We Had ONE!
Halloween night.Another year, another cavity-threat.
Luckily the rain held off. There was a warm wind all day, which was refreshing. Every year since we've had kids, Halloween seems to be frigid. Those thin polyester costumes providing little warmth especially for the ballerinas, cheerleaders, and mermaids of the world.
Friday night was nice. We had like a dozen sprinkles, but other than that, perfect CA weather.
What was surprising was the lack of participation in my parents' neighborhood. Either every other house is going through foreclosure, or people were just plain avoiding the insessant ringing of their doorbells.
Shutting their lights out to appear not home, or non-participatory.
Scrooges.
In the decade we've lived here, we never have more than a literal handfull of trick-or-treaters. We pack up all our goods and head to Yaya's. Even their attendance was down.
For the fun of knowing, Yaya and Papa tally how many kids come to the door. In past years it's been in the 150's. This year, half that.
We strolled through a nearby cul-de-sac and out of 18 homes, 7 had lights on. Out of those 7, 5 answered their door. Bummer.
How sad it was to hear poor K say, "Aw! No tweets, no home!"
One lady actually answered the door, and proceeded to say, "Sorry we're all out!"
It was 6:45pm! When did her crowd start coming, noon??!!
After walking around for an hour, the kids were tired of empty houses. Thank goodness. We headed back to my mom's to assess the stash. It was pretty reasonable for the apathy in the neighborhood.
After arriving home and putting 3 exhausted kids to bed, the doorbell rang. It was 10:07pm! Hubby peeked out the window and a little witch waited patiently on the step. We scrounged some candy from the cabinet and off she skipped to her parents waiting in the car.
1 trick or treater. Woo.
Now about this candy. In years past, DQ's birthday pinata has taken the leftover candy and distributed it to her friends. That doesn't happen anymore, sadly. Sadly for my thighs.
November 2, 2008 at 3:54 AM
At least they still had fun! we went through 4 large bags of candy, 30 pack of mini pretzels, and my kids fruit snacks! we were busy all night!
November 2, 2008 at 5:06 AM
This is kind of a sad reality now. It's amazing how the times have effected even Halloween.
November 2, 2008 at 5:26 AM
what we did, was go out, then put all of charlottes in a bowl, and when we got home, handed that back out. LOL!!
trisha
November 2, 2008 at 5:33 AM
You know, it was weird... there were very few trick or treaters in our neighborhood too. Lots of people didn't put their lights on, or even worse... they opened their doors and told the kids they didn't have any candy! grrr...
November 2, 2008 at 6:08 AM
They are darling! Sounds like they had fun despite the grinches out there.
November 2, 2008 at 6:26 AM
I'll send you mine, Jen. I had 1,350 pieces I purchased and then I started to panic that I didn't have enough so I went to the supermarket and spent another $100 on candy. They started at 5 pm and we ran out at about 7:50 pm. My street finally cleared out at 9 pm...
November 2, 2008 at 6:27 AM
We had hardly any trick or treaters, too. And so many houses were dark!
Maybe next year will be better....
Your little ones look adorable, though! So sweet!
November 2, 2008 at 6:38 AM
I used to "recycle" halloween candy too! Isn't there a "veteran's" group or some other charity that needs candY?
November 2, 2008 at 6:38 AM
We had not one trick or treater! Not ONE! Thankfully I didn't go all out and buy 14 bags of candy like in years past. I bought a small bag of lollipops. Candy brought home is down and that is fine with me!
November 2, 2008 at 8:14 AM
I have never experienced this before;( Oh well we did have another sort of tradition...hmmm I should talk about that next time....
I guess some of your neighbors are in recession.
November 2, 2008 at 8:20 AM
10:10? are you joking? that is crazy, poor kid, doesn't her mom know the candy is half off in the moring at Target?
November 2, 2008 at 9:12 AM
Umm. Don't you guys have a cut off time for trick or treating? Wow. I was in bed from exhaustion by 10:10!
November 2, 2008 at 9:33 AM
There are only about four houses on out block (which is HUGE) who participate. We and most everyone around here drive to the new housing communities. AND boy they rack up! One man who just ran out said that he went thru 12 large bags of candy...yikes...that's a lot of cavities!
November 2, 2008 at 9:58 AM
It's because everyone came to our neighborhood. It started at 4pm. Ugggh.
November 2, 2008 at 12:03 PM
Awww, sorry the kids didn't have bags overflowing this year. Our stash came up short as well. There were a lot of "sorry no candy" signs in our apartment complex as opposed to last year Miss J. nearly dragging her bad down the street.
In my neighbor's defense though, we are all starving college students so I guess I can understand, lol.
November 2, 2008 at 12:32 PM
Mayberry is kinda weird. Everyone trick or treats in the 'flats' while us on 'the hill' get none. I kinda feel bad for those in th flats, as they get the entirety of the town. I kinda felt like an ass when we got home that night, I ran out so quickly I forgot to turn off the lights and shut the front door, leaving the storm door wide open and unlocked. Some punk kid could have really had a field day with us!! Luckily, we were spared any 'mischief'.
November 2, 2008 at 3:52 PM
Congrats on the ONE - - we had NONE! Not one little goblin, princess, or Spidey. It was the most depressing Halloween. Especially since it was our first one without the boys - - they spent the night working at a local haunted house for charity. I was so proud of them, but they've grown up way too fast and I'm not ready!
November 2, 2008 at 3:58 PM
Do you need me to send ya'll some of our haul? We have plenty!
I like DQ's witch.
November 2, 2008 at 4:10 PM
The kids look great! I love the pic of K at the door. Too cute!
November 2, 2008 at 5:11 PM
We had lots of dark houses and then realized there were 2 HUGE highschool football games in the area. I suppose those with older kids skipped Halloween and went to the games. Your kids are too cute. Love the Strawberry Shortcake costume. She's a fave of my 3 year old.
November 2, 2008 at 6:11 PM
Your kids look adorable...as usual! :)
Sorry to hear about the lack of candy, we had about 80 to 100 kids show up. They came in spurts. I sat outside in a lawn chair and read a book by flashlight in between the tricker treaters.
I had a nice time! Very relaxing!
November 2, 2008 at 6:29 PM
Oh that last picture of her sucking her thumb is killing me. Awwwww!
November 2, 2008 at 6:57 PM
we had just about as exciting halloween as you did! i hope the kiddos had fun! love the picture of little k!
November 2, 2008 at 8:03 PM
Too bad about the empty houses, but the kids looked super cute!
November 2, 2008 at 8:16 PM
Wow! 150 treaters? That is some major candy to supply. Sorry is was a bit of a bummer, but the kids look darling!
Jen
November 3, 2008 at 7:46 AM
Wow, you had someone knock on your door at 10pm? I don't think I would've been to thrilled with that, lol.
We didn't find many houses with their lights on either. But the girls ended up with plenty of candy & had fun any way.
I don't know if anyone was out while we were gone, but we got home just before 8pm & there was a group with like 5 kids that knocked on our door. I just gave them a handful of what the girls brought home.
November 3, 2008 at 8:57 AM
We had the same experience -- there definitely weren't as many people participating OR trick or treating. Weird year.
November 3, 2008 at 1:29 PM
awwwww cute costumes!!!! where did you find that strawberry shortcake hat?!
November 3, 2008 at 4:11 PM
what cuties
November 4, 2008 at 3:49 AM
That Strawberry Shortcake costume is so so cute!