Did everyone have a nice Halloween? I hope so!
We did. This marked the 2nd Halloween in this house and this neighborhood, which is famous for playing host to thousands of trick-or-treaters. I'm used to about 50-100 kids on a really good year, so, last year when the neighbors told us to expect hundreds and hundreds of kids, we were a little blindsided.
We actually used some Target gift cards that were left over from our wedding to buy candy. And we still ran out an hour before lights out! The unwritten rule is to shut off your lights at 8:30. I have to say, the kids are good about not abusing that.
This year we planned ahead. For weeks now, we have been stockpiling candy. In the end we had 7 large bags--the kinds that hold 90-150 pieces.
At 4pm we went across the street, where our neighbors had invited us to a little "pre Halloween night gathering" with soup, stew and bread. By 5pm we didn't see any kids. 5:30--no kids.
As it neared 6pm, the doorbell began to ring.
Last year we had 572 kids. We were flabbergasted at the amount and hoped to match or beat it this year. By 7pm we had about 350 kids and tons of candy left. Had we overshot? Were we going to be left with hundreds of pieces?
At around 7:30, the "floods" began. Hoards and hoards of kids. We would look across the street and see about 20-30 kids with their parents lining up at the neighbors' house and then heading this way. Although, because of the placement of our house, we also saw lots of kids skip our house altogether.
Throughout the evening we saw a lot of zombies: zombie cheerleaders, zombie doctors, etc. Lots of princesses, ladybugs, bumblebees, Batman, monsters, and a very convincing Hermione from Harry Potter.
But my favorite was a girl wearing a big ol' box with a flap in the front. "I'm trying to figure out what you are dressed as..." I said. "A box!" She answered. (Ask a stupid question.....)
We kept a tally all night and the numbers crept higher and higher, not winding down even as 8:30 approached. At 8:40 we shut off our light, taking a cue from the neighbors.
Final tally for this year? 680 trick-or-treaters. Incredible!
P.S. A neighbor told me today that one house on the corner (a gorgeous house facing the lake that puts on a big Halloween show) got over 1,000 kids.
3 comments:
Oh my gosh - I can't believe you get that many trick-or-treaters! That's incredible! I think I'd have to budget for that all year long. =)
Bless you guys and all of your neighbors and all of the other nice people in the country that spend so much money to make kids happy. It makes me think the world is not such a bad place.
Thanks, ladies. The cost of the candy didn't feel as bad this year because, like I said, we planned ahead. So every time we took a trip to the store, we would toss a bag of candy into the cart.
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