Halloween - The Dwindling Trick-or-Treaters

Yesterday afternoon, Tina and I made a last minute run to K-mart to pick up some Halloween candy for our anticipated hoards of sugar craving trick-or-treaters. Figuring it was Saturday and the kids would start early and stay out late, we loaded up the shopping cart with an insane amount of miniature chocolate bars. Maybe it was a bit overkill, but we wanted to adequately prepared. Can you imagine having to tell a little Minion or Power Ranger that you are all out of candy?

So, we get home and Tina transfers the candy bars to a large bowl. This gives the kids an opportunity to pick between a Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, Milky Way, Reese's Cup or the highly coveted Clark bar. While most kids enjoy the freedom to choose, there's always that one kid who will go in with both hands and extract half the bowl. It's a bit uncomfortable when I have to say, "Whoa, hoss! Put it back and just take one or two."

Anyway, as nighttime approached, I turned on the driveway lights and opened the front door. I figured the litle ghosts and goblins would start knocking on my door by 5 o'clock. Well, 5 turned into 5:30 and still no kids. I eyed the large bowl or candy and fought the urge to take one. Another hour passed and there was still no trick-or-treaters. I was having a hard time comprehending this. Did they ban Halloween this year?

Around 6:30, my sister-in-law (who lives around the corner) invited us over to her house. She and my brother-in-law were set up in their driveway as they gave out candy to the passing kids. So, Tina and I gathered up our stash and headed out.

We were relieved to see that there were at least some treat-or-treaters walking around the neighborhood. However, they were few and far between. By 9 o'clock, I would estimate that we were greeted by a grand total of 15 kids. Looking at the large bowl of undistributed candy, I saw a 10-pound weight gain in my near future.

I don't quite understand the lack of participation in community trick-or-treating anymore. When I was a kid, I used to eagerly await sundown on Halloween. I would meet up with my friends from the neighborhood to plan our route for the evening. Covering a large area, we would go door to door, ending or excursion only when our arms got tired of lugging our heavy bag of treats. I still have great memories of those times.

From what I've seen recently, it seems like most of the trick-or-treaters consist of younger kids who are accompanied by their parents. In fact, the only unchaperoned kids I saw last night was a lone group of teen-aged girls.

So, as I sit here on the day after Halloween, I try to forget about the left-over candy bars that will inevitably find their way into my mouth. In the upcoming weeks, my bathroom scale will be as ominous as Michael Myers. Maybe next year, I should give out fruit.......

kw