… tricks?
Put down that candy and reminisce!
The cry is “Trick or Treat” as kids go from door to door collecting goodies in a regular world. It still happened a bit around here although it was recommended not to happen in certain places in the province.
But that’s OK. We’re going back … way back … to the days when you went trick or treating.
For the most part that I can remember, everyone had treats for us. And, when they ran out, they just turned out the lights and we moved on.
I do remember some of the older people in our neighbourhood who tried to have a bit of fun in the process and make it seem like there was a real chance that this would be an “either/or” situation.
What is your trick?
Now, we were prepared. It’s probably not very original but my mom would always give us a partly used bar of soap and our threat was that we would “soap your windows”. I actually don’t recall soaping anyone’s house window but I kind of remember walking alongside a car and help them get ready for a car wash on November 1.
I do remember an older story that involved an outhouse…
How is your memory for this day after Hallowe’en?
- When you went out, were you prepared to trick if you didn’t get any goodies?
- What was the trick that you were packing?
- Have you ever had someone trick your house?
- If you have kids, do you send them out prepared to do a trick?
- What great Hallowe’en tricks have you heard about?
Please share them in the comments below.
This post came from:
https://dougpete.wordpress.com
If you read it anywhere else, it’s not the original.
doug --- off the record 
I remember this element of trickery during my childhood “trick or treating” days. (Funny how that became a verb describing a singular activity, as in, “Are you going trick-or-treating” this year?”) I remember some confusion about who was supposed to do the tricking — the seekers of candy, or the givers. I recall some houses I called on led to a demand that we had to sing more for the candy. I never cared for that trick/intimidation? I was a victim of a slashed candy bag (pillow case) once. We would never know who did it. I remember the debates about which chant to do at the doors: “Halloween Apples” or “Trick or Treat”. Why did that seem to change to the latter? Were we afraid we would just get apples?
In the small town where I grew up, “gate night” lasted more like a week before Halloween. I guess we were bad kids who still roamed our neighbourhood unsupervised in those evenings when it started to get darker. So I guess the tricks were played ahead of time — as a warning? There were bars of soap involved, but also eggs. I remember our house/windows getting “hit” a few times. The mischief was easy to get caught up in when we hung out in larger groups of kids in those days. It was mostly the boys… 😀
As for my own kids, there was never a prep to trick. It seemed to become a thing of the past. I don’t think my kids ever had the same elements of fear that went with my trick-or-treating days. Different city and times though, I suppose, and more adult escorting.
Hope your family had some fun in spite of a very different Halloween this year.
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I never remember doing any tricks, but I always remember my step-dad asking this question as kids came to our door. He used to offer an extra candy for a trick. Children thought that this was so funny, and loved creating tricks to share. Maybe we all should have had one planned as you did. 🙂
Aviva
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