Halloween memories

[SQUACKEE]

One of my very first cardio workouts occurred when I was around 10 years of age. It was Halloween and there was a seemingly endless supply of houses giving out free candy! To a kid my age it was a miracle. Now hold on a second. You mean to tell me I can knock on the door of complete strangers and repeat the magic phrase, “trick or treat” and the grownup will provide me with free candy of every description? Even the neighbor who’s house I egged? YES!

So how to mine this candy extravaganza with the utmost production? A. Grab one pillow case. They are large and unbreakable. B. Start trick or treating at dusk, no later! C. Run between houses. Remember this is a competition and at the end of the night my brothers and I would lay out all our booty.

How many Babe Ruth do you have? 27, not bad, I have 32! What about Snickers? 50? Oh man, I only have 42! And so it went for years. We ran for hours and in the end the big question is, did the calories spent getting the candy equal the candy calories eaten? Nobody knows and we probably never will.

[Daisy]

Re: Halloween memories

Nobody knows and we probably never will.

Just look in the mirror.

[SQUACKEE]

Re: Halloween memories

Nobody knows and we probably never will.

Just look in the mirror.

What aboot halloween in England? Do they give blood pudding to the children?

[Daisy]

Re: Halloween memories

Nobody knows and we probably never will.

Just look in the mirror.

What aboot halloween in England? Do they give blood pudding to the children?

Doesn't exist. At least, not when I lived there. Actually, not quite true, the trick part existed, so waking up in the morning could be an adventure. Garden gate on a lamp post type thing.

[mojo]

Halloween was also a competition for me and my sister! The best part was going through the goods when you got home.


One year when I was about 11 I was a little behind my group of friends when a car pulled up beside me and a guy leaned over and said he would give me some candy if I got in the car! I was terrified and ran to catch up with my friends and the creep drove away.

I didn't tell my friends or an adult. I should have but I was so scared I couldn't even talk about it.

So how old were you when you stopped going out?

Yeah I know Squack you still go (and no costume required!).

My friends and I went until we were 14....got so much hassle that year from people we sadly realized the gig was up.

[SQUACKEE]

So how old were you when you stopped going out?
.

Great question, i have no idea. If memory serves and it usually doesnt, 13 years old-7th grade i think. You certainly couldnt do it in high school!

These days i get older kids with no costumes knocking on my door and demanding candy at 10 oclock. I wanna tell them to take a hike but i like my house without eggs on it.

[dukehjsteve]

At about age 11 I grabbed some little kid's bag of candy and ran away with it... he ran the other way, crying. A few minutes later an adult male comes running down the street, yelling, where's the **** that stole my kid's candy ??!! I darted into a line of trees and burrowed under a big leaf pile. He never found me !

[SQUACKEE]

At about age 11 I grabbed some little kid's bag of candy and ran away with it... he ran the other way, crying. A few minutes later an adult male comes running down the street, yelling, where's the **** that stole my kid's candy ??!! I darted into a line of trees and burrowed under a big leaf pile. He never found me !

I now hate you!

[DrJay]

1975, the running boom was just getting started. I was in eighth grade and on the XC team so I went dressed as a runner, cotton sweatpants and sweatshirt, adidas Varsities on my feet, stopwatch in hand. That was the last year I went trick-or-treating.

First grade, my mom made a leopard costume from a pattern. On the playground at recess at shcool that day, some kid in my class pulled my tail off.

Here in Colorado, it's been terrible weather in recent years, out with my kids in 30F temps with either wind or snow or black ice. Last year was the exception, nice, cool fall weather. Fortunately, for the adults, one neighbor always has hot chocolate and Schnapps, or hot buttered rum.

[LaughTrack]

My memories are only sad. I remember how excited i was when i was a small and frail 6 year old. I tried to overcompensate by picking out a little Hercules costume. I put it on and looked in the mirror. As i flexed my little muscles i started to smile and realized that i had been transformed.

I was so happy and proud of the amount of candy i had collected when a large older punk named Steve threw me to the ground and stole my precious loot. My candy was gone and my nose was bleeding. It was the worst day of my life.

I have spent my whole life tracking this candy crook down and i have the feeling i'm getting close.

[JRM]

First grade, my mom made a leopard costume from a pattern. On the playground at recess at shcool that day, some kid in my class pulled my tail off.

When I was in grade 1, I went as R2-D2. My mom was also a costume-making whiz, and she built a "frame" out of cardboard. I wore the costume to school, but didn't take the frame on the playground because it would've gotten soaked. A couple kids cornered me by the gym and made fun of my "undercostume", which consisted of tights and big, thick wool socks.

The other magnificent costume she made for me was Godzilla (about 3rd grade, I think). Old green sweaters sewn together, the tail stuffed with balled-up newspaper, and rows of teeth cut from plastic bleach bottles.

Instead of trick-or-treating, our village had an indoor Halloween "party" for kids at the local rec center. Real trick-or-treating didn't start until the early 80s, but by the point I was getting too old.

[SQUACKEE]

Laughtrack and JRM, these are the saddest stories i have ever read.

[IanS_Liv]

It's arrived here Daisy, but it's very half-hearted. It generally takes the form of kids demanding sweets with menaces at your front door (lol) or students getting dressed up in costumes to go clubbing (at high ticket prices) at a Hallowe'en party.

Oh, and our supermarkets use it as an excuse to hawk overpriced Chinese-made plastic tat. It's quite weird to see it next to the Bonfire Night and Christmas stuff all on the same isle.

I'd quite like to go to the (pagan) New Year's Eve celebrations at Pendle Hill in Lancashire. They have proper covens there ... :wink:

[lonewolf]

I don't remember that Halloween has been invented when I was a pup. There were reports of tipping of outhouses by teenagers but with the houses one to two miles apart, there certainly was no door to door trick or treating by small children.
However, by the time my kids were trick or treat age in the early (19)60s, I was an urbanite and it was a big deal and their favorite holiday. Now my little grandkids plan for Halloween more than Christmas.

[Marlow]

My very last Halloween was my saddest. I was 13 (important fact to story) and my sister was 14. She dressed up as a boy and dressed me up as a girl. At the very first house we went to, the lady answered the door and said to my sister, "Oh, you make a cute boy, little girl. Why didn't you dress up your sister as a boy also?" I immediately went home and never went trick or treating again.