I'm not just the Biggest Fan Ever of trunk-or-treats but they had fun and got a jump start on the candy stash that I'll be hoarding until chocolate covered cherries are 50% off the day after Christmas.
When I was a kid, Halloween happened on Halloween. No one had ever heard of trunk-or-treating. You got dressed in a (mostly) homemade costume, went to MawMaw's house where you posed for pictures, then to Granny's house to pose for more pictures, then to Aunt Fay's house for homemade popcorn balls. Then, of course, you'd hit up a few more spots until your bag was so full of candy it was about to fall apart. You went home and Mom and Dad inspected them for bad stuff like razor blades and evidence of poisoning -- something that, for some reason, the Snickers bars and Reeses never survived.
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| My brother and I in one of those pictures taken at Granny's house I was a baby (an old standby costume) and likely too old to be trick-or-treating; he was Peter Pan |
These days, trick or treating has been replaced with people decorating their trunks and handing out candy in church parking lots. And, while I certainly understand the safety concern (at least to a point) it still makes me kinda sad. Tonight, I'll take the kids out trick or treating. In our neighborhood, only every six house or so will have a light on. Only every six house or so will be handing out candy and ooh'ing and ahh'ing at trick or treaters. Only every six house or so. Which means the odds of getting the good stuff (full sized candy bars) is even lower.
No one will be handing out homemade popcorn balls. And, even if they were, we wouldn't let our kids eat them anyway.
By the time my kids are grown and their own children are ready to celebrate Halloween there probably won't be any trick or treating left at all anymore!
