Time to ease off the gas a bit and hang out with Craig and
Kim and the boys. Tonight was Halloween
and Trick or Treating was on the agenda.
It is such a big thing here and is much more than just about trick or
treating. We’ve seen some discussion on
Stuff about it’s place in NZ and lots of arguments for and against, and some of
the issues raised about it in NZ are just not an issue here in the US. For example, there have been some negative
comments about people having their door knocked when they don’t want to take
part. And kids being sent out to ask for
candy from strangers, and is that really safe.
All of which are valid concerns.
Here, trick or treating is done as a community, a few families will join
up with adults and kids in costume and walk together around the neighbourhood. The kids have at least one adult with them
all the time, and houses that are clearly not partaking (no decorations, no
lights on) are never approached. Some
houses will offer warmed cider for the adults as well as candy for the kids. Craig J and I had gone to the Halloween store
to buy costumes (they have stores called Spirit that pop up in empty shops for
a few months before Halloween, much like th Crhistmas pop-up stores we see) and
came away equipped for scaring the neighbours.
Craig had bought a full Jesters outfit including mask, and I had got
some creepy super-long-fingered gloves, and had elected to use a scream mask
that C & K already had in their costume basket.
J used some of Craig’s old shorts and t-shirt and bought
latex “wounds” for his arm and face.
By about 9pm the kids were getting tired and had accumulated
an obscene amount of sugary candy in their goodie sacks, so we headed home,
packed them off to bed and went downstairs to the basement to watch spooky
Halloween movies until everyone started falling asleep.
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