Trick or Treat!
Anyway, I would start planning my costume very early, and usually my father was the one who would help me. One year we had a Howdy Doody facemark, and Daddy cut a couple of holes in a big brown box so I could be Howdy Doody on TV.
I enjoyed helping my kids plan their costumes and often Joe was the one who made them happen. I was okay with making the bunny-out-of-a-pillowcase costume for two-year-old Andrew, but it took Dad's expertise the year Sherry was the bag of groceries.
We moved into our current home back in 1999 and the first year we had approximately three callers on Halloween before the big, uncostumed teenagers showed up. There just weren't little ones on our block. The next year, and a few years after that, we went to the Philadelphia Orchestra Halloween performances, and when those ended, we just started going to the movies.
A couple of years ago we noticed that the neighborhood was changing. There were young families moving in, and they were reproducing! So for the past couple of years, I would pick up treats and stop at their homes to deliver them on Halloween afternoon, and then we would go to the movies. This year, for the first time in so long, we're staying home and open for business! I can think of twelve potential guests from our very own block, and I imagine there will be more. We have a big bowl of Snickers, a couple pair of strategically placed mustache glasses, and Joe outdid himself carving perhaps the finest punkin ever. Bring 'em on!
Comments
I remember as a small kid when a neighbor's mom dressed as a witch and when she opened the door, I nearly jumped out of my costume!
Our home and those in this area are too far back from the street so we've never had trick-or-treaters in the 13 years we've been here.
Hugs!
We live in the country where we had to drive our kids door to door. The last year our youngest went trick-or-treating was the first year they had a big "Trunk-or-treat" at the local church. You park in the large parking lot, with your trunk open. You can decorate it if you want to. Then the children just go from trunk to trunk collecting their treats. It is over in about 30 minutes--and it is a madhouse in the process. I decorated my hatchback with battery operated lights and lit pumpkins, but became frustrated with the number of children who came around multiple times. It isn't as if there weren't plenty of trunks to visit, but the greediness got out of hand. I was glad to only go the one year. I do miss the children visiting our home, so we have spent the last several years with our daughter's family in a residential neighborhood with lots of children. I love it every time the doorbell rings. : )