Halloween was the holiday that every kid dreamed about. All you had to do was to drape yourself in an old sheet (well, not so much in the South) or put a patch over your eye and the candy, FREE CANDY! would come pouring into that big plastic pumpkin bucket you clutched for blocks careful not to spill one morsel. All sorts of wonderful, sugary candies like SweetTarts or chocolatey minibites of Snickers or Krackles! The gooey-er and sugarier the better. All free for the knocking and taking. And all you had to do was shout "Trick or Treat"!
And your parents would let you do it! They would actually LET you go begging through the streets to score all the candy you could carry. You could go running through the neighborhood in gangs and groups and gaggles where, let me tell you, that kid-network worked faster than any internet does, to share the 4-1-1 on which house had the best (or worst) candy. It was glorious! Then when you finally dragged your loot home, there was one last hurdle before the fun really started. You know the procedure - dump all that wonderful sugary, chocolatey treasure on the table while Mom and Dad took out all to poisonous popcorn balls and the apples laced with razorblades. [I never personally saw an apple with razorblades, but my parents assured us that they existed] Then and ONLY then could you finally gorge yourself into a beautiful sugar-induced coma.
So what happened? It used to be so much fun. But lately, you can't swing a dead, black cat without getting ragged on by some prissy do-gooder.
First there's the administrators at University of Colorado Boulder and several other college campuses like Universtiy of Minnesota. LINK The "University Spokesperson" actually explained why dressing like cowboys would be offensive...
'When you dress up as a cowboy, and you have your sheriff badge on and a big cowboy hat, that's not a representation of a cowboy, that's not a representation of people who work on a ranch that's not a representation of people who live in the West, that's kind of a crude stereotype,' Hilliard said.Really? I wasn't aware that the CowPokes Of America were offended. They always seemed so self-assured and reasonable. I feel so bad now. I dressed like cowgirl with pink boots, fringed skirt and all once, and now I know that I was offending them. I am contrite. [I guess the Watergate Bug costume I wore in 1974 was okay 'cause that only insulted Nixon. Phew]
Then this is what one woman in North Dakota felt compelled to write to drop into all those little plastic pumpkin buckets in lieu of candy...LINK
You [sic] child is, in my opinion, moderately obese and should not be consuming sugar and treats to the extent of some children this Halloween season. My hope is that you will step up as a parent and ration candy this Halloween and not allow your child to continue these unhealthy eating habits.
She is exactly why flaming paper bags filled with dog poop were invented.
But then there is the Mom whose child suffers from Type 1 diabetes. She wanted him to be able to participate, so she bought a bunch of small toys and distributed them to her neighbors with a note attached that explained that her child could not eat candy, but when he knocks on the door, please give him this toy instead. And went on to explained how they could identify him. Now THAT'S a really cool Mom.
Comments?
it is political correctness, and it has become pervasive throughout our society. I heard "tag" was outlawed at some elementary school. Bev, I grew up in a safe neighborhood in the suburbs with people like the Cleaver, Anderson, and Nelson families. Sure, we had the razor blade apple stories, but honestly, I only ever trick or treated in my own neighborhood anyway so we pretty much went to the families we knew … at least a little. By the time my kids were growing up (now 43 and 31) there was a push to have elementary school kids have it at school before it got dark
ReplyDelete"Not so much in the South" -- LOL!
ReplyDeleteBev, I think things started to go wrong in the late 1980s when parents started driving their kids around to trick or treat at stores and things because it was safe. Then schools started the "don't offend" anyone garbage. Today, that seems to be the official position. Still, I think most people look beyond the idiots and enjoy the holiday. :)
BTW, Perhaps we should point out to our overly sensitive friends that they are wiping out minority culture by banning costumes and team names. Of course, maybe that's the plan?
ReplyDeleteI would just like to mention my main problem w/ Halloween. It has become much, much darker since I was a kid or my kids were kids. The death and demons meme has take hold of teens and adults.
ReplyDeleteI don't have little ones around anymore so i can only go by the pop culture presented online and in stores. it seems less kid friendly than any PC garbage to me. It used to be about the kids but those days are gone.
Just my $.02 worth.
darski, Culturally, I see that too. But the kids who show up at the door here are still very much into things like Monsters, Inc. and Disney Princesses. So I think there are really two holidays in one going on.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know what y'all older folk did as teenagers for Halloween. I just turned 18, and I'm at my freshman year at a small, liberal arts college. There's a dance offered and then the night is open. The local dumb asses all load up onto buses and go clubbing for the rest of the night, surely to come back drunk and stoned, which isn't really the way I like to spend my nights.
ReplyDeleteThe less crazy crowd will probably go out Trick-or-Treating, which seems weird to me. I haven't gone since I turned 13. It just didn't feel right anymore. The only reason I'm inclined to go now is because the ladies are going.
Just want to know how things have changed over the years. Or have they?
Anonymous - That's an interesting question. We stayed at home and studied!! Okay, honestly, I don't remember (don't take that the wrong way!) what we did. But I am of the generation where it was legal to drink alcohol at 18 (and we even had bars on campus!), so we probably had costume parties and such. I was a Theatre major, so probably was too snooty to wear a costume feigning that Wearing a costume wasn't special.
ReplyDeleteMaybe some of the others here can remember.
I was a Franciscan monk for our Parish Halloween Party last night, I guess it will upset the Pro-Choice folks. Halloween when I was a kid in Memphis was so great, I even had a cloth bag so it wouldn't break if I got a load of loot. For grins we would walk through the woods in park to another neighborhood...I still love Halloween...I'm so tired of political correctness....some of these people need a drink, a chill pill, something to calm the Hell down...
ReplyDeletedarski, as I recall, there have always been two holidays (at least since the mid-80s). There was plenty of stuff for the grown-ups that I wasn't allowed to do as a kid. And having kids of my own now, I can assure you there is more stuff than my pocketbook can handle for the kids.
ReplyDeleteI read a piece on the 20th c. history of trick-or-treating a few years back. As I recall, it didn't really exist before WWII except in parts of the Western US. As it spread through the 1950s, it was often met with resistance with adults writing angry letters to the editor calling it "extortion" and radio and TV shows from the time frequently depicted kids explaining trick-or-treating to adults, not the other way around. Despite what the phrase "trick or treat" implies, it doesn't seem that acts of vandalism were ever considered a serious option. In fact, I was taught as a child that the phrase meant I had to perform a trick in order to get the treat. For a little kid, that trick consisted of snapping my fingers, which I was quite proud of at the time.
I don't think the "safe" trick-or-treat thing really took off until the 90s. I know I never did it, but I think my little sister did a couple times. It was actually a very short-lived trend b/c by the late 90s, the malls started dying. I see the trend of "safe" trick-or-treats dying. My daughter brought home a note announcing the school-organized "trunk-or-treat" (where you trick-or-treat through a parking lot out of other people's car trunks) was cancelled due to lack of interest.
Anon, in my college years (now ten years gone, yikes!) Halloween was scrabbling together a costume from crap around the dorm/apartment and then going to a drinking party. Being in rural Nebraska, these often included bonfires in the middle of a field. Note: There aren't a lot of "slutty whatever" costumes to be seen outside on a cold Nebraska evening at the end of October.
When I was real young, we lived in a regular neighborhood and knew most of the people so I was able to go out with my older sisters. When I was in 5th grade we moved to a beach area and had to get in the car to go trick or treating. Even though I never attended a costume party when I was older that sounds like a lot of fun.
ReplyDeleteSome of the churches in our area now have what they call "trunk or treat" where families load up the trunks of their cars with goodies, park at the church and the kids dress up and go from car to car. This works pretty well because everyone is so spread out.
Tonight I will put "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Bown" on the big screen in the living room and pass out candy...maybe. We may have major storms tonight and it will be put off until tomorrow night...so I'lll rewatch The Exorcist...my favorite horror film. We will have over 500 kids Trick or Treat at our house, we love Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI'm 38 and my kids are 8 and 12. The change I note isn't in the costumes (same as ever) but the participation rate. Fewer households hand out candy (but they hand out more to the few kids that make the rounds since running out isn't a concern) and fewer kids go around the neighborhood. There are a lot of Halloween parties.
ReplyDeleteUp until this year my kids made the rounds, but this year they are going to attend a church based alternative to Halloween (they will go car to car to get candy and 'demonic' costumes are forbidden). I know a couple local malls had Halloween events last Sunday though we learned about them while shopping that afternoon, so the kids didn't participate.
I'm fine with demonic costumes (not that my daughters ever wore them, but I dressed up as a monster a time or three). This year the oldest is going as Princess Leia and the youngest is going as Tinker Bell.
At my college Halloween was popular and a lot of people dressed up for it. I don't recall any particular costumes, but I recall some normally modest girls showing a lot of skin.
Anthony, Hmm... Tinker Bell is a fairy, which is a mythical creature of pagan superstition. And Princess Leia is a practitioner of the Force, a false religion. It all sounds 'demonic' to me. ;-)
ReplyDeleteYou know, I realize that I grew in the 'burbs with your standard neighborhood, so I not sure what kids who lived on farms or out in the middle of nowhere did. And urban kids run around their own high rise or low rise buildings scrounging for treats. And if they are really adventurous they go to a friend's in a different high rise/low rise building and get MORE loot. A lot of the stores in the neighborhoods give out candy too (probably to stave off looting!)
ReplyDeleteSuburban Halloween's were really the best.
Anthony - I can see malls being a great place to "trick or treat". It's safe and indoors just in case it rains, but "car to car" begging for candy sounds scary to me.
ReplyDeleteNow, Critch, that fact that you can watch "The Exorcist" at ALL makes me really wonder about you! I still have nightmares and freak out when I hear "Tubular Bells" and I haven't seen that movie since it came out in the early '70's!
ReplyDelete10J - I grew up that way too. All the grown-ups in the neighborhoods knew each other and had their secret parent network that watched over us. And we knew that if we needed help, we could knock on any door. We lived in a typical suburban development with lots of interconnected streets and cul-de-sacs, so we were all over the place with kids running wild (probably high on chocolatey treats!). And we all knew when it was over when the porch lights started to go out - that was the universal signal to go home and count your loot! Usually 8pm...
ReplyDelete"She is exactly why flaming paper bags filled with dog poop were invented."
ReplyDeleteAlso rotten eggs, TPing, etc.
Seriously, if I had kids, I would lead them back to this woman's house to start the petty vandalism.
T-Rav - I think there will probably a considerable crowd either ignoring her or taunting her...forever.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in the 50's-60's and lived on military bases. So when we went trick or treating it was on a secure naval base with little chance of anything "bad" happening. And we always looked at it as a way to get sweets (Hershey Kisses and Bars were the best!)
ReplyDeleteAs I grew up, I lost interest in it for many of the same reasons listed above. After marriage and kids, my wife handled all the Halloween activities and costumes. I just never got back into it.
This year I'll keep the lights off and retreat downstairs to the media room and watch The Addams Family or some "spooky" take-off on horror. Don't care for the slasher or evil films. The Exorcist and Night of the Living Dead were enough for me.
***NEW BREAK***
ReplyDelete"A federal appeals court on Thursday blocked a judge's order requiring changes to the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk program and removed the judge from the case."
"The appeals court said the judge needed to be removed from the case because she ran afoul of the code of conduct for U.S. judges by compromising the necessity for a judge to avoid the appearance of partiality..."
This is kind of HUGE considering that Bill de Blasio, front runner in the Mayoral race has been hawking this issue of stop-n-frisk as the first thing he will make sure is stopped immediately on his inauguration.
With the talk of costume parties, let me air a pet peeve. When I see costume parties on television, these people aren't wearing costumes in the sense that average people do, they are wearing costumes that could be used for major motion pictures. Seriously, every costume party I've been too people are doing things like wearing a pocket protector and nerd glasses. Or if they do get an elaborate costume, it's more like a fake sword, fake jacket and cheap hat. You don't see people in these elaborate full-body costumes that are standard on sitcoms.
ReplyDeleteDoes this affect my life? No. But it does annoy me... and I'm feeling annoyable.
Andrew - I feel your pain, but then I worked in a costume shop and we have many costume rental places here that actually rent costumes from movies/tv/broadway shows, so I tend to see the elaborate end of the spectrum.
ReplyDeleteBev, Very few of the places I've lived have that. :(
ReplyDeleteThreadjack: If you're looking for a cookie cookbook, my mother just put one on Amazon. :)
ReplyDeleteLINK
I am so buying that!!! Thanks! That is so great! Yey, Andrew's Mom!!! We really need a CommentaramaCooks page...
ReplyDeleteBev, There will be a paper back soon -- probably a couple weeks, if you'd rather have that.
ReplyDeleteThere are some amazing cookies in this. :)
A CommentaramaCooks page would be great!
Christmas present!! What's your favorite cookie recipe that your Mom makes? [You may not know this, but I have a culinary degree from the French Culinary Institute in New York (because that gives me street cred, ya' know)...just sayin'.]
ReplyDeleteBev, Do you really have that degree? Very cool!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite are actually the Vanilla Kipferln (Vanilla Crescents). They're on the top right of the cover. They're just amazing. But there are several close seconds. The ones on the top middle are fantastic too -- Nussecken (nut squares).
(BTW, there are two cakes at the end of the book.)
BTW, Bev, my mother made all of these in the past couple months so she could take all the pictures. I think I gained 30 pounds.
ReplyDeleteAndrew - this recipe book is priceless! I love the commentary with the recipes. Is your family from East Germany?
ReplyDeletePoor thing! I feel your pain having to "suffer" through the great ordeal of testing each batch! But just remember, it is all for a good cause...;-)
ReplyDeleteBev, I'm glad you like it. :) My mother has an interesting take on the world.
ReplyDeleteThey're actually from Austria (Vienna) but they ended up in Dresden (East Germany) after the war. They escaped in 1955 to West Germany and that's where the rest of them still live, except my mother who refuses to go back: "There are too many rules in Germany!"
Yep, it was for a good cause. And yeah, I didn't protest too much, that's for sure. But wow. She really must have made 50+ pounds of cookies in the past three months.
Wow, I'd never heard of this 'trunk-to-trunk' stuff. Maybe it just shows how I don't follow trends.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, speaking of mall trick-or-treating, my parents took my brother and me to do that once when we were kids. It wasn't as good as going door-to-door.
Last year, about a week after Halloween, I talked to an employee at the Monroeville Mall about how it went. It seems that while Hurricane Sandy delayed everything outside for two days, it didn't affect trick-or-treating inside. The employee told me that the mall's candy supply was completely wiped out in less than half an hour.
It was at that point I noticed something strange hanging from the ceiling- barbershop strips and green leaves with gold trim. It seemed strange and out of place for the time of year. I asked the employee if it was weird for trick-or-treating to take place with that thing hanging (and many others like it) hanging up there. She just groaned.
On that note, I last visited the mall last week and in the very same former Gimble's court where George's zombies chased Roger & Co. 35 years ago, there was this large conical, steel skeleton with a few green panels being applied to it. I have no idea what this has to do with Halloween, or how it affected the ambiance this evening. Things are getting strange these days.
Useless Trivia for the Day: During one of my many trips to the mall's zombie museum (which, sadly, has now closed), I learned from one of the ever-playing documentaries for "Dawn" that filming had to stop in late October since "things," similar to what I have described, would have to be taken when the mall closed and put back up before it opened for 2 months. Instead, they focused on filming outdoor scenes in the bleak winter of western PA. But it the change in seasons doesn't seem to have affected production. According to Tom Savini, "every day was Halloween for me! I got to dress up hundreds of people as zombies every day! It was great!"