Kevin's Watch

Im giving out the 'good stuff' this year. FULL SIZE chocolate bars. Not that MINI crap. It's my silent protest against the state of Halloween. Halloween is very different now then in my olden days... (last year )

When I went trick or treating we always looked for the 'good stuff'. We'd get home and separate into the bag of 'good stuff' and the stuff you would trade.

Good stuff
anything CHOCOLATE
sugar daddy lollipops
tootsie rolls (no, they are not chocolate)
starburst
reeses


trade stuff
candy corn
hard candy
peppermint
APPLES


Now you get home and you separate out
Things that are potentially poisoned
Things with pins or razors
Things that the wrapper is torn
Things with lead
Things from people you dont know
ANYTHING fresh

Then you parent takes what is left and separates
Things with too much sugar
things with not enough fiber
this with whatever......coconut oil, preservatives, nuts, etc

Whats left is one sugar free, fat free, low carb, chocolate substitute candy bar in a safety wrapper that no one wants to trade with you.

I give out the same thing every year, only due to selection the actual choices vary.

Makes no sense? Read on.

Target has a section that used to be known as "The Dollar Spot." They call it something else now, as the items featured range from $1 to $3 now. However, throughout the year they offer DVDs of varying subjects for $1. They range from old cartoons that few have heard of now a days, to a couple of episodes of classic television shows, to "how to" series, etc. And Target is known for their clearance deals.

So, I keep an eye on the Dollar Spot. Whenever the seasonal items there go to 75% off, I raid the DVDs that are left, choosing child appropriate ones and getting them for usually 25 cents each. I limit my trick-or-treat budget to $25 plus tax, so each year I have a stack of 100 DVDs to give out for Hallowe'en.

Word seems to have gotten out. And even though we don't give out "the good stuff" candy-wise, the kids are starting to flock to our door, and the parents who accompany the younger kids always say, "Cool!! when they see what we are giving out.

lorin wrote:Whats left is one sugar free, fat free, low carb, chocolate substitute candy bar in a safety wrapper that no one wants to trade with you.

Not here.
Win-win all around, I think.

Oh more simple ,just jelly babies and wine gums all mixed together in a bowl and the kids ave to put their hands in and help themselves

Cleburne wrote:Oh more simple ,just jelly babies and wine gums all mixed together in a bowl and the kids ave to put their hands in and help themselves

wine gums? what's a wine gum?

Mmm wine gums are beautiful.



At the school district I work at, we're doing a Treats-for-Trade candy drive the first week after halloween. The kids donate (willingly) their Halloween candy and the school with the most poundage gets a party. The donated candy gets sent overseas to troops.

I think the dentists hate it.

lorin wrote:

Cleburne wrote:Oh more simple ,just jelly babies and wine gums all mixed together in a bowl and the kids ave to put their hands in and help themselves

wine gums? what's a wine gum?

Thanks Kaydene for the picture of the wine gums , they are yummy but too yummy as I eat most of them and had to go back to the shop to get some more and we had lots of kids at our door already , so the sweets are almost gone .

Cleburne wrote:

lorin wrote:

Cleburne wrote:Oh more simple ,just jelly babies and wine gums all mixed together in a bowl and the kids ave to put their hands in and help themselves

wine gums? what's a wine gum?

Thanks Kaydene for the picture of the wine gums , they are yummy but too yummy as I eat most of them and had to go back to the shop to get some more and we had lots of kids at our door already , so the sweets are almost gone .

do they have wine in them? is that how you keep the kids calm?

I've got a bowlful of fun-size treats by the door -- mostly chocolate but also some Skittles for variety. So far, no takers. This is the first Halloween I've lived here that I've actually been home for trick-or-treat, and it's overcast, fixin' to rain later, and I'm on the third floor. So I sort of suspected that I wouldn't have many visitors. Still, it's early -- only 6pm here. Maybe the teenage hordes will brave the weather and clean me out later.

This year, btw, there's another wrinkle to the "good" candy -- H1N1. Apparently some folks are looking into irradiating the packaging and/or dousing it with hand sanitizer before letting the kids have it. I tell ya, Halloween's no fun anymore.

lorin wrote:

Cleburne wrote:

lorin wrote: wine gums? what's a wine gum?

Thanks Kaydene for the picture of the wine gums , they are yummy but too yummy as I eat most of them and had to go back to the shop to get some more and we had lots of kids at our door already , so the sweets are almost gone .

do they have wine in them? is that how you keep the kids calm?

lol. No, that's the Benadryl...

From Wiki:

Wine gums contain no wine. The name comes from the lingering, subtle fruit flavours that make it "similar to the experience of savouring a fine wine". In reference to this, the sweets have the names of alcoholic drinks on them, for example port, sherry, champagne, claret, gin, Rioja, Chablis and Burgundy.

That sounds too sophisticated to hand to kids in Dora the Explorer costumes....

Aaaaand it's 11:15pm and I had zero knocks on my door tonight. Anybody want any leftover Halloween candy? I already ate all the Almond Joys, but there are some Kit Kats left....

Aww, Ali. I haven't gotten any trick-or-treaters either. And I'll have a kit-kat, thanks.

I've been cleaned out.

So interesting living in a small town. the streets are literally jammed with parents and young children. Some very cute costumes. The guy across the street has his house done up real scary. red lights, mist, bodies everywhere. He is sitting in a rocking chair with a clown outfit on and not moving. There is a giant bag of candy next to him and the kids have to walk up and take from the bag. He just starts rocking when they reach into the bag. They realize there is a live person in the chair and go screeching down the driveway.

its great!

<grumble> I gotta get out of multifamily housing and back into a regular neighborhood... <grumble>

I don't think it would make all that much of a difference, ali. Except maybe for the rare neighborhood like lorin's.

*repeat of post made at The Hangar*

I don't remember much regarding candy before my tween years, but the idea that possibly drugs were injected or razor blades were inserted into apples impinged on my consciousness around '72, when I was 12. Churches and youth organizations have been down playing the idea of trick-or-treat and promoting organized parties instead ever since. I guess the generation of kids that was raised with that idea has taken it to heart here in the states, and very few kids go trick-or-treating to neighbors/strangers homes anymore.

Yeah, it really sucks. Part of what makes a neighborhood a neighborhood is some degree of trust in your neighbors. It's part of the mistrust of "others" that's permeated a lot of American culture. I think trick-or-treating was an early casualty.

Sort of a heavy topic for the Galley -- sorry, Menolly...

No apologies needed, ali.
I agree with you.

aliantha wrote:<grumble> I gotta get out of multifamily housing and back into a regular neighborhood... <grumble>

I'm in a regular neighborhood and had all of four kids stop by. Now I have a load of candy to go through. Good thing it's candy I like.

That's the key to Halloween candy buying, Damelon!

Oh yeah! Kaydene, here you go:

I threw in a Twix for no extra charge.

lol, thank you!

Kaydene wrote:

lorin wrote:

Cleburne wrote: Thanks Kaydene for the picture of the wine gums , they are yummy but too yummy as I eat most of them and had to go back to the shop to get some more and we had lots of kids at our door already , so the sweets are almost gone .

do they have wine in them? is that how you keep the kids calm?

lol. No, that's the Benadryl...

From Wiki:

Wine gums contain no wine. The name comes from the lingering, subtle fruit flavours that make it "similar to the experience of savouring a fine wine". In reference to this, the sweets have the names of alcoholic drinks on them, for example port, sherry, champagne, claret, gin, Rioja, Chablis and Burgundy.

I have to try these candies. There is a whole following. There is even poetry dedicated to it?!?!?
www.wombania.com/wine-gums.htm