Halloween isn't the same

Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to go trick or treating?
You counted the days until October 31st. The thought of dressing up with whatever you had, or the very cheap
costume your parents bought. You remember the masks, they were cheap plastic ones, and that thin elastic strap always broke. Those costumes were nothing compared to what people wear today, but they were good enough and we
all loved them. We could also dresses in any way we wanted and not offend anyone. It was a time of innocence.

We would go trick or treating from sundown to around ten pm, parents never, ever ever accompanied us. We were all walking to school by ourselves, so going trick or treating wasn't considered unsafe. Our parents would only get worried if we weren't home by elevenish/midnight, but even then they would assume we were at our friends house.

There was something special about that day. Maybe it's true that the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, maybe it's something else.
All I know is that all these years later, I still remember how that night air felt, the scent it had. There was something magical about that crisp, cool Halloween night air. The way the lights glowed from house to house. It was a warm yellow glow, not the harsh blue one we have now. It seemed like every house gave out candy. Even people of little means did what they could. We didn't have fancy pumpkin shaped buckets, we used our tatted pillowcases and filled them up. There were always neighbors that made homemade treats of popcorn balls, or candy apples. We were only allowed to eat those from people we knew. Even back then there were tales of needles in candy, but overall it felt like the safest time in the world to be a kid.

Then just like the movies, there was always that one house. It was the neighborhood haunted house. Usually a house in disrepair that an elderly person lived at. They always had dark windows and it never looked like anyone lived there. Having aged now, I wonder who lived in those houses. Was it a disabled military vet, an old widow, perhaps just a recluse. We didn't have internet, and TV was very limited, but I think our imagination was much more wild, about what could be in that kind of house at that time. We had real honest to GOD fear of what was in that house. Do kids today even have any fear left? They have been so desensitized by media showing every horrible imaginable thing.

Fast forward to 2019

Parents are both working, so Halloween on October 31st is not convenience. Many towns have trick or treat the weekend before. Every community seems to do it on a different day/weekend. Some communities claim the dates/times are done on purpose to keep disadvantaged kids from trick or treating int the nicer neighborhoods.

Parents spend a small fortune on costumes that their kid hate, they take a million pics and post them to social media. The costumes are all oversexed, outrageous as it gets, many "kids" are dressing to make a political statement, such as the POTUS as a baby. The parents then drive their car and the kids hitch a ride from house to house. Some parent go so far as to label what candy came from what house,... just in case... Some adults get more into Halloween than the kids and decorate their houses like it is really a horror from hell.

The kids carry buckets in colors that designate their allergy, gluten free, or anxiety etc. Some houses have cameras instead of door bells, so they can tell you to f off. Some towns are now giving citations or jail time to kids older 12 that trick or treat, others are now claiming that this violates their rights.

I know the past is often seen in rose colored glasses, but in this case... Halloween just isn't the same...

a reply to: JAGStorm

Thanks, JAG. You captured it perfectly.

Cheers

originally posted by: JAGStorm
Remember when you were a kid and you couldn't wait to go trick or treating?
You counted the days until October 31st. The thought of dressing up with whatever you had, or the very cheap
costume your parents bought. You remember the masks, they were cheap plastic ones, and that thin elastic strap always broke. Those costumes were nothing compared to what people wear today, but they were good enough and we
all loved them. We could also dresses in any way we wanted and not offend anyone. It was a time of innocence.

We would go trick or treating from sundown to around ten pm, parents never, ever ever accompanied us. We were all walking to school by ourselves, so going trick or treating wasn't considered unsafe. Our parents would only get worried if we weren't home by elevenish/midnight, but even then they would assume we were at our friends house.

There was something special about that day. Maybe it's true that the veil between the worlds is the thinnest, maybe it's something else.
All I know is that all these years later, I still remember how that night air felt, the scent it had. There was something magical about that crisp, cool Halloween night air. The way the lights glowed from house to house. It was a warm yellow glow, not the harsh blue one we have now. It seemed like every house gave out candy. Even people of little means did what they could. We didn't have fancy pumpkin shaped buckets, we used our tatted pillowcases and filled them up. There were always neighbors that made homemade treats of popcorn balls, or candy apples. We were only allowed to eat those from people we knew. Even back then there were tales of needles in candy, but overall it felt like the safest time in the world to be a kid.

Then just like the movies, there was always that one house. It was the neighborhood haunted house. Usually a house in disrepair that an elderly person lived at. They always had dark windows and it never looked like anyone lived there. Having aged now, I wonder who lived in those houses. Was it a disabled military vet, an old widow, perhaps just a recluse. We didn't have internet, and TV was very limited, but I think our imagination was much more wild, about what could be in that kind of house at that time. We had real honest to GOD fear of what was in that house. Do kids today even have any fear left? They have been so desensitized by media showing every horrible imaginable thing.

Fast forward to 2019

Parents are both working, so Halloween on October 31st is not convenience. Many towns have trick or treat the weekend before. Every community seems to do it on a different day/weekend. Some communities claim the dates/times are done on purpose to keep disadvantaged kids from trick or treating int the nicer neighborhoods.

Parents spend a small fortune on costumes that their kid hate, they take a million pics and post them to social media. The costumes are all oversexed, outrageous as it gets, many "kids" are dressing to make a political statement, such as the POTUS as a baby. The parents then drive their car and the kids hitch a ride from house to house. Some parent go so far as to label what candy came from what house,... just in case... Some adults get more into Halloween than the kids and decorate their houses like it is really a horror from hell.

The kids carry buckets in colors that designate their allergy, gluten free, or anxiety etc. Some houses have cameras instead of door bells, so they can tell you to f off. Some towns are now giving citations or jail time to kids older 12 that trick or treat, others are now claiming that this violates their rights.

I know the past is often seen in rose colored glasses, but in this case... Halloween just isn't the same...

Yeah, it was a freaking free for all when I was a kid...

I loved it because I'd stash my candy and then sell it out of my locker a month or two later at school. "Psst. Hey kid, I got those cherry Starburst! Only a nickel!"

Halloween is very organized now. We have the official town hours for Halloween. You have to stock the allergen free stuff since kids are allergic to air nowadays.

Too much violence in our country has ruined a holiday about evil.

Even though we live in the safest time of our entire species, people let extreme fear rule their interactions with other. Everyone is a murderer or trying to give kids drugs.

Halloween PSA: no one likes your kids enough to give them free drugs.

a reply to: JAGStorm

The wife was just telling me that churches in the area do something they are calling "Trunk or treat", where a bunch of kids go trick or treating from car to car in a parking lot. I mean wh

Nevermind. It's too early to get fired up like this.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Plus it's so much more difficult to tamper with the candy and treats, it totally takes the joy out if it for me.

You remember the masks, they were cheap plastic ones, and that thin elastic strap always broke.

I remember wearing several year old hand-me-down masks that had a pair of strings fastened on to take the place of the broken elastic.

a reply to: Edumakated

Lol you were smart...I always ended up blowing through too much of my own "product".

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: JAGStorm

Plus it's so much more difficult to tamper with the candy and treats, it totally takes the joy out if it for me.

I forgot to mention the houses with the creepy single guys that our parents warned us to stay away from

a reply to: butcherguy

And the smell of that plastic used in the masks ... ecchh

Cheers

a reply to: Edumakated

There was nothing more funny than watching our friends at school the day or so after.
EVERYONE would be sooo sick from all the candy!

We didn't get candy like these kids today, they eat it every week, some every day.
Candy was actually a treat!

For me the magic was the smell of the maple and oak leaves. Feeling them crunch beneath my feet. The bit of smoke in the air as people had to fire up the fireplace or wood burning stoves. Maybe some of the leaves had been slowly burnt a day or two before here and there.

Even just door to door for candy was an adventure of sorts, exploring with friends as a group seeing what all we could haul in. I still like Smarties and even those nasty peanut butter things in the orange or black paper wrappers. But that adventure of unsupervised exploration with the smells was the magic of the night.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
I forgot to mention the houses with the creepy single guys that our parents warned us to stay away from

I'm very creepy, but I'm not single.

Plus we do our Victorian up as a haunted house every year so the kids love it. You should swing by, I have a sewing needle-filled candied apple waiting just for you.

originally posted by: F2d5thCavv2
a reply to: butcherguy

And the smell of that plastic used in the masks ... ecchh

Cheers

I remember that plastic smell, but it didn't matter because we didn't know about phthalates, or bpa or whatever cancer scare there is now. There was no tag that read "WARNING: This product contains chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer and birth defects or other reproductive harm"

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

I'm very creepy, but I'm not single.

children in your basement don't count

a reply to: JAGStorm

The only thing I count those kids for is upcoming meals.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
I'm very creepy, but I'm not single.

Plus we do our Victorian up as a haunted house every year so the kids love it. You should swing by, I have a sewing needle-filled candied apple waiting just for you.

*hangs head low, on the edge of tears, mutters to self "it's sewing needles, not pine needles you idiot"

a reply to: JAGStorm

It's still a free for all where I live! I'm not in America, but I feel like my kids trick or treat experience is the same or better than mine in the 80's/90's.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
a reply to: JAGStorm

Plus it's so much more difficult to tamper with the candy and treats, it totally takes the joy out if it for me.

How safe is too safe? With stories and images like the below, there is no such thing as too safe.