Halloween at 1128
Tonight marks the first observance of Halloween at 1128 (last year we were all elsewhere). At about 5pm I went to Publix and picked up some candy and frozen dinners. I picked the candy that I always liked most when I was little - Nestle Crunch and 3 Musketeers - one bag each. Earlier in the weekend I had visions of smiling children receiving full size candy bars, but they all seemed happy to receive a Fun Size serving of each.
When I got home I started feeling ambitious. I needed to build something! Something a little spooky to make the experience of 1128’s visitors/beggars that much more special. I commandeered Mike’s Buckethead getup, an old polyfoam puppet body and head from way back, and put together a figure to stand in the window. The Mathmos bricks and a blacklight below served illuminate the spectacle.
During this time Trick-or-Treaters were coming to the door in small packs - some with nice costumes (props to my neighbor James’s son, who had a pretty cool fireman’s costume - although it may have been some modern cartoon character and I had no idea), and some with a 39 cent mask from QT and a hooded sweatshirt. One Crunch and one 3 Musketeer each.
At 7pm I was out of candy. I panicked. When I bought two bags of candy, I thought, “You know, I may only give out five pieces of this stuff, but that’ll be alright.” It turns out there are quite a few observers of Halloween in my neighborhood! Mike and I scoured the pantry. We had Oreos, granola bars, instant potatoes (one package), powdered Gatorade, a couple fruit cups, and a few candy canes. With a big squad of young cavity monsters heading down the driveway, I reluctantly shut off the lights and hopped into the Jeep, explaining, “We’re all out of candy! I’ll be back with more!” as I drove past them.
The checkout line crawled at Publix, me with 4 bags of candy now (if I ran out after having six bags, so be it!). At 7:20 I turned the lights back on and waited, dreaming of the animatronic creatures I’d rig up for next year: computer controlled rotating figures, grisly items swaying from the tree branches…
By 8pm I had only given out 6 pieces (apparently it really slows down after 7) - four to a pair of teenage boys dressed as girls (”You both look stunning!”) and two to a little girl dressed as a fairy (”Look at you! Your wings look wonderful!” “Thank you!”).
Now that - hearing a little girl say, “Thank you!” in her little girl voice - I think that’s worth $15 in candy.
November 1st, 2004 at 1:01 pm
Well this year we got 5 sets of trick-or-treaters, two of which were neighbors telling us not to expect anyone else because in their experience people don’t attempt our apartment complex. Even though all 5 were probably from our complex and not people wandering in off the street, I think that the large “Happy Halloween” banner in our window and the skull lantern helped people realize we had candy to dispense.