Forget spooky moons, witches and vampires, and carved jack-o-lanterns. Halloween is really about one thing: CANDY!!!!
When
you're a kid, you dutifully say 'trick or treat' at the door, hoping for a decent Reese's and not a lame butterscotch.
You patiently traverse from house to house, in uncomfortable masks, shoes, wigs or makeup, working one miniature candy
bar at a time toward a full trick or treat bucket. Hard work in the name of free candy.
When I was a kid trick or treating
in the (convenient!) apartment complex where I grew up, there were two apartments my brothers and sisters and I looked forward
to the most. I could take you today to the location of the lady who gave out the full size candy bars. She would open the
door and bend down a bit to kid level, presenting a silver tray with a selection of full size candy bars on it. We could choose.
HEAVEN! There was just something about a full size candy bar- it equaled 10 small bars, not that you'd ever trade it.
The
other house was decked out with spooky Halloween decorations, its owners (renters lol) decked out in costume, spooky music
playing- and they gave out twist-tied goody BAGS. Wow. These people ROCKED.
As a grown-up, I have perhaps overcompensated
a bit in the 'Halloween sugar' department. I bought an 1881 mansard-roof Victorian haunted mansion which I spookify
each year, inside and out (fog machines, haunted organ music, strobe lights, etc etc). A groan-up party for 100 people, and
I'm visited by over 300 trick or treaters-- each gets a glow stick and their choice of, you guessed it, full size candy
bars.
You could debate all day about the best brand of Halloween candy. Hershey or Milky Way? Reese's or Kit Kat?
M&Ms or Snickers or Twix? Personally, my favorite has always been a Clark bar- but when I bought a few cases of those
one year, the kids looked at me like I was nuts- they hadn't heard of them, plus a little girl asked me who I was supposed
to be (I was wearing a Wonder Woman costume). Wow, I'm old. This year I found a variety box of full size candy bars that
included a few 100 Grand bars, my 2nd favorite- and no trick or treaters will be getting that particular variety because I
have already eaten them all!
So this year once again I'll be in costume, giving stuff out, hoping to create
cool Halloween memories for the neighborhood kids....and maybe when the trick-or-treaters are gone I'll hang out with
Linus and wait for the Great Pumpkin.
HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!!!
