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blogcutterWhen buying goodies to hand out at the door, do you buy what YOU like, in case there's a lot left over? Or do you deliberately buy stuff you DON'T like, so you won't be tempted to overindulge? Or do you go out or turn all the lights off on Halloween, leave the treating to your neighbours, and hope that you don't get targeted by tricksters?
Around our place, there aren't usually very many trick-or-treaters. But there are usually a few - occasionally MORE than just a few. And since the neighbours were always kind and generous with our kid during her trick-or-treating years, it seems a bit mean-spirited to just abdicate the treating role. So what we've been doing the past few years is buying bags of the little packets of raisins. Parents approve, since their kids already get plenty of the totally unwholesome stuff. And many kids these days seem to be allergic to peanuts or chocolate, but not usually to raisins. And it's easy to use the leftovers - if not for eating directly, then for putting on our cereal in the mornings or baking into things. Mind you, while the kids were getting wholesome snacks on our doorstep, the adults in our household were doing the couch-potato thing, watching Coronation Street and enjoying some fine dark Ecuadoran chocolate from the Farmers' Market. How's that for hypocrisy? Well, at least it was fair-trade chocolate!
Now I'll discuss costumes. Above all, they must be politically correct. People seem to get themselves in all kinds of hot water with their costumes - before they even start bobbing for apples (something I've no doubt is also considered politically incorrect and unsanitary these days)! Blackface (and probably golliwogs too, though they were not in any way meant to, um, denigrate, folks of any particular race), KKK and SS outfits are all BIG no-nos! Remember poor Prince Harry with his Nazi attire? Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the whole point of a costume was to pretend to be something you're NOT! Bad-guys in themselves are not considered taboo in most circles. Why should it be thought to be in appalling bad taste (if not a manifestation of a hate crime) to dress up as a Nazi or a terrorist or a pedophilic priest, but okay to dress as a pirate, a devil, or a typical 21st century stereotype of a witch?
Another concern I heard on the news recently was about scanty costumes that overly sexualize little girls. Now personally, I would say that overall, Wonder Woman (for example)is a reasonably good role model and I wouldn't have a problem with my little girl wanting to dress up as her. On the other hand, if it's a case of trick-or-treating outdoors in most parts of Canada at the end of October (where snow at Halloween is not unheard of), then a costume based around a bathing suit is hardly going to be practical - they don't tend to fit very well over children's snowsuits!
Then there's those orange UNICEF boxes that used to be so ubiquitous amongst trick-or-treaters when we were kids. Halloween in general used to be mainly for kids and with UNICEF being a children's charity, it seemed a natural fit that children getting all manner of bounty for themselves at neighbours' doors should be counterbalancing their greed a bit by collecting in aid of the starving children in (substitute famine-area-du-jour here). Nowadays, adults have become fearful that kids will be mugged for the few pennies (themselves also soon to be obsolete) in those boxes. Is there justification for those fears or is it helicopter parenting run amok? I don't really know, but I do lament the passing of a more innocent era.
Around our place, there aren't usually very many trick-or-treaters. But there are usually a few - occasionally MORE than just a few. And since the neighbours were always kind and generous with our kid during her trick-or-treating years, it seems a bit mean-spirited to just abdicate the treating role. So what we've been doing the past few years is buying bags of the little packets of raisins. Parents approve, since their kids already get plenty of the totally unwholesome stuff. And many kids these days seem to be allergic to peanuts or chocolate, but not usually to raisins. And it's easy to use the leftovers - if not for eating directly, then for putting on our cereal in the mornings or baking into things. Mind you, while the kids were getting wholesome snacks on our doorstep, the adults in our household were doing the couch-potato thing, watching Coronation Street and enjoying some fine dark Ecuadoran chocolate from the Farmers' Market. How's that for hypocrisy? Well, at least it was fair-trade chocolate!
Now I'll discuss costumes. Above all, they must be politically correct. People seem to get themselves in all kinds of hot water with their costumes - before they even start bobbing for apples (something I've no doubt is also considered politically incorrect and unsanitary these days)! Blackface (and probably golliwogs too, though they were not in any way meant to, um, denigrate, folks of any particular race), KKK and SS outfits are all BIG no-nos! Remember poor Prince Harry with his Nazi attire? Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought the whole point of a costume was to pretend to be something you're NOT! Bad-guys in themselves are not considered taboo in most circles. Why should it be thought to be in appalling bad taste (if not a manifestation of a hate crime) to dress up as a Nazi or a terrorist or a pedophilic priest, but okay to dress as a pirate, a devil, or a typical 21st century stereotype of a witch?
Another concern I heard on the news recently was about scanty costumes that overly sexualize little girls. Now personally, I would say that overall, Wonder Woman (for example)is a reasonably good role model and I wouldn't have a problem with my little girl wanting to dress up as her. On the other hand, if it's a case of trick-or-treating outdoors in most parts of Canada at the end of October (where snow at Halloween is not unheard of), then a costume based around a bathing suit is hardly going to be practical - they don't tend to fit very well over children's snowsuits!
Then there's those orange UNICEF boxes that used to be so ubiquitous amongst trick-or-treaters when we were kids. Halloween in general used to be mainly for kids and with UNICEF being a children's charity, it seemed a natural fit that children getting all manner of bounty for themselves at neighbours' doors should be counterbalancing their greed a bit by collecting in aid of the starving children in (substitute famine-area-du-jour here). Nowadays, adults have become fearful that kids will be mugged for the few pennies (themselves also soon to be obsolete) in those boxes. Is there justification for those fears or is it helicopter parenting run amok? I don't really know, but I do lament the passing of a more innocent era.
