It's A Shame Really
Because it was Halloween, I took a vacation day last Friday to prepare for all the Trick or Treaters I was expecting that night. And I since I am sooo smart, I calculated we would have droves of kids as
- we are in a fairly new sub-division with lots of young families
- it was the weekend, and
- the weather was unseasonably warm.
And I was as eager for it to begin as all those little ghouls who soon would be parading down our street in a few short hours.
I had already organized the loot to hand out; 80 goody bags were carefully packed with equal amounts of chocolate bars, rockets and hard candy. Indoor decorating was completed days beforehand. Fresh batteries were installed in anything that glowed, cackled or swayed.
All that was left on my "To Do List" was to carve this year's real pumpkins, toast the seeds and decorate the yard. Of course, Dakotah, being a black cat and all, had to get into the "Spirit" of her holiday and help me de-guts-ify the gourds:
She really wasn't much help, to be honest.
But after a few hours I had the pumpkins finished, wired for light and placed on the front porch.
Ghosts were hung in the bushes and the rest of the outdoor
With just minutes before darkness fell, I was finally ready.
The movie "Halloween" was on TV (the good one from the 70's), the pizza was ready to cook, the wine chilled and all our real and fake pumpkins lit up as I sat in eager anticipation waiting for the doorbell to ring.
And I waited.
And waited.
And waited some more.
Over the next three hours, I greeted a sum total of 27 tykes at our door.
Twenty - freakin' - seven.
So much for the theory that good weather, a weekend night and a new development would result in a flood of kiddos.
* Sigh. *
Which means I now have 53 bags of candy, as well as a huge cauldron of our own personal stash of The Best Stuff (come on, admit it; you do it too) left over.
Now nearly a week later, I've hardly made a dent in the pile.
What a shame.
But like a real trooper I'll keep hard at it, making sure it doesn't go to waist, er Waste.
At least I have about a month until the Christmas candy starts appearing, right?
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Ugh! Misery. The first year we moved to our house I bought almost $60 worth of candy (Halloween is a big deal in our little village). We had 3 trick or treaters. Seems it's a big deal on the other side of the bridge.
Oh, I keep reading this on blogs. Do you think Trick or Treat is waning in the US? Maybe birth control has been more successful in recent years ;O)
27 would be frightening for us. We got two, and have a bag of sweet left over!
Whoa... I smell a contest. One where I am the winner and you ship me all those delicious bags of goodies.
I gave you a giant "E" for effort though. If I was a kid I would have stopped by your house at least 5 times.
I always take the leftovers to my office,with a note begging the guys to PLEASE eat this before I do.
So far it's worked great...LOL
I ran out last year, so I got double the amount. Like you, I was thinking Friday night, and daylight savings being pushed back a week. I also had about 50 pieces left over - and my son brought home about 10 pounds from his adventures.
I'd come over to your house right away and help you eat it, but I'm supposed to be loosing weight and you live so darn far away.
So, take it to the office, Maureen and try not to eat any of it yourself, especially not with Christmas coming up and all that extravagance of food.
We Western people overeat. Even I am guilty of that. Gluttony is our sin. We really need to get out of that habit.
Where do you live? I could make a sacrifice and head on over with a sheet over my head... LOL!
Dakotah the cat, meet my dog Dakotah the akita...
www.technodoll3.blogspot.com
:-)
Hmmm, just like real estate, it is all about location, location, location.
The wife and I did the same things that you did, but less decorating (although i did carve a killer Obama Pumpkin) and lot more candy. A LOT MORE CANDY.
You see, we had between 2000 and 2500 trick or treaters at our house (that is NOT an exageration). We closed up shop when our 2000 peices of candy were gone, around 8:45pm.
We live in an historic neighborhood near Central Phoenix, and all the folks that live out in those new suburbs literally bus their children into our neck of the woods to get a feel of that old time Halloween.
The themes this year were mostly; Batman, Spiderman; Iron Man, and lots of princesses and fairies.
Consider yourself lucky.
We only had about ten groups this year as well.. Boo... and I don't mean the scary, ghostly moaning kinda Boo...
We have tons of candy left over as well.
It doesn't seem as though anyone is trick or treating anymore :( Maybe parents feel it's too dangerous?? Love your blog, found it while blog hopping
Maureen:
Wow! I'd love to go trick or treating at your house. Yummy.
W e have lived in the same house for 30 years, and we have seen several generations of kiddies come and go - including our own. Dressing up on Halloween and trick or treating was always something we looked forward to. But times have changed. We haven't seen a single trick or treater in over five years. Not one. They all go to the malls now and the stores dish out the candy - as long as you bring mom, of course. I'm afraid that American traditions are being pushed by the wayside. It is a time of great change.
Happy Halloween anyway and...
Happy trails.
ROFL! All that candy and only little you to eat it! What a terrible thing!
Seriously, it is a shame that you went to all that trouble and were disappointed. I did that one year. I figured I was being a spoilsport, although it's not really an English thing, and I got all kinds of stuff ready (which I could ill afford at the time) only to be rewarded by a handful of kids and a resulting drift of litter up my path.
I don't do it anymore.
What to do with the leftover candy? You could hold blog competitions! LOL!
We had 30 kids our first year here in Washington, and since then it's dwindled to just a couple. This year 4 early teen boys showed up after 8, wearing masks but regular clothes. The Reeses bag is nearly gone now but I'm gonna be eating Smarties for months.
Your pumpkins were stunning though, absolutely beautiful.
Careful though...some of that candy will expire in 2017...
I bought 22 bags of candy (probably 20 pieces per bag). We had 8 bags leftover. Only 4 made it to work Monday. Guess who ate it all?
Nice pumpkin work!
p.s. Holy crap, Bruce.
They came in groups of 10-15 all night long. We went through 6 bags of candy in an hour. We had to get into the 'stash'. We turned off our light at 9:15because we were out.
My kids had full bags in less than an hour.
People are INSANE in my neighborhood. I've never seen anything like it! Next year, to stay open we may need to take out a LOAN....LOLOL!
Pumpkins are adorable!
Ed: I know… I used to buy my candy in batches each week so it wouldn’t seem so expensive; and every year I seem to buy too much for fear of running out.
Babs: I think it is shifting; from private homes to the malls. We have a large mall nearby that has held “safe trick or treating” for a few years now. It definitely has impacted on the volumes in the neighborhoods.
Hah Jeff! You just want more Coffee Crisps, right? ;) Well, I DO have some mini ones as a matter of fact…. Hmmm contest, say you? Might just do that…
Peggy Sez: Some girl at the office was trying to sell full sized candy bars only days before Halloween, for her daughter’s daycare. Now that’s what I call bad timing…
Fancy Schmancy: Ha! Thank you! So I am NOT the only one; but at least daughter is too old to bring home candy anymore. As a matter of fact, I think we STILL have candy from back when she did…
The Boisterous Butterfly: I know we overeat; luckily the chocolate bars are really, really tiny… so two or three don’t make too much of a dent… right? Right???
Technodoll: Hahaha!!! And too cool that your dog is named Dakotah too! Daughter named our cat that because we got her in North Dakota. She just added the “h” on the end to be posh….
Bruce: Holy crap! 2K? You gotta be kidding me… that’s just insane. Yes, I do consider myself lucky. Poor bastard…
Sly Hoax: Glad to hear I’m not the only one. Hold on, I guess I shouldn’t say “glad”, but at least I can relate…
Leslie: Welcome and thank you! I think you are right about parent’s precautions. The world’s not the same place as it was in the Sixties when I trick or treated.
Swubird: Hee hee! I think you are right; perhaps one day we will see the numbers go up again. I just hope I can still get up enough energy to still decorate like I do now! Happy Halloween albeit belated, to you too!
Jay: I KNOW! What a predicament… all this candy just sitting here…. Another suggestion for a contest…. Hmmmm you have me really thinking seriously about it. I shall have to break open a Hershey bar and do some serious pondering…
JoJo: Smarties are the best…and aw, thank you for the compliment. Sounds like the trend is North-American-wide.
VE: Well then, I’d better get to it…
Kathy: Ha! I can’t remember exactly how many bags I bought; but each of those 80 goodie bags had 7 pieces of candy inside. Add to that 560 pieces to all the stuff that didn’t even make it into the bags (a huge plastic cauldron half full) and you’re talking about 800 or so pieces… of that, less that 200 were given out, leaving over 600 remaining. Gad, I feel nauseous now.
Day Dreamer: Wow; I don’t think we’ve ever had more than 150. That was our busiest years; when daughter was young and the rest of the neighborhood had kids her age. Every year since has seen a decline (I keep count and have kept those numbers to reference the next year). Aw, and thanks for the compliment!
Last year we ran out of candy by 7:30 - I had about enough for 100 kids.
So this year I bought enough for about 120 ... and sure enough, only about 50 showed up.
There were definitely fewer tricksters out this year... hubs wonders if it's the economy. Kids didn't even come back with much for their efforts. I noticed a lot of darkened houses out there... bah humbug!!
This happened to me right after we moved into our house 10 years ago, tho I didn't go to nearly the trouble you did. Still, I was bitterly disappointed by the poor turnout.
But my disappointment turned to piggishness when I realized that all that candy was MINE! MINE! MINE!
JD at I Do Things
I know, we only had a few kids come too. What's with that on such a nice night? Maybe because we're on a shorter street that doesn't go all the way through to the main one? I don't know, but we only handed out about two bags full of Muskateer bars this year.
I had five and that was way more than I expected. Send me some candy, I will never turn down free candy. :)
Your raven pumpkin is AMAZING!
Aw man..what a bummer!
My son wouldn't even go trick-or-treating and I hadn't planned for visitors, so luckily no one stopped.
I made no effort, of course...so the fact that you did is even sadder.
Hee hee, the torture. 27 sounds loads to me as Halloween is a smaller affair over here. We had about 8 and that was more than we've ever had. I love all the prep you do, and your pumpkins are amazing hon.
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