I absolutely love Halloween, have since I was a kid. It's hands down my favorite holiday of the year.
When I was young I use to look forward to it for months! I'd plan out my costume meticulously, right down to the last detail (well there was that one year when I went as a clown. At least I think it was a clown...)
Even when I got a little older (some would say too old for trick or treating) I still dressed up. If you're gonna go door to door begging for candy, you should at least put a little effort into it, right?
I remember all the houses on the street (and it was a big street) had lights on. Most even had a pumpkin or two on display (this was back in the day before anyone went out and bought fancy decorations for their homes). My neighbors and I would get together and go trick or treating. Every house had something, whether it was the good stuff (chocolate bars; not the mini one's mind you, full on bars!) or the not so good stuff (apples...) we always managed to come away from the night with at least two or three pillowcase's of goodies.
Then, as I got older, I noticed things began to change. Some of the houses in the area went all out and started to use store bought decorations. A few at the beginning but little by little some places became masterpiece's of the macabre. The others? Well, they went dark...
The kids changed too. Sure, you still had the younger ones decked out in all their glory but the older ones? Nope, they figured that they made the effort to go out with a bag, why bother to dress up too? I'd ask them what they were suppose to be and in response I'd usually get a blank stare...
We moved to a side street in the area that I grew up in back in the 80's. I figured we'd hit the Halloween jackpot. Now I too could go all out and decorate the place! I was too old for trick or treating but I could still participate. The first year we were here we got... one kid. Why only one? Well, if you looked up and down our street you noticed something. It looked like there had been a blackout. Not one light on anywhere. It was like a zombie apocalypse without the zombies...
A few years later my wife and I (we weren't married yet) moved into our own place over by Yonge and 401. It was an apartment so once again we tried decorating and once again we got... one kid. My in laws lived a few streets away in the same area and they got dozens of kids; we got one...
I work in the film industry and my creative juices are overflowing with ideas for Halloween decorations and we only get one kid? This just isn't fair!!! We tried again the next year and I don't think we got any so after that we pretty much gave up.
About 10 years back, we moved back into the area I grew up in and in the back of my mind I hoped things had changed. We weren't gonna decorate but we did stock up on candy in case anyone came by. Halloween night came along and sure enough the blackout returned. No skeletons, no Jack-o'-lantern, no witches smashed into trees, nothing. Just dark houses.
Apparently we still lived on the street Halloween forgot...
When I got home from work last night, I saw something I hadn't seen in years. The people across the road from us had a pumpkin out on their front steps! And then two doors down from them, another one! Could this be the turning point? Mrs Special K went out to the local Shoppers and hurriedly picked up some decorations; not much mind you, but it was something (we had no illusions that there would be much left on Halloween night). I had to rig up a light by the garage so people could actually see that we had something set up (the blackout was still in effect. It was so dark you couldn't see anything on the house from the street!) I kept an eye on Facebook as the night went on. People were talking about the number of kids showing up at their door looking for a shell out. Some were in the hundreds, some complained it was a slow night because they only got about 35 or so. Know how many we got?
Seven.
And you know what? I was thrilled!
I'm sure the people across the road were disappointed with the turnout and probably won't bother doing anything next year.
Us? Well, next year I plan to go even bigger!
Who knows? Maybe next year we can break 10!!!
Whoohoo 7 is a start! I remember the pillowcases full of candy and strategic planning of the best routes to end up with the most candy, zigzaqging back and forth with drop offs at home to empty the pillowcases and carry on gathering our bounty.
ReplyDeleteI say go all out decorating, that is part of the fun. The kids and I drive around the neighbourhoods looking for the best houses, in the days leading up to Halloween. Perhaps a bit of preplanning will bring back Halloween to your street!
You read my mind Laura! Call it a little "pre season advertising"!
ReplyDeleteWeird thing is, what got me thinking about this was I was on set Sunday night (we were shooting in Roncensvale Village) and I was driving one of the picture vehicles. Most of my night was spent just sitting around waiting for something to do. I happened to be parked beside a variety store and they had a whole load of pumpkins out front. The neighborhood was snapping them up like they were going out of style!
I pulled out the iPhone and snapped a few pics. One lady noticed me and said "Are you into Pumpkins?". I explained to her that I'd been sitting in the car for a few hours and I was bored so I just started snapping pics because in my area, nobody does anything for Halloween anymore. She told me that around there, on the night after Halloween, all the neighborhood gets togethere and takes their pumpkins to the local park and everyone ligths them up!
I think I know where I'm going tonight!!!
Halloween for Julian has been quite lucrative the last couple of years ( not pillowcases full but surely more than he could manage to eat). It seems to depend where you live. The more mature neighborhoods where most of the children have grown and gone can be barren but check out a recent subdivision with new and young families and you will see lots of activity.
ReplyDeleteI carved my first real pumpkin this year, stencil and all. I'm inspired next year to buy several pumpkins and try a few different things!
We were so excited to get 7 kids! I think they each got abut 10 chocolate bars. Still have lots left over though, in case Julian needs more sugar. ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhen we were kids, we used to head straight for the apartment buildings. Maximum candy haul for time invested, AND it was warm. Back in the days before they started doing the candy dole-out in the lobbies.