How was everyone's Halloween in the Year of Horrors? I had decided months ago to skip passing out candy. Our front porch is narrow and since Middle Child hands out the candy and is on the shorter side, I didn't want the trick-or-treaters breathing in her face. When I realized Halloween fell on a weekend, and my son-in-law would be working, I volunteered to help my older daughter take our two grandkids out.
When my mother-in-law was a high school teacher, the home economics department at her school made and sold Halloween costumes every year. I think there was a list you could choose from.
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My oldest chose to be Elmo the only year we were offered a costume (don't ask!) She was 3 years old at the time and when my other two children were age 3, they also wore that costume.   Temperature and daylight were on our side and made for a pleasant evening. My husband pushed our granddaughter in a stroller (she was out of costume and into pajamas and a coat) and the rest of us took turns escorting Elmo to front doors in my daughter's neighborhood. I was surprised that the majority of houses were participating. Of those, I'd estimate that about 70% of people either had bowls of candy on their front porches or on tables in their driveways for contactless trick-or-treating. A number of people even made individual treat bags that were spaced apart to prevent others touching the bag you took. People answering their doors had masks on for the most part and used salad tongs or what I call 'grabbers' to try to limit exposure. My grandson kept his mask on the entire time without issue, so we were proud of him. Groups did a good job giving each other wide berth on the sidewalks and I was impressed with the number of houses who had flashing lights, music, and blow ups/large decorations in their yards. I would have enjoyed just walking around without a trick-or-treater! I did have to roll my eyes at one woman (my age) who saw my grandson walking up her driveway and called out, "Here comes Cookie Monster!" (My granddaughter no longer had on her costume, so that wasn't who she was looking at) It reminded me of the year that my kids came home from trick-or-treating laughing about 'some old person' who didn't know who they were:  (aka: Puritan, Beatnik, Ninja) (They still bring this up 20 years later) |
OMG, these photographs are A-DORABLE! Your family is so cute!!!! I am loving the second photo down of your granddaughter in that Cookie Monster costume. What a little doll face!
ReplyDeleteI think it's so great that people participated in Trick-or-Treating this year so that kids could feel some sense of normalcy. We had a lot of outside Halloween parties going on that night in Philly.
That final photo is stellar!
Thanks so much for sharing your Halloween (then and now). So delightful!
Have a super week, my friend. Ooooo.....and we finally got hit with some nice COLD autumn weather. For the past two days it's been in the low 40's!
Aww, thanks, Ron. We think she’s a sweetie, but we are the grandparents! Yes, I’m glad trick-or-treating still went on. It’s an outdoor activity where people don’t have to congregate, so I figured it was safe. We had a coating of snow last night, so it’s headed your way. Enjoy the brutality!
DeleteThose photos are adorable - I used to love to watch Sesame Street with my kids. Yours were so cute.
ReplyDeleteHalloween was different this year.
I enjoyed watching Sesame Street with my kids, too. Bert and Ernie my faves.
DeleteThey are sure cute in their costumes. Great that Elmo can get passed down and keep getting used. Even if Cookie Monster got the credit in the end lol
ReplyDeleteGood that mot everyone took precautions too. Much the same here. But less and less did it this year than previous years.
It’s been quite the recycled Elmo. I think one or two of my nephews wore it as well. I was surprised so many people in her neighborhood participated, but it’s a lot of younger families.
DeleteYour grands are so adorable! Sounded like a fun time! Great to see so many people out there participating! I figured it could be done safely and I know the kids want a little bit of normalcy this year LOL :)
ReplyDeletebetty
Thanks, Betty. I was glad we got to do something normal, too!
DeleteYour grandchildren are just so beautiful, Bijoux! And I love the costumes.
ReplyDeleteMoments like these can help you forget the pandemic and the rest of the world's ills--at least for a little while--and we should be thankful for them.
It sounds like people were being responsible while enjoying the holiday, which I find very encouraging.
My sister and I took a walk around Prospect Park on Saturday and we saw plenty of kids in really nice costumes.
Thanks so much for sharing these lovely moments!
Thanks, Rob. We sure enjoy being grandparents. I was happy that people managed to make it as safe as possible. That’s great that you got outdoors on Halloween and saw some costumes. It’s fun to see the creativity.
DeleteGood that your neighbourhood managed to improvise an alternative trick-or-treat that took account of the covid restrictions. Halloween was very low-key in our area. There were fewer houses with Halloween decorations and very little trick-or-treat. Nobody called at our house the whole evening. I think most people were having parties indoors. Fireworks were very popular and went on for several hours. Maybe it'll be business as usual again next year!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter’s neighborhood has lots of young families, so it was probably more active than at our house. We did see one teen come to our door on our camera. Not sure why since we kept all our outdoor lights off. I have not heard of fireworks on Halloween. It’s strictly July 4th and New Year’s here.
Deletethat's a neat idea--making costumes for a school project and selling them. Nice pics. We had no trick-or-treaters this year at our new home, but we live up a lane with only one other house and it's occupied by someone even older than us...
Deletenew blog: www.fromarockyhillside.com
I think it’s a shame that home economics is a thing of the past because those are practical, useful skills to have. The costumes made by the students in the 1980’s-1990’s when my mother-in-law was teaching were very nice.
DeleteKeep working that Elmo!
ReplyDeleteI’m worried how many kids will recognize him. I guess Sesame Street is no longer on PBS?
DeleteThey were so cute in their costumes! We live on a court so we don't normally get more than 25 people because they don't want to walk down our street and have to turn back around and walk back up it. I pass out full size candy bars for those who aren't lazy LOL. I was shocked at how many people were out this year as I thought most parents would keep their kids home, but we had triple our normal numbers come through this year. I think people are looking to get out of the house and participate in normal activities. This year has been so upside down, it felt good to return to a little normalcy (with a few extra safety measures in place).
ReplyDeleteLol, that is nice to give out full size bars to those who make the effort! I think our house gets skipped a lot because our driveway is so steep. I have to laugh when solicitors huff and puff at my front door and then notice my No Soliciting sign. Am I evil? Lol!
DeleteNot at all! I don't think soliciting door to door should be legal. Why is it ok to go to someones door uninvited just to try to sell them something. It really makes me mad, especially when they are doing it during this pandemic!
DeleteIt was fun to read about your family trick or treating, now and then. The Elmo costume certainly has a family history, which is rather sweet. Our older grandchildren opted to attend a family party in costume, but the youngest did go out with her parents in their neighborhood. There were some youngsters going door-to-door in the mill apts, but only to those residents who had a provided hang tag on their door. We opted not to participate and didn't hear many youngsters out and about on the floor.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad you enjoyed the post. I did hear that some families had their own costume parties. I’m sure it’s fun for kids to trick or treat at an apartment building.
DeleteGood memories, Bijoux, and it sounds like you made some nice ones this year. We attempted to have a normal Halloween but not too many people were participating in our neighborhood. But we still had fun. Take care.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you still had fun. On my way over to your new post now!
DeleteAbsolutely adorable! Its lovely to have come across your blog!
ReplyDeleteHave a great day ahead!
Thank you!
DeleteToo funny about the lady who didn't realize that was Elmo and not the cookie monster! I love that you saved the costume and were able to get a second use out of it. Those things mean so much. Like you, I was so surprised at the amount of people who participated. We ran out of candy and had to hand out some of my daughter's stash by the end of the night. Your grandchildren are adorable!! Especially that smushy little cookie monster. :)
ReplyDeleteI saved some special clothing, toys, and books from my kids to hand down or use at our house. My grandson loves his uncle's matchbox cars!!! I hope you only gave away your daughter's crappy candy! lol! And thanks!
DeleteI love all the photos, damn cute! We don't celebrate Halloween, and we live in the countryside so we don't get any visitors. I'm glad you all had fun!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much, Joe!
DeleteHow cute! Most people around here didn't participate in Halloween this year. My grandson and his parents went to one neighborhood and stayed away from everyone. People had put candy in cups on tables and told the kids to pour one cup into their bags.
ReplyDeleteI’m glad your grandson got to go out safely!
DeleteNow that has to be the cutest collecton of Elmos ever! The Count and Cookie Monster are adorable. Blessings for the week ahead.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Liberty. We love our Sesame Street.
DeleteThat's so adorable that the Elmo costume got used so many different times. And I guess at least the woman got the show right?
ReplyDeleteI’m all about the recycling! And yes, at least she knew it wasn’t Barney.
DeleteGrowing up we'd get around 100 traipsters coming by for treats. Where we are now we used to get a dozen or two but it has been more than 10 years since we've had even 1 group. Seems we've fallen off the face of Halloween until ....
DeleteWell, now we have Instant Almost Grandson, Oddkin will be getting married when COVID allows and her beau has a 7 year old who missed out on Halloween due to quarantine so we had some fun Saturday making a belated for him and a friend. Candy hunt, hay ride, tire swing, campfire, and Mummy calzones. Queenie and I was scare crows, Grand-almost-son was a super hero, and his friend was a vampire. It's a different world.
That sounds like fun! Congrats to your daughter! Grand parenting is as good as everyone claims it to be! I can’t get enough of them.
DeleteI love seeing Halloween costumes that have worked their way through a family like that. :-) We've watched four of the six kids next door trick or treat in their lion costume. They've told us they still have it for future grandchildren. That's great that people were so good about social distancing and wearing masks for Halloween. The mask mandate here still isn't being enforced, so we chose not to hand out candy this year.
ReplyDeleteAww, that’s sweet about the lion costume. There’s an official mandate on masks now (I actually thought there was already one, but I guess not) though I don’t think retail employees are paid enough to be enforcers!
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