Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Fall Festival or Trick or Treat?



Okay...so I am old fashioned.  I love to hang out my laundry on a sunny day.  I love to bake bread and cut my own grass and think children should be seen and not heard.  (Just kidding on the last one!)

Can I just vent a little about the ever growing trend of "Fall Festivals"?  Or Trunk or Treat, or what ever you want to call it. 

Fall Festivals are ruining trick or treating for the rest of us.  I fail to see the logic of  "Oh, well, we will have this Fall Festival for a Christian alternative to trick or treating!"  I mean...let's face it.  Trick or treating ain't about nothing except the candy.  And the fun of running around your neighborhood in the dark while dressed like someone else.  Unless you routinely run around your neighborhood dressed like someone else, in the dark....but hey, more power to ya. ;) 

Fall Festivals are taking the kids out of their community on a night that usually brings a community together.  It takes the moms and dads that usually hand out the candy out of the community.

And trunk or treat has NO appeal to me what so ever.  Really-I could walk my kids down the candy aisle at Wal Mart and have the same experience.  There's no heart in it.  No excitement.  I mean, yeah, lots of candy, but....it's not the same.

It's kind of like the way houses have changed...used to be every house had a front porch.  That was the 'social media' back in the day.  You saw your neighbors, your neighbors kids, the mailman, all while sitting on the front porch.  You waved to people you saw on the street.  They would stop to chat.  You got to know the people that lived and worked and played around you.

Then houses started losing the front porch in favor of the back patio. Where you don't have to look at or wave at anyone.  You can be cocooned  away from your neighbors and community.  Why did we do that? 

As for me and my crew....we will trick or treat.  Even if only five families are home that night.  Even if we get ten pieces of candy.

Because I think I had it all wrong when I said trick or treating is all about the candy.

2 comments:

  1. I agree! I think trick or treat is a great time to visit with neighbors! And this whitewashing of Halloween seems goofy to me, too. That being said, at my daughter's old private school, they used to hold Reformation Day instead! Did you know that Martin Luther started that thang on Halloween? They did a great job with it - games that were "themed", period food and suggested costumes for everyone: princesses, knights, peasants, monks, nuns. I was always impressed with the number of high school kids who were willing to smear dirt on their faces to look like peasants. It ws cool. And then we all trick or treated at night. lol.
    LLW

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  2. I agree. I loved trick or treat as a kid. My kids still like it, but I'm sure they think I'm making up stories about the olden days when every house gave out candy.

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