Trick Or Treat

Somewhere out there, hiding under the fall leaves, are people who don’t like Halloween, but I’m definitely not one of them.  Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays and it still is, even though I graduated from trick-or-treating to providing the treats a long time ago.

When I was a kid Halloween was fun, although I suffered from severe costume angst.  I dreaded looking different from everybody else which is what Halloween costumes were all about, at least at our house. What I really wanted was what all my classmates had - one of those cheesy, sleazy, Snow White or Cinderella costumes from Woolworths - the kind with plastic masks and satiny, glitter-encrusted dresses that fell apart in a stiff wind.  My mom, however, is a naturally flamboyant person who loves to stand out in a crowd, and her costume horizons far exceeded Woolworth’s.  What was Mom’s idea of a good costume? Well, one time, she and my dad went to a party as “His” and “Hers” outhouses with giant, rubber bare feet sticking out of them. Another year she made huge, papier mache, pink elephant heads, and once she wore a faux leopard-skin sarong and an old, rump-sprung raccoon coat.  (I’m unclear as to the theme of that costume.)

Mom didn’t have much luck being creative with my brother who insisted on being Zorro year after year; and, for all I know, may still be dressing up as “that bold renegade [who] carves a Z with his blade.” For my sister and me, Mom’s scornful rejection of the store-bought costumes forced her into hand-to-hand combat with a sewing machine.  Her motto, “If you can read, you can sew,” didn’t always hold up.   Most of her sewing projects resulted in ugly, painful scenes verging on meltdown because: A. she has many virtues but patience has never been in the top 25 and B. she refused to believe that a pattern involving lots of tucks, lace, flounces and gathering was beyond her abilities.

After everything Mom went through to make my costumes, I couldn’t very well refuse to wear them.  The only one I really liked, however, was a witch costume because there were always a lot of other witches at the school Halloween parade. The Raggedy Ann costume, which had a dress and pinafore like my idol, Laura Ingalls Wilder wore, showed promise until I saw the red/orange yarn wig that went with it.  A WIG! SOCIAL DISASTER ALERT! NOBODY COOL WORE A WIG!  (Don’t tell my mom but that wig sat out the school Halloween party in my desk.)

As a mom, I know I followed many of my parents' patterns in raising my kids, but, at least, the Halloween costumes I made didn’t generate the same sewing disasters.  The fact that the boys didn’t want to be ruffle covered princesses, tulle-encased ballerinas or feathery, winged fairies also helped.  My most ambitious costume projects were a lion and a stegosaurus, which David requested and John later wore.  After those efforts, I got very good at piecing together costumes by sewing a few straight seams, adding some strategic Velcro and using accessories from the Halloween store.  We outfitted a skeleton, Davy Crockett, a pirate, Robin Hood, Dr. Watson, two of the Three Musketeers, Paul Bunyan and assorted monsters without a lot of fuss.

Having kids allowed me to continue other Halloween traditions from my childhood.  We always carved at least one, and sometimes two pumpkins with the boys, and the seeds and insides were just as satisfyingly slimy and icky as I remembered them.  We put up a few decorations, including a larger-than-life, double-sided Dracula head on the glass storm door.  (I don’t know if Dracula ever scared any trick-or-treaters but I jumped every time I opened my front door.)   On Halloween night, it was déjà vu to watch John and David come home, dump all their candy on the living room floor and enjoy sorting, counting, and fondling it, exactly as I had done.  It was also déjà vu when we ran out of candy the first few years and made the boys recycle their least favorite goodies, like suckers and tootsie rolls, exactly as my mean parents had done.

On a good Halloween, our Eugenie Lane house drew 400 to 500 trick-or-treaters from nearby houses and apartments.  A few people complained about all the strangers who came into the neighborhood by car; but I say, if I'm in the business of passing out candy, bring on the customers.  Most years, our good friends came to help.  Caroll brought a vast basket of candy insuring that we were always the last house on the street to run out of treats.  George brought a vast knowledge of T.V. and movie characters, all of whom showed up at our door.  He identified the Teletubbies, the Star Wars creatures and every super hero, even the minor ones, for us. When a kid approached the door in a bizarre outfit, George would say something like, “Oh, you’re Wookah-Mookah-Lookah from Pookah – nice costume.”  We got a reputation for being cool, a reputation that was further enhanced on the Halloween when the Perpetrators, John’s nine-member garage band, played Ska music in our driveway.

When we moved to our current house, I figured the Halloween fun was over.  Only about half the houses on our street were even finished, and we doubted trick-or-treaters would bother to find us. We were ready to accept an invitation to return to Eugenie for the night when the neighbors here decided to pass out candy together at the top of our street and to throw a Halloween party at the same time.  Are we in a great neighborhood or what?

So, every year since then, we all set up a Trick-or-Treat table, lay out our baskets of candy and invite the hordes of princesses, pirates and ghosts to choose a treat from each basket, something the kids like and their parents love, since it saves them a trip up and down our hilly street.  Our street party has grown to include a fire-pit bonfire, hot soup and chili, great sandwiches, snacks, desserts, homemade caramels (hang onto your fillings!) and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps and whipped cream, the ultimate drink to ward off the autumn chill. It’s the perfect way to get in shape for the holiday season.  Happy Halloween!!

P.S. I just found the Halloween photo of my mom at left.  In case you're wondering, the babe in red with the pearls is my dad.  Guess who thought up his costume

P.P.S. Guess who just celebrated his first Halloween?