Sunday, November 1, 2009

They Get The Magic

Before I forget, new giveaway up at my review blog. And more to come in the next week or so!

***

In Halloweens past, it's been more fun for me than for the wee ones. While they were interested in trick or treating, it quickly wore thin, and they were done. The costumes were fun, but they didn't really get into it.

This year? Oh, what a difference a year makes.

Granted, Little Miss decided at the last minute that she did not want to be Tinkerbell (as she'd been demanded for the previous ten months) but instead wanted to be a goblin. Uhhh, yeah. Momma don't make a goblin costume a) at the last minute b) after spending money on a Tinkerbell costume c) because she doesn't know what a goblin actually looks like or d) all of the above.

She went as Tinkerbell after I promised to put two layers of pants on her and threatened to take away the opportunity to go trick or treating. And she loved being Tink.

The first really cool part about this year is that a group I'm a part of put together a gluten free / casein free trick or treating event so that Little Miss was able to collect candy that she could actually eat. Mister Man was also invited along as a sibling, which meant that he saw his best friend from his first year of preschool and had a blast.





That's also where Little Miss started demanding two layers of pants under her costume. Bad mommy, I didn't think about how cold it would be Friday night. She had bare legs, although we were only out for a little bit as "just" fifteen or so houses were participating in the GFCF trick or treating.



The good news is that the wee ones followed the trick or treating rules I laid out for them. I did have to add a new one: after you ring the doorbell, count to fifteen slowly. If no one has answered the door by then, move on to the next house. The little buddy who saw Mister Man and immediately screamed for us to wait for him and joined us on our trek for the neighborhood benefitted from that rule the most, I think!

We actually did our entire neighborhood, and the wee ones wanted to keep going. Of course, as we went along our neighborhood, the coats, hats and mittens came out of my backpack. We stopped at home twice to dump candy and get a drink of water. But they had so much fun, we went to the neighborhood that connects to ours.

Smart me? I drove to it. And we lasted about ten houses into that neighborhood before they were done. And when they were done, they were D.O.N.E. Fortunately, I organized our trick or treating so that we weren't too far from our car at that point.

And getting home quickly meant that they still had plenty of time to hand out candy at our house, an honor they practically fought over. Our grand total was 339 this year, far less than the 462 we had last year. Our neighborhood is still a magnet for those who live elsewhere and have ahhhh greater acreage than we do. I took a quick snap of one car driving into our neighborhood to drop off kids at the very beginning. Within a half hour, streets were completely filled on both sides with cars parked, trucking in kids to trick or treat in my neighborhood.



Yes. That really is the kind of car we see driving around in our area.

And yes, I did the candy sorting. We had the Snickers pile, the corn syrup pile, and the you can choose from this pile. And wow is it hard to find candy that doesn't have corn syrup in it. Reese's and Mister Goodbar, along with two bags of pretzels were the only ones that made the cut. It's possible others might, but boo to Hershey's who refers me to the website for ingredients and nutritional information when looking at the package yet refers me to the package when I go online.

We're already asking when Halloween is next year.







So how was your Halloween?

15 comments:

Roxane November 1, 2009 at 8:46 PM  

They are too cute! Tinkerbell is my favorite disney character :)Also, I wouldn't mind going for a spin in that car!

Keys to the Magic Travel November 1, 2009 at 9:03 PM  

My oldest has a friend that has to be gluten and dairy free. It's rough on Halloween. Skittles seem to be her thing.

And I have a snickers pile, too. Because my youngest has decided that she does not like peanuts. Whatever. I have a snickers pile!

Melisa Wells November 1, 2009 at 9:18 PM  

Quiet! One kid was at work and the other went trick-or-treating with friends and then to a friend's house for video games.

Ahhh, teenagers...

Claudya Martinez November 1, 2009 at 9:42 PM  

Wow! That is an eventful evening. I love where I live, but we get no trick or treaters and that's just sad.

anymommy November 1, 2009 at 11:02 PM  

Our neighborhood is exactly the same. Cars lining the street. Over 500 kids this year. I think it's so much fun. And my kids fight over the honor of the pass out too!!

They are darling.

WeaselMomma November 2, 2009 at 5:14 AM  

I've heard rumors that next year Halloween will be celebrated on October 31. Don't let the cat out of the bag.

septembermom November 2, 2009 at 11:11 AM  

Looks like a lot of fun! Your kids look cute :) We went trick or treating in the rain. Super soaked. I think my sneakers will never dry out!

Angela November 2, 2009 at 11:59 AM  

Awwww! They are so adorable! I love the third pic where they are holding hands (or almost!)

Our Halloween was good. It is my Dad's actual b-day that day, so we stayed in and cooked a nice dinner for him and skipped our nhood block party.

Cookie November 2, 2009 at 4:29 PM  

339?! That is a LOT of kids!
Love the tinkerbell and the spiderman with the muscles :) Very cute!

Michelle November 2, 2009 at 8:56 PM  

Roxane - I don't know that Tinkerbell is my absolute favorite, but I don't know who would be. She's a bit of a snot in the Peter Pan movie, but she's definitely got spunk lately!

Kat - We were doing Skittles until I cut out all corn syrup (go check out the research lately on corn syrup and mercury - google news search it. Freaky). Soooo yeah. She's got two small bags of peanuts. The Snickers have corn syrup but ummm I don't count?

Melisa - Someday I'll have that. Must be nice to be quiet. Although we'll have the non-stop doorbell ringing still!

Unknown Mami - Bummer on the no trick or treaters. I have to say that really does make it fun!

Stacey - Wow! You beat us by a mile. I won't complain anymore :) I love having lots of kids come but at some point, 500 kids gets expensive.

WeaselMomma - Funny. I'll try to keep it under my (witches) hat.

Kelly - Ohhh yuck. We were afraid that was going to happen, but it finally dried out for trick or treating itself. Here's hoping the weather next year is more conducive to good trick or treating!

Angela - Thanks. Very cool that you celebrated with your dad. What a very cool birthday!

Dawn - Ummm yeah. But again, nothing compared to last year -- or to Stacey's numbers! The costumes were fun, but after reading other blogs... next year, they're going coordinating something!

Karen November 3, 2009 at 7:46 AM  

GFCF Trick-or-Treating sounds like a genius plan! Looks like you had a good time.

November 3, 2009 at 9:13 AM  

Such cuties!

Stopping by from the SITS Halloween Parade :o)

Gina November 3, 2009 at 1:44 PM  

Our neighborhood got so fed up with the out-of-towners trucking in that they now make you go to the fire hall in advance, sign up with your name and address, and receive a special tag to wear during trick or treat. It's a pain, but it because necessary, because residents couldn't afford to keep up with the carloads of kids from other towns - tons of cars with 4-5 kids in each in an already large neighborhood was crazy.

Mrs4444 November 4, 2009 at 8:09 PM  

You aren't going to be able to call them "wee" ones much longer, you know-They are growing like weeds!

Glad you were able to get past the drama and have fun. WOW, that's a lot of kids! Fortunately, our house is in a wooded development; it's not efficient to trick or treat here, with long driveways and big lots. Still, we got around 50, so Mr.4444 had fun.

Michelle March 26, 2010 at 10:49 PM  

Karen - I thought it was brilliant. Ironically, the same group recently had a St Patty's Day event and had all sorts of "common" candy that all had to be tossed by us. Weird.

Joy - Awww, thanks! Halloween? Wow, I'm really that behind.

Gina - Wowwww, that's ummmm amazing. In a way, that would be nice here, but I don't see it happening. At least I know some of the ones who come in to join other families contribute candy to those families....

Mrs4444 - When Mister Man is 6'7, he will still be my wee one. He'll always be my wee one. Always! 50 for your wooded development is pretty impressive. Go Mr4444!

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