Sweets & Treats

Halloween: It's all about the candy.

OK, not entirely true. It's about dressing up, having fun, carving pumpkins, getting scared (in a fun way), hanging out with friends, and (in the Midwest anyway) having one last hurrah before winter comes in and puts the kibosh on fall fun.

But the treats are where it's really at.

If you were big into trick-or-treating like yours truly, you usually had some kind of game plan. You knew which houses to avoid (like the dentist who always gave out those plastic vampire teeth and - not even kidding - toothbrushes) and which to hit early in the night (the awesome couple who gave out full or king size candy bars every year). To ensure maximum candy collection, you might have decided ahead of time who would ring the doorbell at each house or might have gotten the largest pillowcase you could find in hopes of filling it to the top (a goal that I sadly never reached). No matter what, the highlight of Halloween was checking out the loot at the end of the night.

Being a particularly quirky kid, I didn't settle for pouring out my candy and eating it right then and there. No, I had other plans. I would pour out the candy, grab a pen and paper, and tally up all the goods. I'd make piles of each brand and mark them down as I went. By the end, I knew exactly how many Reeses cups or Twizzlers I had and knew the overall candy count from the night's haul. 

Why? Two reasons. First is that I'm just OCD. I love making lists and taking inventory. Seriously. Second reason was for trading purposes. If someone had something I wanted, I knew how many of which candies I had to barter with. Say someone had a delicious 100 Grand bar. I could check my list and see that I had plenty of Kit-Kats to spare (which, while tasty, are not among my favorites). Likewise, if someone wanted my Nestle Crunch and I only had 2, I knew that trading wasn't an option (love me some Crunch!).

My parents never had to worry about me eating candy while out and about that night because it would have thrown off my overall count, and I couldn't have that. (How did my parents not realize I was OCD??) So whenever those stories came out about kids eating candy that had needles in them, my parents got to relax, knowing they would be able to check my stash before any of it was consumed.

That having been said, today I will share with you my top 5 tips for successful trick-or-treating. You might be "too old" to go for yourself, but you can pass these along to any kids or teens who may want the inside scoop from a seasoned veteran.

1) Start early, stay late. This comes with a few caveats. Don't start before it's dark; that's when the little guys and gals get their turns. Likewise, if you know a family has little ones, they might not be home when you first start, so plan accordingly. And don't go too late. Remember the golden rule of trick-or-treating: If the lights are on, you're good to go; if the lights are gone, the answer's no. My best advice is to head out just after it gets dark (use whatever gauge you want; I like to use the street lights as my guide) and go no later than 9. Most houses will be done closer to 8, but any that are still going after that are likely to give you more candy since the night is winding down.

2) Keep your group smaller. I know, you have a huge group of friends and you all want to go together. That's fine, but it may slow you down. Slow = less candy. If you have a big group, consider breaking into two smaller groups as you go down the street. One group can start on one side and the other on the opposite side. When you're at the end, switch and meet back up at the other end. You don't have to keep the same groups every street, and you can typically move faster when there are fewer people to get through the process at each house.

3) Be polite. It doesn't sound like much, but think about it. If there's a group of younger kids heading to the same house as you, and you rush up to beat them, do you really think you're going to get more candy? No way. Let the little ones go first. They usually don't take much candy (so they're probably not going to run out before they get to you) AND the treat-givers are more likely to be generous if they see that you let the others go first. This is especially important the older (or taller) you are. Some people are weird about older kids on Halloween, so being nice and polite will give you the best odds at candy collection. Oh, and remember to thank people for candy. They don't have to give it to you.

4) Be enthusiastic! Seriously. If you show up at my door and mumble, "Trick or treat" or just stand there and look at me while holding your bag out or grabbing at the bowl in my hands, I'm not going to be inclined to shower you with candy. Same if you show up with little to no costume on (a scary mask while you're wearing a sweatshirt and jeans is not a costume). Put some effort into the night; it's a holiday for crying out loud! It's almost as much for the candy givers as the candy takers. I didn't realize that until I was an adult, but it's true. I love to see the creativity that comes along on Halloween, and I get a kick out of kids who are beyond thrilled to be at my door just for a few pieces of chocolate. 

5) Strategy. In most cases time is money; on Halloween, time is candy. Like I said earlier, knowing who is going to ring the bell BEFORE you get to the door helps you be more efficient. I'm not saying you should have a set schedule, but sharing the responsibility makes it more fun (who doesn't love to ring a doorbell?) and saves time in the long run. And knowing which houses you can skip will also save you some time (and some disappointment). Also, I suggest taking a bag/container with handles. Pillowcases are fun and I admire the goal of filling them, but they aren't that easy to carry around, especially as the night goes on. Handles give you a better grip, and a smaller bag will make it seem like you got more candy. Use some common sense; if a house is swamped when you get to it, head across the street instead. By the time you're done there, the crowd will probably have subsided.

So, there you have it. Do I miss trick-or-treating? You're damn right I do. But I'm all for helping kids get more out of their Halloween experience. :)

The Halloween Revolution

So, in looking at the website for the lovely city of Greenfield the other day, I discovered that our "scheduled" trick-or-treating is from 1-4 PM on Sunday, 10/30.

Hold up.

WHAT?!  That's insane!!

1) Early afternoon trick-or-treating?  Lame.  That's fine for trick-or-treating events at the local mall or the zoo, but not for the real deal! 

2) Trick-or-treating is the best part of Halloween.  So why the hell would you do it the day BEFORE Halloween?  That's like hunting for Easter eggs on Saturday afternoon.

Hubby says that it's been this way in the Milwaukee area his entire life.  Ew.  I can't even imagine growing up that way.  In Madison, we had no restrictions on trick-or-treating, and I sincerely hope it stays that way.

Here's how it went.  Younger kids usually starting coming through around 5 on Halloween night, looking cute and shyly asking, "Trick or treat?" (as if anyone's not going to give candy to the adorable little pirate or princess standing outside their door...).  As it got later (and darker), more kids would come out and form clumps moving from one house to the next.  The whole process usually lasted about 2-3 hours, depending on when you got started.  When you were done, you headed home to check out the night's haul, eat yourself sick on candy, and finally go to bed.

There were rules.  Some were imposed by parents: Must carry flashlights or glow sticks at all times, say thank you, stay in the neighborhood, don't leave each other behind and, for one sad year, don't eat any candy until it's been checked out by a parent (that whole needle scare had parents pretty freaked out).  Others were self-imposed, almost unspoken, but universally understood: Don't ring the bell if the porch light is off, take turns ringing the doorbell (even if that meant racing for the privilege), let little kids get their candy first (bigger kids will be able to get to more houses and will get more candy anyway), etc etc.  Of course, some houses would get TP'd, and there was the occasional egging, but for the most part, the rules we followed kept Halloween fun and safe.      

It works for Madison.  Why can't Milwaukee make it work, too?  It can't just be a size thing; my best friend in Las Vegas says they don't have scheduled trick-or-treating, and Vegas has Milwaukee beat several times over in the "Who's Bigger?" contest.  It can't just be crimes, because crime happens damn near everywhere.  Milwaukee just seems to have a stick up its ass.

That being said, I truly hope we get some rogue trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.  Kids need to experience the joy of trick-or-treating as it's intended, or else they'll never understand how truly awesome it actually is!  Someone needs to lead these kids on a Halloween revolution and reclaim October 31st as their own.  They need to take back All Hallow's Eve and tell Milwaukee to back off their holiday.

Who's with me?

Happy Halloween!

Here's hoping everyone has a spook-tacular, wonderful, magical, epic, fantastic, whatever you want it to be kind of Halloween!  Me?  I had quite the scare last night at the Mumford & Sons concert when it looked like flannel was making a comeback...  Eep!

As for my Halloween, I will try to make the very best of it.  Planning on carving pumpkins with the hubby this morning, then watching some football and attending to the few trick or treat-ers that come by (this is why living on a dead end street is sort of a bummer sometimes) before heading off to a visitation for the hub's grandfather.

If nothing else, there is candy to be eaten, and this pleases me.  Huzzah!

Trick or Treat

Growing up, Halloween was by FAR my favorite holiday.  When else do you get to dress up, run around with your friends for hours on end, and eat tons of candy?  With parent approval!!  Hell yes, this is the best holiday EVER!!!  

I went trick or treating EVERY YEAR until I was 19.  (Ok, so at 18, my attempt was rather futile - people on campus weren't very into it, and the surrounding houses looked at me like a lunatic for walking up to their houses alone, since my friends walked with me, but wouldn't take part - but I still went!)  All through middle school and high school, this was the one night of the year I truly looked forward to.  It was the best night ever!  

So why do some people believe that trick or treating should stop around age 12 or 13?  Because they're "too old" for it?  How the hell do you tell someone they're too old to have fun and eat candy?  Seriously?!

Here are several reasons kids should be not only allowed, but ENCOURAGED to trick or treat as long as possible:

1. Know what kids who aren't trick or treating do on Halloween night?  No, they don't sit at home and pass out candy.  That's lame.  They go out and look for things to do.  Things like egging and TPing houses, or going to Halloween parties with older kids.  Yeah, that's better than trick or treating... 
2. Trick or treating sparks creativity!  As you get older and more capable of picking and making your own costumes, your creativity can run free.  You now have MORE control over your costume, so you can make it to YOUR liking.   
3. What better way is there to encourage recycling and reusing, not to mention the concept of thrift?  With some imagination and an adhesive, you can turn old clothes or household items into costumes and accessories.  What was once a mop is now a pom pom or a wig.  That old shirt you never wear anymore can be turned into something special for Halloween.  You can even wear some of your family's old clothes as retro-inspired costumes!  The sky's the limit!
4. Exercise.  Seriously, how often can you get kids to run around outside for hours on end without complaints?  Um, the answer is pretty much once a year: Halloween.  Yeah, I know, they're eating candy and that kinda negates the whole point of exercise, but come on...  At least they're getting outside!

Essentially, think of it this way.  If teens are excited about trick or treating, and are willing to put in the effort to make/find a good costume and have a good attitude about it, why would you NOT want to reward that?  Teens are known for being so sullen and distant and wah, wah, wah...  So why take away something that lets them be the fun, playful kid they once were?

And to those of you who STILL think trick or treating should end at 12 or 13...  Be warned: Your houses will get egged.  And you really have no one to blame but yourselves.