For some reason this morning, I was thinking about Halloween as I was brushing my teeth. Must be the cold nights and chilly mornings reminding me that we’re in the middle of October and that Halloween is just around the corner. By association to the brushing, I must have been thinking about all the candy to come… and the dentist visit to follow…

Supermarkets now have tons of Halloween candy for sale. The trick is not to buy it too soon or risk eating all of it before the day actually arrives. Then you’ll find yourself running out to the store to stock up - again.

Although I’m waaaaay past trick-or-treating age, I still have fond memories of bygone childhood Halloweens. Growing up in a downtown neigbourhood mixed in with commercial streets, we kids were an enterprising bunch. Routes were mapped out with military precision and hitting the stores was always a good idea because you could possibly score full size chocolate bars from generous store owners - the ultimate prize for the trick-or-treating cogniscenti. That, plus bags of chips. Rockets and taffy were always in abundance but that didn’t mean they went over big. The worst were apples. I mean, everybody knows you don’t eat the apples. They’re just dead weight. I’ve heard of certain neighbourhoods where dentists give out toothbrushes instead of candy. As an adult, I think that’s a great sensible idea but as a kid, I can’t imagine how appealing that would be. That would be one house worthy of a little tp-ing. Last year or the year before, I happened to be at the local pizza joint on Halloween night and I was so pleased to see the owners greeting children who came by, with hot slices of pizza. Now, that, is nice.

Contrary to that anecdote, I also remember a news report one year about TMR not opening their gates to the neighbouring children of Park Extension on Halloween night. The PR explanation was for safety reasons but word on the street was that the tony neighbours were being not so neighbourly in keeping out the rifraf from the wrong side of the tracks. How petty.

With every passing year, it seems as though life in hindsight was simpler and gentler, or at least more carefree. Our parents let us loose to trick-or-treat and trusted that we would be safe. Kids now are closely supervised and it seems like they start out the evening earlier, with the whole affair done and finished by 7 pm, in time for bedtime. They start so early that there’s hardly enough time to get home from work in time to answer the doorbells. Co-workers with young children will invariably leave early on Halloween to rush home and get the tykes ready. This year, kids will no longer be going door to door with those little orange Unicef boxes. There goes another tradition. In a way, I guess it’s for the best. I always wondered how effective those boxes were when most people filled them with pennies. Instead of the little boxes, schools will now put on fundraising events at school during the month of October. This might bring in more money anyway.

I think that one thing stays the same though. Kids get more of a thrill from amassing all the treats than actually eating them. The day after Halloween is a veritable feeding frenzy of sweets at the office. That’s when parents bring in the bulk of the candy that they won’t let their kids have and unload them on co-workers. Hehe….

So do any of you have memories of trick-or-treating in your neighbourhood that stand out?

Related posts:

1. Prank turns dangerous
2. Candyland
3. UNICEF Funds Collected This Evening Go To Rwanda
4. The National Women’s Show
5. Death by chocolate?