Thought that since today's Halloween, I'd make this topic.

Anyway, is it just me or does Halloween really seem like a shadow of its former self?  Around here, it used to be a great time of trick or treating for as long as you want and people used to put up all sorts of decorations in front of their homes for Halloween.

Now, we only get trick or treaters for about...an hour or so, and its always an earlier hour in the night.  Not like in the past, when we'd still be getting trick or treaters over two hours later (obviously people from different neighborhoods making their way over here for more candy).  As for decorations, that has really gone downhill.  The amount of people who decorate for Halloween seems to have been halved as Halloween decorations in front of houses, while still visible,are a lot less common.  Come to think of it, holiday decorations in general don't seem to be as common, but thats another story.  I also remember when you could dress up in your Halloween costume for school as a special "dress up" day at school.  Now, the elementary schools don't do that at all and the only schools around here that do that seem to be the high schools as part of "Spirit Week" (which is ironic, older kids having Halloween costume day while younger kids don't).  Thankfully, the schools haven't banned Halloween, which has actually happened in some places.

Anyway, is it just my area or is Halloween just not what it used to be?  

All depends on where you are I guess.  I am from the Boston area and Halloween is big around here.  There are some people who decorate their houses as much on Halloween as they do on Christmas.  A lot of the stores let the employees come in costume.  I am not far from Salem and can't even go there on Halloween anymore because the whole city celebrates.

I know what you are saying. For instance, I know they do this for safety and everything...but our trick-or-treating is now in the middle of the day (from 2-4 pm)...on the Sunday afternoon before Halloween.  The fun was always dressing up in your costume and going at night. It just doesn't seem the same having to go in the middle of the day now.

People around here still decorate a lot...but I have noticed that instead of the crazy, creepy, gouls and monster decorations...people are opting to decorate more in a harvest theme (with pumpkins, cornstalks, scarecrows, etc).  There are a few people who go all out with the scary decorations...but they are far and few between.

As far as school and dressing up. When we were younger we were able to actually wear our costumes to school and all day long it was basically a party. Now, they make you take your costume to school and they allow the last 2 hours of the day to be the parade/party time.

Well...it has changed in California over the years too. When I was a little kid, in the 80's, Halloween was fun; I got to enjoy it. In 1993, when I was 13, I decided that would be the last time I'd dress up, figuring I was "outgrowing" that aspect.

For the next couple years, we would give out candy to trick-or-treaters who came to our door. Later on in the 90's, however, it began to get crazy in our neighborhood. Sometimes we'd have 20 people come to the door at once, most of whom didn't even live in our neighborhood. Kids (and grownups who still have the minds of kids) seem to come from all over just to trick-or-treat, and that doesn't seem right. Going to the mall for trick-or-treating is one thing (as I did one time), but to do it in a neighborhood, where you don't live, that's another. So for the past ten years, we have not been answering the door; we've done our best to keep it quiet (and dark). Cuz we never know what kind of trouble might be lurking on the other side.

I will be honest, I don't live in a great neighborhood and in my neighborhood it is mostly Muslim people living in the area. As a result of that, we only get trick-or-treaters from around 5-7p.m, which is all the little kids and babies. After that, nothing...no trick-or-treaters at all. It sucks! I hate it...we used to get a lot more people like 10-15 years ago. I remember we were forever running out of candy. Oh well...I miss the way Halloween used to be before, when we had more young families living in the area. Unfortunately, all those kids grew up and don't trick-or-treat anymore.

I will be honest, I don't live in a great neighborhood and in my neighborhood it is mostly Muslim people living in the area. As a result of that, we only get trick-or-treaters from around 5-7p.m, which is all the little kids and babies. After that, nothing...no trick-or-treaters at all. It sucks! I hate it...we used to get a lot more people like 10-15 years ago. I remember we were forever running out of candy. Oh well...I miss the way Halloween used to be before, when we had more young families living in the area. Unfortunately, all those kids grew up and don't trick-or-treat anymore.


It isn't because of the Muslims that you don't get many trick or treaters, it is just that people don't let their kids do it like they used to.  Halloween is big around here except the trick of treat part.  People take their kids to a mall party or something like that, the ones that do trick or treat confine it to familiar friends and neighbors.  I live in what should be a high traffic trick of treat neighborhood, lots of kids, decorations(goulies and ghosts, not pumkins and corn), but I never get more than 5 trick or treaters.

Around here, Halloween is HUGE!!! There is a house down the road from us who each year a new decoration is added to the yard. We have so many trick-or-treaters that we always run out of candy before we run out of kids (and I usually get about 10-12 bags  :o :o :o ).  The "Big" city close to where we live has a parade every year which seems to get bigger & bigger every year.

On a side note, when I was a kid, the neighborhood where I lived always celebrated Halloween on the Saturday adjacent to the 31st. The entire neighborhood would be involved. We would have a parade with the fire department leading it and ending at the playground (which was in the center of the neighborhood). They would have judging on the costumes and then all the kids went trick-or-treating. By the time the sun went down, all the candy was handed out and all the little ghosts & goblins were back home safe & sound. It wasn't until I moved from that neighborhood (about 8 years old) that I even HEARD of trick-or-treating at night. When someone told me they were going to wait until dark, I thought that all the candy would be gone by then. Then I realized that I was the one who didn't have a clue. I wonder if that neighborhood is still doing what they used to or if it had changed. My guess is that it changed and has less involvement.



Cat

We haven't had trick-or-treaters in 5 years!  I miss seeing their cute little costumes, Halloween used to be my favorite holiday.

Our apartment building has a locked entrance which explains why we don't have trick-or-treaters from other buildings but we never have anyone that lives in our building either.  :\'(

Well, I'm glad to see that at least some of it has to do with my area.  I'm jealous of you people who live in places where Halloween is still hugely popular.  On the other hand, other people say they haven't had trick or treaters or anything like that for years.  It looks like it just depends on your area, I guess.

Even though I haven't trick or treated since 1993, I definitely see what you're saying. I've noticed this decline with the years myself too. People don't seem to be as "into it" anymore. On the years where I've been home, there's hardly any kids who come to the door in the last few years. I think what's happening is that schools and other places, while having good intentions, end up going overboard and taking all the fun out of it. I wouldn't want to be a kid (under 11 or 12) now trick or treating. It sort of defeats the purpose to do it anytime before dark or at least twilight. For safety, they should either travel in groups or have a parent/older sibling/other adult travel with the kids as opposed to moving it to the early afternoon. That also means less people are at home to hand out candy in the first place.

In some ways, I think the feeling of classic Halloween goes hand in hand with the '80s - elaborate, slightly mischievious yet ultimately innocent fun.

I only got to do a proper trick or treating excursion one year, because I joined in with a friend who lived in a denser neighborhood.  Same street, just three miles closer to the center of town, half-acre lots instead of the more rural area I was in.  We never get trick or treaters, though I guess now that they built a few dozen new homes recently, we might get a few more than we used to.

The whole "razor blade in the apple" urban legend didn't dissuade kids when I was younger, but I'm guessing parents now are a little more believing in that myth.  Combine that with the fact that kids aren't allowed to roam as freely as they used to, and the only way anyone under the age of 12 is going to go out, is with a parent. 


All depends on where you are I guess.  I am from the Boston area and Halloween is big around here.  There are some people who decorate their houses as much on Halloween as they do on Christmas.  A lot of the stores let the employees come in costume.  I am not far from Salem and can't even go there on Halloween anymore because the whole city celebrates.


I'm an hour west of you, and it's very subdued out here.  Salem is such a tourist trap, but at least they have something they can get tourist bucks from. 

I think when Neal hits five or six, I'm doing the whole yard and house up.  Just go all out for a couple years.  Even if I'm the only one on the street doing it.

We had a 5.6 earthquake last night at 8:04:54 pm.I was just thinking it woul;d have been kick-ass funny if it had happened just as you were opening the door to trick-or-treaters! :-*The tining is kind of like opening presents prematurely.

I can defintely relate. We hardly get any trick or treaters anymore (maybe around 5 or 6, sometimes in groups) , and they are mostly babies and young children. I remember 5 years ago, the whole neighborhood would be invaded. Pretty much all the kids in my neighborhood are "grown up" now, but alot of kids at my school are trick or treating. Decorations have defintely decreased too. Mostly just plain pumpkins, and not much else. Alot of "harvest-y" type things, and nothing really Halloween inspired. There also doesn't even seem to be as many Halloween-related shows on this year, but that's probably just in my head.

Also, when I was in junior high, alot of kids starting saying that they were only going to "rich" neighborhoods to trick or treat. So many that's why there aren't many kids around these days....They all think if they go to the more affluent neighborhoods, they'll get better candy.

Anyway, is it just me or does Halloween really seem like a shadow of its former self?  Around here, it used to be a great time of trick or treating for as long as you want and people used to put up all sorts of decorations in front of their homes for Halloween.


Agreeing with the previous post, where I live we don't have hardly any trick-or-treaters anymore (North Carolina).  Here it seems that mall Halloween events and parties are much more popular than trick-or-treating now - in fact last year we had leftover candy at our house for weeks because we had so few trick or treaters.  Years ago it was like a block party in the neighborhood with the streets filled with costumed kids...not anymore.

But I don't think that Halloween is dying off, I just think that it is changing.  People do other things besides trick-or-treating now.

I just got back from my mother's house, we took Neal (2 years old now) to do his first trick or treat.  Too young to be really into it, he spent the time staring at my mother's fish tank.

She didn't realize they'd be starting when it was light out, she usually gets tons of kids so she stopped turning her lights on and would just sit in the dark.  So she ended up giving away all her pudding cups and little debbie treats.  Hope the kids get to eat them, and the parents don't confiscate them (they are wrapped in plastic, but not sure if that's still considered ok).  So I guess they're still doing it around here in the denser neighborhoods.

I miss the way Halloween used to be. Back in the 80's, the streets and sidewalks would be crawling with kids. My parents could hardly keep enough candy around for everyone! I loved the parties we used to have in our classrooms, too-many of them turned into all-day affairs! Those classroom parties rocked-whether it was Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, Easter, or those last day of school bashes. It gave us an excuse to do no school work and snack on goodies all day long.  ;D

It still is what it used to be in some places & this must be the neighborhood to bring your kids to, because the streets are full of kids and families. It's great. the weather is really nice tonight so that helps. Diane better have a lot of candy because they're out in force over here. When we lived in another part of town, maybe 2-3 kids came and that was it. Now it's going to be hundreds of kids tonight and our doorbell is so frikken loud!!! I just got home and it's ringing pretty steadily. When we moved out here in August 5 years ago, that's one of the things I thought was great about this area, that Halloween was really seeming like the trick or treat event that it used to be when i was a kid. my bro-in-law lives around the block and is bringing his 3 kids, so they'll get a handfull or 2 each  ;)

I think it's more fun for my children then it was for me.

I grew up in New York and we would trick-or-treat right after school and be home by the time it got dark.  After dark the teens would be out egging and creaming (shaving cream) each other and peoples homes.

I don't remember people decorating much when I was a kid, some people had pumpkins (but they usually got smashed) and maybe a paper jack-o-lantern on the door.

I live in a small town in Virginia now, and it's much different.  I see people go all out with the decorating-lights, moving creatures, spiderwebs.  Parents dressing up to hand out candy.  My kids don't start until it's dark, and go for a couple of hours.  I don't usually give out candy because I'm out with the kids, but I know we had a crowd in our neighborhood. 

The decorated houses have gotten a lot better.  There are some here that get pretty elaborate with skeletons popping out of coffins. There was a new story yesterday that has said it is catching up to Christmas for the amount spent on decorations and costumes

Last night felt a little more like the Halloweens of my childhood. Jason is old enough to sorta know what it's about and would go up to the doors and say, "Twick tweat" and then blow them kisses (his way of saying thank you). ;D On top of that, there were a LOT of kids out in costumes and I'm glad to say that most of them were original (someone dressed as a television!) and cute. I had a lot of fun last night and the weather was perfect. :)

We don't give out candy, but we like to sit outside in the dark to see the kids go by in their costumes and such. No such luck last night. The city is trying to make it where children can only trick or treat between the hours of 6 and 8 - not to mention that they are also trying to impose age restrictions on it as well. 12 and under is where they would like it.

I remember being so excited when I was younger, it was all my mom could do to keep me in the house until is got a little bit dark outside! We also used to do the swap neighborhood thing too. My cousins would come to ours and go out with us and then we would go to theirs. My haul was always a pillow case + but now I see kids with barely any treats at all. It is actually depressing to me. I think next year even though The Son will be 16, I will let him host a Halloween Party - just so that I get some fun out of it! (Not to mention that hubby will be home then too and he loves to scare the crap out of kids!)

Maybe people are reproducing less. The kids are growing up, and there are no other kids to take their place.

I never knew anybody went trick-or-treating in daylight until "E.T."  Seriously.  Trick-or-treating was done after dusk.  Period.  Going in the day would have been like celebrating Thanksgiving on Monday!

Of course, I spent my childhood in small-town New Hampshire, not the inner city or restless enclaves where it wasn't safe to be out after dark.  In fact, what I had was Halloween picturesque: A New England village with a chill in the air and fallen leaves rustling in the wind.  It was a village you could walk with lots houses dating back to the mid-1800s and Colonial era.  We generally went as ghosts, witches, devils, vampires, skeletons, and the like.  You could go as a Disney character, but that was sort of lame. 

There were a few magical years when we were old enough to go out unchaperoned, but not too old to trick-or-treat.  Out came the eggs, shaving cream, and TP.  We nailed cars, houses, barns, other trick-or-treaters, and one another.  It could get a bit nasty.  One time Kevin nailed me with shaving cream right in the eyes and he was too big for me to do anything back to him, the big fat f*ck.  Another time Matt ambushed Jon and me with eggs. Caught us off guard.  Then he sneered about "Whatsa matter you wusses, can't take a joke, it's Halloween."  We reloaded with our supplies from under his porch, caught up with Matt and nailed him and his sister with about three dozen eggs rapid fire.  Boy, did they get P.O.'d, but we got to yell, "Part of the fun of Halloween!  See ya!"  The grudges didn't carry over.  The next day it was Matt's mom who was mad at us because we destroyed his brand new LL Bean jacket or some crap.  Between us kids, Halloween was Halloween. 

There were older teenagers who used to go out and make trouble.  We did our best to avoid them.  One time they tied Dave to an obelisk in the cemetery and left him there!
::)

But it was the teens who the cops hassled because they would do serious vandalism.  If you looked to big to be trick-or-treating, you might get a cop's flashlight in your face. The more the cops watched the teenagers, the less they watched us.

Rumors abounded about razors in apples and poisoned candy, but nothing of the sort ever turned up.  Oh, and nobody rang Mr. Pinkham's doorbell because he was this weird, mean old man who didn't like kids.  He lived in a ramshackled cape at the far end of Blood Road (yes, it was really called that after the Blood family), and rumor had it that one year some kids trick-or-treated at his house and he peed in all their bags.  I suspect now Pinkham started the rumor himself!
;D

Nevertheless, there was a kind of trust back then that doesn't exist anywhere anymore, I doubt even in small New England towns.  People made up spooky stories because it was Halloween, but nobody ever got seriously harmed.  Nowadays whether or not there is any real danger, the fear-mongering media makes it seem like there's a sex-crazed ax-murderer behind every hedge just waiting for little Johnny and Suzie to come along.
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Maybe people are reproducing less. The kids are growing up, and there are no other kids to take their place.


I think there's something to that.  Back in the 1950s and 1960s during the Baby Boom years there might be three or four times the number of kids in a given town there there are today.  I noticed a steep drop-off in the early '80s. 

I never knew anybody went trick-or-treating in daylight until "E.T."  Seriously.  Trick-or-treating was done after dusk.  Period.  Going in the day would have been like celebrating Thanksgiving on Monday!

Of course, I spent my childhood in small-town New Hampshire, not the inner city or restless enclaves where it wasn't safe to be out after dark.  In fact, what I had was Halloween picturesque: A New England village with a chill in the air and fallen leaves rustling in the wind.  It was a village you could walk with lots houses dating back to the mid-1800s and Colonial era.  We generally went as ghosts, witches, devils, vampires, skeletons, and the like.  You could go as a Disney character, but that was sort of lame. 

There were a few magical years when we were old enough to go out unchaperoned, but not too old to trick-or-treat.  Out came the eggs, shaving cream, and TP.  We nailed cars, houses, barns, other trick-or-treaters, and one another.  It could get a bit nasty.  One time Kevin nailed me with shaving cream right in the eyes and he was too big for me to do anything back to him, the big fat f*ck.  Another time Matt ambushed Jon and me with eggs. Caught us off guard.  Then he sneered about "Whatsa matter you wusses, can't take a joke, it's Halloween."  We reloaded with our supplies from under his porch, caught up with Matt and nailed him and his sister with about three dozen eggs rapid fire.  Boy, did they get P.O.'d, but we got to yell, "Part of the fun of Halloween!  See ya!"  The grudges didn't carry over.  The next day it was Matt's mom who was mad at us because we destroyed his brand new LL Bean jacket or some crap.  Between us kids, Halloween was Halloween. 

There were older teenagers who used to go out and make trouble.  We did our best to avoid them.  One time they tied Dave to an obelisk in the cemetery and left him there!
::)

But it was the teens who the cops hassled because they would do serious vandalism.  If you looked to big to be trick-or-treating, you might get a cop's flashlight in your face. The more the cops watched the teenagers, the less they watched us.

Rumors abounded about razors in apples and poisoned candy, but nothing of the sort ever turned up.  Oh, and nobody rang Mr. Pinkham's doorbell because he was this weird, mean old man who didn't like kids.  He lived in a ramshackled cape at the far end of Blood Road (yes, it was really called that after the Blood family), and rumor had it that one year some kids trick-or-treated at his house and he peed in all their bags.  I suspect now Pinkham started the rumor himself!
;D

Nevertheless, there was a kind of trust back then that doesn't exist anywhere anymore, I doubt even in small New England towns.  People made up spooky stories because it was Halloween, but nobody ever got seriously harmed.  Nowadays whether or not there is any real danger, the fear-mongering media makes it seem like there's a sex-crazed ax-murderer behind every hedge just waiting for little Johnny and Suzie to come along.
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You sure do tell a good story Max & your memories of Halloween were very enjoyable to read, & you were quite the halloween bad boy back in the day  ;D  I could relate to the egg throwing and I remember those older bad kids stealing bags of candy, but then me and my hoodlum friends got older and became the candy swipers, but not from little kids, from kids our own age because we were bad ass's  ;D  My costumes were always devils. i remember bringing home our bags of loot and my dad discarding anything homemade which was fine with me, I didn't want some crummy popcorn ball made by some creepy old lady anyways.

This is our first year here so I can't compare it to years ago.  Locally a lot of houses are decorated for Halloween inside and outside the house.  My two went around to a friends house and a small group of them went around the street trick or treating.  The family said that they didn't see many kids any more because most of the houses now had older kids or 'empty nests'.  The children managed to come home with full pails and also collected some money for UNICEF.

The school is also organising a candy drive for you to hand over any leftover candy.  It will be distributed to a local shelter and also sent to the troops.

Part of the blame goes to paranoia and the lack of trust in our culture.  Trick or treaters in many areas do their thing before sundown since it's not safe to go out at night.

Another part of the blame could be attributed to the religious morons that think Halloween is evil.  They think its connection to paganism somehow makes it sinister, yet a lot of these same people seemed to have missed the boat on the fact that the only reason Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25th is because Saturnalia (a pagan holiday) was its predecessor. Essentially, if they actually knew any history and wanted to be consistent, they'd start celebrating Christmas in the spring, since Jesus was most likely born during that time of year rather than winter.

I just realized that we didn't get any trick-or-treaters for UNICEF this year. We usually get a few but this year-none. Whenever we get some-we give them $$ but we also give them candy, too.



Cat

I just realized that we didn't get any trick-or-treaters for UNICEF this year. We usually get a few but this year-none. Whenever we get some-we give them $$ but we also give them candy, too.



Cat


That's really sad.  :( Come to think of it, it's been quite a few years since I've seen trick-or-treaters with UNICEF boxes.  :(

That's really sad.  :( Come to think of it, it's been quite a few years since I've seen trick-or-treaters with UNICEF boxes.  :(



wow...that must not be a thing around here...because I have never gotten anyone with UNICEF boxes. ???

wow...that must not be a thing around here...because I have never gotten anyone with UNICEF boxes. ???


I never have, but I never give cash in any of those boxes or buckets anyway.  I worked in a public charities office and learned to never, ever, do that.

I never have, but I never give cash in any of those boxes or buckets anyway.  I worked in a public charities office and learned to never, ever, do that.


Are you suggesting the cash doesn't always find its way to the starving children of the world?
???

There were a couple of years in my town when two of the three selectmen (not that PC "selectboard" stuff, selectmen) were in the John Birch Society we couldn't trick-or-treat for UNICEF because the commies ran it.  Nobody fought them on it.  The town just wasn't going to distribute the materials.  I heard about it because my dad made a joke about it.  I didn't even know what UNICEF was.  I think if a bloc of citizens started petitioning the selectmen, they would have backed down.  They wouldn't want their names in the local papers as depriving little children of shoes or something.  My dad made perverse jokes, but the joke was on him!  He dropped out of grad school to be a hippie farmer in the country, get away from all those surburban squares.  He ends up in a hick town run by John Birchers, way to go pops!
;D


You sure do tell a good story Max & your memories of Halloween were very enjoyable to read, & you were quite the halloween bad boy back in the day  ;D  I could relate to the egg throwing and I remember those older bad kids stealing bags of candy, but then me and my hoodlum friends got older and became the candy swipers, but not from little kids, from kids our own age because we were bad ass's  ;D  My costumes were always devils. i remember bringing home our bags of loot and my dad discarding anything homemade which was fine with me, I didn't want some crummy popcorn ball made by some creepy old lady anyways.
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Indeed, indeed!

Thanks BFF.  It's funny that it was really only a few years we did that stuff.  I wasn't the type of teenager interested in going out and vandalizing stuff.  I had more than my share of adolescent problems, but that wasn't one of them.  I also never understood stealing candy from little kids.  I still don't.  WTF?  Wouldn't it make you feel like the lamest 15-year-old in the world?  I knocked down an 8-year-old and stole some Mars Bars from him, I'm soooo awesome!
:D

Yeah, we had the same sentiment about homemades.  Our parents didn't mind us getting them, but they were inferior.  They didn't give you the same crack cocaine-type sugar rush as, like, Smarties and Good 'n' Plenties!  Oh, and you parents out there who think you're fighting the obesity epidemic by handing out apples, don't do that!  If kids are anything like we were those apples become ammo!