Halloween - the results show

Well, we had a butt-load of trick-or-treaters, so many that we ran out of candy just after nine and had to shut it down, take in the jack-o-lantern and turn all the lights out. Lots of cute little kids, some less cute, less "kids", but the really disappointing thing was that so many kids had no costume at all. Not even a goofy hat or a little face paint. So lame. I did lots of last-minute costumes in my time, but it was just not done to go out with no costume. I'd say maybe half of the kids had no costume, just an open bag and in some cases, a slightly guilty look. I still gave them candy, but I heard that out neighbor was making kids with no costume sing a song. Good for him.

It got me thinking about the costumes of my childhood too. There were certainly no store bought costumes, with the exception of some thrift-store bits. I remember some old standards - clown, witch, ghost, gypsy, punk, hippie, Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. A cool bellydancer. An excellent painstakingly made flower. Something involving tinfoil and egg cartons, maybe a robot? My parents were pretty crafty and not inclined to spend money when there were perfectly good dress-up clothes and household items that would do. More recently Cyndi Lauper, a 60's go-go dancer, Bluebeard's wife.

For a couple of years at the very end of the trick-or-treating timeline - OK, we were too old - friends and I would go around this one neighborhood multiple times, stopping back at Krista's house for a costume change before the next lap. Who knows if we fooled anyone, but at least we made an effort. One year we even had a song prepared in case we felt we really needed to earn that mini Snickers bar.

Oh, and for the record, I kept it to one Kraft caramel, one mini Tootsie roll, and one butterscotch hard candy last night. Couldn't let the kids go hungry.