There weren't as many kids as I thought there would be, considering this is a residental neighborhood, and the nearby elementary school is well populated. Some of the kids were mere babies, and costumed so cute. The cutest ones got a double portion of treat. Some pretty ghoulish costumes too.
Which brings me to reminiscing about Halloween when I was growing up. We did a little bit ot trick-r-treating, but mostly we got together at community or neighborhood parties.
Anybody remember dunking for apples? You could darn near drown yourself trying to snag an apple floating in a tub of water. No hands allowed. There were games, taffy pulls (remember those?), some pairing off, too, but we were pretty closely chaperoned.
Chaperoned. That was the whole idea of the neighborhood or community parties. Kids had easy access to alcohol in those days, and snitching from the parents' cigarette supply was not unknown. Of course, small towns were more inclined, I think, to have community gatherings. There's a greater sense of community when you know your neighbors, the mailman is a personal friend, you know all the businessmen by their first names.
A lot of adult activities took place in private homes, and kids went along because the host/hostess had kids the same age. Babysitting was almost unheard of.
And so with Halloween. The churches had their own parties, and no one took exception to witch costumes. Parents got together and helped each other with their kids' costumes. I don't remember seeing ready-made costumes in the stores.
Oh, yes, and we never had to worry about razor blades stuck in apples, or poisoned candy. Homemade cookies were accepted without question, but of course, they were wrapped in waxed paper, if only for the sake of neatness.
There were a lot of things we didn't have then--technological advances we take for granted now. But we were a lot safer, too.
Shalom