OT trick or treat

Or you could try some canned broccoli, cauliflower, or brussels sprouts and see how far they go... 8^P

We hand out two pieces of assorted small candy bars but that's just for tradition. We have a rep for handing out Mardi Gras Beads -- REAL beads from New Orleans that came from the guys on the floats! Before the holiday, the kids who live in the 'hood always make sure to ask us about the beads when they pass by the house :-). Honestly, most of the kids could care less about the candy, they really like getting different stuff -- like Mardi Gras beads OR micro popcorn :-))). CiaoMeow >^;;^<

PAX, Tia Mary >^;;^< (RCTQ Queen of Kitties) Angels can't show their wings on earth but nothing was ever said about their whiskers! Visit my Photo albums at

Oh please that kind of stuff winds up as mathoms even at the food pantries! It does not begin to compare to being able to go home and bake blueberry muffins! Humph

I did find out talking to the fella next door that because of money they have closed the soup kitchen on weekends. When school is out that becomes the lunchroom for a lot of kids. Which might explain some of the packets of ramen.

I was joking about the muffins and soup mix, but if things stay bad maybe it would be a notion...

NightMist

hehehheheheh

I live in a small community populated by descendents of mostly Italian immigrants. Several years ago, I was in our local grocery store in the check out line. An older lady in front of me had several bags of groceries and the check out gal asked 3 young (8-9) year old boys, who were milling around the pop cooler, if they would carry the groceries out to the lady's car. They all said yes and grabbed up the bags. I checked out and when I went out to the car, the boys had finished and the lady was pressing a few dollars into their hands. They were politely refusing, but she insisted and they hurried back in the store.

A few minutes later, I was getting gas at the convenience store down the street and the boys rode past on their bikes. I said, Lucas, what did you boys buy with all that money? I figured they bought pop and candy. They were so excited! They had a grocery bag and one of them whipped out a package wrapped in butcher paper. Luke said, "we got 5 pieces of salami and

3 pieces of cheese!"

Now every one of those boys had plenty of food at home, but they were so thrilled.

Kids will definitely surprise you.

Cindy

We don't have that many kids come by our house (the neighborhood's little ones are all grown up now! ... but many years ago, we found that one of the kids down the block had a severe food allergy (something in ?chocolate/nuts/etc.) - so we started the tradition of handing out non-food items instead (stickers, puzzles, small coloring books - crayons bought CHEAP at back-to-school sales, little stuff that was cheaper/same cost than giving out candy bars.) The kids loved it! 'Sides, we got to keep/eat the candy we'd bought

ME-Judy

Every year I close up my house and head to my parents' house to answer their door. Generally they buy the goodies and I give it out. I like to give the littlest ones the "good" candy and the older ones get the "bulk" or cheaper candy. This year with all the rain we only had about

40 or so kids total, (usually by 8pm we have gotten 60-75). We had tons of candy left over, as it started to get cold and no-one came to the door past 8:15.

We had a neighbor years ago that gave out pencils. She was a retired teacher. Another neighbor gave out giant Hershey bars and Tublerone (sp?). A house a few blocks away gave out cider and donuts, but back in those days, no-one worried.

I miss the popcorn balls. They were the best.

amy in CNY

I love trick or treaters! Unfortunately, our street is not trick or treat friendly - no sidewalks, big hills, a flight of stairs up or down to each and every door is just too much work for the kids.

I was thrilled this year that we got ONE! In the past 11 years the record is 3 and most years we have none. sigh. Hopefully the next neighborhood we live in will be better. I just love seeing the kids all dressed up.

marcella

When we lived in our former home in a small town in Arizona, it got so bad that I hated Halloween. Truckloads of people -- not just children -- came to the door, mostly not dressed in costume, mostly not even saying "trick or treat", mostly just holding out a hand. It was literally a truckload every couple of minutes for hours. Result? I turned off the porch light on Halloween and hunkered down, except for taking our two DDs to friends' and relatives' homes and telling those friends and relatives to bring their children to our back door.

Now that we live here, I'm again enjoying Halloween. :) We get a lot of children -- big and small -- at the door. Most are dressed up, and most either say "trick or treat" or can be prompted to do so. It's fun again. Yay! :)

Oh, come on... you had to know I was kidding you back!

...And who besides you and I know what the hell a mathom is anyway? :-)

Doc, from the mathom house at Michel Delving...

We have a similar situation. We've probably had 10 kids in 20 years, and none most years as well. It's really hard on us too, having to eat all those peanut butter cups ourselves year after year after year.... :-(

Doc

Hmmm....Good question. Let us find out.

It is just one of those words like "grok" or "muggle" that filled a niche lacking in english, and just became part of our standard house parlance.

NightMist

Me. I've known what a mathom is for about 47 years. There are a couple here at the back of the 'swallows everything' cupboard...

The only kids who get anything at our door without saying "trick or treat" are the little ones who are out for the first time. If the kid is old enough to be in school, then the kid MUST say trick or treat. There is often prompting on our part but they say it :-). As for the whole Lizard Land thing, we would also get loads of kids from, hmmm how to say this nicely -- maybe from less advantaged neighborhoods -- yes, that's it. So, truckloads of kids from "less advantaged" 'hoods came to the door. We lived in Ahwatukee (FYI, a HUGE master planned community where all 'hoods were middle to upper middle class) so the kids had to come from literally miles and miles away. Costumes were usually ragged clothes with ketchup poured on them and lipstick used as blood on the face and this was it for being a zombie or something similar. VBS -- all comers got candy but not without the mandatory "Trick or Treat". Here all the kids come in some sort of costume. The bigger kids in the above mentioned type of "zombie" costume are usually a bit "long in the tooth" for trick or treating so they are told to return after 8:30 PM and if there is candy left I will hand it out. I smile and joke about it but am firm and they are happy to wait until the appointed hour. I'm so very lucky to live in a 'hood with a lot of kids of all ages and they are mostly pretty good, too. We decorate a LOT and are known for giving out the Mardi Gras beads so we get to see all the kids in their mostly store bought costumes. It's sad that kids don't seem to be able to raid the closets and put together a gypsy or hobo or princess costume anymore :-). My mom used to take us to the Goodwill every year and let us cobble together a bunch of stuff for our costumes. That was so much fun -- great memories, too! CiaoMeow >^;;^<

I know what a mathom is. People have told me "it's an East Coast thing". Dunno. My parents were from Pennsylvania, and there were many phrases we grew up with, considered them normal [whatever that is!]

G> On Nov 1, 2:02=A0pm, snipped-for-privacy@gmail.com (NightMist) wrote: >

On Sun, 1 Nov 2009 21:16:35 -0600, Marcella Peek wrote (in article ):

We don't live on a very trick or treat friendly street either. We had a grand total of 3, all who live in this building. Unless you count the 2 or 3 kids who came up the alley and tried to steal the neighbor kid's candy before we sent them on their way.

Maureen

AFAIK, it's strictly a J.R.R. Tolkien thing. It may have entered different fans' vocabularies from there.

Doc

Why not? It's a perfectly cromulent word.

Doc

Though the mathom house itself may be a tad shookly...

Good grief! I'd have thought with all the treats the exercise would be good for them! ;)

Too often in the UK it ends up as demanding treats with menaces, of which I thoroughly disapprove. The dressing up and having fun bit it good.

We live on a country lane outside the village. No TorT's here for the last 24 years. :) It was different back when we lived in town.

I used to hand out a pencil, an erasor or pencil sharpener, and the choice of an apple or orange. The kids thought this was much more fun than the usual yards of cheap chocolate. One year I found a range of cute pencils with glow-in-the-dark skeletons on. A bulk pack was about £2 for 40 or so, which worked out just fine. Left over pencils and fruit never go amis, either. Not in this house!