It’s Halloween so of course, first thing this morning I see What Your Halloween Candy Says About Your Personality. As with most such things they over-think it but it’s all just for fun anyway. They also criticize Michelle Obama for handing out dried fruit instead of candy. I don’t think that’s so bad and if she did give out candy she would be criticized for that too. The lady really can’t win when it comes to public opinion.
We never get any trick-or-treaters here. This is not really a trick-or-treat kind of neighborhood; it’s more of a TPing trees, egging cars and smashing mailboxes kind of neighborhood. Besides that our house is so far back in the trees it’s hard to tell there’s a house here. But I always buy a little candy “just in case” and because I know we’ll have to eat it ourselves I get something we like – usually some kind of chocolate, the mini Hershey bars or Reese’s cups and some candy corn and the little pumpkins.
In past years, when we lived where we could expect trick-or-treaters, I usually got hard candy because I had heard somewhere that it was considered safer. I sort of hated doing that because I knew it was not the most popular candy but there was always so much publicity about how everyone was going to put needles and razorblades in the kiddies’ chocolate bars. The article doesn’t even mention hard candy so giving that out on Halloween must make one an unspeakably awful person. Now, if I knew I was going to get a lot of trick-or-treaters I would probably buy whatever looked good to me from among the cheapest candies.
I’m actually not a big fan of Halloween. I liked it well enough when I was a kid and I imagined that when I grew up I would enjoy getting to hand out candy and see all the kids in their costumes and I looked forward to that but in reality I quickly got tired of getting up and going to the door every five minutes. And some of the kids were as big as me and some didn’t even bother to dress up.
Regarding costumes – I’m a traditionalist. Halloween costumes are supposed to be scary or creepy or some kind of traditional Halloween themed thing. The cartoon characters and princesses and such are not for Halloween. However, there aren’t too many occasions when a little girl gets to dress like a princess (or when a kid gets to dress up as anything) so I guess it’s okay for the kids to wear anything they like for Halloween as long as it’s obviously some kind of costume. Halloween is not the time to be yourself.
October 31st, 2011 - 7:55 am
Halloween is one of those holidays that I think really only kids enjoy. At least, the adult attempts to celebrate it I’ve seen have not been things I’ve wanted to do.
And I have to admit: I like handing out candy but yeah, having to jump up every five minutes gets old fast. Though I may just sit at the door with the stack of exams I have to grade.
I think halloween is slowly dying, considering now that so many commercial outlets promote a “safe” holiday, and some people get really tied in knots by letting kids have candy.
October 31st, 2011 - 4:14 pm
There has never been a single instance of a stranger putting anything harmful in a child’s candy. The ONLY time it has ever happened, a guy did it to his kid to collect the life insurance.
But the media doesn’t seem to have computers that can access snopes. Or maybe it’s good for ratings to looks like someone who believes every conspiracy that comes through the internets. Except that particular one is older than the internets.
So, you only have to worry about the candy your parents give you. I’m watching you….
October 31st, 2011 - 5:21 pm
I totally agree about the costumes needing to be scary. Exceptions made for kids who will get nightmares from their own costumes. They can be robots and princesses.
October 31st, 2011 - 7:45 pm
Protip for Halloween: The beacon on the USIC truck is great for getting people to notice you’re handing out candy.
November 1st, 2011 - 6:32 am
What Hippie said is why all of the bleating about a “safe alternative” to Halloween gets my goat so much. Okay, if they’re doing it so kids won’t get run over by idiot drivers, fine, but implying that people’s neighbors are putting pins in the candy bars: that’s just wrong.
I did have about 15 or so trick-or-treaters last night, more than in recent years. Maybe people are wanting their kids to know the kind of simple fun they had?
November 4th, 2011 - 10:06 pm
As a kid, I remember hard candy being “ok”, but not my favorite. I mean, sugar’s sugar, right?
I liked Jolly Ranchers because they had lots of flavor, but I remember that their awkward brick-shape made them uncomfortable to suck on.
Plus, the plastic wrapper would tear, and you’d have a little piece of plastic stuck on the candy the was very difficult to remove. I wanted to spend my time eating candy, not trying to claw at a stubborn piece of plastic.