Saturday, November 01, 2008

The Sad State of Halloween

My neighborhood sucks on Halloween. We found this out the hard way, when Connor was two and we forced him into a costume with the promise of candy. He and Chip went around our cove and found that almost no one was home to give out any treats. The following year we didn't care, since Connor was too scared to put on a costume and troll the neighborhood, but it still sucked that our doorbell only rang a couple of times. How did we manage to move into a neighborhood with no kids and no sense of community?

Last year we got with the program and traveled to a far superior neighborhood for trick or treating. Unfortunately, neither kid thought the endeavor was much fun. It was dark, we were knocking on stranger's doors- too scary! After visiting two houses the mission was aborted and we hopped in the car to go back home.

This year, finally, both kids were into it. We went to multiple Halloween festivals, had parties at school, and were ready to go back to the far superior neighborhood for another try. It was great! My Care Bear and my Spiderman and their many costumed friends had a great time trotting up and down Stonewall collecting candy. Chloe was dilligent in saying both "trick or treat" and "thank you," and could be counted on to stand on a porch repeating "thank you" until she was acknowledged with a "you're welcome." It was a lot of fun, and we got a good haul of candy.

As we drove back to our neighborhood, we were confronted at the entrance by a family standing out by their mailbox, begging us to stop. "Don't you want some candy!" they yelled, at our car and others. I felt so bad for them, knowing they were new to the area and that they had probably hyped the holiday to their toddler. Now they were standing in the yard, wishing that someone would come by. As we continued into our cove, I saw that the one house that had been decorated for Halloween was still optimistically lit up. I felt profoundly sad for them and the other family, knowing what a disappointment the night must have been.

Let this be a lesson to you all- never buy a house until you know what Halloween is like in the neighborhood. It's more important than you think.


Anonymous said...

why not make YOUR community a better place for kids? your comment about the optimistic neighbors who had "hyped the holiday" sounded weirdly smug... why not knock on a few doors or pass out flyers to plan a trick-or-treat route for next year?

Stephanie said...

There just aren't many kids on my block, and there's not much I can do about that. I certainly did not feel smug- I felt sad, because I remembered when I got my kid all excited about Halloween and it was kind of a bust. But thanks for the insult- I needed another one today.