Halloween Night Report - St. Paul, MN

[MineralMan]

Well, last night was our busiest Halloween ever. My wife's mother, sister and 13-year-old nephew were over for hot dogs and trick or treaters. We had our stash of candy for the kiddies ready, a spooky, animated ghostly skeleton with its motion sensor beside the front porch, and the whole place lit up to make sure the costumed marauders didn't trip on anything.

Like clockwork, right at 6 PM, the kids started showing up. Most were accompanied by parents, and we saw a full array of costumery, with assorted Jasons, Star Wars characters, princesses, goblins, witches, walking pumpkins, and more. A few mini-vans, cruising the neighborhood stopped and belched out flocks of laughing children, who got to the door, spoke the magic words, and were rewarded with full-sized candy bars, full of sugar, HFCS, and other noxious things.

The bulk of the kids were Hmong, since we have a large Hmong population in our neighborhood, but the entire ethnic variety in Saint Paul showed up, as well. Almost to a kid, we got nice thank yous, smiles, and happiness. Even the parents offered thanks for our display and for being one of the few houses on our block that hadn't blacked itself out with the homeowners cowering inside.

A few really young kids were a little frightened of our animated skeleton ghost, but were easily reassured by whomever was handing out the goodies.

Promptly at 8 PM, the activity came to a halt, our guests went home, and we assessed the damage. Over 200 full-sized candy bars were distributed to the costumed mob. That's a new record for this house.

I'm glad for the evening, but saddened at how many homes on our little block of old 50s houses were dark, even though I knew the residents were home. It's a pity, I think, but there were enough houses welcoming the spooks and goblins and other assorted characters that everyone got too much candy.

Happy All Saints Day, everyone! Election Day is tomorrow...Go Vote!

[xchrom]

1. and a happy all saints to you as well -- one of my fav feast days. nt

[MineralMan]

2. Thank you kindly.

I like feast days, even though I'm an atheist. I like pretty much all holidays and celebrations.

[Scurrilous]

3. K & R

Happy All Saints Day! :thumbsup:

[MineralMan]

4. We're All Saints!

We're all sinners, too. How can you not celebrate?

[Cha]

5. Great, you live in a good old fashioned Halloween

neighborhood like it use to be.

O8) :evilfrown:

[MineralMan]

7. Yup, except that it's the Hmong kids who have adopted the

holiday in great numbers. I like that. That's the case in my neighborhood, anyhow. Good for them. Very nice trick-or-treaters, all very polite, all said thank you, and all said "Trick or Treat." Lots of big smiles and cute costumes. One little boy was dressed as a head of bok choy. Hilarious. They didn't quite have the demonology down, but their hearts were in the right place. I got to say "Hello" in Hmong about 100 times. That got big grins from the parents.

I like Halloween.

[Cha]

22. There's a Clint Eastwood movie

about him living in a Hmong neighborhood in Michigan.."Gran Torino"..a thriller!

[apocalypsehow]

6. Sorry, but I've had to go "dark" on Halloween since about 2007. I didn't mind when teenagers showed

up asking for candy on Halloween - even though "trick-or-treating" was something that would never have occurred to me when I was sixteen. Nope, as long as the were from the neighborhood, I handed out "treats" to one and all.

It's when large, rowdy groups of prowling teenagers from outside my community started showing up in our neighborhoods that I shut down Halloween at the apocalypsehow domicile.

Next year a new law passed by our city council will go into effect that will ban those over the age of twelve from "trick-or-treating": it had become such a problem that a lot of people in our neighborhood circulated a petition, and so did several other gated communities, and the council listened. You will have to get a permit to go door to door soliciting if you are thirteen or older. So I may reconsider going "bright" again if it deters the kind of thing I've seen the last four or five years.

[MineralMan]

8. Heck, I just give the teenagers cigarettes.

:rofl:

[Dappleganger]

10. That's sad.

We love our teen trick-or-treaters, but they have to either sing a song or do an impression to get their treat.

[MineralMan]

12. Good for you! Make 'em work for it.

[Dappleganger]

9. Great report--ours was the slowest it's ever been.

Maybe it's because kids we knew a decade ago have grown up and left, but there weren't nearly as many trick-or-treaters this year as before. We were seriously bummed (not as many to scare).

[MineralMan]

11. We're lucky. Our neighborhood is one with reasonably-priced

houses, and is full of families with young children. I think they call the houses here "starter homes," so the neighborhood is popular with young families. My wife and I are hardly young, and have no kids. We call our house an "ender home." We'll be here from now on, and will be the old farts on a block full of kids. It's a city neighborhood in Saint Paul, MN.

That's OK with me. We know most of our neighbors, and we're the neighborhood safe house for the latchkey kids. I'm also the bicycle repair guy in the neighborhood and the "can you jump my car" guy, and the guy who can change a flat tire in the driveway after Dad goes to work and you need to get somewhere. There are a couple of even older folks in the neighborhood, too, people who bought their houses when they were built in the 1950s. I do snow removal for them, in exchange for a plate of cookies or brownies once in a while.

Oddly, the neighborhood reminds me of the one I grew up in in the 1950s. Kids playing outdoors (no money for video games) and riding bikes up and down the street. Neighbors that wave at you when you drive by. Snowmen in every yard in the winter, along with snow forts. That kind of thing. I think there are more of this type of neighborhood in cities than in the suburbs. I like it.

[Dappleganger]

13. That sounds awesome...

I wish we had a neighbor like you!

We have a large-ish family living in the smallest model in our 'hood. We definitely don't have anywhere the affluence (or debt) that our neighbors have, but the kids' friends are over here constantly. Quite often there will be another teen living here who is having issues with her family. We've had endless foreign exchange students. Our philosophy is that we're like a Haitian taxi:there's always room for just one more!

I grew up in a neighborhood similar to yours: it was amazing that the same folks to whom I used to deliver papers to were the same ones at my mom's funeral two years ago, and they all continue to live in the same homes. Most have made similar improvements (all the same ranch-style tract home, half brick and shingle with single car attached garage). Most of them are retired military and most were two-earners. Gotta love that kind of stability which is so hard to find nowadays.

[ellie]

14. I live in the city

and we were one of the only ones on our end of the block to hand out candy. The kids were very polite, everyone said thank you and Happy Halloween. I love Halloween.

[MineralMan]

16. Thank you for continuing the tradition!

[dogday]

15. I had one trick or treater who stood about 6'2" and scared the

crap out of me. I gave him most of the candy.... :rofl:

[MineralMan]

17. Ha! Score!

[whistler162]

18. What do you serve with trick or treaters, potato salad?

[MineralMan]

21. Chips.

[walldude]

19. We had a record night as well....

Probably not quite 200 but close. We do a haunted house though, and it's become quite popular. The little kids go around to get their candy, if the big kids want candy they have to go through the Haunted House and my little kids scare the crap out of them first. It's a plus for everyone.

[MineralMan]

20. Good job! Scare 'em then give 'em goodies.

I like it.