But, I'm not man enough (i.e., yang) to say no. I can't shut it down without an alternative. My Mennonite and Seventh Day Adventist neighbors don't send their kids out begging for candy. I should ask them how they do it. Can this "holiday" exist without all the candy? Looking at my photos, I think it is possible. I'll just have to put some effort into it. We could do a lot to avoid the candy-begging: carve a pumpkin or two; bob for apples; make caramel apples; watch Harry Potter movies; go for a sunset hike in the graveyard; drive to dark place, look at the stars, and tell stories about long dead family members; build a bonfire to roast hot dogs; ...
Anyone out there find a way to minimize the candy-grab or are you like me and send your kids out because that's what everyone else does?
Have we leaned nothing from Hansel and Gretel?, October 2010
Consider the lesson, October 2010
This is my joy, October 2010
Be someone else for a night (that's cool), October 2010
Is this what it's about?, October 2010
That's more like it, October 2010
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4 comments:
I loved this post,because I sympathize with your dilemma.Last year I made up bags of fruit,orange,apple,pear and a banana,O boy you should have seen the look on their ghoul painted faces,they were not amused,I wondered if they would play a trick on me as I had not given a treat.!!!
This year I relented slightly and bought healthy sweets,the ones with no sugar and made from vegetable jelly,they were called veggie bears,rather like jelly babies only more healthy.Guess what,I did not have any callers !! I THINK THEY REMEMBERED LAST YEAR.
The pumpkin carving shot is classic. The trick is to live in the middle of nowhere, so your father has to drive you from house to house because the neighbours live so far apart. At the end of the night you will be thrilled with your tiny pile of candy because it is all you know. You will make that tiny pile of candy last as long as possible. I was never very good at that but my brother was.
Then there is taking part in a community event instead of trick or treating, or just going to a limited number of houses instead of a hundred.
Really, I don't know. I don't have children, I'm addicted to sweets and I love Halloween. I would be bound to fail miserably.
its a tricky one - it really wasn't that big a thing here when i was a kid: you got the odd one here and there - now its wall to wall kids for 2 hours
So i pretend to be out.
What about arranging a party for your kids and some of their friends where you can control how much sugar they eat?
Thanks friends.
Matron, that was a good trick to get rid of the candy-beggars!
Purestgreen, I like the idea of moving far far away. I think I need to look at myself in all this. Why the aversion? It's only one night.
Pixie, This may be an option. We need to meet more candy-haters and get together. Either that or convert to the Mennonite religion. I don't think my wife would consent to the social restrictions though. And we'd have to learn Plaudietch. Too much work.
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