Halloween 2009

We went the cheapy route again this year on costumes and I let the boys decide what they wanted to be without any real direction. Riley's costume took the longest to make, about 3 hours, but he loved it and everybody recognized him. Shannon was REALLY easy, seems each year I get away with using one camo outfit. Corey's costume was quick too because I had made it before.

Riley as R2D2. That's a chip bowl on his head. The lid was a noise maker that sounded just like R2D2, so he slipped that under his shirt and gave it a whack every now and then.

Bowl: $1.00, felt: $.88.

Shannon goes Commando. Or Bomb Removal Unit Guy. Or Army Guy.

Hat: $1.00.

Corey wanted to be a traffic light again.
Felt, $.66.


All three.

All three.

Riley and Shannon headed out alone as soon as the other kids started out. 5:30 seemed a little early, but considering the neighborhood went quiet by 8:30 it was a good thing they got out there. While they were out and about I took Corey in the wagon, and painfully watched as he contemplated every single candy choice he was offered.

Once the boys had made their rounds, I offered to take the boys into the adjoining neighborhood for a little bit. You would think I told them that I wanted them to shoot a puppy! Anyhow, they finally consented and we did another two blocks before they declared that they were done.

We arrived home right at 7:30, only to find that Ken had killed all the Halloween and porch lights and had called it a night. I. Was. Furious. What a killjoy! So I kicked them all back on and Riley volunteered to hand out candy until the neighborhood went quiet at 8:30.

I tell ya, Halloween just isn't what it used to be. Nowadays, kids get about two cups of candy and call it good, kids as old as 16 have no problem mooching candy off of people, and everybody goes home before 9:00.

That never would have happened when I was a kid! We walked for MILES, and our pillowcases had better have been 1/2 full before anybody whined about the sleet or snow. You simply didn't consider stopping to pee, either. You went to every house, and if somebody said, "Take your choice," you grabbed a handful. (You certainly didn't play eeney-meeny-minny-mo for ten minutes.) And finally, people didn't run out of candy until at least 10:30, maybe 11:00 at night.

Oh well, I could complain some more, but the kids have finally fallen asleep so it's time to go pilfer the best candy out of the boys' bags. Now that I think about it, some things HAVEN'T changed since I was a kid.