Have Yourself a Vintage Halloween Part II: Why Today’s Halloween is LAME!
October 1, 2008 by Michelle Gartner
I found a picture of me in my homemade dog costume, so I thought I would post it. You may have noticed my lack of regular posting recently- the baby is sick… foul sick as in poop explosions and up all night. Perhaps he’s teething or now that the older children are back in school they are bringing home goodies, in the form of sniffles, flu, and colds.
In any case, I wanted to respond a little today to Jenny’s question “How does a typical Halloween go in your neck of the woods?” The neck of the woods she is referring to is the United States. It’s kind of my opinion that Halloween is not like it was when I was a kid. When I was a kid we had huge school parties- where we came dressed up in our costumes. Most of the day was spent, reading about Halloween in the school library and sometimes watching cartoons about Halloween. We ate treats that were brought in from parents and did a lot of Halloween related crafts, like drawing pictures of Halloween scenes like abandoned, ghost infested graveyards or making craft jack-o-lanterns. If there was any school work to be done, it was minimal, perhaps a few worksheets for math or a spelling test. The spelling test might even be Halloween words like ghost, goblin, witch, etc. I believe the teachers knew then they weren’t going to get much work from the students so why bother.
I remember as a child not starting to Trick or Treat until it was dark and then milking it for as long as possible. We knew a few houses that could be counted on to still give out candy past 9:30 - 10pm. When I was a kid Trick or Treating always happened on Halloween the day. Now many towns and cities have ordinances and I have to say it makes for a dull Halloween. A parent has to look up when the Trick or Treating occurs, sometimes the Sunday before the holiday and only between the hours of say 4pm to 7pm. Which in my humble opinion is lame, for one Trick or Treating should be done in the dark, but NO! Today safety is paramount and Trick or Treating must be done during broad day light on a day which is convenient for adults and their work week… what RUBBISH!!!!
Regardless- Halloween is still celebrated by lots of hard core die hard fans. In some neighborhoods you can always count on some nuts to make full blown haunted houses for Trick or Treaters. Our neighbors across the way- have a huge half lot that they make into a small corn maze for Trick or Treaters. Inside the maze- children can run into guys with chain saws and girls jumping out of coffins… a bit extravagant but cool I suppose. I have never been in the corn maze, because I am the one stuck outside with the children who are too scared to go in. Maybe this year- I can get everyone to go in. I am not really into the scary, gory aspect of Halloween. Frankly I just appreciate the light spooky aspect of it and the pillow cases full of free candy!
This year I am looking forward to Halloween, because last year I was in the hospital recuperating from a c-section from giving birth to Gartner #5 on October 30th. Needless to say they would not let me out to Trick or Treat, even though I told them I would pull my own catheter to get at the candy… If I am coming to your house this year you better be ready!
Now that’s a wild bunch of Gartner characters you have there Michelle! They look great!!!
Yeah daytime trick or treating isn’t very Halloweenish. They should let kids go at night but only with their parents. My mom came with me. Those sure were the good ol’ days
Oops - I guess I twittered you a question that actually got answered by this post so ignore my twitter. I thought you had five kids? One’s missing in this picture, I think you better go back and check that corn maze!
The picture shown is from Halloween 2006- the pictures from Halloween 2007 are taken from my hospital bed and Julian isn’t in them. This year I will get a picture of all of them for Halloween since my teenagers claim they have to go Trick or Treating with the little ones this year to help them out.
Hope the baby is feeling better, but you could have spared the details. “Sick” would have been sufficient.
I thought daytime Trick or Treating was just an Ohio thing. Back in Michigan, when I was a kid, you didn’t start going out until it was dark. Then, we moved to Ohio, and they had set hours here.
Jerry Springer always had a good Halloween commentary when he was a news anchor here. I wish I had it on tape; it was the same every year. Basically, he told people that kids want candy, not pennies or apples or “healthy” snacks or any of that. Candy.
When I was a kid, the next door neighbor would hand out candy. He’d have a dish and tell you to take a handful. Then, he was like “That’s not enough!” and he’d throw in a handful himself.
When I got too old for Trick or Treating, I started decorating the yard. First, it was just dressing in a costume and sitting on the porch, moving only when kids got close and scaring the daylights out of them. Later, the display encompassed the whole front yard.
I would work on stuff during the summer, more so the closer we got to Halloween. Then, take the day off work. The whole day would be spent (usually with one or two of my neighbors) setting everything up. And, after Trick or Treating hours were over, it would all come down.
Some people came back every year, just to see it. But, it got to the point where most of the kids on my street had moved away, and fewer people were handing out candy, so my street (and nearby ones) were generally skipped in favor of the newer areas where there were more kids and more people handing out candy.
Plus, I haven’t had the time to do as much anymore. Too busy working.
Sounds like you have a lot of fun over there with Halloween. Thanks for answering my question in so much detail. Does anyone follow through with the ‘trick’ part of ‘trick or treat’? The spirit of the thing seems much better where you are; here it leaves me a little cold… not least because last year, our front door got egged (and we hadn’t even been ignoring it; it’s just that the bell wasn’t working and we didn’t hear them!)
Your kids look great by the way - and so did you as the dog - that’s a very cool costume… although you must have had a very hot head!
“Hope the baby is feeling better, but you could have spared the details. “Sick” would have been sufficient.”
Dan- Aren’t you the guy with the colon cleanse website with dirty pictures of nasties from deep within???
Anyway- your story broke me heart- now get out there and bring those trick or treaters back to your neighborhood… there are no excuses!!! The kids are counting on you!!!!
Hi Jenny- I am sure tricks happen once in awhile, but I have never seen it. Once in awhile I see tp’d houses… but I don’t think I have ever seen an egged house in all my years. I saw soaped windows once when I was about 10… I can see why you don’t like Halloween; eggs on your door and teenagers prowling around looking for money! What’s wrong with the Brits??? They are ruining the reputation of a great holiday…. ok just kidding.
Thanks for the popeye cartoon…I haven’t watched one in a long time and that was a classic! I loved tricker treating when I was a kid in Ohio. It was always on Halloween, in the dark, and so many goodies. We also spent the day in school having lots of fun with costume parades, stories, and treats and home room mothers made!
Hi Waterrose- thanks for dropping by- you reminded me about the costume parades… I forgot. My Dad used to come to all of them and take pictures at the elementry school! We used to walk all over the school and then around the whole track and field, in a sort of path- in that way we could see the other kids costumes!
Ah yes sick babies in the Fall, it is the start of school that seems to trigger that. All will be well, and I wish you good luck with that
Looking at your photo reminds me so much of my childhood and Halloween. I went out as a scare crow-so easy- I think that was actually our parents way of tricking us into racking the leave. The Tin-man that was two roll of Reynold’s wrap. I actually was Dorothy just a few years ago. But I am not sure what I will be this year.
We had that same sofa set in blue, no shag carpet though wood floors, our walls were a pale yellow.
I guess I’m more vintage then I thought!
I’m not afraid of big dogs! Let me at ‘em!
I am so with you on this one. We used to make our own costumes and they were so much better than the stuff you buy today! They were creative! And now having four daughters I have to try and find costumes that cover ALL of their body. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you again.