Last year I got off fairly lightly, as the kids were staying with their dad, and doing the whole trick-or-treating thing there, while I was off at OpenCircle for the night. This year I got to experience the full thing. As far as the being put in costume and going house to house asking for candy side of things go, at any rate.
Monday was a teacher only day, so my costume was crafted for me that day, out of a pair of my old jeans that had torn in an unfortunate place and been rendered unwearable, and a top we picked up for ten bucks from Target. It was decided that I was to be a zombie, a role which I took very seriously, and spent the evening stumbling towards unsuspecting victims, with my arms outstretched, and calling for their delicious, delicious brains. I also reminded myself why I avoid make up, and do not tease my hair on a regular basis.
This is what I ended up looking like,
after they were finished with me.
Then came the actual trick-or-treating part of the evening, which I found entirely odd. Having never been before, and feeling like I was not exactly in the same demographic of usual trick-or-treaters, I was fairly uncomfortable with the general idea of going up to a stranger's house and asking them to give me free candy. I went a few times when dragged, but mostly held back and watched the kids have their fun, once I had enough to be snacking on.
Goodness did they get a lot of candy, too! The three not-so-blind mice and eighties punk-rocker each had a pillowcase, that was at least a quarter-filled with sugar by the end of it. When we got back to the house and they all poured out their haul, the mounds of chocolates and lollies were astounding. I had enough of a sugar crash on the small amount that I had!
My host mum stayed back and held down fort at the house, and from the sounds of things, we gave out possibly more candy than we brought in! Nearly two hundred kids came to our house! Two hundred! This country continues to baffle me.
I think one of the things that I find most strange about the whole thing is that on any other day of the year, kids are explicitly told that they should never go up to strange houses, and especially not to take candy from strangers. They have this whole thing about not letting kids eat anything that wasn't pre-wrapped in a factory, too. Fear of roofies and razor blades and all. I guess it's good to be safe, and I'm sure the paranoia comes from actual instances of this happening, but it still seems a little much to me. A ploy from the big candy companies to make more money by stopping people from making cookies or their own confectionery.
Maybe I'm just a killjoy. I will admit that it did seem like a kind of interesting way to get to know your neighbourhood a little better, and the level at which some people get into it is kind of amazing. Houses had graveyards on their lawns, fancy lighting, spider webs everywhere, and many, many carved pumpkins. Including a pumpkin that I carved! Something that I did find incredibly fun, and will one day master the art of doing something really awesome. Mine ended up turning into a rabbit, for reasons still unknown to me.
They did look rather cool all lit up at night.
This just made my whole day! Love the commentary.
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