Because I am an insomniac. Seriously. Last year, I bought candy for 40, and 80 showed up. This year, I bought candy for 80, and about 20 showed up. So, on Monday, I will be one of those evil people at the office who dumps bags of chocolate in the break room.
Open Thread
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MizLiz
I always buy way too much candy… this year, we got 6 trick-or-treaters. Luckily, we bought stuff WE like…Reese’s Pieces, Peter Paul Mounds, Mr. Goodbar etc. I’ll put it in plastic bags, store it in the fridge, and take it to my office when tax season starts. I did this last year, and it was much appreciated. Nobody could pass it up.
Steve
Zero trick-or-treaters for me this year. I moved since last Halloween and didn’t know what to expect from this area, so I bought candy just in case. Apparently nobody around here has kids.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
Halloween is a dying tradition. I didn’t have a single one.
Michael D.
I actualy live in a nice neighborhood that is next to a very poor African American neighborhood. So we generally get a lot of A-A kids. And they are poor. Basically, no costumes and Kroger bags for candy. This year, I bought a bunch of cheap (but nice) masks to give out along with the candy.
Some of the kids thought it was awesome. But I agree, Halloween is dying. When I was a kid, the streets would be littered with kids. This year, few and far betwixt
Michael D.
John: I bet you can’t wait to get out of this Pajamas Media contract!!
Notice that there is no attribution to that quote. No one wants to associate themself with itl
Conservatively Liberal
We have a ton of candy left over but we don’t eat it very often (mostly gum chewers here…lol). A couple of years ago we were packing up Christmas gifts for our siblings (wife & mine) and their kids when we ran out of packing material. We had a ton of candy from Halloween so I suggested that we use that as ‘packing peanuts’, so to say. The response from the nephews and nieces was YAY!, and the parents were groan.
But it solved our problem! I am glad to say that we have more ‘packing material’ ready for this holiday season…lol
In other news, I see that the head of the company who handled the Ohio state voting network has been ordered to appear for a deposition on Monday. Great timing! Since this was the guy whose wife Rove allegedly threatened, it ought to be interesting to hear what he has to say. One point I was not aware of is that in 2004, this guy had the Ohio election results routed through his servers and then forwarded to the state.
From what I read, this guy has become disillusioned with the Republicans and may not want to take a dive for the team. If so, this may be a good time to invest in corn futures.
An interesting note is an incessantly blathering FP poster (Pejman Yousefzadeh), at the premier French-hating web site RaptureReddyState, has embraced a report on how the American tax system is the most progressive in the world, which was released by a group in the cheese-eating surrender-monkey country of France. Obama just might be the anti-Christ if he is able to get the wingnuts to luv the Frenchies. Isn’t that one of the signs of the impending Apocalypse?
HeartlandLiberal
Grow older and crochey like us. Turn of the lights in the front of the house as dusk approaches. Take a snack and a drink, and settle down and watch two episodes of House M.D.
Much better way to spend a Halloween, save children from rotting their teeth, and avoid being accused of Satanism by your Fundie relatives down South.
low-tech cyclist
The solution to all that extra candy is a chest freezer, if you’ve got room for it in your basement, garage, shed, laundry room, or whatever, and can afford to spend a few hundred bucks for one. The ltc household has had one as long as we’ve had a house, and I can’t imagine life without one. It allows you to buy in bulk frozen food, or anything that will freeze, for that matter. We buy the jumbo packs of skinless, boneless chicken, break them into 1-1.5 lb. portions, stick ’em in freezer bags, and put ’em in the freezer. (Want to make chicken soup? Pull out a bag, thaw, and cook.) I’ve got loaves of bread in there, several bags of the raspberries I picked back in July, the aforementioned Halloween candy, and a bunch of other stuff, in addition to the usual frozen food.
The ltc household had scads of trick-or-treaters this year. I barely had time to sit down and get comfortable after one group of trick-or-treaters before I’d hear the footsteps of the next group on the front porch. Trick-or-treating isn’t dying off around here. (‘Here’ being a D.C. exurb on the western shore of the Chesapeake.)
Adolphus
We had zero Trick-or-Treaters here, too. We live in a collage town in an area with students, so we aren’t too surprised. We bought candy we didn’t like so we wouldn’t eat it. Nw we are stuck with a huge bowl of Tootsie Pops. We were thinking of calling around to Real Estate Agents and the local police department to see if anyone knows of a local neighborhood with lots of kids who play outside alone and are willing to take candy from strangers. That will work right?
Bulworth
Turnout was indeed very low this Halloween. I got candy stuff left over. Very poor showing in the costumes department. No wonder this country’s going down the drain.
rreay
We had comparatively nice weather in Rochester and had good turn out. We bought 144 full sized candy bars, 36 remain this morning.
That’s a lot more kids this year than last, and about the the same as two years ago.
MMM
I bought for 500, had over 400, all in 90 minutes. Still plenty for the office on Monday.
kommrade jakevich
@CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII: I think real Trick-or-Treating has gone down. It seems more people have parties or they only go to houses of friends. No one on my block has kids so very few people come down here.
Svensker
I think it really depends on where you live. The neighborhood where we’ve been the last 5 years has tons of kids and they started ringing the door bell at 3:30, last ones (3 very giggly 14-year-old girls) came at 9:00.
When we lived in a more urban area, we rarely had anyone.
I love Halloween. The little kids are so cute in their costumes, and the older kids are trying to be cool but still really really want the candy.
kommrade jakevich
I must say, though, that one of the things I like about Halloween in The People’s Anti-American District Collective also is you can’t say "Great costume" to random strangers because it might not be a costume.
Wini
Weird. I had Friday-night insomnia last night for probably the first time ever.
Today I’m off to watch my Gophers (hopefully) run all over Northwestern.
Comrade Darkness
Notice they don’t specify of which country. I’ll play True Red Stater and guess Taiwan.
Mark-NC
I had at least 80.
However, I felt sorry for most. I live in a neighborhood that is easy to walk – lots of houses that are fairly close together. Yet, most of the kids were ferried around by their parents. They would drive up about 4 houses and the kids would get an escort to the doors, then back in the car to move up the street.
Sad!
kommrade jakevich
@Michael D.: I noticed the Malkin quote last night but I just realized NONE of the quotes are attributed.
With the blunt knives of PJ it is impossible to tell if the quote is made up or the person featured in the ad said it themselves. (Who in the world would describe Dr. Whatsherface as "Hotter than burning magnesium"?)
It also could be the quotes are from commenters with handles that are too fReichtarded for general consumption or even that fucking annoying "habit" of using "quotes" to "add emphasis" that comes of sounding "sarcastic."
There’s just no way to "tell."
Jeff
We had over 100 trick-or-treaters. Pretty kid focused neighborhood with a lot of houses really done up.
OT: I was reading Glenn Greenwald’s synopsis on the California Supreme Court ruling and one passage struck me.
IANAL, but based on this fact wouldn’t passing Prop 8 pose a contradiction in the CA Constitution and therefore there might be standing to eliminate all civil marriages in the state, thus forcing the state out of the marriage business?
Joe Max
It’s sad that Halloween has been a victim of right-wing lunacy in the last few years ("Satan!") The holiday tradition of trick-or-treat was, in effect, artificially manufactured by the US Chamber of Commerce in the 1950s as a way to get the "white-flight" families in the newly built suburbs to build stronger neighborhoods. (The original idea was a masquerade block party.) Which means it was to serve the exact same purpose as such celebrations did in ancient cultures: they bring the Tribe together.
DonnaInMichigan
The children in our neighborhood, do not go out trick or treating anymore. My kids went to the church Halloween party, where us parents were out in the parking lot with our cars, and we gave out candy and the youngsters went to each vehicle and got candy, then we all went into the hall, where we had a potluck dinner. We also did games, such as the apple dunk, and gave out prizes to the best costumes, etc….
Fun for all…and best part of all, parents don’t have to walk miles w/ their kids to get a bag of candy. And we also have the assurance that whatever candy they get, is safe.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Michael D.: Notice that there is no attribution to that quote. No one wants to associate themself with itl
It was probably a Famous Person.
cleek
we had 5. which is about what we had last year.
liberal
Shee-ut. We bought a house in June, and as part of the "let’s meet the neighbors, and we hope to have kids soon, too!" spirit, we made a last ditch effort to "do Halloween."
Got one trick-or-treater. Wife thinks it’s cause we’re on a corner lot with no sidewalks.
Which means I’m going to be consuming a lot of sugar until that stuff can be carted off to work…
Bob In Pacifica
We had one trick-or-treater last night, at around a quarter to nine. Man, I tried to dump as much of that stuff into her bag as I could. We had the first rainstorm of the season, so that may have dampened some, but I could remember braving raging squalls in order to get free candy.
I think that most Halloween candy acquisition these days must be done in highly-structured parentally-monitored parties, etc. They’re still selling the stuff in grocery stores so it’s getting bought.
I was recently diagnosed with diabetes so I’ve gotta stay away from this stuff. I guess Girlfriend will have to pack it up and take it to work.
Man, those days when I could sit down with a bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups and a quart of milk… (sigh).
liberal
@Mark-NC:
There was a really really good Washington Post article a couple years ago about changes in parenting. The example in the article was a group of kids whose parents let them play in the park and some nearby little creek…unattended!
I look back at my preschool days (running around the neighborhood, climbing dirtpiles at construction sites, being fascinated by culverts, etc, etc) with fondness, but almost no one seems to raise their kids like that anymore.
DonBoy
My current theory on leftover Halloween candy is: admit it, you’re going to eat some. So admit it and say "I’m having candy for dinner tomorrow". Then eat lots of it, as opposed to having normal food and also candy.
If you have outright diabetes…never mind.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
When I was four, my parents didn’t keep track of where I was. I was free to roam about a 9 square mile area everyday, so long as I was home when it got dark for dinner.
Comrade Nikolita
I have a friend in town who has 5 kids, and she and her husband let them walk around town (to the store and their house and back) by themselves. The 13 and 12 year old are in charge of the younger ones (10, 6 and 1 and a half) if they’re all together. I don’t agree with it, but I think in our very small town, it’s relatively ok. Not something I’d do with my kids, and it’s not how I was raised either (helicopter parents in the 90’s and early 2000’s).
Re: Halloween, my boss said I should have a costume for Halloween, so my boyfriend bought me one yesterday before I went in to work. 1 frigging family showed up. Waste of a $25 costume, although if I ever go to a costume party, I guess it’ll come in handy.
We live in a basement suite in a fourplex, so we didn’t have any kids come by. My landlord and landlady, who live above us, might’ve had kids come by but I don’t know if they participated or not. I remember there being tons of kids when I went trick or treating as a kid, but I don’t see as many anymore these days.
Martin
Well, I have to credit this semi-evil place that I live (OC).
We didn’t hand out candy because we were out with the kids all night – but there were easily 200+ kids in our neighborhood, and ours is the quiet one. I’d say very nearly all were under 12.
Two neighborhoods over they get literally thousands of kids – mostly a bit older now, 10-16. They close off all the streets because there are so many people and the homes go all out – smoke machines, parents hiding in the bushes to jump out and scare the kids. Everyone sets up in their garage or driveway because there would always be someone at the door. I think the crowds have scared off the little kids and sent them back to our area because it was busier than usual, but for the first time we saw people just set up in their garage because of the traffic.
We have very friendly neighborhoods here. Most everyone walks their kid to school (there are no buses, the school is always in walking distance) and people tend to know each other well. Neighborhoods often coordinate holiday events – multiple families will work on a single halloween display, they have absolutely massive July 4 block parties, rent bounce houses for the kids, etc. We have our own July 4 parade that all the kids can be in and fireworks display which is remarkably good.
Too many neighborhoods have become car-centric and lose this dynamic. It’s really quite nice to find one in OC, of all places, that is different. The income level here helps all this along as well.
What was most interesting last night was that all the adults were talking about the election. Everyone seemed to be Obama supporters and NO on 8 supporters. That was encouraging.
KRK
I didn’t buy any candy ’cause I knew I wouldn’t get any trick-or-treaters. I’m the only house on my country road and our little town does a bang-up job for the kids — they get out of school early for a "parade" down main street where they trick or treat at all the merchants and then have a party back at the school.
I was surprised to have a queen and space alien knock unrelentingly on my door at about 7 p.m. in order to give me some chocolate (as a thanks for some cat-sitting last week). I told them they were doing it wrong. (But I took the chocolate.)
ellie
I agree. Last year I had a ton of kids; this year, hardly any. And the weather was beautiful: nice and warm. I made my MIL (who came over to hand out candy because she lives in an apartment and never gets trick or treaters) to take all the extra and give it out at her work.
dr. luba
I only got three kids, despite buying candy for sixty (real candy bars from Costco, not the "fun-sized" stuff). My fault, though–couldn’t get off work early, and only got home about 7:45 p.m. Mostly younger kids here, they start at six and are pretty much done by seven.
Last year, though, they all passed my house by, despite porch lights on and decorations. Then again, I hadn’t been home the previous ten years, so I can’t blame then. Still, the ones that show up do really, really well.
A lot of it comes down to the neighborhood–the houses are fairly close together in mine, so we (well, my neighbors) get more kids. In my mom’s neighborhood they have big lots, houses far apart and long driveways–few kids bother. They hit the subdivision next door, more cost-effective.
W. Kiernan
Michael D.:
So, on Monday, I will be one of those
evil peoplebeloved benefactors toward your grateful coworkers at the office who dumps bags of chocolate in the break room.FTFY! On behalf of your soon-to-be choc’ed out office mates, God bless you and keep you well, Michael D.!