Last night, J.Lo and I were visited by 54 trick-or-treaters, most of them delightfully polite and seemingly pleased that we chose to hand out regular-sized candy bars. (I got a deal at Costco.) What kind of disappointed/irked me a little this year, though, were the surprising number of kids who came to the door sans costumes. Like, that is so not acceptable. And if I were a more confrontational/extroverted/brave person, I might have denied them candy. Just on principle--I mean, we are kind enough to make a special trip to the store to buy candy, as well as disrupt our regular TV-watching, dinner-eating schedule on Halloween Night to give out the teeth-rotting treats to the children. The least I require in return is to see some costumes.
Now, I fully expect a disaffected teenager or two to mope up to my door and sullenly, wordlessly hold out his Food Lion bag for a candy bar. Whatever. But last night, there weren't just disaffected teenagers, there were more than a handful of little kids, preteens, and teens without costumes. And having no money, if that is the case (which I am suspicious is not), is just not an excuse. There are ways to be creative without spending a dime, and many times a costume made out of the cardboard, poster paints, and coffee filters you found around the house are a lot more fun and impressive than something you could buy already made at the store. Either way--don't go trick-or-treating around the neighborhood costumeless, or encourage your kids to do so. It's pretty tacky.
In conclusion, even if you see the ritual as a stupid/commercialized/boring/weird product of culture, you could at least try to get into it. And if you're going to go so far as beg free candy off of your neighbors, the least you could do is plop a collander on your head, maybe fashion a cape from some Brawny paper towels, and tell me you're Captain Kitchen. Seriously. I don't ask for much.
That said, there were some good efforts put in last night by the neighborhood munchkins, and to them I say, witch-hats off.
10 comments:
you MUST demand costumes next time!! or they get just 1 treat sized bar- i mean its a barter system- you get to be amused by their cute costumed selves and they get candy. you cannot come out of halloween at a loss!!
I have NEVER heard of that! Where do you live - Russia?!
I think Mendacious is suggesting a "We Luv You But You Should Dress Up More" category for next year's All Hallow's.
heh! for serious ashley!
EXACTLY.
also I'm mad because one of those yahoos probably got a 3 musketeers bar that, in my current cold-ridden state, i really would have enjoyed.
We actually did not do trick-or-treat this year because last year, for every one cute costumed kid came up to the door, ten uncostumed thugs, most above seventeen (and at least one above THIRTY) came to our door and wordlessly thrust open pillowcases at us. Unacceptable!
Of our three trick-or-treaters, one kid, probably about 10, felt the need to assure us, "In case you can't guess what I am, I'm a bandit. That's why I'm wearing a bandana." With sweatpants and a t-shirt. "So, that's my costume. I'm a bandit."
At least the kid felt the need to explain his lameness. These hoodlums didn't look the least bit embarassed by their costumeless requests for candy.
Yes, its a deal. you amuse me, I give you goodies. I have said to the apparently uncostumed " so what is your costume?" At least give me a story, like I am really a five yr old, and am dressed like a teenager...cool huh. I have dispensed one small candy to those who didn't get it and said, if you only had a costume you coulda had a handful. so sad. Of course, I'm old and cute and can usually get away with such.
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