The Halloween Candy Haul

Halloween is always fun for kids!  The get to dress up in costume (or costumes if they go to multiple Halloween parties), stay up late, and go get candy at every house they can walk to in the neighborhood.  That is a pretty good deal when you are nine years old.

This year, our Halloween quest began on a clear, and not to chilly of an evening.  These are the two most important things that make Halloween fun for the parents.  Delaney was a cheerleader complete with pom-poms and Andrew was Rom Weasley from the Harry Potter books.  We had been invited over to our neighbors for a quick dinner and then the kids would set out on their candy quest together.

We left the house just a few minutes past 7:00pm and figured we had almost two hours to knock on as many doors before our trick or treaters needed to be back home.  We set off at a brisk pace with our mission objective clearly defined.  One of our friend's son had made a robot costume out of a large cardboard box, including a helmet to wear over his face and head.  He was always the last of the trick or treat line because going up and down stairs to each house was a little more challenging than he had anticipated.  It reminded me of my brother and I when we were younger.  Steve and I would always work on an elaborate costume for him to wear to school and win the Halloween contest each year.  One year he was a TV set, the next a toilet, and one year he was a package of Wrigley chewing gum.  Anyway, when it came time to trick or treat, he would dress as a soccer player, or a robber in easy to wear and walk in clothes, and I would wear the awkward, bulky costume that made it difficult to navigate steps or not trip on things.

Anyway, back to our Halloween this year.  The kids had been out an hour and had covered many houses, and even a mini haunted house set up on someone's front porch.  It had a fog machine and black lights, it was quite impressive.  The motivation began to dwindle though, as they had a good amount of candy already in their bags and they were starting to get thirty and tired of walking up and down hills.  The pace had slowed, but the lure of candy kept them going.  Once we asked if they had had enough, and the majority said yes, we headed back to home base and the pace quicken up again.

The last part of Halloween is my favorite.  the kids dumped their candy bag on the floor in the living room, and then the hard core negotiations began.  I will trade you a "Jolly Ranchers for a Junior Mints" or "I only want Snickers so will anyone trade me 3 Musketeers for Snickers"  There was also the determination about who got the most candy, which each one of my children naturally thought they had more than their sibling.

Yes, Halloween with kids is alot more fun.  I am looking forward to next year.