I'm signed up on my local "Next Door" website. Here's the latest advice from the Virginia Department of Health regarding the upcoming holiday. You can download the following posters and virtue-signal this year rather than asking for candy: I bet if the kids set every other house on fire and chanted the approved slogans, they could Trick or Treat as much as they pleased. "Defund the Police! Hey, lady, you got something besides Tootsie Rolls?"
I'd have to say it's to keep all those candy factory workers employed. It is an interesting holiday from a social interaction standpoint. Kinda like a global Mardi Gras.
I loved Halloween when I was a kid, and when my children were growing up it was a huge event around here. Seems like the trick-or-treating has slowly dwindled to a trickle even before Covid-19, though. I expect it to be a non-event this year; even the Halloween carnivals and such will likely be canceled.
I noticed the same decline where I lived for so many years, but attributed it to changing local demographics. When I was a kid, we made popcorn balls and caramel-coated apples to hand out. Lots of the issues with tampered treats were really things that were done inside the kids' own homes and the Halloween candy was used as a cover-up. link That stuff drove parents to safer events. My favorite part of Halloween was going in that old trunk of clothes deciding what to wear. I had an old store-bought Popeye outfit, but I liked dressing as a hobo or a clown or just anything I threw together myself from that chest full of old clothes and wigs dating back to the 40s.
When we went "halloweening" as we called it, we had to sing a song for our reward which was loose change. A friend played the accordion and got the most.
Halloween was always one of my favorite holidays. My buddies and I had great fun trick or treating when it got dark. Then, we'd find the girls, our classmates, who were also out and about, and the shaving cream cans came out. Yeah, all of that's gone now, probably for good. Too bad...... Every year, on Halloween, I put my Mummy and Wolfman models in the window so they can watch the trick or treaters come and go. I've been doing that for sixty years. This year, I told them that they'll probably be looking out on only our street. They aren't happy. Neither am I.......
As a kid, it was fun. As a parent, it was fun. Here, this year will be no different than other years. We rarely have trick-or-treaters here. None last year, maybe two or three the year before.
It was the same when we were kids. I think the trick or treat thing was more of a social event back then. The kids had to tell a joke or sing a song to get their treats. And the parents came along and at each house they were greeted with an appetizer and/or a drink - usually alcoholic.
I enjoyed Halloween as a kid, and my favorite part was deciding what to wear for a costume. I remember that the Five and Dime stores (Ben Franklin’s in our town) would have a row of different costumes for kids, and when we were younger, that is mostly what I did. As I got older, then it was more fun to make my own costume, but by then, I didn’t really go Trick-or-Treating, anyway. My folks owned a neighborhood grocery, so candy was there all day every day, and I really didn’t care about all of the candy that people handed out. Sometimes, we got a homemade cookie, which was a real treat, and I was happy to trade some of my candy for someone’s cookie if they were willing to trade. Apples and oranges were good, too. I grew up in a small town, and the owner of the local theater would have scary movies we could watch , and I don’t think that he ever charged anything for the Halloween movies. We usually do not get any kids here on Halloween, so we don’t buy any candy anymore, and just leave the lights off to stop anyone that might come by.
@Trevalius Guyus Your shaving can story reminded me of when I was a kid in Indiana. We would get bags of dried corn (unpopped popcorn), ride around on our bikes (or walk), and throw handfuls at people's windows. Man, it makes a hellacious noise!!!
Well, as most of you know, we are big fans of Star Wars. So, we both have fairly expensive Star Wars Halloween costumes. Mine is a very complete Darth Vader, including a high-tech Lightsaber. Wife has a "female" Stormtrooper costume that looks very good on her. Last time I wore my costume was in 2017. My wife's help, I put on my full Vader costume and stood outside, by our front door, of our apartment in Florida and numerous kids, and their parents, came up for photos of me and them. I even walked a few times up and down the sidewalk in front of our apartment, so incoming cars could see me. Wife told me later, "that was a blast". She wasn't in costume, but took some photos for us. For this year (2020), didn't put up any of our outside decor and the costumes will have to wait another year to have fun with. No candy this year either.