Thank you, come again!
Just a couple of days till Halloween. Or past Halloween. Depending on when you read this. As an adult I’ve never been a really Halloween-celebrating person. I kind of like my everyday persona and find no need to dress up. Or maybe I’m just no fun. When I was a kid, sure, I was all about the candy and if a costume was part of the effort to snag bags full of free candy, bring it on! Now, Halloween isn’t exactly a Jewish thing and in fact, it’s got kind of an anti-semitic history, but luckily we didn’t really buy into that and I was free to build up the fat and cavities.
But, in case you hadn’t guessed, this is actually another edition of “you live like that, we live like this.” I know, it’s been a while, non-New Yorkers, but here we are again. I grew up in the suburbs of the city and I had a Halloween probably a lot like what you see in your neighborhood. Kids dress up, walk around to the neighbors’ houses, ring the bell, and say trick or treat. Then they haul in the goods.
OK, now picture yourself in Manhattan, a place where the third deadbolt lock on your apartment is bigger than the second, where you only knock on your neighbors’ doors to tell them their music is too loud, where you avoid eye contact with anyone asking you for anything. No, it’s hard to see children knocking on strange doors in that scenario, isn’t it? As a matter of fact, in the building I live in now there are precisely two children of trick-or-treating age. It’s only got one-bedroom apartments, and the only non-infant children live in the apartment that used to be three and is now one. Believe me, those kids should be giving me candy.
But I digress. So what do kids do around here? Oh, it’s simple. They trick-or-treat at stores. Yes, the stores all have bags of candy and give it out to the kids or else the parents will never shop there again. Or I think that’s the case. By the time I get home at seven or eight, most of the stores have signs that say “out of candy” in the window. But still, there’s nothing like seeing gaggles of kids with parents in tow popping into Payless Shoes or even the liquor store to ask for candy. I know for some people the Village Halloween Parade is quintessential Halloween New York, but for me, it’ll always be children in tutus and baseball uniforms stopping in at Radio Shack (above, click to enlarge) to ask for candy.
Of course, I’m writing this while watching the Flavor of Love Reunion special, so I guess wacky is all relative. And if I were dressing up, I think I’d be Flavor Flav. But that just makes me wonder, does he make all those girls change his clocks for Daylight Savings Time? Because that must be a really sucky part of the contest.
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Is it scroogy of us that we ignore our buzzer on Halloween?
If there was some way to disconnect that f’er, we would.
Ooooh, look at me, I’m first! I’ve never been first before. Probably because pre-baby, I was never awake before 8:30.
We go out with the kids and leave my parents and ILs here to give out the candy. It’s a win-win situation!
Yeah Jan!
See, sleepless nights and getting up at the butt crack of dawn does pay off.
Flaver Flav!
I love to hate that show. It’s such a guilty pleasure.
You want a “this is how we live” story? I can still fit into almost all of my childhood Halloween costumes because when I was a kid, the costumes had to be big enough to fit over our enormous snow suits because it was usually 5 below and snowing by October.
And we *wished* we had stores to Trick or Treat at, because the 5 houses in town were all 10 miles apart. Uphill, both ways.
You see, even the mother of 3 week old can read and comment. The rest of you are slackers! Oh, I kid.
Abraham Lincoln, is that you?
Have I mentioned that I’ve been egged on Halloween? Not my house, not my mailbox, but me, myself. Egg ala Soxy. Twice. Not really my favorite holiday.
I’m always surprised that no one trick-or-treats in my parents’ neighborhood anymore. It’s surburbia. It’s safe. The houses aren’t too far apart. And I know there are kids there.
Oh, and Soxy, DBF got egged a year or two ago. You’re not alone in your pain and frustration.
Jan, now that you have a fledging beggar of your own, you’re going to have to run out and get some good candy (no Dum Dums, please) to undo the bad karma you’ve built up. Let’s hope that by handing out Reese’s Cups and Hershey bars (you need both in case some kid has peanut allergies) this year and next you’ll balance the scales before your bundle of joy is ready to hit the streets for Halloween 2008.
“…handing out Reese’s Cups and Hershey bars (you need both in case some kid has peanut allergies)….”
God bless you, Sarpon. Every year, I could feel my daughter’s disappointment when the people who thought they were giving out the best treats in the neighborhood had Reese’s, Snickers, etc. Honestly, you can only trade for your sister’s Twizzlers a limited number of times before it ceases seeming like a good deal.
And Hershey is the only major candy company (in the US) that doesn’t just slap a “may contain peanuts” warning on everything it makes, which means you can’t even trust the Nestle Crunch bars, the non-peanut M&M’s, etc.
We’re actually going over to my husband’s aunt and uncle’s house — they totally do it up for Halloween and live in a great kid neighborhood. So I didn’t even buy any candy.
It might be too warm for Owen to wear his bear costume that Pip sent, though!
We have Reese’s and Hershey’s minatures as well as leftover bubblegum, lollipops and hard candy from my son’s birthday party two weeks ago. And I want it all gone by the end of the evening.
Of course my kids will bring home loads of sugar, but it is a little easier to stay out of their stashes.
Is to laugh.
As I predicted, all the stores were out of candy by the time I got home. I posted a picture up there.
I stayed home alone due to unforseen circumstances and have a ton of candy left over. I’ll send some to you Bec. Well, everything except the Hershey w/ Almonds.
Results of today’s research, performed on office-mates leftover Halloween candy:
1. Kit Kat/Almond Joy (tie)
2. Nutrageous (too peanut buttery, or might have made it a three-way tie)
3. Mr. Goodbar (not exciting, but reliable)
4. Heath bar
5. Butterfinger crisp (nice idea, but didn’t float my boat)
6. Plain ol’ Hershey bar (boring)
7. Milky Way caramel (too sweet)
OMG, Butterfinger Crisps are so good. I ate one a day for the first couple of months I was pregnant. I had forgotten about them.
I’m going to have to hit the 50% off candy sales at CVS tomorrow.