Talk to the Goat
"Canadian Halloween meant being able to stuff a snow suit under your costume."
It's so true!
I love candy corn. I'd eat it till I feel sick. Will you be handing out goodies this year and maybe hoping you'll have some leftover for yourself?
Hell, just wait till the day after Halloween and buy all the candy left in the stores while it's on sale! That's what I did last year. mmm
No, sadly, none of the apartments we've ever lived in have had trick-or-treaters, though I was always prepared just in case. And I don't tend to buy candy for us, because I'd eat it if it was there, but don't really crave it when it's not.
Mmm, fudge. I love fudge! But not raisins. Those would have been given to my brother, who ate anything!
i can completely relate to your halloweens, we had the same box, same candy and pop situation.
there is one house in our neighborhood that gives out juice boxes and by the time we hit it, the kids are ready for a drink, it never makes it home. there is also another neighbour that does that hot apple cider for the parents, i think they get more business then the candy homes. i only have one that still goes out but i'm looking forward to shelling out, i love seeing the little ones dressed up, even with the snowsuits.
Oh the memories....
I remember coming home from school, dressing up, and meeting my friends on a street corner and began trick-or-treating around 3:30 pm. We'd then continue until the Halloween curfew the town set for 9:00 pm. TONS of candy for sure.
My brother and his friends would go out the day after as well and people were more than happy to give what they had left over....it saved their waistlines by keeping them from eating what they couldn't give away!
I love this piece. Brings back many memories. And who's anal? YOU sorted your candy and graded it? Damn!
The post trick or treat inventory was always the best part of Halloween. It was always entertaining separating out what we (my brother and I) didn't like and what we did.
"Chubby Cowboy" makes me laugh and laugh. It just sounds wrong.
What I could never figure out, was how my bounty of candy never seemed to last very long. That, and how my parents seemed to gain 5 pounds between the end of October, and the first week of November.
Back in my day, almost no one had a store bought costume - maybe one of those ridiculous plastic masks if they were lucky. My Mom made me a couple really nice ones but back then there were no contests (until we got to gr 7 & 
I graded my candy too but none of it was thrown out. I still love any and all candy.
I don't think I've ever received a can of soda in my trick or treat bag. I tend to weed through the candy and pick out the stuff I don't eat; that way I can enjoy the stuff I will eat (chocolate, Starbursts, Skittles and Tootsie Rolls!). We haven't even carved our pumpkin yet. 
Mmmm...what could be better than a post about Halloween candy organization? I loved coming home and dumping it all out on the living room floor with my sisters. We traded at times, so bartering was also fun! My grandparents came each Halloween when we were young and loved watching us in costume and watching the candy dumping! This year my nephew is too young for candy, but we are all gathering at my sister's to see him and enjoy the holiday.
Ah, yes.
I can relate to this story...but then again, can't we all?
I grew up in MineeSnowTah so I remember the puffy costuming well. I was a puffy marshmallow angel one year and a pumkin (it was a carrot before the snow clothes) another year.
I grew up in Nova Scotia and my Halloween sounds like yours. No $$ so no fancy costumes. Every year I went as a chick from the fifties, wearing my mother's old poodle-style skirt year after year. That's all we had.
As for goodies, my mother loves peanuts so would ransack our stash after we went to bed and eat them all.
Ah yes, Canadian Halloween! 
Back when I was a kid we didn't have store-bought costumes, it was whatever Mom could sew up for us. And she did a great job. I was usually a witch, I wonder what was up with that?
You brought back my memories of chil-hood trick-or-treating Jay! 
What a great post!
My sister and I would raid my mother's many wigs (don't ask tbhey were somewhat big in the seventies) and her lingeries drawer, and most of the time, we were hookers. (Hey, you worked with what you had)
Today, with my own children, it seems to be all about the dressing up. As I always buy costumes for myself, I have saved every peice to go through each year, prior to shopping for costumes to see if they want to "borrow" from an old costume. Just bringing back the memories of "Halloweens past," is worth the trip through the costume box.
Thanks for the smiles today, Jay.
3T
wow, we never got soda in trick or treating! and I love candy corn. I still eat it around Halloween.
I also sorted my candy and ranked it. Then I'd try to make my sisters trade me my bad candy for their good. Which sometimes worked. And I'd give my parents anything with coconut.
I remember one Halloween when we were short for money and time for my mom to 'make' our costumes (which she did well despite a lot of swearing at the sewing machine, it wasn't her favorite activity)
I wore one of my mom's old nightgowns and an old plastic tiara. I felt like a princess, until one old guy down the street asked me what I was "I'm a princess" I anounced, he frowned "you look like you dressed up in your mom's old nightgown"
Ass.
I was consoled with candy, but I still remember that, it hurt. Some people can be real jerks, you know?
mmmm halloween with it's chocolate-y goodness....i can't wait til next week when I can scare the beejebus out of the kids.
oh yeah the halloween bellyache, remember it well
I agree, cans of pop were the best. And the extra weight in the bag was really nothing because we'd inevitably get thristy from our long walk, and we'd drink 'em.
As for Chips - Boo! Chips bit. The bags were huge and full of air, and took up way too much space in our bags. (we were not allowed to use pillowcases. They equalled greed in our neighbourhood)
My favs were 'Monster Candy', those tiny orange pumpkin-faced gumballs, and Allan's Tingles.
I'm with you on the halloween memories! My mom denounced sugar of any sort in our house..and soda was unheard of. She'd always take our candy after our halloween run..stick it up in the cubboard and "say" that we could have it when we wanted..but we knew that was a lie. So, we smuggled two pillow cases, hid one full in the bushes outside our bedroom and gave her the spare pillow case full of crap candy. ha ha ha
she never knew.
That all sounds like so much fun! I never had the joy of dressing up and going trick or treating on Halloween like my siblings did. My parents turned ultra religious and decided it was the devil's holiday even though I had to man the candy station at our house passing it out to all of my friends who came by trick or treating. I feel like I missed out on the use of my creativity. I surely could have come up with some great costume fabulousness!
Do you think all adults have this same memory of Halloween, because honestly, the only part that was different was that we had saurekraut (?) and hotdogs for dinner before Halloween. Why? I will never know. It was disgusting!
We took turns every year on who had to be the old lady. We were lucky to have one of my grandmother's old gray wigs.
I once went as a radio. My dad made my costume out of an old cardboard box. It's still my favorite.
I love the mental image of all the chubby costumed kids! We were always too poor to buy costumes too. But we got pretty creative. You could become a dotted dog with just an old hairband and some construction paper to make into ears and spots. My friend went as a bag of M&Ms one year... She filled a garbage bag full of balloons and wore it.
Halloween in canada mean trick or treaking with a winter coat covering your costume so no one knows what the hell you are.
The suburbs rocked during Halloween when I was a kid. My favorite costume was always "gypsy", even back then I was hopelessly attracted to shiny things.
Love the fall look. The candy sorting and consuming were similar at my house. I'm surprised you only got through half the candy. We ususally got through most of it Halloween night. By about 2 days later, candy was GONE.
Yep, I remember it well. I grew up in Montreal, and had to walk through 30 feet of snow, uphill, in both directions :-P
But seriously: my favourite costume of all time was Wonder Woman: my green snowsuit (of course), with a skin coloured leotard over it with the words "Wonder Woman" on it in glittery red paint... Ah, the lack of money made our imaginations run rampant It was awesome.
I have a confession: my mom would hand out roasted pumpkin seeds. I always wondered why we had so much left over, and why there was always toilet paper in our front yard!
Great new template! Love it! Totally relate to this post (however, I do love me some candy corn!)!
Happy Halloweener, girlie
Oh Jay ... the Halloween memories that brings back. I lived in Tiawan as a kid and our house girl made us Batman and Robin costumes. They were the most pathetic things I ever saw in my life. And no we weren't rich, it's just that even on a military salary you could hire a house girl and a guy to take care of the yard. The Dollar went a lot farther those days and the Tiawanese worked real cheap.
TG
Just stopping by to say thanks for commenting.
Good post on Halloween, it brought back some memories for me.
I remember eating a ton of candy on Halloween, but I don't ever remember getting astomach ache. I guess i must have had a cast iron stomach.
Wow I could have wrote that exact post. Are we sisters? 
I have to buy candy tomorrow as now I'm living in place where kids might come to my door. I have Canadian relatives but they never once mentioned trick or treating.
Hey Jay - thanks for visiting my blog...
We didn't do Halloween in South Africa and the French aren't that big on it either - although it IS becoming more popular. I find it hilarious to see those little costumed bodies running around the French villages...it doesn't seem to gel, somehow. My boys love it though, and are also quite picky about which sweets they keep and eat and which get tossed.
I loved reading this post. Being British Halloween was not celebrated when we were young. Now it is getting more popular ,especially in the shops, however it does not hold the traditions that you describe.
Sounds fabulous and makes me upset that Halloween for us was, at the most, creepy-looking grimacing pumpkins on the doorstep!
I'm linking you from my blog if that's okay.
I found this one bitter sweet. :-( Uplifting, yet with a twinge of melancholy.
My mom would claim first dibs on the candy sack, seriously. Get off your goddamn ass, woman, and get your goddamn candy. You have a car. You can drive. So go to the goddamn store and buy yourself some goddamn candy. I was out there, walking my everloving gradeschool ass off, dressed like a goddamn hobo, dodging satanic teenagers, while you're home sitting on your goddamn ass watching the Wheel of Fortune Ghoulie Ghoul Halloween Saturnalia of Cash. Fuck YES, I'm bitter. Shit.
I have been a dirty, unfaithful devotee. It's been ages since I been back here....I LOVE THE NEW LOOK!
Halloween is not celebrated in South Africa.
Loved the comment about not enough cheesies to make your fingers orange. You have a way with words my dear.
well, i'm kind of getting used to Halloween, though still sort of pissed off that its replaced Guy Fawkes.
My LG wants to dress up as the angel of death this year.
hahahahahahedgeofhysteriahahahahahahah
You just totally discribed our Halloween's to a T..cept we were 3 girls..and instead of being old ladies, we would wear our mom's clothes, high heels and makeup and go as hookers lmao!...ok, grown ups rather....In BC we still had to wear a coat..but some yrs were not as bad as out east..so I remember a few yrs, keeping coat open so ppl could see the purdy dress and strings of big beads I had around my neck lol.
I used to seperate my candy too. Some people would give out candy apples, not cool. My friends dad always gave out stuff like beach balls and frisbees, weird.
what a great story. i love stuff like this. thanks for popping over again!
Rural living meant not as many houses to go to, our parents had to drive us around and they always quit before we were ready to go home.
What's up with the purple purging?
me and vani (sis) ate every damn piece of chocolate first...then it was a free for all for candy
hahah
great template btw
Candy sounds good but I feel the need to brush the fur off my teeth again after last night's beer and bands; I think sugar-coated fuzztooth would spoil my breakfast...
...nice memories BTW Very reminiscent...
Wow, I never got orange soda in all the years I trick or treated! But may I request a Fanta Orange please?
Ah, those poverty costumes. I loved everyone of mine. I was a ghost way too many times.
A can of soda?! Shit! NEVER! Not once in all my years of trick or treating did I get ONE can of soda. I'm movin to Canada.
I love your new look!! (I've been a bad blogfriend, I know!)
LOVE the Halloween memories. And you are JUST like my son, with the inventory thing. He's like a friggin' candy accountant when he gets back.
But he's not a sugar junkie, so we usually have the candy for a whole year and then we throw out what's left.
As for me, I don't buy anything that I like or I'd eat it all. I buy Smarties and other non-chocolate stuff. All in all, we love Halloween. And I loved reading about yours!
This is why cops have such a "great" repuation.
Jay, your posting reminds me sooooo much of the Halloweens of my childhood. The best part of exchanging a full pillowcase for an empty one (my sister and I always made my dad carry our full ones) was that people would see the empty case and say "you hardly have any candy!" and then give you two treats instead of one. We also found cans of pop to be the best treat ever... we'd make our dad take us to the rich neighbourhood, where they would be giving out such luxuries.
I would horde my candy savoring each piece like it was gold and I was the wealthy miser. Surprisingly, my candy lasted to Thanksgiving, little brothers was usually gone by election day
Beth - how could I forget? You are so right about that!
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