Halloween

[Shannow]

They should declare mischief night on her house.

Already eaten too much candy today, in danger of turning into a giant zit.

[Signe]

She should just pass out bottles of Glucerna not a stupid note.  Be proactive. 

[Yegolev]

Yep, a one-night binge of candy is why Americans are fat.

There is a shelf in my pantry which functions as a candy graveyard.  Halloweens, Easters, Valentine's Days of years past have all left casualties there.  Sometimes I sneak some of the bodies into the trash, but more come.  Always more.

One of the things I have is a box of raisins from WDW that was given out during their Not-So-Scary party.  They have stopped doing that, presumably because they gave away exactly one box of raisins.

The boy went to school today dressed as Pikachu.  Under his Pikachu costume he is wearing blue denim shorts and a Finn t-shirt.  Once he leaves school with his friends, Pikachu comes off and the Finn hat, backpack, and sword come out.

I can add a number four to my previous list:
4. Obtain calm stomach.

I feel ready!

[proudft]

Yeah, I'm no fancy nutritionologist but eating 2 lbs of candy in one day is going to do basically nothing to your fatness or lack thereof.  There is no way in hell you can digest that all in one day.  I'm sure some interesting toilet time is in the kid's future from one end or the other but it's one fuckin day, they aren't going to gain any weight.

Parceling it out so you eat 300 calories of it every day for two months, that is a horrible horrible idea, I have no idea why people do that.

[MahrinSkel]

Yeah, I'm no fancy nutritionologist but eating 2 lbs of candy in one day is going to do basically nothing to your fatness or lack thereof.  There is no way in hell you can digest that all in one day.  I'm sure some interesting toilet time is in the kid's future from one end or the other but it's one fuckin day, they aren't going to gain any weight.

Parceling it out so you eat 300 calories of it every day for two months, that is a horrible horrible idea, I have no idea why people do that.

No, see, you tell the kid that they only get 300 calories a day, then you eat the other 30,000 calories and have the awful toilet sessions.   Just taking one for the team, really.

--Dave

[Paelos]

Like most Halloweens I'm unaware of what happens in real neighborhoods. In the high rises, we have some sort of kid's Halloween "parade" then the adults get drunk.

[pxib]

One group of three kids. At 7pm.

Maybe this neighborhood just doesn't look right. Guess we'll divide up the loot and take it to work.

[Ingmar]

We almost never get them here, they all go off to actual houses instead of apartment land. Went to practice instead, but probably no disappointed people knocking on the door.

[Samwise]

Some years I've stayed home and handed out candy, but I've never gotten more than three groups of trick-or-treaters.  I live way up on a hill in a relatively poor neighborhood, and it's not a very far walk to much richer neighborhoods.  I wouldn't trick or treat around here either.

[Yegolev]

My son had a great time with his friends in a very nice neighborhood.  One house was giving out full size bars.  There was a parade but we managed to miss it.  Pizza at the community center.  I used to live very close to that neighborhood but mine was shit, full of old people and weirdos.

The kid who lived in that neighborhood went traditional with a vampire costume.  My son was Finn, and the other friend was Link.  There was some swordfighting.  We will need to do this again next year, instead of just us solo-invading a nearby neighborhood.

To cap it all off, my wife and I had a nice dinner at a great Greek restaurant.  Once we got home, my stomach betrayed me so we watched The League and went to sleep.

[Yegolev]

Did anyone else see a lot of "morph suits"?  Basically Green Man from It's Always Sunny, but not all green.  I saw a ton of kids wearing a variety of colors but I don't know what is the source for it.

[Yoru]

Did anyone else see a lot of "morph suits"?  Basically Green Man from It's Always Sunny, but not all green.  I saw a ton of kids wearing a variety of colors but I don't know what is the source for it.

I've seen a bunch of "performance artists" wearing those on the drug bridge in my neighborhood. Not a place you usually see kids.

Well, kids younger than about 16 at least.

[Mrbloodworth]

Did anyone else see a lot of "morph suits"?  Basically Green Man from It's Always Sunny, but not all green.  I saw a ton of kids wearing a variety of colors but I don't know what is the source for it.

"Halloween city" or the equivalent. You know those seasonal Halloween stores. They tend to have a huge selection of them the last few years.

[Hawkbit]

My son was Finn,

Mine went as Marceline, heh.

[Signe]

When I was a kid, our bags of candy were ours and no one monitored them.  Well, ours after my mother took out all the peanut chews and my dad took when he wanted.  We didn't like the same sort of candy they did anyway.  My aunt, who was a holiday celeb, made at least 100 red candy apples and gave out big bags of awesome candy.  The retro kind, like wax lips and Mary Janes and paper candy dots.  Her sister owned an old fashioned diner/candy shop.  Kids came from all over the place to visit her on Halloween.  I don't remember her ever running out of anything, either.   Halloween was a big deal for my family.  Dunno why.  Now I just find it intrusive.  I don't give out pennies for the Guy either.  They don't really want pennies.  They want fivers.

Anyway, since it's just about having fun,  I don't think it's a big deal what you end up doing as long as the kiddies enjoy themselves.  It's sad that people don't trust the world enough to let their kids run around wildly with sacks begging for sweeties because that's what made Halloween exciting for us.  Still, friends and parties and community centers, that sounds fun for a kid, too.

My sister had a band of about 25 teenage girls dressed in black leotards, blue duct tape around the knees and elbows and covered in coloured glow sticks. Some of them put the glow stick around areas that most of the other kids who came to the door probably didn't know they had yet.  Ahem.  They wiped out all the bags of Skittles.

[murdoc]

We left a huge tub of candy out on the honor system while we took the boys trick or treating and got cleaned out in less than 20 minutes. I had to run back to get Logan new mittens and when I arrived the tub was upside down in the driveway and empty.

Good job kids.

[Mrbloodworth]

There is no honor when candy is involved.

[Shannow]

My 13 year old was in a black morph suit.

Both my children have been fired from their current positions due to a complete and utter failure to secure any Almond Joys and/or 100 Grands for their father to consume (I mean not a SINGLE FUCKING ONE). Anyone want them?

[01101010]

My 13 year old was in a black morph suit.

Both my children have been fired from their current positions due to a complete and utter failure to secure any Almond Joys and/or 100 Grands for their father to consume (I mean not a SINGLE FUCKING ONE). Anyone want them?

How fast can they solder circuit boards?   

[proudft]

Our neighborhood is too erratic - if we buy candy nobody shows up, if we don't, a couple dozen do, so, as we've done for a couple years now, we go to a friend's house about a mile away which is a Halloween circus (price of admission: big sack o' candy).  Basically non-stop from 5 to 9.  This year instead of just manning the door I went out with my nephew for a little to see what all the fuss had been about.  My brother said it was way less than previous years - it looked like a lot of people were lights out, perhaps sick of all the traffic (it draws in hordes of people from the poorer city across the bridge as well), or maybe just because it was mid-week.

Even so, it was a lot of people.  It seemed weird, though, that most people just sat on their porches, handing out candy.  It doesn't seem like Trick or Treating unless there's knocking on a door involved, I dunno.  But when it's non-stop, you kinda get sick of closing the door I guess.

A lot of parents were dressed up, at least half.  I don't remember that from when I was a kid.  At one point on a street corner there were four different Supermans, two of which were parents.  I saw a couple people dressed up as Minecraft terrain blocks, too, that was weird.  'I'm a grass block!'

[Signe]

We had two boys dressed up in the most elaborate Steampunk outfits.  Hats, goggles, boots, jewelry, etc.  Two completely different outfits, too.  And they looked really awesome and very posh.  I reckon they're from the upper Mainline where everyone has a horse and a bidet and can afford to have their kids Halloween costumes designed by Alexander McQueen or Versace or some other silly person.

Also:

Heidi Klum's Halloween costume.

[MahrinSkel]

Street layout matters as well.  There was lots of trick or treating in my neighborhood last night, but the neighborhood is laid out as long streets north to south, with east-west streets that terminate into a neighborhood park.  Not only does the house face into one of the east-west streets, but it's a couple of houses from one of the main roads that marks the edge of the neighborhood.  Most trick or treaters go up and down the north-south streets, and since nobody wants their kids on the highly trafficked roads around the edge, very very few come down this street.

People in the houses facing the park sit on their porch or at their doors because there are so many, I had maybe 15 kids in 5 groups.  You'd get a similar effect if you were the only house in a cul-de-sac with their lights on.

--Dave

[Stormwaltz]

My kids were 2800 miles away. Worked late. Got home after 8PM, roommates said no one knocked all night.

2011 was a good Halloween. My wife took the boys out while I ladled out over $300 worth of candy. Zero chocolate, but we had a bunch of local-made caramels. Until I ran out, everyone got a Giant Pixie Stick - this is how I spread the hate to fellow parents. There were a few goggle-eyed tots walking away with something as tall as them.

[apocrypha]

I bought a £1.50 mask from Tescos and 2 bags of cheap chocolate and then no kids knocked on our door.

[Yegolev]

There were two main groups of dads: the ones that wore a costume and the ones that had a large plastic drink cup.

[Signe]

Nephew's group won the costume contest at their local pub!  I'm so proud.

[Samwise]

That's fantastic.

[Yegolev]

I'll be that guy.  I don't get it.  Is it Downton Abbey?

[Selby]

There were two main groups of dads: the ones that wore a costume and the ones that had a large plastic drink cup.

Last night it was a ton of parents and even more kids roaming the neighborhood.  The parents mostly had bottles of beer and were smoking weed.  This wasn't one or two groups either, this was noticeable amounts of parents.  First year in this neighborhood after moving out of the ghetto which mostly meant no Mexican candy.

[Samwise]

I'll be that guy.  I don't get it.  Is it Downton Abbey?

[proudft]

Woefully lacking in Krieger's girlfriend.

[Yegolev]

I'll be that guy.  I don't get it.  Is it Downton Abbey?

OK now I see the dolphin.

[murdoc]

There were two main groups of dads: the ones that wore a costume and the ones that had a large plastic drink cup.

I was group two.

[Ironwood]

I didn't get it either.  I still don't, but at least I know it's based on that show you chaps always talk about.

[Signe]

I wouldn't have got it either but when I moved back to the US last December, it was everywhere.