TRICK OR TREAT

TRICK-OR-TREAT

Grandson, Chance Ellis, ready to go trick or treating

            “Trick or treat” is a familiar chant we hear on Halloween. Children in many countries do this as they travel from house to house asking for treats. The “trick” is usually an idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given them.

            According to the internet, almost all pre-1940 uses of the term “trick or treat” are from the western United States and Canada. Trick-or-treating spread from the western United States eastward and this has been a Halloween tradition since then, and maybe even earlier.

            When I was young we lived in Ammon, which was a small community at that time, and we knew nearly everyone who lived there. I don’t remember my parents voicing concern about us going out after dark on Halloween to trick-or-treat. I do remember the time a friend and I were going door to door and some teenage boys in a car stopped and scared us by pretending they were going to kidnap us. We screamed loud and ran hard as we heard them laughing at their joke. That didn’t stop us from our canvassing the neighborhood for candy.

            Also when Boyd and I were young, there was vandalism associated with trick-or-treating. One of the favorite was tipping over outhouses or moving them off the hole to another area. Most homes had an outhouse even if they had modern indoor plumbing. The “tricks” were innocent and didn’t harm anyone, just inconvenienced them. Often the guilty parties were apprehended and had to restore the outhouses to their original spot.

            Things have changed a lot from the time we were young. Back then any kind of candy or homemade sweet was accepted as the “treat.” But when my children were young, someone put razors in some Halloween treats, and the public became more concerned about the safety of what was being handed out. We used to nibble all evening as we were going door to door. Now, the children take their treats home and their parents check them, many times discarding homemade cookies and candy, and keeping only the wrapped candy purchased at a store. Even those purchased treats are checked to make sure the wrappings haven’t been tampered with.

            Halloween was a fun time then and still can be now. We worked hard to make our own costumes when I was young. Rarely did we buy a costume for our kids and I don’t think costumes were available to purchase during my childhood. With our children, as soon as they came home from school on Halloween, I tried to have their evening meal ready. I would fix an easy one, usually hot dogs with the trimmings, as they would be excited and I wanted to have supper dishes finished before our doorbell started to ring. But that goal was never accomplished. Invariably, small groups of ghosts and goblins would start ringing the bell at 4 in the afternoon. At that early time it would usually be smaller children with a mom or older sibling standing in the background, helping get them from door to door. Back then, trick-or-treating was limited to neighbors and we knew all of the spooks coming to our door. The idea of putting the kids in the car and going into an unknown housing area never crossed our minds. Years later people started driving their children into areas farther away from their homes, including nursing homes and even malls.

            Not everyone welcomes trick-or-treaters. When our children were young we were encouraged to turn on our porch lights if we accepted the costumed young ones at our door. Our children were taught not to approach a home with its lights out.  After we moved to our farm we had our grandchildren and a few neighborhood children come trick-or-treating, but not anymore. The neighbor children and the grandchildren have all grown up past that stage. Plus living out in the country with houses far apart really discourages trick-or-treaters, and especially their parents who have to drive them.

            Trick-or-treating has changed a lot and is not the safe, fun activity for children that it used to be. Thus the introduction of the “trunk-or-treat” by some churches and schools. With this, trick-or-treating is done with parked cars in a local parking lot, often at a school or church. The trunk of one’s car is opened, displaying candy, and sometimes games and decorations. The children then go from car to car with their bag to accumulate goodies. Parents see this as safer for their children and it is easier than walking the neighborhood with their kids. Some schools and churches are making this into more of a carnival type atmosphere by adding food, music and games, and even giving prizes for the car that is decorated the most like Halloween.

            Now Boyd and I go to the “trunk-or-treat” at the church parking lot, visit with other adults, admire the children’s costumes, and partake of hot cider and doughnuts.  That helps us feel the excitement of the season.