I didn't participate because of my new foster dog. He is a door dasher and possibly scary. It was just as well, I think there may have been 10 children.

Eileen

Happy Halloween! We turned out the lights and went out for sushi. I decorated the house last year and bought candy and skipped table tennis only to have a handful of straggler trickortreaters. No children in the neighborhood.

I usually get hundreds of trick or treaters. As many as 500, no fewer than 300. This year we had 100, maybe. It was cold, wet, windy, rainy, generally yukky weather. Since the City turned the street lights off a couple of years ago because they couldn't afford to pay the light bill, the kids get off the streets before dark anyway.

Bud and Makayla told me they would be happy to take excess candy off my hands. What sweet and helpful children, LOL.

Happy Halloween, although it was actually yesterday here.

Annie

OMG, 300 to 500 trick or treaters, I never would have imagined that!!

Our weather was perfect for Halloween night (no jacket required) and I thought 40 was a lot of kids. Most were very polite; the rudest was a 40ish year old man who said he was getting candy for the "little one at home".

It was probably 72 degrees here for Halloween evening, and we only got three children. Maybe they turn out better when the weather is less pleasant. I was taking a nap, but Kevin handed out the candy. He overbought this year, despite my protests. Last year we had a deluge, and I think it may have been because the next door neighbors had a small child, and they may have told people in their previous 'hood that they should visit Westchester. This year on the news, they announced that Pacific Palisades gave out the best candy, and so the crowds may have gone there instead. The neighbors we have now have a great Dane instead of a child. The owner of the house used to live there herself, but she moved out a couple of years ago and rents it now. There are very few rentals in my neighborhood, however.

I lent Kevin my lederhosen for him to wear to work at Sony, and he won a prize for his costume and gave the prize to me! Sony was giving out blu-ray players, cameras, and the digital picture frame that Kevin gave me. I'm going to load it and put it on my desk at work.

Lars

We only had about 50-70 kids. Normally we get 120-150, but normally we are also decorated to the gills. This year SWMBO was busy teaching a pottery class so all we had was a couple of pumpkins on the front steps.

Our neighborhood is a very active trick or treating area - the kind of place where kids from other neighborhoods come - but on my particular block, only a couple of houses on my block decorate for Halloween, so if we aren't all lit up, many kids may not turn down our street.

My kids got dressed up and went out, even though my 16 y/o daughter would hve preferred to go to a party, she went with her 13 y/o brother, and they had a good time. I think next year I will organize a Halloween party here for her and her friends.

As for the adults, we had a few people over, sort of a potluck get-together. Three people made jello shots - some with rum, some with moonshine, etc. I had three and realized I needed to stop. It being a worknight was inconvenient.

Halloween's a bust in my neighborhood. We had maybe 10 groups of kids. My favorite was the first kid, a small boy, maybe around 4, dressed up as Spiderman. He had a big grin on his face, and instead of shouting Trick or Treat, he shouted "Happy Halloween!" He was so adorable.

Jerry found a bulging, bloodshot eye he wore while answering the door. Sadly, one little girl was quite frightened by it, so he took it off, and she calmed down. Other than that, only a few more showed up. My rule is that when the "kids" with mustaches (real ones) start showing up,the light goes out.

DS took his kid out, and they returned with just a small amount of candy. No one in our neighborhood does Halloween, it seems. Last year we went to a friend of mine's neighborhood. She and her neighborhood go all out for Halloween. We may do that next year, but this year she was sick, so I didn't want to bother her. My son declared that Halloween is dead in our neighborhood. *sigh*

Sally

Our street doesn't get any trick or treaters. We still turned off the lights and hid downstairs....watched 'Clash of the Titans' and thought of Lars and SharonCB. The kid went out with friends, his costume was a referee shirt, sunglasses, white cane. He was a blind NFL referee LOL.

Only thing that got me - because our lights were turned off, Amazon didn't leave my order of 'Cards Against Humanity' grrr DS wanted to play it that night with friends.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cards against humanity

Jessy, that game looks hilarious. I'll remember that for holiday gifts.

My street has a sidewalk and the houses are closer together (too close in some cases!). It is surrounded by streets with enormous houses, long driveways, gated driveways, etc. Therefore, every kid in my zip code comes to our street and Halloween is a big celebration. We have a block party before the ghosties and ghoulies start to arrive. Sometimes I see the Rich Daddies sitting in their Land Rovers reading the Wall St Journal while their kids make the rounds of the street.

Every year I get one kid who rejects the candy I'm giving out and last night was no different. One charmer grabbed a bag of Sour Patch Kids and said "I don't like these" and threw it back. I am going to believe he was just being honest and didn't take something he wouldn't eat, but my gut tells me he was just rude. 99.9 percent of the kids were adorable.

Kevin looks good in those lederhosen. Does he know how to yodel?

Eileen, good idea to skip Halloween rather than get the dog stirred up.

I have a cd of spooky sounds, so I play that and put the speaker from my computer out the window.

Lars, I love the lederhosen!

It was about 35F here at 8 pm. I used to get a lot of kids that came into town from surrounding areas, most kids live out in the country and so they come into town for the costume judging and parade, get a goodie bag from the Chamber of Commerce (my favorite donated item is always the toothbrush from the local dentist, LOL) and then Trick or Treat.

This year fewer kids than ever showed up for the costume judging and parade. Because we have no street lights and it gets dark by 7 pm, the kids are going to Big Rapids or to Fremont, bigger towns with most houses AND lights. (sigh)

Will they ever turn the lights back on? I doubt it, at least half of White Cloud is for sale, the property taxes are high and property values are down. Businesses have been taxed out of existence. We couldn't even get anyone to run for the City Council, one member won with something like 9 write in votes the last election.

Annie

In the 26 years we have lived here I have maybe had a total of half a dozen kids come to the door. We live way out in the country, no street lights and our house is at the end of a 400 yard long driveway. I use to take my son to the mall when he was young. Less scary and dangerous. I always buy one small bag just in case. (As my DH says, "Yeah, sure it is for the kids." LOL)
Clare

No kids here either. I didn't get home until 6:40,but our neighborhood isn't flat and most kids migrate to somewhere that was. I missed the grands Halloween festivities at school due to work commitments, but I celebrated with them on Friday night at their school's Trunk or Treat (trick or treating from decorated car to car on school grounds) celebration. It was a blast!

I'd be thrilled with 40 kids showing up. On the way home we saw a flurry of activity on the other end of our very long street - a group of homes were all decorated and lit up. But as we drove towards home the activity abruptly stopped - too far to walk! And the other end of of the street past my house is a hill, so definitely no hill-walker-uppers from that way. I just live in a very snoozy neighborhood.

Oh well. There's always Christmas decorations, although I couldn't get my new fancy lights to change color the way they're supposed to last year. Why do they make everything so complicated!

Kevin is adorable in that outfit!

We had fewer kids than usual, and we bought a lot more candy than usual. I have to find a way to get this giant Costco bag of candy out of the house.

We had maybe 30 kids and they were adorable. The older kids who come late just didn't show up last nite. And dh has to take the leftover candy to work, immediately.

It is my mission to weed out the malt balls from the junk that dh buys as I think some little one can choke. And I call him the worrier.

Sour Patch Kids and Swedish Fish were the big winners here. Kids don't seem to want the old standbys like Milky Ways so much. Too old school, I guess. however, when that's all that is left, they will take it!

According to something I heard on the radio yesterday Sour Patch Kids and Gummies are terrible for the teeth. The report stated that sugar free lollipops and dark chocolate were the winners for healthy teeth. FWIW my grands are all about the Sour Patch Kids too!

Pam, Kevin does not know how to yodel, but he got a lot of requests yesterday! He doesn't even speak German - perhaps I should teach him a bit. Oddly enough, another guy in his department showed up in lederhosen, shown in the photo. Kevin thought the other guy had better shoes (they were definitely German), but Kevin had the Tyrolean hat, which I thought was more important.

I happened to notice that I can order German shoes in my size from Michigan! I might have to get some.

Lars

I was in Walmart briefly on Halloween. Of course it's always Halloween at our Walmart but this time the employees were in costume, too. I was served by a 300 pound Snow White checker in aqua eye shadow.

Eileen

Kevin ist nicht süàin seinem Kostüm!

We had a good number of kids, for us, 50 or so. Some kids came from nearby neighborhoods with no electricity.

It's my favorite holiday - simple, straightforward, obvious, and fun to share. I love the two year olds out for their first "real" Halloween - their eyes are as big as saucers when they get CANDY.

OMG Eileenn, just the mental picture of that is enough to make me snort my diet coke! LOL

Lars please tell Kevin he looks very handsome in his lederhosen and hiking boots-- a la Sound of Music!

My 3-year-old granddaughter was very excited, but unhappy to hear that she couldn't go trick-or-treating at night all by herself. She insisted she did not need any grownups.

Oh CC. That's so cute. Sounds like she is a very self-assured young lady! Hard to believe she is three already.

Eileen, I'm snickering just thinking about your description of Snow White. Teeheehee...

This year Makayla was a feather duster and Bud was a vampire. Of course, it was cold, so the feather duster wore a coat and hat and it was hard to see all the feathers we'd sewn to her costume. Bud wore his Carhartt coat and camo hat with ear flaps, with a cape over it, I told him to just tell people he was a Redneck Vampire, LOL.

And I forgot to take pictures. Bad, bad Grandma.

Annie

Definately bad grandma! I love Halloween, probably because when I was a little kid I was too afraid to go trick or treating. I had a thing about masks. Anyway, I finally started going when I was in second grade, but I missed out on a lot of the fun even then, like our local Halloween parade that always terrified me because it included a headless horseman! I wouldn't watch the Wizard of Oz either, which they showed on TV around Halloween time, much to the disappointment of my parents who couldn't figure out why I didn't love the movie! OMG, those flying monkeys, and those Winkies with their chanting, and the witch going to kill Dorothy! I just couldn't take it!

We had a moderate crowd at our house. I overbought candy after having run out one year. I liked how most of the kids said "Thank you" and "Happy Halloween." This is definately a new trend and something I like. The best ones were the newbies who would get one piece of candy and immediately want to start eating it. Who cares about the 16 other houses we are going to, I have candy NOW! I kept hearing, "But I want to eat it!" And then parents saying, "Say trick or treat!" and the little kid replying, "NO!" He didn't quite get the whole program! Anyway, I just love seeing the kiddies! But IMHO, parents who take a months old baby out trick or treating by themselves (not tagging along with other kids) in a stroller?? The kid has no idea what's going on and certainly isn't going to eat the candy. That's kinda sad, IMHO.

Cathy, are you sure that's what you meant to say? It's kind of the opposite of Ellen's comment.

When I was little, I was scared of Snow White (the movie), and so I can understand Eileen's experience at Walmart, TWOO also scared me, and I was never a Judy Garland fan. I did not trick or treat as a child because there were no houses within walking distance of us - the nearest neighbor was more than half a mile away. My father was against it as well and would not take us into town, even though we had friends there.

Lars

Lars, Snow White was the first movie I saw in a theater (which was the only place you could see them at that time!). My sister had to call my mother to come and get me. I was scared to death of the witch with that poison apple, leering at Snow White. Jeez, what a thing to show a kid. I think I was about five at the time.

That's funny, Laurie, when I was a kid I was scared of those flying monkeys too!

Annie

Lars, probably not given my less than sharp German.

Meant to say "Kevin is so cute."

I got two (I was very excited though, I've never had any before). After they left, I wished I had given them more than one piece of candy (I had bought three bags). I wish I knew which apartment they lived in- I'd track them down.

Cathy, in that case, you should replace the word "nicht" with "recht" or "so". Otherwise you are saying that he is NOT cute!

Pam, I saw Snow White when I was five in Dallas - my mother had taken me there because the theater had Panorama and Todd-AO, which was the 1950s version of surround sound and early widescreen. The town we lived close to only had 35,000 people back then and only three theaters plus several drive-ins (perhaps as many as five). Drive-ins were open all year, except when it rained, I think. I got just as scared at drive-ins, but I liked them because they had playgrounds with swing sets.

Lars

I didn't see Snow White until I had children and bought the video.

Alice was always very frightened of Disney animated films and after a few refused to watch movies for a long time, until well into high school.

Eileen

I remember Panorama. I thought there was a movie called Panorama Holiday, but I cannot find a reference to it so I must be wrong. I loved the drive-in, but mostly because it was where I went with my boyfriend. Ahem.

Later I took my kids to the drive-in. First they would watch a movie for kids, then they would fall asleep in the back of my big old station wagon and I would watch a grown-up movie (not adult -- grown-up!).

My parents used to take us to the drive in in the station wagon, too! We'd do exactly as you describe. They'd have the back ready as a bed. I remember going to see Dr. No and The Longest Day. I definitely fell asleep during The Longest Day. I'm sure there were others, but for some reason, those movies stuck in my memory.

Sally

I had fewer kids than usual...it seems that since the era of the razor blades in the apples and the pins in candy, organizations around town have started "safer" ways for kids to gather a boat load of candy....and taken all the fun out of the holiday!
There was a "schedule"....the hospital offered candy for certain hours, and the nursing homes and "senior complexes" for other hours and then the merchants downtown set out tables and gave candy and various churches offered "Trunk or Treat" where members decorated their car trunk and parked in the church parking lot and gave candy to passing kids.....
So that when all that was over, not many had the desire to knock on my door and show their cute painted faces.....sad!!

I remember my mother taking me to Bambi when it first came out....scared the bejabbers out of me!! Forest Fire!! Orphaned baby deer...Oh my...I remember hiding under the seat in the movie!
Also Dumbo scared me a bit.....and I remember having nightmares about Abbot and Costello Haunt a House...
For sure Snow White was scary....but not nearly as scary as Bambi!!!!

Dumbo is way too sad!

LindaC, here the headlines say a kid went home and his Mom found that someone had given him a small bag of marijuana. Not exactly a razor blade and probably expensive, but still....

I remember going to see Star Wars at the drive-in. I had an MG Midget and Amanda had a blanket and pillow and made a little bed on that platform they had instead of a backseat.

Sad movies? Old Yeller.

Annie

I took my older son to see the original Willie Wonka and that scared him to death. We had to leave. Remember the scene with the snakes slithering over people's mouths? Jeez -- that's a children's film??

Last night I felt bad because we got a second round of trick or treaters, the ones who went by the township suggestion to have Halloween on Sunday rather than Wednesday. I felt bad that I had no candy. I had to turn off the lights and close the shades. I would have gone to the store to get some but I had to go out at 5 anyway, so I just ducked the whole thing.

I remember feeling sad when Bambi's mother got shot, and Yelling, "No Herbie, no!' when Herbie in "The Love Bug" went off to drive over a cliff or something when his human owner rejected him (I was 6 :-) ).
Snow White wasn't frightening but in the scene where the evil witch gets hers and is falling down, down, down the cliff, my then 5 yo brother said VERY loudly, "Well, I guess that takes care of HER!" Everyone turned to look and our older cousins who had taken us to the movie pretended we were strangers...:-)
Halloween is slowly catching on here but no one really trick-or-treats, they just have Halloween parties. We just got back from Hong Kong, and the place is awash with Halloween costumes and goodies, who knew :-)