Well it is Halloween. For the first time in many years (at least a couple of decades) we are home and not in Pennsylvania. We normally go away for my birthday as I don’t like all the Halloween stuff being associated it with it - including not being able to go out for a nice dinner other than at an Asian restaurant - and while it is everywhere, there is a lot less in the area we go to and we can walk into local restaurants and not be served by a science experiment gone wrong covered in blood - ick. Since husband’s shoulder still has not healed he could not drive anywhere near that far and he cannot ride when someone else drives, so here we are.
What surprised me the most was the total lack of trick or treaters. Even when we were home for Halloween we had no trick or treaters until the woman next door to us had her son and his family - including his young daughter - move in and then she came by for a couple of years until they moved. Then the house beyond that one had a new family move in - they had 3 children and we had the children and maybe a couple of their friends come by for maybe 3 years. The street is 4 lanes, so the family that lived across the street never came here - too dangerous to cross the street. We live on a main street with only these children on it in the past and since we did not know the families on the streets near us I figured that we did not have trick or treaters as they did not know us.
But now there is a new family in the house on either side of us and I figured that they would come by. They did not. What surprised us even more is that when we driving home from running errands and lunch - around 3:30 pm (which is when I would have been out making the rounds as a child) and later when we went out to pick up Chinese takeout for dinner - we did not see one child (or adult) in costumes walking around.
Later, after dinner, I read the regional newspaper (yes, I still read the “dead tree” newspaper) there was an article on how most of the neighborhoods no longer have trick or treaters going around. Parents and schools have apparently decided (and rightly so) for safety in today’s world to have parties at the schools or what is called “trunk and treat” at the schools or other location rather than the children going around house to house. This eliminates the danger of children out alone - and possibly in the dark - as well as what strangers might give the children. In thinking about it I realized that I had not seen any of the usual - “Bring your candy to the hospital and we will X-ray it for you.”
For those of you who might not know about trunk and treat - groups of families get together in parking lot at a school, park, or shopping center. The cars are decorated for the holiday and the trunk (or hatch) is open and the children go from car to car for their trick or treating and possibly other activities. Parents know who the other participants are and the children have fun and are safe. The first time I saw this was the Halloween 2 days after Superstorm Sandy. There were few people out and about and we had gasoline shortages and major electric outages. Sidewalks were not safe to walk on due to trees and limbs - and wires which had fallen down. I thought this a great idea for the children. I did not know at the time that it was something being done otherwise than the storm.
Have you noticed a lack of trick or treaters in your area in recent years - or is this area an anomaly?
THOUGHT OF THE WEEK -
If it is Halloween than the start of the end of the year holiday season is starting - if not already started. As we head into the end of year holiday season, think. Don’t overdo. Think “less is more”. Buy less items (oh, the retail industry will hate me) but think more about what you do buy. I tend to be very conservative in gift giving and have pushed husband in that direction.
His sister goes the opposite way and buys each of her two daughters, umm, I mean Santa brings each of her two daughters 64 gifts. Huh? Yes 64 gifts - and I don’t mean small ones. Sister in law has some idea stuck in her head that she received same each year as a child - I knew her then, she did not - and feels she must do this for her daughters. I have even seen her give duplicate gifts to them as she forgot she already bought the same or very similar gift the same year. Their grandmother (on their dad’s side) goes into debt that she cannot afford to buy them even more.
As a result the girls do not value what they have received - or even remember what they have received. The two girls are adopted from China. When the older one was younger (she is a teenager now) we bought her an Asian faced Cabbage Patch Kid. Her grandmother also did so. A couple of years later she was at our house and I was playing with my Cabbage Patch Dolls with her. (No children, so dolls and bears are my substitute - when I play with the dolls with our nieces I am the nice aunt, if I play with them alone, I am “the crazy lady”.) Niece said to me “I wish I had a doll like these.” I told her that she two of them - and she was shocked. They were “on the pile” at home and she did not remember them.
So as you start the season keep in mind that less can really be more. Stay on your budget. Buy items with meaning or is something that the person wants. Don’t go overboard because other family members do.
Watch what you spend on what I calling “buying garbage” - huh? When you buy wrapping paper and ribbon it is basically buying something that will quickly be garbage and thrown out. My rule for Christmas wrapping was $1 for 50 square feet for decades. I will now spend $1 for 40 square feet as price adjustment over time. I buy inexpensive curling ribbon and make long tendrils that I put on gifts - in expensive, one does not feel the need to “save the bows” and they don’t get crushed when traveling. I have a ribbon shredder to use on the ribbon, which makes it look even nicer. Christmas cards are the same. They are opened, maybe displayed and then thrown out. Shop wisely and one can get very nice cards inexpensively - and don’t forget the end of the season sales which seem these days to start right as the season starts. Think about this - my sister had a friend whose father owned a small chain of upscale card and gift stores. The girl’s gifts for my sister were always wrapped in Sunday color comics - never wrapping paper.
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