Getting all sentimental about Halloween?
Why not, the simpler times of using a pillow case or a cotton flour bag are long gone. As kids, we were a hardier bunch! Did tricksters get away with more hijinks than they do now, YES! As I remember wandering around towns like Findlater and Lumsden. Dim lit streets, dilapidated fences and yards were scary; you didn’t know who was lurking in the shadows. Every town has a home or two that gave you the willies! Older kids that would follow you, but wouldn’t do anything to you – although the scare factor was there!
From the candy you received, to the costumes that were worn and the pranks that were played most things are off the table now and have made way for a whole new look at Halloween! No longer do you dump your candy bag at the end of the night to find peanuts in a shell, apples or popcorn balls individually wrapped. Now the mini chocolate bars, are really mini. The prices have gone up and it feels as though the imagination of Halloween night has become so commercialized and turned very “adult”. When you were a child did your parents dress up? Probably not or you may not remember. In the country adults might come to the door to “trick and drink”, I remember that vividly. They never spoke and drank through a straw. You might be able to guess who they were! And I know that my dad would have known them by the vehicle they drove.
The cost of chocolate has gone up, therefore you are paying premium prices for the chocolate bars and they don’t have the real flavour of yesteryear. Sub-quality chocolate or additives take away from the luxury of chocolate. And kids aren’t treasuring their treats like we did. You would set some aside for the family and keep the others secretly in your room. And it would last. Now candy is gone through quickly, because the treats are available all the time! This year expect to see lots of little bags of chips and Doritos or corn twists.
Will children that come to your door step be asked to recite a little rhyme or sing for their treats. If so, many children will look at you like your crazy! Tradition. Tradition. Halloween, that’s what it is, a night of stories and mystery, spookiness and over exaggeration of creepiness! So turn on the spooky music, throw on some mysterious garb and help make the night FUN! But check the treats – even though they are $7. US a box, you might not want to get these CRICK-ETTES unless…they are chocolate dipped. Happy Halloween!!!
