Category Archives: Halloween

Trick or Treat smell my feet give me something good to eat! I don’t know about you but after smelling some people’s feet I know I am not so sure I could eat anything even if it was something good. Just the thought of it now as I write this is interfering with my thoughts of lunch. Maybe that your plan all along come along make me smell your feet and take the good stuff right out of my hands before I have a chance to eat it. I will take a Zero bar over smelly feet any day. Nobody lays a finger on my Butterfinger, then again if you use your feet; it’s all yours. How do you plan for that; walk through moldy garbage or just limburger cheese, wouldn’t that make you lose your lunch before you could get to the something good to eat part? So many questions so few answers from any of you.
When cooler weather comes the leaves change and begin to fall from the trees you know it’s only a matter of time before the little ones start looking for their costumes and planning their route trying of course to optimize specific amounts and types of according to results documented from prior years amended of course by and for the usual variables. Age of resident of the house, age of children if any in that house, best time to arrive, most likely to give a little more to who, best approach whether alone or in a group, how many times you can go back before they realize you have been there five times already.
Would it be the same if I told you that there was nothing less important than the costume? Do you think that I may have finally lost it? ‘Ehhhh, could be rabbit could be’. Okay, maybe I lost it long before I began writing and this is just what I have become; strange out of my mind and rambling on about things.
Proper planning perfects pertinent procedures pending planned … umm never mind. I have to admit though that Halloween has to be the most planned out event of all the non-holiday days of the year. No other holiday requires such intense planning as Halloween. It may even be more planning than any of the holidays themselves. After all the other big planners are Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving, I would say in that order too. The only difference is that most of those holidays take place in one home or maybe two but Halloween takes place all over the place. Oh sure Christmas comes in at a very close second, however all planning involved in that are all concerned within your own house and maybe one or two others. As you know this one involves multiple houses, multiple neighborhoods, costumes, who to go with what size bag you need, how many times you might need to make a drop off to make room for more candy you know essential planning. Weeks are spent debating on whether or not you will wear a costume, what the costume will be, what you will use to make the costume, buy it, make it yourself or just fake it. Yeah, I know it’s all good especially when you know what the outcome will be which of course is a bag full of yummy things. After all you first have to decide if you will dress as a character or maybe a real person or if you are really out there you will something entirely different, a zombie or vampire or something like that, you know the same thing a million of your friends will want to be dressing up as. Especially considering all the books and movies there are about these things. Of course once you have that perfect costume you need to check with your friends to make sure that you are not going to be clashing or heaven forbid you are going as the same character from your favorite movie. How would it look if you and your group were all ironman, pretty crazy if you ask me. Now that you have that figured out and I am sure it was no easy choice at the very least you had to change your costume idea at least three times and not always because you decided you that you had a better idea. Well what’s done is done. Finally you are ready to move on to the next part of your planning; finding just the right group of friends to go house to house with. If you pick the wrong ones you could be handicapped by someone’s little brother or sister and you wouldn’t be able to get to all the houses on your list. You know there is always at least one of those whiney little brats trying to spoil your fun. Then again you know it’s really their parents fault for making them take the little ankle biter along in the first place. that in and of itself may not be enough to make you agree that the little bugger eater can come along but they may have at least one redeeming value, more on that a little later.
With your maps, lists from previous years at the ready you are now nearly ready for the big night. There needs to be enough room in your plan for the inevitable changes as well. The variables are mind boggling to say the least especially for someone that may not even know how to spell the word variables or inevitable. From a logistics stand point alone Halloween is a nightmare, let alone all the planning that went into getting you this far in the first place. You need to be able to adapt to the ever changing neighborhood. People get older and that means that sometimes when a child moves away so does their parents feeling to get the good candy. These will become the houses to avoid in a few years no matter the size of and quality of previous years take. People move throughout the year so these too will have to be taken into consideration. Did a family move in or out, are their dogs, does the house look kid friendly, is it decorated? These are only a few of the worries you are confronted with when scoping out new hauls. Once you think you have it all figured out you then need to add the variable of pranks. Oh, yeah sweet revenge perhaps or maybe you just think they deserve it. Now I am not going to sit here and tell you about the, I mean if, well you know what I am not going to tell you. Suffice it to say that you need also to have your prank ideas and materials included in every detail that you make. Miss one item or house and it could throw everything off and you don’t want that to happen now do you.
Finally with everything planned you are ready to face the night and whatever demons may arise. Everyone knows that it isn’t easy getting all of your ‘trick’ materials out the door and safely in the hands of your co-conspirators, but again with precision that perhaps the Marines would envy you make it work. With a pillow case for your goodie bag you find those houses and execute your plan flawlessly. Well almost flawlessly as there seem to be more than one of those whiney ankle biters that ‘have’ to come along so their older sibling can keep an eye on them. It’s days like these that make the only child group very happy. Taking it all in stride you adapt and change like any good logistics planner or military genius would. You even managed to use all of your ‘tricks’ as well as being able to nearly fill your bag with yummy goodness. I did mention that there were whiney ankle biters along didn’t I.
With the night over, at least as far as getting any yummy goodness is concerned you make your way to your room to sort out your new stash. Of course you need to have everything looked over by your parents to make sure no one slipped you anything that could harm you. Sure it’s a good thing but naturally you know that in reality your parents just want to confiscate some of it for themselves. Not that it is an entirely bad thing after all a well-buttered up parent is much better than an angry one, providing of course you were unlucky enough to be seen playing your tricks. Which as you know has happened to many tricksters throughout the history of Halloween, but if you’re smart you always have a back-up plan. Oh yes the back-up plan or should I say the “huh, I don’t know what you’re talking about it must have been (fill in the blank)” plan. Works every time, well every time that is that you are not caught red handed or you have trouble with that whiney ankle biter turned squealer. Now I would never tell on any of my fellow or former trick or treat crew, but I will tell you this, if you ever come to my hometown just watch out for those darn Pokas boys they were always in the middle of everything that went on at Halloween it was never anyone in my group.
So to you my family and friends and friends of family, enjoy All Hallows Eve take a minute and let your inner self out dress up hit the streets and have a little fun. While you’re at it lift up your glass with your favorite beverage and remember those that came before us that use this night to walk among us. Be kind to those that come to your door with their pillow case bags for you never know which one of them is going to be hiding a few tricks and beware the Pokas boys; the little trouble makers anyway.