Allison and Emily, you both sound like a friend of my she goes WAY overboard with Halloween, and they live next to a mortician who goes real crazy. 2 years ago he had a mock funeral service set up with mourners and guys in suits at the end of his driveway directing people up toward his garage where he was lying in a coffin and you had to reach over him if you wanted to get the candy out of the bowl.
3 girls had gone up and they were arguing back and forth on whether he was real or not, the 1st girl reached over and got some candy, the 2nd girl reached over and got some candy but when the 3rd girl reached over he grabbed her arm, they went running screaming down the driveway, it was sooooooo funny. Then about 5 houses down there was a guy dressed like Jason with a chainsaw. So you hear the chain saw start up and them running down the road screaming. Guess they won't be trick or treating on their block again.
I can only imagine what the set up is going to be like this year.
Early fall?
I can see those things really traumatizing a kid.
well... I made one kid cry for her momma .... and I did feel bad... I gave her a ton of treats... and for just such occasions I have extra special things like coloring books and markers or I gave out some other craft goodies from oriental trading ..and I made the kid feel better before she left... and walked her though it all and showed her how fake it was.. and let her smack the one who scared her... LOL... but most of the kids around are older and just think we are the coolest
makes me feel good when even the teenagers stand back to check everything out
I hate Halloween.
I just want to leave a box outside with a sign that reads:
"Leave all your candy and no one gets hurt."
LOL!
Nancy
I will say GabaBoo
:)
They were teenagers. I say get a job and go buy your own candy!
Boo to Jen to... (but I love you anyway)
I think it's the best no matter what age come visit
Hee hee, I give the little kids the huge chocolate bars and the older kids get 1 dum dum lollipop
LOL
I usually go to see my nieces. I leave a basket out for the neighborhood kids. The little ones come around during the day anyway and I'm at work.
Add me to the list of HOHUM Holloween haters.
We barely decorate for Christmas. That usually is just the tree lite in the window.
Not many kids in the hood.
Sigh... I guess Emily and I stand alone
:)
I used to love creating decorations. It's an outlet I need at that time of year.
I used to go wild at Xmas with ground pine garlands gathered in the woods, this was long befor Martha Stewart.
We stuffed oranges with cloves, the whole works.Had the oldfashioned tree ,even in the 50's and 60's when silver trees were all the rage.
love the way orange & clove smell
I'm still here...just been lurking. :) ge, when you mentioned the fruits, I thought of the gorgeous displays in Colonial Williamsburg. They incorporate all kinds of organic materials...things I'd never think to put on a wreath! This link has a some nice pix; just click on the Holiday Decorations slideshow.
http://www.history.org/christmas/multimedia.cfm#slideshows
No, I decorate too, Allison. Just not to your degree!
ok at least there is one more to the dark side
:)
I can see those girls running and screaming clear to the next county.
There is a house a few streets away that really leaves no empty spot in their yard. One year they had a fire in their garage from the lights, so when they rebuilt of course it was bigger so they could add more displays. They have a coffin, too and one time for a play at school we needed a coffin. I knew right who to go to.
Early fall? not today - 90 and humid!!!
I love decorating for Halloween, and wish I was serious enough to build more tombstones and other stuff. I get all these grand ideas, but don't have anyone to build with, so they stay as ideas. :)
I like to go for creepy. Not totally, but more creepy than cartoony. There's this posable skeleton I saw that I want to get so it is coming off the porch trying to touch you as you walk by. Maybe that will scare the little ones. Hee hee.
This has been an interesting discussion of Hallowe'en. . . some folks love it; some find it Ho-Hum. My brother (the thoughtful one in the family) calls Hallowe'en the "no-guilt holiday." No feasts to slave over; no relatives that you HAVE to entertain; no presents to purchase, no obligatory cheer and goodwill. Just candy, costumes, and the chance to be just the slightest bit creepy. JMHO
By the way Nancy, I loved:
I just want to leave a box outside with a sign that reads:
"Leave all your candy and no one gets hurt."
LOL!
Especially if it's chocolate candy... :)))
I guess I was never into it because Mom never let my sister & I go Trick or Treating as kids.
We only went once - and that was for UNICEF.
I went to a Halloween party that was given by the summer camp we went to. I went as Morticia Addams - long black dress, complete with trailing tentacles & long black wig. My sister was Wednesday Addams. She carried "Thing" - the disembodied hand. My step-father made it. It was a stuffed glove in a shoebox. He rigged it with a contraption made from a coat hanger so when she pulled a ring at the end of the box, the hand would come out. It was pretty cool.
I used to give out stuff at the door. Never candy. I had a huge batch of pennies and would toss them by the handful in the kid's bags. (it came out to about 30 cents a kid) It was cheaper than buying all that candy.
Other times, I gave out Halloween pencils - 50 to a pack from Costco.
After a while I just got tired of answering the door all the time.
Also some of the "kids" were bigger than me!
Now, as soon as school lets out, up goes the sign on the door - Sorry, No candy.
I lock the storm door so they can't get to the doorbell.
My cat & I can have a nice quiet evening.
There should be a rule - don't knock on doors where there are no decorations.
Nancy.... the Halloween Scrooge
LOL!
My door was at the side of the house , all I had to do was leave the light off and go to my bedroom at the back of the house and no one bothered me.
This was after my kids grew up and left home.
You are right gabagoo ,when the kids were taller than you stop treating.
Some kids I had never seen and their parents drove them from where-ever, waited in the car while they came to the door.
That ended it for me.
Town rule here--no trick or Treating past 8th grade unless supervising younger children.
I agree with that. I would make it even younger - 6th or 7th.
Definitely, in the area our friends live there are all cape cod style houses with pretty small lots so it's easy to trick or treat in. They bus people in from Trenton to do their trick or treating there. Last year there was a 40 yr old carrying a 1 month old baby dressed up like wonder bread, I'm pretty sure the baby wasn't going to be eating that candy!
I give out small toys from the dollar store and pencils and if I am desperate - nickles. Big kids don't bother with my house.
Our properties are so far apart that we hardly get any kids, I think we got 5 last year.
My neighborhood gets a lot. I'm always paranoid about having enough candy. It probably helps that there are 3 of us who do serious decorating.
We do get some older kids, but I think they're out more for fun than seriously collecting candy. And, hey, let them be kids while they still can!
Pencils and toys?? The kids must hate you :)
I think one of the reasons I love this "holiday" is because it was one of the few times I remember having fun as a kid. I loved the house that had the guillotine and coffin in the front (with someone in it to scare you). Someday I hope to build up to that kind of thing.
But also becuase it is the only time it is pefectly acceptable to frighten young children!! mwahahahaha
We don't get too many children here either. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised, as the local elementary school only has about 60 students from kidergarten to sixth grade.
One year, some of my boys hid under the front steps and reached out to grab kids' legs. What a hoot!!! They preferred that over going out themselves.
I often dress up to hand out treats, and one year my son, when he was 11-12, got ready to go trick or treating, then ended up just staying home with me instead. So DH, my son and I sat outside, all of us in costume, with the bowl of candy in my lap. We sat as still as we could. It was fun to watch kids come up, wondering if we were "real".
Back to fall....it's here!
This was taken 5 days ago, before the first semi-frost.
Again, 5 days ago.
5 days ago...
Yesterday....after 2 or 3 mornings in the 30's
closer....
more.....
These were all taken yesterday in my area,.
