Halloween

Halloween was great when I was a kid. My mom made my costumes for me. At that time, kids usually dressed up as cowboys, gypsies, nurses, rabbits, or clowns. No TV characters and no one had a store-bought costume. But it was a different time. It was the 1970’s and I lived in a town much smaller than Edmonton. It only had 1200 people so I think we managed to visit every house. I always went out with 4 or 6 of my friends. No one’s parents came with us, unless it was very cold. If it was, somebody’s mom would follow us around in a warm car, just in case. I was sent out of the house with instructions not to eat any candy until I got home, because mom and dad had to inspect it first. Of course, I ignored that. The best part was how much fun I had walking around town after dark with my friends. We laughed and talked, and pretended to be scared of shadows, or dark houses. Sometimes we met other groups of kids from school. (There was only one school). We’d stay together for awhile, and then split up, or find other groups. I don’t remember it being very cold ever, but it must have been. So as a big group we would walk from house to house and at the door we would yell ‘trick or treat’ as loudly as we possibly could to announce ourselves. We would collect our piece of candy in our pillowcases and move on to the next house.

After about two hours we were all back in our own houses and I would turn over my candy to my parents who would pour the bag out onto the living room floor and look at it all for any signs that it might have been interfered with. They would inspect the fruit for any signs that some one might have inserted a needle or a razor blade into it. If it was safe it would go into the fridge. Home made cookies or brownies had to be thrown away immediately, in case they were poisoned. Not that there ever were many home baked things. Most people knew it wouldn’t be eaten. But once I got a toothbrush.

After I got my candy back I separated it myself. There was always one or two bags of potato chips, the best things of all, and some chocolate bars. These I ate in the first few days, but there was also a lot of candy like lollipops and cheap, molasses toffees. I wasn’t very interested in these and they lingered for a long time.

Tonight, however, things seem to be different. There’s not so many kids. I guess they are all at the mall, or the community parties. A lot of the ones who are coming look too old to be out. I considered myself too old when I turned 12. Some kids are not even in costume. And there is often a lurking parent in the background. They ring the doorbell and say ‘trick or treat’ quietly when I come to the door. I wonder if they are having as much fun as I did. It doesn’t seem like it. But they do get better candy.