Boo Who?

After visiting another blog today, I discovered that many people out in Bloggerland have never been "Booed." For those uninitiated, it's when someone leaves a Halloween goody bag on your front porch and plays "knock-knock-zoom-zoom" (as my kids call it) and runs away. The recipient then must make a copy of the ghost that's attached to the bag (it says, "I've Been Booed!") and hang it on his front door. Then fill a new bag with candy and go Boo someone else. Some people get elaborate and put decorations or toy spiders, etc. in the bag too.

The first time our family was Booed was probably 10 years ago. We had never heard of the tradition, so the kids were surprised to find a bag of treats with no one around when they answered the doorbell. The treats included homemade Rice Krispie treats, which being the slightly paranoid mom that I am, I threw away. I wasn't about to feed my kids something that I had no idea where/who it came from!

Through the years, the game seemed to grow so fast in our neighborhood, that we'd get Booed twice before I had a chance to copy that ghost paper and tape it to our door. Also, we began to have trouble reciprocating; everyone we knew had already been Booed. One year, we decided to Boo our neighbors, who are spoil sports and do not allow their kids a bunch of candy (they go trick-or-treating but then throw it all out). My kids loaded their bag with juice boxes and Nutrigrain bars and we all had a good chuckle over how sad that was!

Another year, we decided to go Boo someone we knew in another neighborhood. We all got into the car and drove down their street. Unfortunately, all the lights were on inside their house, so we had to park the car down the street and we sent our son (who was probably only about six years old at the time) running down the street with the bag. He got to their front door and they must have had a motion sensor light, because the porch lights came on. He was like a deer in headlights. He dropped that bag so fast and came bolting back to the getaway car. The funny thing was, we drove by their house the next day and the bag was still on the front porch.

This was the first year we haven't been Booed. I guess my kids are too old for it. And now I hear adults have taken up the game and left sex toys on people's doorsteps. What has the world come to?