The Decline Of Halloween

[Almighty Colin]

When I was a kid, I remember the streets being filled with kids trick-or-treating. Some people even went through the trouble to make their house into a haunted house and invited kids in. I would stay out trick-or-treating for hours and tried to fill two pillow cases with candy - a personal challenge.

Last year not a single trick-or-treater came by.

This year. Just one. I live in neighborhood with a lot of kids.

Halloween ain't what it used to be.

[Mike AI]

Colin I made a post earlier about the same thing.

There used to be hundred of kinds going aroud my old neighborhood...

But with the advent of people putting needleds and rzor blades in candy/fruit, children being abducted, snipers running around, this country has changed.

There are a lot more planned activities - like Boo at the Zoo, and other orginized activities at malls and such... much more sterile, but I guess parents think its safer.

[Almighty Colin]

Mike,

It is interesting that the grocery stores still have pallets full of candy to sell at Halloween time. I think everyone is buying a few bags like in the "old days" and then eating candy for a good month after.

[Peaches]

We would start as soon as the sun went down (we'd never DARE go out while it was still light!) and not come in until our legs were about to fall off! And we always used pillowcases as treat bags - they'd hold the most and you didn't have to worry about them breaking under the heavy load. Through the night, you'd meet up with people, they'd tell you where the "good houses" were - the ones with cokes, or candied apples, or FULL SIZED bars of chocolate! :D

Then you'd come home (usually after midnight) and take the stuff you didnt' like and give it your parents or younger sibling ;) and if you were quick, you could grab what YOU liked from same younger siblings, hehehe. Parents didn't worry about you - you were safe because you were in your neighborhood. People weren't transient - they'd usually been there for 5+ years each.

As I got older and started taking my kid around, I especially liked the neighbors that provided toddies for the adults - after a couple of hours of taking the kiddies trick or treating, you had a nice buzz so your night wasn't a total wash :D

Then you had the beat up cars dropping their kids off in the "nicer" neighborhoods.

Nowadays, I'll be worried to death letting a 10-14 year old out all night going from door to door. Pisses me off that my grandkids won't be able to have fun like that :angry:

[Almighty Colin]

"Then you had the beat up cars dropping their kids off in the "nicer" neighborhoods. "

Haha. That was me! We were poor but my parents were upwardly mobile in spirit at least.

[mojobill]

I dont know.......... there were a TON of kids in my neighborhood... little things ran me out of all the candy we bought.....

I was really looking forward to eating that candy too! :rolleyes:

[Almighty Colin]

Fatbaby - where do you live?

[Almighty Colin]

Remember when kids used to play outside? Before nintendo, the internet, xbox, playstation, etc.

[Edd]

You're right, Mike - it has changed a lot - but then you get neighborhoods like mine where there were 4 HUGE parties up and down the street with PACKS of kids going from house to house for goodies - some of these delinquents didn't even bother with costumes! :rolleyes: I'm sure they all had a good time - it sure sounded like it as I listened from my dark living room watching hammer films all night :blink:

[Mike AI]

Colin, my kids will have their asses outside playing - especially if the weather is nice. No computers or xboxs for them....

Playing outside is still one of my favorite memeries. The hours of football, and basketball we played. Going to the woods by the house ( before it was developed into a subdivision) and building tree houses and such... Those were some fun, good days... I had so much energy then! haha

:D

[Almighty Colin]

Mike - did YOU play outside today?

[Honeyslut]

The gated communities and houses in town are busy in the county that I live in but the rest of us are in the sticks so we don't get any trick or treaters !


I treated my girls and two of their friends to the movies ! :D



Last edited by Honeyslut at Nov 1 2002, 03:20 PM

[wig]

Originally posted by Colin@Nov 1 2002, 02:07 PM
Remember when kids used to play outside? Before nintendo, the internet, xbox, playstation, etc.
Colin, yeah... i like to think that all we had was a football and an old shoe (but that would be stretching it) :biglaugh:

Definitely outside, though. building forts, playing all sports, mud slides, BB Gun fights, fishing, etc. we would just make shit up if we needed to, but it was always outside.

with 4 boys in our family, mu mom always kicked our asses out the door. :rokk:

[Almighty Colin]

The first thing I did when I moved to Florida as a kid was organize an orange fight.

It's difficult to learn real leadership skills playing video games.



Last edited by Colin at Nov 1 2002, 04:03 PM

[Mike AI]

Nope, no playing outside today.... though it is a beautiful day here in NO.

I have no one to play with... that and I am sick.

I did throw the frisbee with my dogs though - does that count? :biglaugh:

[Dianna Vesta]

Like I said ... I make sure I buy candy I'm going to eat. I had a total of 12 kids and that ws in group of 3 or 4.

In the Adirondacks I lived in a small village. Last year everyone on the block decorated their houses. I live on Elm street and did a spooky Nightmare on Elm street theme. Theer were so many kids I had to send someone out for more candy.

I was amazed because it ws the first halloween after 9/11 but in small towns everyone knows you. That's both good and bad.

I think I'm going to take the candy to the lady at the gas station. I don't need this!

Hey is it snowing up north?

Dianna

[Mutt]

yup it's been the same up here for at least 10 or 15 years. I think yuppie parents are way overprotective. Kids lead really different lives than the one i lived in suburbia.

Maybe that's why there are a hundreds of thousands of girls who wanna be pornstars these days. Kids who are overprotected rebel at some point.

I see almost no pickup hockey, touch football, basketball and ZERO baseball games on the streets or in the parks.

Though ya know, if Playstation and Internet porn had been around when I was 12 not sure i'd have been so enthusiastic about going outside to play a sport.

Man am i glad the Internet wasn't around, i would have literally pulled my penis off the bone I fear!

[RichC]

Halloween turn out was disappointing for me...I was well stocked to hook the neighborhood kids up. I had nothing but the full size candy bars....
Shit, I was thinking about it last night....... I still remember today which houses had the full size candy bars when I was a kid....I always ran to them :)

I wound up giving kids that did come 5 or 6 candy bars....and I still have a shit wad left. :rolleyes:

Maybe 20 kids total came the whole night. But the ones who did come....they were happy :yowsa:

[Winetalk.com]

RichC, which law school did you go to?

[RichC]

Ohio State

[MikeFold]

RichC...
you got me beat....
;)

A ZERO :grrr:

New House, at the end of a cul-de-sac...only one occupied....
Nada....not a one...
I had dollar bills, and full size M&M's and 3 Musketeers....
I was SOOOOO depressed....

But then today, Karens XBOX came, and now I feel better...

Sergey....didn't you attend T&E Law School???
:D

[Mike AI]

Damn OldFold going OldSchool with the treats...

Next year I will fly up to your neck of the woods to get some of those goodies!!

:yowsa:

[Hell Puppy]

Similar experiences to everyone else here...

I think neighborhoods in general have changed. Everyone is more transient, works longer hours and stays inside more watching TV or surfing the net.

When I was a kid, we knew not only all of our immediate neighbors, but everyone on the block and in the neighborhood very well. We knew everyone's first name, knew all about the families, etc. So trick or treating was no big deal.

How well do you know your neighbors now?

I know speaking for myself, other than the ones immediately adjacent, I do not even know anyone's name. And I probably dont know the ones living right next door near as well as I should. And certainly not to the extent that I knew the families next door when I was growing up.

[PornoDoggy]

We had a total of 25 trick-or-treaters max this year ... and it was slow throughout town. The Lions and the volunteer fire department put on a haunted house, which got quite a crowd ... and the church ladies and their spawn (they are legion around here) apparently were huddled in the church basements avoiding the devil or whatever they do. Part of our problem is that I still haven't finished wiring the outside lights. Call me picky, but the current wiring to the porch, upgraded circa 1920-something, makes me a little nervous.

As a kid it was a bad night if I didn't have two pillowcases full of candy and collected a bunch of money for UNICEF. It wasn't unusual to get home-made treats and you sure didn't worry about it.

[ulfie]

I bought a box of full sized kit kat bars and didn't have 1 kid show up. Part of it was the weather but even my next door neighbors didn't bring their 2 kids over and they always do.

It's depressing to not see kids playing sports anymore. When I was a kid our parents used to have to drag us off the field/ice/snow now I rarely see any kids outside. I had a pitchers mound on the side of my house that I used to spend hours every day practicing on. I painted a strike zone on the block wall and worked on hitting the corners of it with a tennis ball. Once the ball came off the wall I praticed fielding the ball. It taught me a lot of life lessons being involved with sports and also gained me a lot of perks. How many 16 year olds get a trip to Europe to play Nintendo? I played in 3 Rivers Stadium, the old mets spring traing stadium in FL, hit a home run off John Burkett, etc. Things I will never forget. It would be truly sad to have your greatest childhood memory being that you got to level 19 on some stupid video game.

Enough ranting, back to work.

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by Mike AI@Nov 1 2002, 01:49 PM


I did throw the frisbee with my dogs though - does that count? :biglaugh:
Absolutely.

I played 30 minutes of tennis.

I want to find something else to do outside on a daily basis. Sitting inside at the computer for 12 straight hours - well - makes ya feel strange.

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by Mutt@Nov 1 2002, 02:53 PM
I think yuppie parents are way overprotective. Kids lead really different lives than the one i lived in suburbia.

Maybe that's why there are a hundreds of thousands of girls who wanna be pornstars these days. Kids who are overprotected rebel at some point.



I can't tell which side you're on.



Last edited by Colin at Nov 2 2002, 05:17 AM

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by MikeFold@Nov 1 2002, 04:42 PM
RichC...
you got me beat....
;)

A ZERO :grrr:

New House, at the end of a cul-de-sac...only one occupied....
Nada....not a one...
I had dollar bills, and full size M&M's and 3 Musketeers....
I was SOOOOO depressed....

But then today, Karens XBOX came, and now I feel better...

Sergey....didn't you attend T&E Law School???
:D
Mike -

What xbox games did you/she start with?

Halo is AWESOME - one of the best action video games ever.

Morrowind is good if you want something to do for the next 6 months.

I'm gonna pick up the old-timers pack with Galaga and PacMan.

[Almighty Colin]

Originally posted by ulfie@Nov 1 2002, 09:33 PM
I bought a box of full sized kit kat bars and didn't have 1 kid show up. Part of it was the weather but even my next door neighbors didn't bring their 2 kids over and they always do.

It's depressing to not see kids playing sports anymore. When I was a kid our parents used to have to drag us off the field/ice/snow now I rarely see any kids outside. I had a pitchers mound on the side of my house that I used to spend hours every day practicing on. I painted a strike zone on the block wall and worked on hitting the corners of it with a tennis ball. Once the ball came off the wall I praticed fielding the ball. It taught me a lot of life lessons being involved with sports and also gained me a lot of perks. How many 16 year olds get a trip to Europe to play Nintendo? I played in 3 Rivers Stadium, the old mets spring traing stadium in FL, hit a home run off John Burkett, etc. Things I will never forget. It would be truly sad to have your greatest childhood memory being that you got to level 19 on some stupid video game.

Enough ranting, back to work.
Ulfie -

I see a LOT of kids around here playing football - but no pickup games - all the pee-wee leagues, etc. I was amazed as soon as I moved to Miami how there seems to be after-school organized football at every level all over the place.

[mojobill]

Collin... I live north of Detroit.... out sub is in transition from the older, original owners, to younger couples just starting families, so there are TONS of young kids running around. Made for a fun Holloween, cept my grand daughter could only watch this year! ;-)

Our area is also lacking in kids outside playing sports, which is sad, because there is a huge park right off the sub, with diamonds, ect....

Soccer is huge in this area, which is fine.. but it's not football! ;-)

[Almighty Colin]

That is cool that there are still pockets of big Halloween celebrations. I haven't see a good Halloween in 10 years myself.

[Peaches]

We lived on our bikes as kids. We'd drive all over the neighborhood, to the store to buy candy, the pool, and as I got older, I'd ride to my monthly orthodontist appointment!

We'd play in the street and there weren't cars speeding through the neighborhoods. Even so, there was always the kid at the end of the "playzone" that would yell "CAR!" and we knew to get out of the way until it passed.

We played tackle football, built forts, stick balls, etc. - and I wasn't even a tomboy! The only time we'd play inside is if was raining, or we were playing with Barbies :P

My kid played outside a lot - I always made sure we lived in a cul-de-sac for that reason. When he hit his teens was when he stopped, but he still played organized sports. Even at college a bunch of them would aways get together and play baseball or soccer.

I think a lot more kids play outside than you realize - at least around where we used to live (now that I'm living in basically a retirement community, "playing outside" ain't real big B)). But I know kids aren't given the long leash we had :(