Two Ice Princesses, one Shark Boy, and one sword-wielding elf were ready to go. We’d weathered the Lighting of the Pumpkins and the ceremony of You Must Eat Dinner First. There was a minor conflict right at departure time because the sword was being wielded a little too enthusiastically and I wanted to leave it home. Patches felt he would be devastated without his sword, so I consented to let it come along although I knew full well that I’d be carrying it for him only two houses down the road. In fact I was pretty sure I’d end up carrying Patches too. Hmm… I made all the kids pause while I went back for the stroller.
Sure enough, as soon as Patches had his first trick-or-treat candy in hand, he opened it and began to consume. Since candy consumption slowed his walking pace to a near stop, I picked him up and plunked him in the stroller. I declined to push the stroller up the walkways, I’d stay on the sidewalk and let the kids run up to the houses. Patches didn’t mind not going to the doors. He was quite content to sit in the stroller like a maharaja and allow Kiki to bring candy to deposit into his bucket. In an attempt to get Patches to participate more fully in the experience, Kiki made him say “trick or treat” before she’d deliver the candy. He happily complied and the first obstacle to the evening’s enjoyment was easily overcome.
Gleek provided the next excitment by tripping over her long skirt in a mad dash to the next house. Gleek fell and scraped her arm. Her candy scattered across the sidewalk. She was far more upset over the potential loss of candy than the scrape, so once her treasure was safely redeposited in her bucket we went onwards cheerfully and a little more carefully. The incident made me realize that Gleek needed to slow down and not try to keep up with the bigger kids. Fortunately we had teamed up with Link’s friend. His mom volunteered to shepherd the older kids while I took a slower and more abrieviated route with Gleek & Patches.
Everyone was happy with this solution. Then a few houses later Patches realized that candy had stopped arriving in his bucket. At the next house when Gleek rang the bell and politely said “twick or tweat”, Patches hollered as loud as he could “I WANT SOME!” The kind people in the houses heard him and obligingly sent him candy via Gleek. It only took a couple of houses and a couple of hollered “I want somes!” before Gleek was trained to ask for a candy for her little brother. Now maharaja Patches got his candy delivered and he didn’t even have to say “trick or treat.” Life was good.
One advantage of shepherding young children is that their legs tire quickly. Older kids want to maximize candy accumulation, but the littler ones walk on thier tired legs and start thinking how nice it would be to sit in a warm place where they could eat the candy that is Right There In The Bucket. Gleek felt it was really important to trick or treat at our backyard neighbor’s house, so we did that and then cut through the back yard to be at home.
Sounds like a fantastic evening!
It was raining last night here in Seattle. Poor kids. But there were some trick-or-treaters wandering around the office – I saw some awfully cute costumes and gave out far too little candy. (Now what will I do with the rest of it? Curses.) Of course, the kids trick-or-treating in the office were of the too-young-for-school age…
Patches went as Link?
That must have been confusing. 🙂
It is only confusing when I try to write about it here. The kids are completely unfamiliar with their online psuedonyms.
I WANT SOME!
‘At the next house when Gleek rang the bell and politely said “twick or tweat”, Patches hollered as loud as he could “I WANT SOME!”‘
At this point in the anecdote, I laughed until I cried.
I didn’t mind not-having any trick-or-treaters–more for me, suckers!–but a scene like that would’ve pleased me enough to part with my Reese’s peanut butter cups (for in my mind even as I was emptying the package into the bowl they were ‘mine’) without regret. 🙂
We had a successful Halloween here. Lightning Boy went as Lightning Boy, (his own made up super hero character for himself, one of the few made up original costumes at school.) SoccerGirl went as a Ballerina and braved the cold until the last block or two. I got to be Proffessor Cro`chet Head of the Home Economics and Magic Department at Hogwarts!
While at school a kid came up to me to ask who I was, I showed him my big pink knitting needle wand and he asked if I could make something with it. So, I reached into my bag and pulled out the other needle which had my scarf project on it and said, Ta DA! His eyes got really big and he asked, “Wow! Can you make a toy?” Ah,that was the best!
Our trick or treating group ended up being 6 kids and 3 mothers (not bad odds).We ended up walking around for 2 hours! We saw a few wonderfully decorated houses and lawns, our neighbor is an organist and played spooky organ music, one neighbor gave out full sized Jr. Mints (which my son informed the man that his mom REALLY likes Jr. Mints, can I have one for my mom?) ahh. SoccerGirl actually lasted walking herself the whole way, although I ended up carrying a couple of heavy candy bags.
How do you know if your Halloween trick or treating was a success?
We gave out 2 big bowls of candy, and ended up filling them up again,
one bowl per kid. 🙂
Trick or treat
OK, I’ve been wanting to ask this for ages …
I don’t understand how people who I would normally regard as having strong moral principles (and you fall in that category) can cheerfully encourage their children to take part in an activity that seems to me morally indistinguishable from demanding money with menaces.
It seems to me there are two possibilities. Either the Taylers are moral reprobates, but usually hide it extremely well and carelessly let it slip on the eve of All Saints’ Day; or there is something about the tradition I have missed.
Some potentially significant background: I’m British (English to be precise), and when I was a boy we didn’t have trick-or-treat (I’m 47). It is now quite common in the UK, but I’m fairly sure it is just something the children have learned from the American shows they watch. It is quite possible they learned the demanding-money-with-menaces bit, and missed some important part of the tradition out.
(Anyone else who wants to explain the moral conundrum, please do. This blog post was just a good peg to hang the question.)
Re: Trick or treat
The original holiday may have been “money with menaces,” but these days no one ever has to worry about tricks. The phrase “trick or treat” has become a Halloween greeting rather than a statement of intent. I don’t think my kids really understand where the phrase “trick or treat” came from. The older ones might, but they also know that playing “tricks” is not something we do. In my neighborhood there are people who simply turn out their lights & don’t answer the door on Halloween, they never experience any repercussions for doing so. Nor should they, participation in any holiday should be voluntary.
The fun of halloween for the kids is dressing up, staying out past thier bedtimes, and recieving gifts of lots of candy. The fun for grown ups is having all the kids come to your door with costumes and happy faces. This is especially true in a neighborhood like mine where we all know each other and recognize the kids.
If there are kids out doing “tricks” they will get treated like vandals and prosecuted accordingly. If people fail to give my kids candy I’ll teach them to be grateful for what they get rather than threatening “tricks”
Hope that helps.
Re: Trick or treat
It does. I’m still not fond of it – most people aren’t as responsible as you, and most people don’t live in neighbourhoods that are real communities – but I can see the fun.
… and of course, I am looking forward with enthusiasm to celebrating the torture and execution of a failed terrorist this weekend (http://www.gunpowder-plot.org/)