Halloween memories for the older crowd

[Cowpolk]

Trick or treat smell my feet give me something good to eat

 

[SlammedZero]

There was an OK amount of kids out last night. Still, and I don't know if it's just the nostalgia of my memory as a kid (everything felt bigger when you were young), but I swear there were more kids out when I was young.

 

[Runwildboys]

There was an OK amount of kids out last night. Still, and I don't know if it's just the nostalgia of my memory as a kid (everything felt bigger when you were young), but I swear there were more kids out when I was young.

I haven't put my lights on for about 15 years, because there were seven kids the first year or two, then three kids, then none, so I'm not wasting time and money buying candy.

 

[KJJ]

There was an OK amount of kids out last night. Still, and I don't know if it's just the nostalgia of my memory as a kid (everything felt bigger when you were young), but I swear there were more kids out when I was young.

When I was trick-or-treating back in the late 60s early 70s, the neighborhoods were flooded with kids and I grew up in a small town. I think today a lot of parents are afraid to allow their kids to trick-or-treat. People are passing out treats with all kinds of stuff in it. Trick-or-treating back in the day you never heard about that.

 

[Runwildboys]

When I was trick-or-treating back in the late 60s early 70s, the neighborhoods were flooded with kids and I grew up in a small town. I think today a lot of parents are afraid to allow their kids to trick-or-treat. People are passing out treats with all kinds of stuff in it. Trick-or-treating back in the day you never heard about that.

It seemed like it was starting to happen in the late 70s. I remember my mother telling us to check for razor blades and such...Maybe she was the one who started it!

 

[Cowpolk]

It seemed like it was starting to happen in the late 70s. I remember my mother telling us to check for razor blades and such...Maybe she was the one who started it!

I heard to look out for razor's in the 60's A guy in west Dallas was arrested for spiking candy with LSD late 60's

 

[Runwildboys]

I heard to look out for razor's in the 60's A guy in west Dallas was arrested for spiking candy with LSD late 60's

Texans: Always ahead of the curve!

 

[KJJ]

It seemed like it was starting to happen in the late 70s. I remember my mother telling us to check for razor blades and such...Maybe she was the one who started it!

That was likely when it started happening because we never heard about stuff like that in the late 60s early 70s. Now we’re starting to hear a lot about fentanyl poisoning. That’s what’s got everyone on edge right now.

 

[Runwildboys]

That was likely when it started happening because we never heard about stuff like that in the late 60s early 70s. Now we’re starting to hear a lot about fentanyl poisoning. That’s what’s got everyone on edge right now.

Yeah, according to Last Week Tonight, that's being overblown, and there hasn't been a single case of it actually happening.

 

[KJJ]

Yeah, according to Last Week Tonight, that's being overblown, and there hasn't been a single case of it actually happening.

The bottom line is there’s a lot of bad people out there these days and you don’t know what nutcase could be behind the door you’re knocking on.

 

[SlammedZero]

When I was trick-or-treating back in the late 60s early 70s, the neighborhoods were flooded with kids and I grew up in a small town. I think today a lot of parents are afraid to allow their kids to trick-or-treat. People are passing out treats with all kinds of stuff in it. Trick-or-treating back in the day you never heard about that.

I can tell you that I remember those stories back in the 90s. I always found the drug ones funny. Drug dealers aren't going to just hand out drugs because they think it's entertaining. They're in it for the money. On the other side of the coin, I've yet to ever meet an addict that would ever hand out drugs for free. I'm not saying there couldn't be an outlier event, but on a wide scale, I think it's funny people think that would happen. I just think times have changed with everybody being so plugged in and paranoid about everything.

It seemed like it was starting to happen in the late 70s. I remember my mother telling us to check for razor blades and such...Maybe she was the one who started it!

That gave me a genuine LOL!

 

[Runwildboys]

The bottom line is there’s a lot of bad people out there these days and you don’t know what nutcase could be behind the door you’re knocking on.

Absolutely. Hey, you're talking to a misanthrope of the first order, you don't need to convince me of how much people suck.

 

[KJJ]

Absolutely. Hey, you're talking to a misanthrope of the first order, you don't need to convince me of how much people suck.

These days you don’t know who you might be opening your door to. Adults come up to your door wearing masks with their kids trick-or-treating and it could be a set up for a home invasion robbery. I don’t trust anyone nowadays. No one can come up to my home anyway because it’s all gated off with surveillance everywhere.

 

[jsb357]

as a kid it was fun...smarties for days
as a bartender in the 80's it was a event and dress up was mandatory
now it's the time when the peanut based "black n orange" candy is available in the store

 

[rags747]

In NY Westchester County in the 60’s got loads of candy, don’t remember eating it all so parents must have given lots of it away! In the 70’s again in Westchester County shaving cream and eggs became all the thing as now we were teenagers. Growing up is such a wonderful time with experiences that are never forgotten. Thx for this thread…

 

[Creeper]

Around here in the late 60's early 70's the night before Halloween was known as Cabbage Night and was when the pranksters had their fun. Just about every neighborhood had it's band of pranksters roaming the city. Stores would pull the eggs off the shelves. Every cop on the force, and maybe a few special deputies would be out patrolling, often in their own vehicles. It never took long to figure out which vehicles were the cops and they would then be targeted. I honestly think the cops back then enjoyed the night. Of course we knew every backyard and every fence, and they would try and pattern us and head us off at the pass. No real damage was done. The usual irresponsible prankster stuff.

Halloween night was much calmer and completely safe for everyone to trick or treat wherever they wished. Chances of having to wear your costume over a winter parka were good so you had to be prepared for that. Definitely one of the highlights of the year.

I remember one cabbage night it seemed like every kid in town was out with a cache of eggs. Kids were all over town. Eventually the local cops corralled us all into the town square where they basically let us pelt each other with eggs and douse ourselves with shaving cream. Then in the middle of all this mayhem, a bus pulled up to a bus stop on the edge of the square. The rioting kids were on one side of the bus and the cops were on the other so they could not see us. It was like everyone in the crowd got the same idea at the same time because in a couple of seconds the sky turned white with eggs flying over the top of the bus in the direction of the cop cars. When the bus pulled away, the cops and their cars were covered in eggs. That was the end of cabbage night for us, but I still laugh about that scene to this day.

 

[Creeper]

My trick or treat days were in the 60s. My brother and I used to plot out our route the night before Halloween knowing which neighborhoods and houses were the best places to go. Some people back then would give out full sized candy bars, none of this bite size crap they hand out now! If Halloween fell on a weekend we would go out in one costume in the morning then another in the afternoon hitting up the same houses a second time! We were devils!

The best part was coming home at night and dumping all our candy out on the floor. We trades this for that, sorted what he had and complained about people handing out apples or pennies. Most years my mom would wind up throwing out a good chunk of what we collected because we didn't eat all of it.

The thing is, our parents let us leave the house in the morning and come back well after dark. No one followed us or accompanied us, and we had no limits on how far we could travel. It is amazing how sheltered kids are today compared to when I was a kid.

When I was a freshman in high school our practice football field was about a half mile from the school so after suiting up in the locker room after classes we had to walk to the field through a residential neighborhood to get to practice. The coach usually got there after we did. On Halloween with our practice uniforms on we trick or treated all the way to the field. collecting the candy in our helmets. When our coach showed up and saw us sitting around eating candy He acted all ticked off and made us run laps the entire practice. I knew he was amused but he tried hard not to show it.

 

[Flamma]

Halloween always brings back a lot of great memories. October 31 is just another day on my calendar now and has been for many years, but as a child growing up it was one of my favorite days. Halloween is the one time when you can pretend to be something you're not and be rewarded for it. My trick-or-treating years were during the 1960s and part of the 70s. You know you’re getting old when some of the Halloween costumes you wore as a kid have become high priced collectibles. It didn't make my daily mega dose of Geritol go down any easier seeing "vintage" to describe an old Deputy Dawg costume like the one I wore as a child. There were no Halloween stores with wall to wall costumes and accessories years ago. Parents either made their kids Halloween costumes from cheap household materials or they took them to a five and dime and bought them a costume in a box for under 10 bucks.

You would put them on over your clothes. The eye holes on the mask never fit your eyes perfectly, which limited your vision. The breathing holes were so damn tiny they wouldn't facilitate oxygen flow, making it difficult to breathe, but naturally you never said anything fearing you wouldn’t be allowed to wear it. The growth of TV in the 1960s-70s and the programs we watched, especially on Saturday mornings had a big influence on the Halloween costumes we wore. Along with the usual ghouls and goblins on Halloween night were the George Jetsons, Quick Draw McGraws, Huckleberry Hounds and Atom Ants. You would see one of the Beatles tagging along with Little Joe Cartwright and trailing behind trying to keep up was a pint sized Maytag repairman.

The streets around the small town I grew up in were so traffic free that some parents would allow their kids to trick-or-treat unsupervised with a group of other kids, with the older kids keeping an eye on the younger kids. Parents were probably more worried about their kids on Halloween when they outgrew trick-or-treating, because Halloween isn’t all about cute costumes, candy corn, cookies and M&Ms, it’s about pranks! Water balloons, talc bombs and toilet papering people’s property. The neighborhoods were a potential pranking battle ground for kids who after a decade of trick-or-treating had finally grown tired of going from door to door on Halloween night, pretending to be Bullwinkle, Mr. Whipple and Gumby, just to get a bag full of candy. They were ready to up their game as teenagers and play some tricks on Halloween.

My days started in the early 70s, so we're not too far apart. To me, Halloween was neck and neck with Christmas. The funny thing about it, I don't eat candy. Never did. My father would always stand there in stunned fascination as I'd hand over the bag.

When I was a kid I don't remember any parents being outside. I know mine never came with me. The only time parents were out with kids was during midnight trick or treating. That was a thing by me. But I rarely participated in that.

 

[Turtle0986]

Kids these days would probably rather be playing Xbox and Tik Tok, plus the fact that some kids are just plain coddled. Sad that times change

That is my oldest to a tee lol, his two younger brothers still want to go get candy though. Seems to believe and more common for these "Trunk Or Treat" things now, didn't see anyone Hallowen night in our neighborhood out, they did a trunk at the park day before, just sad.

 

[KJJ]

My days started in the early 70s, so we're not too far apart. To me, Halloween was neck and neck with Christmas. The funny thing about it, I don't eat candy. Never did. My father would always stand there in stunned fascination as I'd hand over the bag.

When I was a kid I don't remember any parents being outside. I know mine never came with me. The only time parents were out with kids was during midnight trick or treating. That was a thing by me. But I rarely participated in that.

I loved candy, which is one reason I looked forward to Halloween but I hated those big flavored marshmallow peanuts. They were like eating Styrofoam.