Saturday, October 24, 2015

Halloween Past and Present


Do you remember when Halloween was an evening of candy and fun for kids? 

Children of all ages dressed up in costumes and walked from house to house to get candy.

Your costume may have been a hand-me-down costume in a box, one worn by older siblings in previous years.

Maybe your mom made your costume or you may have pieced together your own creation, something unique like a bum with a beer can bag for candy.


Maybe your school had a costume parade where the kids all wore costumes or masks and walked the school halls or on the track so all the kids could see one another's costumes.


At school, you probably made a construction paper witch or ghost to bring home and hang in your room. Maybe your mom even hung it on the refrigerator for a day or two. 


You carved pumpkins, scooping out the guts with your hands. Who could forget that squishy feel of yuckiness on your hands or that toothy pumpkin grin.


Who could have imagined back then that one day there would be pumpkins that were already carved? No guts, no glory.


Or Pinterest pages filled with ideas of 10 perfect ways to carve a pumpkin or 30 unique costumes or 101 Halloween party foods.


Or stores filled top to bottom with Halloween decor and costumes -- mostly for adults to enjoy with maybe a tiny corner of costumes for little kids.

After dinner on Halloween, parents walked with little kids or older kids took their younger siblings through the neighborhood while mom and dad passed out candy at home.


You may have seen a scarecrow or two in someone's yard. There was always that one grown-up who made you do a trick like a cartwheel in the yard to get your treat.


There weren't any tricked-out yards filled with graveyard scenes or inflatable spooky things.


Maybe you had a little party at home with a few Halloween treats before you went out trick-or-treating if there was time.


You might have watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" before trick-or-treat on Halloween. Did you feel sorry for Charlie Brown when he kept getting rocks instead of candy?


Trick-or-treat was all about the candy -- and the little candy bars were the best of all. What was your favorite Halloween candy to find in your bucket?


Older kids sometimes bypassed the candy and helped others with Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF, gathering money to send to kids far away instead of candy to eat.


You were supposed to wait until you got home to eat any of your candy, but who could resist one or two treats from your bucket while you walked from house to house.


What happened to Halloween? When did Halloween change from being about an evening of fun for little kids?


When did Halloween become a night of spookiness for adults instead? 


When did Halloween become all about huge inflatables and yard decor instead of walking from door to door collecting candy?


What would it be like if you could go back in time to the Halloweens of childhood? What was your favorite costume?


Maybe that's why truck or treat events have become so popular. Parents are trying to recreate the Halloweens of years gone by.


I don't know about you, but all of this over the top Halloween stuff makes me feel a little bit like Grumpy Cat. 


Halloween has changed a lot through the years. But for many of us who are young at heart, Halloween is still all about an evening of fun for kids of all ages.

Blogging Grandma Sandy, signing off for now with Happy Halloween wishes for one and all!

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