It was another good one. The kids had fun though a couple wouldn't come up to the house.
Lots of kids. A surprising number of dads towing trailers around with their lawnmowers. One lifted golf cart I wish I had gotten pictures of, it was on 40" tires. It was a two hour whirlwind and then it was over.
Fun times.
Is that a video projector?
Same here. I always love this. A group of us hang out in the street and chat. I dug up a big strobe light and aimed it up in the trees in front of my place. Kids liked it. Next door fired up a huge smoke machine that billowed smoke around the area. The effect was great. About five of us around the t intersection try to make it cool for the kids. Not scary just setting up the proper atmosphere. Always a good time. The poliece even stopped in and thanked us for being out and about. Said we made a great thing for the kids in the naborhood.
We wrapped up everything half an hour ago. Big this year: Batman/boy/girl, Spider-Man/boy/girl, Superman/boy/girl, Ironman/boy/girl, Wonder Woman/boy, angels, Darth Vader, dead things, soldiers, witches. Oddly just one Robin, though.
Best costumes: girl with a home-made Edward Scissorhands and a boy as a V8 engine. (His head popped out of the intake manifold.)
The traffic started off a little slow and then blew up.
In reply to dculberson :
Yes, a projector playing a youtube Halloween loop. I shoot it at the back of a sheet of plastic. That way, the projector can stay in the garage.
I've lived in neighborhoods where it was massive and I went all in on Halloween. Currently my street is a "no kids here" type of place so while the candy bowl was ready not a single ghoul or ghost graced my doorway.
My friend Steve always posts good stuff from Halloween. From tonight:
I told a boy that I liked his Stormtrooper costume, and he corrected me and said he was a Clone Trooper. #schooled
In reply to KyCougarAllroad :
We were in our last house 25 years. In those years we had less than 10 kids show up for Halloween. We were half way down a dead end street and nobody came down it. We got to the point we just turned out the lights and didn't do anything for Halloween. Now we have an abundance of kids in the neighborhood and we tend to import them from other areas as well. I enjoy seeing them out and about so we decorate to encourage them.
RevRico
UltraDork
10/31/17 9:03 p.m.
I took the little one out, with like 4 other kids under 10, their mom, and Dana. It was a new experience for me, and their neighborhood was done up pretty nice. Drinks, full size candy bars, one haunted maze, not bad for an older neighborhood.
Of note, and I couldn't get a picture of it , was a 70s Lincoln, in full faded patina, covered in spider webs, with a clown hiding inside randomly shaking doors or spraying silly string. I drive by that house twice a week and have never seen the car before, but want it in all is beat up haunted glory.
We're too rural out here to have tricker treaters. Parents don't seem to like my 300 yard long driveway or going down narrow road with no shoulders in the dark.
Out here the big thing is the "Trunk-or-Treat," I promise it's less kidnappy than it sounds. The Volunteer fire departments, EMS, and parks and recreation people do a pretty good job at doing little decoration things for the kids and setting up the parks so they can walk around. I'm pretty ok with local funds going to those types of activities since it's a lot safer than walking from door to door here and my daughter really enjoyed it.
Wayslow
HalfDork
10/31/17 11:18 p.m.
We really miss Halloween since moving out to the country. We've never had a kid come to the door. Just too far between farms and our driveways are too long. The first house my Wife and I had was in a brand new subdivision and I had to run out and buy more candy half way through the evening. I thing we ended up with something close to 200 kids per year there.
On a side note we hosted a Halloween party at that house in 1992. My sister came dressed as a nun. My nephew turns 25 tomorrow.
mtn
MegaDork
11/1/17 12:12 a.m.
We had about 4 groups, maybe 11 kids total. Disappointing.
My parents had the king size candy bars. Dad was disappointed he only gave about about 15 of them.
Jerry
UltraDork
11/1/17 6:09 a.m.
Chewie and I only had 7 kids all night. A lot of candy going to work today. (It was also about 35F)
My son is 14 months old, so watching him get to walk around in a costume was a lot of fun. We went with some friends who introduced me to one of their neighbors who had a lift in his garage along with an E46 M3 and a Porsche Cayenne Turbo. Nice guy and I hopefully drummed up some detail business with him. Here's an obligatory costume picture of the boy.
Took my son out trick or treating - daughter wasn't quite feeling well, so Mrs. Mad Scientist insisted she stay home. Not too many houses were handing out candy in our neighborhood for some reason. Kind of sad - fewer people trying to be involved in their own community.
There was one very cute moment where we met another family taking a small kid around the neighborhood. The father was wearing a brown-furred werewolf mask. My son didn't quite know what it was, so as they were leaving, he said, "Bye, fox!"
Wayslow said:
On a side note we hosted a Halloween party at that house in 1992. My sister came dressed as a nun. My nephew turns 25 tomorrow.
I had to repost that so everyone could fully appreciate it. Sounds like a helluva party!
There's something amiss with my son's wife....
wae
Dork
11/1/17 7:25 a.m.
We sent the kids out on their own for the first time this year so the wife and I got to sit by the fire in the driveway and pass out candy together for the first time in 11 years. We had a neighbor turn off his light and bring his candy to our house so the three of us sat by the fire and drank bourbon for a couple hours. It seemed a little slower than previous years. I think for the last 30 minutes we had maybe one or two kids.
It was a little chilly at 50F, but the kids had fun and were ready to call it a night after 45 minutes. When it got dark my younger son stumbled and dropped his bucket, spilling most of his loot. My wife took out her phone so the kids could see to retrieve the candy. Unfortunately, most of the spilled contents landed on a rather large coil of dog poo. In fairness, someone could have dropped their ice cream... from the most distasteful and disappointing soft serve machine ever. We didn't investigate and left the candy.
Saw a 13-14 year old dressed like pennywise jump out from behind a bush and scare the piss out of 2 little girls. I wanted to kill him, and his horrible mother was unapologetic. Then i saw a truck fly around 2 responsible drivers in the middle of town. The police lit him up, then let him go
the kids seemed to have fun. We did an abbreviated route staying away from the drunk guy who thinks chasing little kids with a chainsaw is funny. One day I predict he gets kicked in the sack by one of my kids.
Matt B
UltraDork
11/1/17 7:48 a.m.
It was a great year for us. First time trick or treating with the twins (not quite 2 yet). We did the whole family costume thing - the boys were Mario and Luigi while my wife and I were Donkey Kong and Princess Peach. I was the princess (pics later).
There were enough people handing out candy and other trick or treaters to make things interesting. Especially the nice young ladies that were handing out Crown apple shots for the adults. I turned to the wife and said, "I believe we picked the right neighborhood.".
I woke up at 4pm, Was at work at 5:30 pm. Got back to motel at 7:30 am. There were no trick or treaters at the plant. I doubt Mrs T.J. had any at home. The average age of our neighborhood is probably over 60. Not many kids around. We've had none in four years of living there. I don't think we even had any candy last year to give out if anyone came.
Ian F
MegaDork
11/1/17 7:56 a.m.
I had two sets of kids show up fairly early - 7:00 or so... and I thought, "OK... might be good this year - I hope I bought enough candy..." ...which was apparently the wrong thought to have since I didn't get another knock for the rest of the night.
Last night, we got exactly ZERO kids. The town and a lot of the area is still ripped up from the weekend storm, so no one was out. Pretty sad.
That said, my office had Halloween festivities today. I did my part.
Today, I am Gnomie Sestito.