• BrightSide and I opted out of adult costumes this year.  That was actually a major bonus of leaving the classroom: no more need to come up with a fun, creative, yet “appropriate” costume to wear to school.  But when we go out there are all these families dressed in their coordinated costumes and it makes me wonder…do T-man and Bear think we’re slackers?  Or are they too busy checking their candy haul to care if mom and dad are dressed up?
  • On a related note, there were a number of costumes with heels this year.  Usually boots with chunky heels, but still…WHY?!  You know how far this walk is, and the kids are running through grass and over gravel in the dark.  Sounds like a workman’s comp claim to me except wait, we’re TRICK-OR-TREATING so you’re expected to wear reasonable footwear.
  • We take a bunch of kids on a hayride through the neighborhood every year.  (This may sound like a huge slacker move, but the houses in our neighborhood are far apart and the streets can be hilly so it’s really more for survival.)  This was our sixth year in so you’d think I’d have it down by now, right?  Nope.  Things I always remember: my adult beverage to enjoy with the other adults and their beverages during our trek, comfortable shoes, jacket, and gloves (which I may or may not need).  Things I always forget: a blanket to sit on so the hay doesn’t make me itchy, a blanket to cover my legs once the sun goes down, and a trash bag so these kids could either a) put their candy wrappers in as we go along or b) help clean up the mess they leave behind at the end.
  • About twenty minutes into trick-or-treating I looked at T-man’s machete laying on the trailer and just shook my head.  BrightSide’s words from the store echoed through my memory:  “Don’t bother getting that, man. You’re not gonna want to carry it – you’ll just end up leaving it on the trailer.”  Yep.  Happens every year.
  • BrightSide’s parents stayed at our house to hand out candy this year.  They had 72 kids come by, but I noticed the bowl wasn’t on the porch so I asked if they’d run out of candy.  “No, but the kids got picky toward the end.”  Umm, what?  Not to be defensive, but I buy awesome candy for Halloween.  (Unless you don’t like chocolate; I think it was all chocolate based this year.)  Snickers, Kit Kats, Milky Way, Reese’s, Twix…and at the risk of sounding all crotchety, What do you mean, they got PICKY?!  They’re getting free candy just for coming to the door.  What kind of entitled brats pick through a bowl and are all “eh, I don’t think so”?  (ps – Milky Ways are out of favor this season.)
  • We also have some people who are setting the bar pretty high in the neighborhood.  There’s a woman near the entrance who gives out full size candy bars, has been doing it for years, so the kids always make sure they get to her house.  But this year two more houses joined the “Give ’em King Size” movement so there’s some Big Time Candy out there.  Now, I haven’t exactly done a cost-ratio analysis, but I’m trying to wrap my brain around how much money you’d spend on huge candy in a neighborhood where we get so many trick-or-treaters.  Nope, can’t do it.
  • We were using a larger trailer this year, so there was lots of space on there.  This was particularly nice for me since in years past I’d had to walk while the kids were on the hayride, and I cannot emphasize enough that it is a LONG walk.  But not this year…this year I got to ride the trailer (woo hoo!), a privilege I gladly traded for the role of ride monitor.  Seeing that the kids got on and off safely, making sure no one got left behind, preventing anarchy in the ranks as it got later and kids got more sugar-crazed — no problem, babe, I got this.
  • There were a couple of bizarre moments that night when we’d realize there was a random kid on board.  I guess they saw some open seats on the hayride and just hopped aboard.  The first time it happened I was staring at this child, trying to place him, when I saw him wave to a woman as we passed her.  The trailer’s handy in this particular stretch, which goes down a hill then up the next before reaching more houses.  About the time we started to climb the second hill this kid must have realized what he’d done because he suddenly piped up with “I think I’m getting too far from my family.”  Well, yeah, I do, too!  I think it’s crazy you hopped on some trailer with a bunch of strangers in the first place but whatever, this isn’t a taxi service, kid.  At the next stop you should probably wait for your mother or walk back to her.

So there’s our Halloween 2015 wrap-up.  Until next year…