This past Saturday was Halloween. When BowlingJoe was growing up in Port Angeles, Halloween was always a special look-forward-to and must-do event. Twice the urgency when it happened to fall on a Friday or Saturday night. Rain or shine, the neighborhood kids would get together donning white sheets or those cheap plastic masks that became moist from the condensation of your breath after two minutes.
We’d canvass virtually the entire town with pillow cases (they made the best candy bags as opposed to the disintegrating paper grocery bags), returning home only to dump the haul from the first load and go back for more. Guaranteed cavities by the pound.
The really good houses were the ones that gave out full-sized candy bars. None of those unfortunately named “Fun Size” things that they give out today. And every now and then there would be a resident that had the audacity to give out something healthy, such as an orange. Scandalous!
Ah, but that was then and this is now. Some people still speak of brisk crowds of candy-gathering youth on October 31st. But there has been a steady decline in the numbers of them who are ambitious enough to head down our long, dark but accessibile driveway. In fact, let the record state that in 2009 we had just three trick or treaters show up at our door. That’s right, three. And they all came in one group with a watchful parent standing 30 feet back.
.
Now THAT'S how big I remember the candy bars being
Assuming that my hypothesis is correct and there are fewer active doorbelling ghosts and goblins, I’m interested in the underlying reason(s) that this is so. Does our society have a collective case of "stranger danger"? We all listen to the news and every now and then a crazy person or two captures the headlines, getting his (or her these days) fifteen minutes of fame and then some. That's gotta enter the craniums of a lot of Gen X-er parents.
Then there are the parties tied to places of employment. Sifting through Facebook entries I learned that there are more than a few parents who transported their offspring to places such as Microsoft who had a party in waiting.
Or is there just so much going on these days that Halloween is on its way to becoming as obsolete as a television antennae? Has it evolved into an adult holiday in which half the neighborhood has gone to a party, leaving the lights out and nobody home to hand out candy?
Maybe someday, somebody will write a book in which all of this is figured out. In the meantime, we have two extra large bags of candy sitting around if anyone is interested. We don't touch the stuff anymore.
7 comments:
I suspect your Halloween problems could be solved with a little creative marketing. Some adds in local papers, a few billboards, and increased presence on the internets will do wonders for your Halloween woes.
Recent article in the New York Times reviewed police reports of Halloween incidents since the 70s involving poisoned candy, razor-bladed apples, etc --- and found only 2 instances, one involving a father poisoning his own kid's candy to collect insurance money. Seems like as a society we fell for one of the bigger urban legends?
That's what I'm leaning toward, David. I know that as a parent I've had irrational thoughts from time to time based on input that is essentially urban legend. And I should know better because I think that I have a fairly good grasp of statistics and likelihood given my work background.
But, of course, what's shocking is what sells. Take the Drudge Report for example. A bunch of attention grabbing headlines that may or may not have anything to do with the underlying stories they're hyperlinked to.
Speaking on behalf of the insane, we're really tired of the way the holiday has gotten away from the witches/warlocks/frankenstein/ghost/parnormal stuff and is now mired in the world of the insane. We don't want to share the room with the likes of Ed Gein, the Wisconsin serial killer who inspired both Psycho and Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Let's get back to the old-fashioned costumes. :) Oh, and the BIG candy bars! :)
It could be becase you live up there in the crime ridden north. Down here in the gentile south, we had 105 little ghosties and goblins and princesses and ducks, and you name it, before we ran out of candy and had to turn off the light. I told Claudia this would happen, since I had 140 last year, but did she listen to me? Of course not, as I am sure she thought I was angling to have plenty of left overs...
I guess that Halloween is like real estate: location, location, location.
I live in a neighborhood full of kids, all ages. We had just four doorbell rings on Halloween night- I was shocked and so disappointed. I found out the next day that most parents take their kids to- get this- THE MALL on Halloween. Apparently stores hand out candy in a safe, warm and dry environment.
Guess who ate the three bags of Fun-Size DOTS at my house? I still get queasy just remembering the sugar hangover I dealt with for two days following Halloween.
Post a Comment