@FallGirl , I had one teen girl come up with a couple of friends - they said “trick or treat” but she looked me straight in the eye and signed (sign language) something - took me a second to get what she was doing. After she picked her candy she signed “thank you” back. It was sweet.
One teen miss. Early on two teens came to our door. They looked somber and just held out their pillowcases. Didn’t really say anything or interact. Whatever.
Not more than 5-10 minutes later, the same two came back! I remembered them not only because of their costume but their lack of enthusiasm. It would have been one thing if they came back after an hour and forgot which houses they went to, but it was STILL LIGHT and five minutes later…No! I said “hey, you guys were here 5 minutes ago! Move on for someone else!”
I’m totally all for fun and can be flexible but I felt they were just LAZY!
I have never had a trick or treater at my house…too rural. Had a family drive up my long driveway and three kids tromp up here last night…and I was caught completely unprepared. No candy.
But I ran to the pantry and found: Ramen noodles, spiced cider packets, and strawberry nutrigrain bars. LOL. Each kid got one of each and seemed absolutely thrilled. Told my daughter about it later and she said, You gave them a college lunch! Well done Mom, well done!
@MaryGJ after several years of not getting any kids at my house I stopped buying candy and like you was caught off guard one year when a co-worker brought her littles by. The only thing I had was two $5 bills so that’s what they got. I’m smarter now. I’m generally not home but for the few minutes I might get “caught”, however unlikely but never say never right? I keep a roll of quarters nearby or a few one dollar bills.
So the questionable costume at my doorstep last night: white boy, probably 10-12, wearing a dread lock wig, Marley t-shirt and blackface. Told me he was Bob Marley. From a parental perspective - ok or not ok?
Kudos to the kid for knowing Bob Marley. Most 10-12 yr olds don’t have a clue. I think celebrities are fair game regardless of their race or gender. As long as the costume does not use anything obscene or patently offensive (blackface should not be used under any circumstances!) and the celebrity is easily identifiable.
I would say that blackface is not okay. Just not. Way too much baggage. So many other ways to go. And I say this who once sent out a kid in “Indian” dress with fake facepaint. I was clueless then and embarrassed now. Knowing better is a GOOD thing.
Yeah, I could see dressing as Marley but skipping the blackface (why go there?) or just go with some other idea altogether. I was kind of surprised when I opened the door.
I love fall-- Halloween, mums/fall decorations, bonfires, carving pumpkins and roasting the seeds --I even love candy corn and raking leaves! The weather is usually very nice. Several late October birthdays in our family, too, that add to the fall celebrations.
We always have at least 4 nicely carved pumpkins, and get a lot of compliments on our decorations.
Unfortunately, we are at the end of the last cul-de-sac on the edge of the subdivision, and not too many kids make it down here. We’ve had only 35ish trick-or-treaters at the most. Last night we had only 11–mostly little kids with their parents. (This morning I heard it was the 2nd coldest Halloween on record here–30ish with a few snow flurries. 50-60 degrees would be more typical). I wonder if the increasing popularity of “trunk or treat” events has cut down on actual door-to-door trick-or-treating?
Most kids stop going out after 8th grade here. I don’t mind seeing high-schoolers–as long as they wear costumes! Two simple but amusing costumes I saw last night on older (14-15yo?) kids. One had a “hat” strapped on that looked like a chicken was sitting on her head, and the other had a similar contraption that was a milk carton with “have you seen this missing kid”–face sticking out of the hole where the picture of the missing kid would be. (Offensive to parents of actual missing kids, I know.) My two youngest (the 10th grader had to escort the 7th grader, who, for some unknown reason was not invited by the group of classmates she’d gone with for years…) were dressed as a chimp (just a mask) and a monkey (onesie/pjs and giant monkey head). They came back with more than 200 pieces of candy each! Lots of Snickers, Kit Kats, Skittles, M&Ms, and Reeses. Only one piece of bubblegum! (choking hazard?)
Just looked at the flow chart above. Hope it was OK for my D’s to dress as chimp/monkey! (A certain gorilla never crossed my mind. Honest.)
When I was looking at costumes, I saw a wig display–blue, black, pink, blond, rainbow, straight, curly, short, long, etc. Someone (assume it was another customer) had written “racist” with a sharpie on two of the Afro wig packages. The picture showed an (apparently) mixed race man and an (apparently) white woman wearing the wigs. IDK–I thought it (the sharpie attack) was wrong. These were wigs among other wigs. Nothing offensive about the picture, imo. Would it be racist for someone who is not blond/white to wear a blond wig? Is that “grandma curler/gray hair” wig making fun of the elderly? OK for a mostly white but mixed race person to dress as Pocahontas or wear an Afro wig --but only IF they carry genetic test results/proof of heritage? Or not OK at all? Sexy French maid OK if you are neither sexy, nor French, and don’t even know how to use a feather duster? Or is that sexist, racist, classist? What about city folks who don’t know corn from beans dressing as farmers? Stereotyping–because most farmers don’t actually wear overalls and straw hats…Hillbilly with blacked-out tooth–making fun of rural poverty, lack of dental services?? etc., etc.
I caved last night, I felt guilty. I went and bought 4 bags of candy at 4:30. We ended up having about 50 kids by 7:20 (our times are 6 to 8). I ended up turning out the light because I only had about 8 pieces left and didn’t know what I would do if a huge group showed up. I had 2 and DH had the rest.
Chiming in late here, but I love handing out candy. I don’t care how old you are–babies collecting for their parents to elementary to older teens–just attempt a costume and some measure of politeness and you are welcome!
We recently moved to a rural area, so the trend here is to go trunk or treating. People decorate their vehicles, drive them to a designated community parking lot, and hand out candy from their trunks.
We went with a camping theme, put a tent in the bed of our truck, made a fake fire, and stuffed a backpack full of candy. My husband wore a bear costume and hid in the tent, coming out to greet each trick or treaters. The kids loved this!
We were at a party where the drive was set up w tables and candy. All of us have teens. All dressed up. Some (like my daughter’s group) weren’t easily recognizable–they went as “The Heathers”…NOT from the movie! the musical MOM! They did some light TOT’ing and walking around in the dark having good clean fun. I’m tired today though.
My H and I went as Flo from Progressive and Jake from State Farm and people LOVED my costume.
I think celebrities are fair game regardless of their race or gender. As long as the costume does not use anything obscene or patently offensive (blackface should not be used under any circumstances!) and the celebrity is easily identifiable.