How's your Halloween?

I bought marshmallows and hershey bars, made a fire in the firepit, and had a total of 2 trick or treaters. We always have our little friends make s'mores on our patio. Last year, it was very cold, so we didn't do the fire pit, and I had at least 20 kids. We live on a block with only 5 houses. The city closed off one of the main streets for trick or treaters, food trucks are also there, so I guess that's where everyone is. I put out the fire about a half hour ago, and in a little bit I'll turn off the porch light. Oh well, more hershey bars for me.

It's only 7 pm here, so we'll be getting kids for another hour or so. We've had 30 so far, which is pretty good for us. Some years we only get a couple. Mind you, some years it snows before Halloween :)

Busy, busy, busy. They started right at 4 and didn't quit until after 7. When people online ask where to take their kids, other people tell them our street, so we get a lot.

We had quite a few, kept us busy. Lots of parents dressed up, too, including my daughter-in-law, who was in an inflatable Sylvester the cat costume. My grandson (a leopard) picked it out for her. He is in a cat phase at the moment.

I had a bowl of candy, which we refilled twice, and a bowl of sweet peas, which also got refilled. Bought a big bag of them at Costco and was eating them for my dinner. I offered them as a joke to the kids, and to my surprise, many took a sweet pea instead of a candy, some took one of each. My grandson ate about 20. Big hit with the parents, also.

I ran out of sweet peas.

I brought in the pumpkin and shut off the lights about 9 pm. Our final total was 55 kids. That's pretty good for us. Some really good costumes, too. Two older kids dressed as members of the band Kiss were my favourites.

We had so much fun! Circa 15 cute little witches and four skeletons showed up. There were also three teddy bears. The teddy bears looked to be about 15, but I am all for people's right to candy.

Last year we ran out, and I had to turn away at least four groups of kids and felt like a monster. Was this why fewer kids came by this year? Had our reputation been ruined? Noooo! I am hoping it was the weather, though. This year we bought a loooot of candy, and it went fine. My husband really wanted some too, so he kept asking how much was left and would I please consider not opening the door any more... :D

>4 MrsLee: Sweet peas? Flowers or the green edible vegetables?

We ran out of candy by 6:30.

We're on a tiny private road with four houses and no kids, so no trick-or-treaters. But we had a dear friend over to watch "Arsenic and Old Lace" and have dinner, and it was lovely. I'd forgotten how funny that movie is!

>7 Karlstar: The edible green pod variety. :)

There were so many adorable costumes, and face makeup this year my brain boggles to say, all the way from very creepy, blood dripping vampires to sweet little ladybugs. One of my favorites was one of the homeless women who lives below our house, she had dressed up as "Mother Nature" and done a fantastic job. I thought it very appropriate. She and her friend took sweet peas.

I always help setting up the Halloween fireworks here (we don't have fireworks for Canada Day, because it isn't dark enough in June, so we have them for Halloween). So in the afternoon, we were at the firehall, getting everything ready, then we took it all over to the park to set up. One of my firefighter friends always sits there after it is all set up, as security. I went home to get ready for trick-or-treaters. I didn't do a good count, but think there were between 20 and 30 kids. Years ago we used to get hundreds, but the rec centre puts on a spook-a-rama event that many families go to instead. I do love seeing the costumes and kids. The fireworks are after spook-a-rama. It was a good show this year, except that one section didn't fire electronically and had to be set off by hand. In addition to setup, the firefighters do security, spark watch, and crowd control during the show, which means we get the best views. There was snow this year, so very little chance of problems from sparks. It was a good day!

>10 NorthernStar: Thank you; you have described why Bonfire Night doesn't work here, and Diwali only just does. Here in Durban we are virtually on the meridian that gives our standard time, and it only gets dark a short while before kiddiwinks' bed-times. New Year is, of course, an even worse time here, with twilight considerably after small people's bedtime. Cape Town, where sun-time is 3/4 hour behind standard time, is a worse place for fireworks.

>9 MrsLee: I'm impressed that you gave out peas and that people wanted them! Scary. :)

Seeing as how the last time someone rang my doorbell for this activity, that someone was friend of my youngest son, and it was over 20 years ago. I live next to a greenbelt, about as wide as a football field is long. Kids tend to avoid streets that cross the greenbelt due to the lack of domicile density. In short, nothing to report regarding trick-or-treaters.

But, it was Thursday, and that means I had to play for an Open Mic Night (OMN) at a place called the Three-Legged Goat. I was surprised to see so many of the other performers and audience dressed up in costumes. Regardless, I did my set - five songs - and then the owner announced it was time for the contest, and that everyone who wanted to compete for a $50 gift card should come up front for the judges to do their thing. So, I got off the stage and stood in line. When they called on me to explain my "costume," I said, "Well, there's a $50 prize, so I guess I'm a 12-year-old-girl dressed up like a fat old man with a guitar." I took 4th place- out ten.

>13 WholeHouseLibrary: Next time I end up anywhere near a costume competition, I'd love to do something similar 🤣

It’s a crazy night in my neighborhood. We get around 500 kids. It’s always fun watching the littles try to figure it out and the teens just having a good time. There was one time when I had a group of littles getting treats. I couldn’t see behind them because I was sitting down. When they moved, there was a rather tall teen in a very scary costume (some slasher dude) just standing there. It was funny and perfectly creepy!

I think we would’ve had more kids but it was super cold and rainy. The wind was awful! Even with my electric blankie The Husband bought me for just this occasion, I was so cold!

And because of conferences, no school on Friday! That was nice.