posted by Michael Croft on November 3, 2003 11:35 PM



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