Halloween Open Thread
Decatur Metro | October 31, 2010 | 3:13 pmI just remembered that we’ve done this in years past and actually a lot of fun – an open thread to report your Halloween adventures.
Talk about your candy stomach ache, bumps in the night, or the cutest Halloween costume that came to your door. It’s totally up to you.
Happy Halloween!
Saw at least two families trick or treating last night on the Northside; not sure whether their issue was not trick or treating on the Lord’s Day or preferring a Saturday night when there is no work or school the next day.
The new filmed in Atlanta ZOMBIE SHOW starts on AMC tonight! We may see some of our own beloved Decatur Zombies on TV!
I saw a screening of this a few weeks back. The pilot episode is uh-mazing. Highly recommended.
Our whole neighborhood did a trick or treat caravan last night. Now I’m off to buy more candy for the remaining kids tonight. That’s a lot of candy!
A whole bunch of us went to the Haunted House at Ebster Recreation Center last night. It was decorated by the Decatur Rec Center staff, and they did an amazing job! Great facility–lots of space and rooms for scary rooms; there were a good number of volunteers scaring the patrons. Hats off to the Rec Center staff for always going above and beyond in the work they do!
First trick or treaters tonight at ~6:20 PM. Still pretty sporadic at 6:43 P.M.
We’re getting some of the sweetest, most polite little trick-or-treaters this year! Not a one of them has failed to say “Thank you!”, and have not been grabby or pushy with the smaller kids. I’m pleasantly surprised– good job, parents (and kids)! It got started a little later (since it didn’t get dark until later), but we’ve had little knots of them off & on since about 6:45…
Many great costumes tonight but the best was the princess from Pandora.
My friend’s kid got a lemon ColdEase coughdrop from some anonymous house in Oakhurst….
H1N1 scare was last year. They’re late.
Those Oakhurst folks, I tell ya, if only they had a small discount store nearby to purchase large bags of candy.
Lots more trick-or-treaters tonight in Ponce Heights than last year. Sorta odd since last year it was on a Saturday night. Maybe all the parties last year limited the number of kids?
You don’t have school-age kids yet, or you’d realize that tomorrow, Nov. 1, is a teacher work day and there’s no school. So, little kids can stay up late!!!
Found a pitbull roaming the street on S. McDonough tonight 10/31. No tags. Very friendly. Please call 770-402-3723 if you are someone you know is missing a dog!
We went out with our neighbors & the kids all together. GREAT fun just going down the street & across Sycamore and back. Thanks to all the sweet, generous folks who let our little guys trick or treat. There were some cool decorations too!
Oh – the best costume tonight was a little guy dressed as a John Deere tractor, complete with tailpipe. AWESOME costume.
Now that’s a child’s costume I can relate to!! Could you tell if it was handmade or store-bought?
I saw the tractor costume; it was definitely handmade. I think he wore it all day.
Anti-climactic over here on Sycamore. Not as many ToTers as last year.
Best costume here was a middle school girl dressed up as a table. Really–with a checkered tablecloth, place settings, and all. I love to wonder how folks get those ideas. Also liked “Super Chicken” and The Gnome.
How about the best loot your kids got?
Swedish Fish (who knew they came in little treat packets?) is my vote.
I had never had Swedish Fish before. My kids got them too– they are awesome!
I’m voting for the cough drop 😉
We found a stray black and white young cat off Katie Kerr if anyone is missing him! Very friendly…
Every year my wife and I both take the kids trick-or-treating, so we leave a large bowl of candy on the porch. This was the first year someone cleaned it out. We know it was not because of the volume of foot traffic because my wife had to run home at 7:30 for something and it was all gone by then. Disappointing but seeing how we’ve done this for the past 7 years, I’m pleased this was the first time it’s occurred. Besides that, everyone seemed to be in great spirits and the weather was just about perfect. Oakhurst had a lot of people out and about, even outside of the MAK area.
So sad about candy on doorstep disappearing. I’ve always had good luck with doing that too but didn’t try it this year. In fact, one year, ages ago, I was out of town over Halloween but still left out a bowl and sign ahead of time. After 2-3 days gone, there was a third of a bowl left! I suspect that, if the volume of visitor trick or treaters gets high enough, eventually someone greedy and dishonest shows up and grabs the loot.
Hate to be a grump, but…
We have lived here for a number of years and know pretty much everyone in our extended neighborhood, at least by sight. And I would estimate more than half of the people who came up asking for candy were NOT from anywhere around us. This observation was also based upon the number of cars parking along the street and disgorging an inordinate amount of non-residents, who then proceeded to walk all over my new plantings and completely ignore sidewalks, paths and driveways (all in front of their “parents/guardians,” who just didn’t give a damn). That really pi$$ed me off.
But at least my kids had a great time, especially since they were out trick or treating and didn’t have to listen to their dad bitch and moan.
agreed on the numerous non-residents, which i am typically happy to see if they are pleasant and polite…many just busted on by my patiently waiting children with n’er a word of thanks…but the kids had fun despite the crowds. and my favorite costume was the little raggedy ann sitting in her stroller…super cute indeed!
It really irks me when kids are shipped in from other neighborhoods.
What happened to trick or treating in your own neighborhood?
As long as they’re polite, why should it matter? I wouldn’t like for kids from my own neighborhood to come to my door acting a fool, either. From the comments here, though, we must’ve lucked up, because all the kids who came to our house were very polite. Not a one didn’t say “thank you”!
If you are accompanying a friend (or friends), that’s perfectly OK. But I think it is disrespectful for truck loads of kids to arrive in a neighborhood they won’t set foot in the rest of the year.
The rules at my house continue to be: You must not be taller than me 6’0. You must have on a costume. You must not have a trash bag as you candy collector. You must be from the neighborhood or with kids from the neighborhood.
Wow, I thought Scrooge was was Christmas only. Let’s set up rules: define what your neighborhood is, don’t leave the boundaries, don’t take your kids to anyone else’s street even if the people around you don’t do the Halloween stuff (as happened to my friend to brought her son from over on the other side of 30030 in car since her neighbors don’t don’t do anything), and criticize the kid if his or her family can’t afford a costume.
The walking across the yards and adults I get (I am honestly putting a sign out that says “No One Over 13 Please” next year; in fact, my relative who was handing out candy told adults flat out that we were doing this for kids), but geez, people, you can’t lock the gates for “residents only” then try to get people in for your restaurants and festivals and fundraisers. I am going to be flat out- bad attitude.
Last year I went to a friends place across Memorial. Several of the kids who came by did not have costumes or anything occasion related to get candy in. They were all polite and thrilled to death when they saw a 6’0 man dressed as about the ugliest cheerleader you could ever find.
I went to Party City this year to grab some things last minute, most costumes were $20 or up. If you have a couple of kids, Halloween could get pricey. Maybe not worth it for some parents, but the kids should still be able to have fun
Last night my street was literally jammed at times with late-model, high-end vehicles escorting trick or treating kids. It didn’t feel at all like a neighborhood event and frankly, I’m not interested in spending what candy costs, to give it away to a bunch of people I don’t know.
There was little or no t-or-t activity around Oakhurst 10-12 years ago (at least many areas of it). (And there were plenty of kids living here.) Neighbors here have worked hard over the years to re-engage with each other, increasing safety and making the place more welcoming in general. People whose neighbors “don’t do the Halloween stuff” might want to reach out to those neighbors and try to get some rapport going that will not only welcome t-or-t but also make their block more fun year round. “Community” is not something that you can buy, or that is provided in exchange for taxes like sanitation and public safety services. It’s a function of how neighbors interact with each other and it takes ongoing engagement and work. I’m not saying we should build walls (metaphorical or otherwise), but I also don’t enjoy feeling like the candy version of an ATM for a bunch of strangers.
There’s no way I’m going to be anything but cordial to trick or treaters who knock on my door, regardless of where they come from. But I don’t like feeling taken advantage of, as an individual or as a community. So, I have a year to decide whether to (1) sit the whole thing out, or (2) post a sign saying if you live farther than 2 blocks away and don’t know me personally, please don’t stop. Neither option appeals to me, nor does the experience I had last night.
Also, there are lots of ways to “dress up” that don’t involve spending money. When I was a kid, the only store-bought elements in our costumes were plastic masks from the dime store. Everything else was thrown together from whatever was around the house or in the attic. (You can do quite a bit with cardboard, aluminum foil.) And it mostly got put together after school that day. We carried grocery sacks to collect the loot (no handles in those days). On the other hand, I can’t offer treats without spending considerable money, because homemade goodies are verboten. So it all feels pretty lopsided to me.
BTW, we had to walk 50 miles to school and back, too, uphill both ways. 😉
The costume cost excuse doesn’t cut it – one of the best costumes I saw last night was some goofy kid who had made an ersatz robot costume out of cardboard boxes and duct tape. It totally worked, and none of it was ‘store bought’… You don’t get the candy for nothing, just use some imagination and put forth just a little bit of effort. And actually saying ‘trick or treat!’ and saying hello to the candy-givers goes a long way…
How expensive are the costumes at Dollar General?
Seriously, costumes are not cheap at Party City and much worse in the catalogs. And unfortunately, those catalogs manage to get in the hands of kids before one has a chance to recycle them. Before you know it, your child wants to to be Cleopatra and of course the gold sandals cost extra, the headdress costs extra, and the mandatory snake bracelet costs extra. And even if you hide the catalogs, they see a similar costume at the Glennwood festival or somewhere else before Halloween and want one. Wouldn’t it be great if all of us parents in Decatur agreed that only homemade costumes would be allowed? I realize that the business advocates would oppose this kind of mass anti-consumer action but we’d boost the sales of aluminum foil, old sheets, and crepe paper! My kids would be in trouble because I am clever-impaired but I think it would be a nice move. And then it would be easier to require that all trick or treaters wear a costume…. when we’ve lowered the bar and not made it such a competitive event. Unless the community standard were to change, I have to admit that my kids would object if I told them to just cut some holes in an old sheet…..
STG- This is supposed to be a fun event for children. I think the 2 block sign would be a horrible idea.
Where the kids originate, or the costume situation for small children, really isn’t up to them ultimately.
But I do realize there are many that would agree with you.
Yeah, it’s like punishing the kids because of the parents. And it’s the parents who decide on the costume situation ultimately. I remember being pretty busy on Halloweenie in Oakhurst 10-12 years ago personally.
Now, I do agree on the rude kids and the adults and the teenagers…. I really am putting up my “No one over 13 sign”. Or 14? What do you think?
13 or 14 would be a good cutoff in my opinion. If other people enjoy it (grown up parties, yay!) that’s great, but it’s mainly for the kiddies. Once they hit a certain age, it seems like most lose the genuine enthusiasm about it the little ones have
rebeccab, I also think the 2-block sign is a horrible idea, and can’t imagine actually doing it. More than likely, next year I’ll just keep my lights turned out and hide in the back of the house (or go out).
I agree with you on the need for some type of costume. However, saying you only want children you know to stop by is about as far away from the spirit of the holiday or community. So, you’re okay with Oakhurstians but not Decaturites in general? Screams Arizona to me. How about two candy buckets? Good stuff for the kids you know. Swag for the immigrants. Or, you could start your own holiday tradition and deliver candy to the people you know and then turn your porch light off.
writerchad, I never said I only want children whom I know to stop by. (And i never said anything about two buckets.) What I started out saying was that last night my street was completely overrun with strangers who drove in from parts unknown. The street was literally jammed with cars at times, and I recognized very, very few escorting parents who stopped at my house. Most of the kids were dressed up, most were polite. (A welcome change from past years, on both counts.) But because of the volume–this has been a growing trend–if I want to participate and have the pleasure of seeing my neighbor kids dressed up and having fun (and, hopefully, having them see me as a kindly neighbor lady), then I have to invest in enough candy to supply the hordes, or else run out early (they start ringing bells before 5pm on my street). I can’t really afford to do that, I don’t like it that I’m expected to, and I REALLY don’t like getting snarked at for being candid.
Your words, ‘I’m not interested in spending what candy costs, to give it away to a bunch of people I don’t know.’ Yes?
Next year I’ll send the Suburbans with tinted windows and kids who look like they are 21 to your neighborhood and we’ll see how you feel about it.
Gee, Bulldog, we’ve had carloads of people and older kids trick or treating in Oakhurst for years. In fact, on my street, until 5 years or so ago, all we got were car caravans. Hasn’t hurt me yet.
I just don’t get all this negativity. It’s about the kids and the fun they are having, not the perfect little trick or treaters you want to see on your street from the 2 block radius around your house. If you don’t like it, turn the light off. You can’t put a fence up and tell people they can’t come, period.
I don’t get the “neighborhood” thing either. How do you know these kids aren’t from Decatur, places like Spring Pointe or Ebster or Swanton Hill where they are in apartments that aren’t as fun or conducive to trick or treating? And it’s okay if you have a friend with you from the radius? Who wrote these rules? We went about two blocks away from our house because the lights and decorations were better. Should we not have?
And, STG, you come on here a lot arguing for access to things like Dollar General for low income people in the city, then get bent out of shape when what are probably lower income kids from outside your radius show up? Seriously, if this bothers you, make gift bags and give them out to the kids on your street earlier in the day next year and keep your light off. You’ll solve both your problems that way. I don’t mean offense, but I am really blown away by this.
Some community.
Amen, Nellie, amen.
Now we officially have nothing to complain about.
Nice work chad and nell.
Blame Andish, he fixed all the problems.
Do you think Bulldog is a UGA fan?
UF loses three games in a row and Georgia STILL can’t beat ’em.
He or she doesn’t like shady 21-year-olds in Suburbans with tinted windows. Definitely a Dawg fan.
Some community indeed! What on earth was smalltowngal thinking? Guess she was counting on folks having a good enough read on her to at least mull over what she’s saying before responding in such a harsh manner. So much for all the credibility she’s earned by standing up for good causes and trying to guide us towards meaningful conversations!
Economics, folks. It’s tough times for a lot of us. Smalltowngal’s filling the candy bowl meant cutting back elsewhere. It’s tough to do when all the extras are long gone. Doing it & then being overwhelmed by waves of unexpected kids, and being left to feel like your effort didn’t even matter? When it didn’t even feel like a fun Halloween tradition? How could it not leave her with a whirl of emotions to sort through?
Kind of feels like the Two Decaturs thing again. There was a comment on another thread about the Oakhurst “Scrooges” who don’t turn on their lights & participate. No thought as to whether their pocketbooks allow for it or if it’s unnerving to open the door. Just a flat out dismissal of a neighbor. So much for smalltowngal opting to go the neighborly neighbor route. Seems like it’s not necessarily a two way path.
Smalltowngal- Don’t let ’em get you down. There’s other folks that do understand what you’re saying.
WORD, Nell. But I have to admit I don’t really mind the teens trick-or-treating– heaven knows there’s so much worse they could be doing, and it’s innocent, harmless fun. We had several knots of older kids (looked to be 15-17 YOA group), and they weren’t all dressed up, but they were ALL nice, said “thank you”, and weren’t grabby (one of them even reminded her younger brother to say it). When I told them to have fun & be safe, they all grinned back at me & said they would, and thanked me again. I didn’t care that they weren’t all my neighbors’ kids. I’m not a parent, but if I was (especially one without means), I’d sure hope people wouldn’t begrudge my youn’uns some candy once a year. As for costumes, I remember somebody’s comment on here about having asked some kids who came to her door where their costumes were, and one of them saying that their mom couldn’t afford them. Ever since I read that, it’s reinforced my resolve not to mind if they don’t dress up, nor to ask why. And that’s me .02 on this subject.
Deanne- All good points. I was debating on whether or not to speak up and I should have. I have always enjoyed reading STG’s thoughtful and articulate comments. There have been a few times I have felt like commenting, but she has said something similar to what I was thinking but much more eloquently. I was just a little surprised, that’s all. Now I feel like an ahole. Sorry STG!
OK, I wasn’t going to reply to any of this, since it seemed like a pretty harmless conversation about the goods and evils of trick-or-treating and the interesting tension placed on community when it becomes renowned for it.
But let’s not get too high-horsey here. STG gets points for being honest and allowing you the chance to reflect on her experience. And you’re certainly welcome to disagree with what she took away from it. However, I’m having trouble believing that everyone here would welcome a ground-swell of children from all around with endless amounts of candy and smiles. It’s a great, defensible position to take in a hypothetical blog conversation, but I can’t say I believe you. Even those most sympathetic to the trick or treaters – and not the givers of the candy – have a breaking point.
There is a line that can certainly be crossed here. I’d say it has something to do with putting in the effort, and therefore it’s not qualified by where you live, but by participants and those who make you feel like you’re being taken advantage of.
Dressing up. Walking the neighborhood. You gotta give a little to get a little.
Instead of assuming that I begrudge candy to disadvantaged children, try a different assumption: that I’m speaking for anybody who made some degree of sacrifice to buy candy and then found themselves giving it out to hordes of people they’d never seen before who drove into the area in much newer and nicer vehicles than aforementioned residents have in their own driveways. I’m not a scrooge, if I was then I wouldn’t bother with any of it to start with. I remember well what it was like in at least some areas of Oakhurst 10-12 years ago, when the trick or treat traffic was pretty much exclusively “out of town” folks who were clearly low income. I am interested in the things that bind a community together (or don’t). This is a town full of growing families but I like feeling that there’s a place here for me, too. Families with kids are drawn together automatically by school and extracurriculars. Those of us without kids are naturally outside of those loops but nevertheless value being part of an age-diverse community. Theoretically, at least, trick or treating is a custom that engages all of the neighbors with each other and that’s why I participate by stocking up on candy, staying home, and answering the door. But with a few exceptions, last night it didn’t feel like I was participating in a fun holiday custom with my neighbors. It felt like I was catering a candy banquet for a bunch of people I’ve never seen before and will never see again, except maybe when they show up next Halloween.
Deanne, thanks for the support. It helps a lot to know that somebody is actually hearing what I’m trying to say.
Rebeccab, thanks for joining me in a LISTENING AND THINKING conversation airing different viewpoints.
The judgementalism of some of you folks here is breathtaking. Someone relates their experience, and a bunch of people who were not there expound on why she is wrong. Good grief.
I say we just ban Halloween. Bunch of Pagans….
writerchad, yes, those are my words but allow me to be more precise. (or bother to read all of my posts and get the full context.) I don’t categorically object to giving candy to people I don’t know, assuming they are from the neighborhood and we are invested in getting to know each other. By “a bunch of strangers” I was referring to people who are not from my neighborhood, have no investment in getting to know me or the other neighbors, and by all appearances are just showing up so we can entertain and treat their children. There’s no exchange going on, so it makes me feel taken advantage of. I understand others feel differently. DM invited us to share our Halloween experiences and I did.
There were lots of non-neighborhood kids that came through our place yesterday, but they couldn’t have been more polite, had parents with them who were similarly pleasant, and good manners all around. When I read about a guy in SW Atlanta killing a kid who egged his car last night, it makes me think that perhaps we should be more welcoming of kids who don’t live in safe, happy suburbs full of great homemade costumes and farm-to-table halloween treats. I think it’s great that their parents want them to have a “normal” night of trick or treating and they can even walk on my lawn.
Cracking up @ farm to table Halloween treats!
We just moved to Decatur from a neighborhood outside the city limits (in unincorporated DeKalb), and I can tell you that in the 7 years we lived there we hardly EVER had trick or treaters. Last year (before we moved here) we brought our son to Oakhurst to trick or treat with a friend who lives in the neighborhood. I think its great that the people in the neighborhoods of Decatur have so much going on on Halloween. Please don’t fault the “non-residents” for wanting a safe, fun place to let their children trick-or-treat.
Oh, and to the comment: “People whose neighbors “don’t do the Halloween stuff” might want to reach out to those neighbors and try to get some rapport going that will not only welcome t-or-t but also make their block more fun year round.”, I agree, but sometimes those efforts just don’t work. The neighborhood I lived in had steadily declining property values, lots of renters (not that all renters are bad, obviously, but some just don’t care about the neighborhood itself), and people who generally weren’t interested in meeting the neighbors. Yes, it was a bad decision to move there in the first place, but it got steadily worse the last few years we were there. Not everyone has a crystal ball and can predict the way a neighborhood is going to go, or how involved the rest of the neighbors are going to be.
I guess what I’m trying to say is if all of these things that people are complaining about really bother them that much, just don’t participate in it. And the complaint about “candy being expensive” isn’t altogether true either. Sure, chocolate is, but there are plenty other types of candy that is decent and resonably priced (like sweet tarts, jolly ranchers, tootsie roll pops, etc).
Welcome to the neighborhood. Ignore the haters; they’re in the minority.
thanks Chad, we like it so far
Writerchad- Haters??? Really??? Please say that you’re jacked up on candy because this is NOT YOU!!!
You’re right, Deanne. ‘Haters’ is too harsh a word. I wholeheartedly retract it. I’ve agreed with STG in the past I am sure I will in the future. And vice versa.
Awwwww! … and all’s well again in DM land! :0)
Arwen, that was in response to Nellie who said her friends had commuted over from elsewhere in the 30030 zip code. I would be really surprised if there is anywhere in that territory that is undergoing the kind of decline you describe, although I could be wrong. And I didn’t mean that I feel Nellie’s friends aren’t welcome here. I was just trying to make a point which, predictably, others disagree with.
STG, I didn’t mean to pile on you, but it bothered me a lot. In fact, my friend from across town read your comments- I didn’t say anything to her – and was somewhat upset and a damper was put on the nice experience for her children. I know some folks are agreeing with you, but since you are asking others to put themselves in your place, look at how others can take your comments and how it can make them feel. It’s an obvious philosophical difference, but the fact is we can’t exclude people and we can’t put up walls or set rules. All we can do is choose to turn on the light or leave it off.
Looking to your reply to Chad above, the way trick or treating is going to grow in Decatur is honestly not something you are going to enjoy! It’s not going to be kids from your street you want to have an exchange or build a relationship with.I had never seen 90% of the people on my street before and I know everyone for a 5 block radius! Maybe it’s the whole small town feeling you are yearning for vs. the actually being in an urban area reality.
I wasn’t being sarcastic when I suggested that you might want to do something for the kids in your area beforehand and turn off the lights- I was serious. You could do something creative and fun within your budget, get to know the kids and family, and not stress about the rest of it. It actually could be a great tradition to start for your block.
Nellie, I expected disagreement–as you say, there’s a philosophical difference on the table–but the responses from you, writerchad and some others who endorsed your comments felt vicious and uncalled for. I started out acknowledging that folks driving in may be coming from n’hoods where trick or treating isn’t welcome and/or safe. I tried to make it clear that I don’t begrudge sharing candy with disadvantaged children, but this year I felt besieged by visitors to our n’hood who were clearly not disadvantaged. I also expressed disappointment about the large volume of vehicular traffic that complicated the whole scene on my street and made it less safe for everybody, residents and visitors alike. I should have realized you and your friend would take my remarks personally, even though I did not mean it that way.
Yes, in my book trick or treating is ideally a neighborhood activity that all can participate in without it being such a huge deal–children have fun, adults have fun helping the children have fun, and nobody feels compelled to spend more money than they can afford. I now understand that for many here–far more than I had realized, apparently–it’s more exciting to become known as The Place To Be and attracting large volumes of visitors (get it? I know better now than to use the word “strangers”). I get that for many people, that’s a lot of fun. At no time did I propose rules or barriers or walls or active exclusion–except my tongue-in-cheek comment about a sign on my own driveway, which I retracted shortly after posting it. All I’ve tried to do is point out a couple of aspects of where Halloween seems to be going in my neighborhood, that I think represent forfeitures we are making if we go down that road. In effect, you’re saying that you’d rather share the holiday with hordes of visitors from “out of town” than with some of your own neighbors–the ones who never turn on their lights or invite trick or treaters, primarily because they can’t afford to buy as much candy as it now takes to last past 6:30pm.
I think you’re right, I think that’s where we’re headed with Halloween in Decatur. I just hope the next time people are wringing their hands and wondering why more longtime residents don’t attend meetings or come out to festivals or otherwise participate in our wonderful community life, somebody stops to think about the ways in which lines keep getting drawn–unintentionally, granted, but then aren’t we supposed to be blessed with the ability to think about what we’re doing?
I guess it felt to me like you were drawing a big line; does that make sense?
Nellie, yes, that does make sense. Have I managed to clarify? I’m happy to agree to disagree, as long as we are hearing each other.
Of course!
And I still think you ought to do your own treat bags for your street. That would be so fun!
Sorry, Gal, you’re last paragraph befuddles me. (It happens.) But how does hordes of visitors on Halloween equate to degradation of the community life we Decaturites cherish so much?
Just think of it as the Decatur Halloween Festival. (oops- got to reprint those T shirts )
What did altmod’s kid go as this year?
A Chilean Miner. I did a quick Google search to find it….geez, makes me sound like a stalker…promise I am not. I just love how creative he is with his costumes.
Man, I wish altmod would post some pix- I LOVED “Keyboard Cat” last year…
cuba, if you go to the current HuffingtonPost.com home page you’ll see the Keyboard Cat photo is posted again this year!
Yes, this year my kid went as a Chilean Miner because he studied them in school. When he told us he what he wanted to be, we offered to help make the rescue tube or other equipment. Then he dropped a bombshell. He wanted to trick-or-treat with friends in another neighborhood. No rescue tube for a kid who leaves the neighborhood. . . .
So we settled for something mobile and simple:
http://tinyurl.com/2cuhssg
He said there is no way he is leaving Ponce de Leon Heights again. Lesson learned.
OMG, that’s an awesome costume– he’s such a creative kid! Thanks for posting. Now he’s got a year to decide what catches his fancy for next year…we’ll be waiting!
We had great turnout and neighbors were talking about decorating next year. (My decorating bug is very contagious.) Excellent costumes included a tiny Cruella deVille who had two adults wearing dalmation hoods, Bill Gates handing out large $20 bills, zombie Dorothy and Toto, zombie Jason (hockey mask with a zombie mask underneath), and a piece of paper (white tunic with horizontal thin blue lines). I got to meet several of the Decorate Decatur: Halloween winners who stopped by and we chatted about lighting and props and websites. And after-Halloween sales.
Nancy- We really enjoyed talking to you last night. Your place is incredible and you have inspired us to be more creative next year. Thanks for all the ideas. – Margo, Steve, Jake and Sari
Where are the good sales? Target was weak this year. We want some scary stuff for next year but don’t know where to go.
A group of us dressed in costomes and cycled around Avondale Estates. Like a Mardi Gras parade we tossed treats to the Trick Or Treaters. Pretty amazing displays in that neighborhood…haunted houses, graveyards, ghosts dancing to an unattended organ. Dark and creepy, just like Halloween should be.
There were some bewildered drivers who could not find their way out of the maze that is Avondale. Also, one jerk in a Mercedes coupe with Newton County plates who wanted to speed through the neighborhood. Didn’t seem to care that there were children out and about. There were a few kids and adults who put “me” first last night.
Forgot to mention that Decatur PD drove down our street and I heard a bunch of trick or treaters yell “Thank you for keeping us safe!” to the police officer.
Gotta love this place.
That is nice and all but I go back to the WSJ piece you posted before Halloween. If (as I think is true) Haloween is no more dangerous than any other night, why do we need to bother with so much police presence?
Teenagers, alcohol, pranks?
In response to police presence, my friends house on 2nd avenue(City of Decatur) was robbed and ransacked yesterday on Halloween in broad daylight so police presence is always appreciated. Maybe they were keeping an eye out for the individuals (in a gold caprice-like car) who may have been lurking about looking for other targets.
Saw police driving around slowly on north side too. In fact, when I was growing up, we rarely saw police around but did on Halloween. I realize that candy poisoning is not much of a real threat but I think that there pedestrian/vehicle safety issues and alcohol related misbehavior that police can address.
Of course there are, just like every other night. Yet we don’t have police cruisers proceeding slowly down the street every night, or even on nights when drinking is expected to be heavy, like St. Patrick’s day.
I see a Decatur PD patrol go past my house once every couple weeks. Not sure if they go by every single night, but I’d care to guess they generally do it once a day, based on the frequency I actually see the car go by.
There’s huge numbers of groups of small people, many dressed in black costumes, running around the streets after dark on St. Patrick’s Day???
Lots of trick or treaters starting before 5:30 and lasting until around 8:30. Vast majority were polite, vast majority were children, and vast majority seemed to have driven in from outside the neighborhood. (There was a bona fide traffic jam for a while.) That last aspect leaves kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Candy is expensive, I only buy it at Halloween and only then as a way of participating and being a good neighbor. Handing out most of it to people who are not my neighbors makes me feel taken advantage of. Plus, all that extra traffic makes the whole enterprise less safe (and less pleasant, I imagine) for the families who do live here. I like to think the “outlanders” must live in n’hoods where trick or treating is not safe or otherwise not feasible. But it still leaves me with that feeling, which makes me think that next year I’ll just abstain.
Also, I had a cluster of young women with babies in strollers–too young to walk and probably not six teeth among the four of them (the babies, not the moms)–who made a point of pretending the candy buckets were for the children.
I saw the same stroller routine. But that was no big deal. The out-of-towners who did not even bother to dress up, on the other hand, were off-putting, as others have said. It would be one thing if they could not afford costumes, but some were kids being escorted by a parent driving along in late model cars.
If you are asking me for candy in the spirit of haloween, then you’ll get it. If you are asking me for free candy just because Haloween is an excuse to beg for free candy, then hit the bricks.
Agreed
Favorite costume: Late-teens or early-twenties-ish “Ballerina” smoking a cigarette. No actual children in the group. I could not stop laughing… 😛
One of my first halloweens here, back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, I had a pregnant girl show up with no costume and a pillow case for candy. But I’ve never seen a cigarette and I think I’m just as happy about that one!
Favorite costume: 3 year old Blacula w/ felt mustache. Hilarious!
I had a woman in her late 50’s come to the door dressed as a jester, no kids. She said I’m the oldest trick or treater. I told her everyone gets candy on Halloween.
Happy Halloween!
We had a group of about 10 kids at 4:15pm. No costumes. No one said “trick-or”treat” and only 1 said “thank you”. One kid stayed on my porch until I would give him another piece of candy and still didn’t say anything after I did.
Other than that, my kids had a blast and thankfully no one came to the door after we turned out the lights.
I’m a Ponce Heights resident and we ran out of candy for the first time in 25 years by 8 p.m. And I bought those extra large bags … you never know ..had to turn off the lights, but those plucky trick or treaters kept coming to the door and ringing the bell…so sad to tell them no more candy …
On the thread of carloads of outsiders–talk to Newnan city folk. They come in from the surrounding area in droves — hundreds of kids. Halloween is a big deal in that town, and they celebrate the outsiders. I don’t mind em here as long as they’re courteous and say thank you–and wear a costume!! Don’t much like it when they open a backpack and don’t even say “trick or treat!!”
And I think we had an uptick here in Decatur of “outsiders” because some radio program was listing the best places to trick or treat .. anyone want to verify that?
We live in Belvedere Park and I didn’t expect the number of tricker treaters we had last night. I thought just 1 or 2 may be out, but we actually got rid of all of our candy, we had about 6 groups of kids. Most kids were half-dressed up, but all said “trick or treat!” and all said thank you. My fave was the little princess who, after getting her 2 pieces of candy, turned around and yelled at my 3 dogs to shut up. She must’ve been around 2- 2 1/2. Totally didn’t expect that out of her. They started around 7 and I gave out my last 2 at 9:30 or so.
we had more in lenox place last night than the past few years. ran out of candy by 8pm!
I live in College Heights and stayed home for the first time this year, hoping to see some kiddos from the neighborhood. I did see a few of my little friends, but mostly car loads of kids from outside of the area. I don’t mind this as I do think it’s nice to let all kids experience some Halloween fun, but had several groups collecting for a “sister in the car” or “brother in the car.” Me thinks that if the sibling is too young to hoof it to the door, perhaps they don’t need a massive bag of candy. I’m just sayin.
So I should do a “No one too young to get the porch and no one old enough to date” sign!
Perfect. Oh, and I did have a self-identified 30 yr old trick-or-treater who said it was her last year. I took a mental picture of her for 2011…
Hey DM- How come you can respond to some posts and others there is no reply button? Is it to keep things from getting too heated, or just a space issue? I meant to ask this somewhere else before but forgot.
I feel like I’m talking to God right now. Will he see this? Will he answer me?
Go up to the last reply with a “REPLY” and reply.
Southsiders have more reply options than Northsiders. Or is it the other way around? I always forget.
At the very least we don’t import tricker-treaters.
Basically, there needs to have a “Reply to” comment cut off somewhere or eventually the replies would be 1 letter wide. So I think the limit is currently at 8 replies? It’s totally arbitrary. I actually upped it by one a while back because people asked me to. Not sure we can go much more than that. That said, I’m always open to thoughts and opinion.
Thanks all-seeing DM! Was just curious
This year we had exactly one trick-or-treater (not counting our friends who drove their kids by so we could see their costumes). I’d love to get more at our house, but no one wants to cross Candler, which becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy because then many of the neighbors on our side of Candler don’t bother to do anything because no one crosses Candler (etc.). One year, we had a couple of groups of Agnes Scott students, and I was delighted to see them. They were cheerful and goofy, and appropriately self-aware of the fact that they were waaay too old to be trick-or-treating.
As for out-of-neighborhood trick-or-treating, I know that many of our friends took their kids to Winnona Park specifically because they knew that many of the houses would have extravagant decorations. If you hang cobwebs, they will come.
I think that’s a good point–if a neighborhood is “into” abundant Halloween decorations, people will go there for their trick or treating because it’s more fun for the kids. It’s not all that different from Christmas decorations. Some yards are totally decked out at Christmas, sometimes entire blocks or neighborhoods, so people drive over from other areas to see them. But since Christmas doesn’t have a trick-or-treating tradition, folks coming from elsewhere don’t have a financial impact, although occasionally they impact local traffic.
I have also learned from my kids and their friends that it’s more fun to trick or treat in neighborhoods with sidewalks and houses close together than those with houses separated by big yards and/or no sidewalks to walk on. If a group of kids gets together for trick-or-treating and some live in a “better” Halloween neighborhood, that’s where the group will choose to go. In recent years, the core areas of the Great Lakes and Winnona Park have been the preferred destinations.
Cutest costume: Little girl, maybe 3or 4, with a pinkish-orange pillow taped around her waste, chopsticks stuck in the top of her hair with a bit of green and pink something….When I asked her what she was, she said, “Samon shooshie…” Too cute…and on second look, she did look like salmon sushi.
For those upset about the droves of kids obviously not from their neighborhood, I have a suggestion. When I was a kid, one of my neighbors used to make special treat bags with really good candy and a few inexpensive toys. Sometimes even a homemade treat. She only gave them to the kids she knew. Everyone else got to pick from her big bowl of generic candy. I always remember looking forward to her house on Halloween.
So, if you’re looking to make a really good impression on the kids you know but also be festive and welcoming to those you don’t (without breaking the bank!), it may be the way to go next year. Just make a couple dozen ‘special’ bags and buy the cheap stuff for everyone else. I’m considering doing it myself, just to make sure I don’t run out of candy again like I did this year.
Only drawback is that it may be hard to pass out the treat bags when you get slammed with a large group of kids at once (some neighbors, some not).
Anyway, just a suggestion. Take it or leave it.
You were right, DM. This was a fun thread. I can’t wait for Thanksgiving.
I can wait. All those strangers from other neighborhoods parking on my street and disgorging their passengers to walk through my plants and demand free turkey. I’ll give them some, but they BETTER be dressed as either pilgrims or Indians (oops, sorry, I mean native Americans, or whatever PC word is currently in vogue).
Really biting my tongue here!
Man, I wish I had checked the blog sooner to weigh in. I lived in Decatur for 2 decades from the 1980’s – 2000’s. I grew up on Ponce de Leon Place. We always had kids bussed in from other areas and never had a problem with it. Of course, in my opinion, Decatur wasn’t as full of pretentious academics as it is now. Oh well, I’m saddened by what many residents have said in this blog and what their idea of community has become. More than likely, you didn’t build this community. You just moved into it and began trying to change it’s definition. Peace.
Thank you. I was displeased with the tone too. But I guess all the new neighbors help bring change we can believe in.
Anyway, Halloween was so last month.
Kids you know get the good chocolate-Snickers, Milky Way, etc. Older kids and strangers get the cheap hard candy sugar pops. It’s easy, folks.