Strollerderby : trick or treat

Why Do People Still Hand Out Unwrapped Halloween Treats?

Brett Singer — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:00:00 GMT

With this whole election thing, Halloween kind of got pushed to the side. That's not a bad thing. But now that November 4th has come and gone, we can get back to some of the other things in life that matter.

Things like candy.

Now. On October 31st, my children wandered around knocking on doors and requesting sweets. They were given large quantities of them. Most were pretty standard: miniature Kit Kats, Nestle Crunch and other chocolate-based products. A few individual bags of candy corns. The occasional oddball, such as chewy Swee-tarts (mmm... chewy Swee-tarts...).

The real surprise, though, was that in this day and age, some people still give out non-factory sealed Halloween treats.

There was one lazy person who just opened a bag of marshmallows for all of the kids to stick their hands into. Their unwashed, germy hands.

Some people at least meant well. One enterprising young couple had melted different colored chocolates onto mini-pretzels and put them into little bags. When I discovered this clever concoction in my guys' trick or treat haul, I threw them out. I felt bad about it for about two seconds but I just didn't feel comfortable letting my kids eat them.

The reason for this goes back to my own childhood. Some nutjob was putting razor blades in apples (along with other weirdness). Therefore, no candy that wasn't all wrapped up. In a factory. And sealed.

Am I being too uptight? Or do you do the same thing? And if I may go all Jerry Seinfeld on you for a moment, who are these people handing out unwrapped candy on Halloween?

image: dancepartymassacre.com

More Bad Halloween Costumes for Kids

Do You Dress Up for Halloween?

Why Are The Grown Up Costumes For Women So Slutty?

What are your kids wearing this Halloween?

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

7 Awesome Halloween Costumes for Pregnant Chicks

The Return of the Halloween Baby Slut Costumes

Related on Babble:

The Babble List: The Best Candy Ever

What Do You Do When Your Kid is an Extreme Partisan?

Kelly Mills — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 16:25:00 GMT

This has been the most emotionally charged election I can remember since, well, ever, and it makes sense that the kids would pick up on that. But Slate's Emily Bazelon asks, what do you do when your children's political allegiances are extreme? She covers a Halloween experiment in which kids chose candy from either side of a porch: The Obama side--marked with a large sign and life-size cutout--and the McCain side, with corresponding signage and cutout. The blue neighborhood kids gave Obama 78 percent of the vote.

But when offered two pieces of candy at the Obama side versus four at the McCain side, support for Obama only dropped by ten percent. The kids were pretty fixed in their political ways, even though their vote obviously didn't "count" (hmm, like the electoral college.) And Bazelon notes that her sweet kids threw around the word "traitor" to candy defectors. And, she observes, with kids who are reared on lots of lessons in tolerance, it may be that McCain is one of the few people they can clearly think of as a bad guy.

It makes me just slightly uncomfortable to see children actively campaigning, if only because you know that until a certain age, the opinions they express are not likely their own. Then again, isn't it our job to pass on our values, political or otherwise? And I've seen this "death and destruction to candidate so-and-so" in my area too, from young children who just seem to want to be able to freely bash a clear villain. What about your kids? Does it bother you?

Take Your Kids To Vote...NOW!

Witch Tricks Obama Kids on Halloween

Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:12:00 GMT

Yes, yes, half of us have already moved on to turkey, but there's still room for one more Halloween tale -- this one from Michigan, where an old hag refused to dole out candy to kids who supported Obama or kids whose parents supported Obama.

Nice.

At least she didn't hand out candy apples stuffed with razor blades -- but maybe she's just waiting for next year. I can only imagine the joy it's going to be to live on this woman's block. Her response to leaving kids in tears?

"Oh well."

Sadly, this appears to be a case of mistaken holidays. She apparently thought the Grinch comes out at Halloween.

Scare off Republican Trick or Treaters With the Obama Pumpkin

JeanneSager — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:35:00 GMT

Want to make a political statement with your family's Halloween celebration this year? Forget Caribou Barbie or stuffing your shirt with pillows to pull off "I was a teenage Alaskan who studied the abstinence-only approach to birth control." Thanks to two creative bloggers with a lot of time on their hands, and us at the 'derby with even more time to search the Web, we bring you . . . the Barack-o-lantern.

Kevin Fairdosi and friend Minh taped themselves pasting an Obama template (which they provide!) to a pumpkin, and they take you step by step through the carving of a candidate. The result looks a little creepy in the daylight, but the nighttime affect is downright eerie - in a good way. So grab your gourd, your knife, your scoop and the kids, and get carving (and by the way, if you're voting for McCain, hold onto the plans - you'll have something to take your agression out on come November 5).

Remember, It's all fun and games until someone carves a presidential candidate into the side of their gourd.

Images: Kevin Fairdosi

GOP Shows Obama With Fried Chicken and Watermelon

Just in Time for Halloween: How to Make Your Own Slime!

How To Fake Being the Crafty Mom This Halloween

Anti-Palin Ad Targets Parents With Teenage Rape Victim's Plea

Barack Obama: The Force Is Strong With "That One"

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

Brett Singer — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 17:30:00 GMT

Some of these – Roseanne, for example – wouldn’t crack my list, but there are some truly bizarre discoveries, such as the Paul Lynde Halloween Special, and "the discoriffic 1979 TV movie…'The Halloween That Almost Wasn't'", which stars none other than Judd Hirsch as Dracula, proving perhaps that actors will do anything – ANYthing – for money. The list is automatically valid because the number one spot goes to, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." He got a rock. A ROCK. Heh heh.

Defamer commenters leave a few list suggestions of their own, including Gary Larson's "Tales from the Far Side":

And here's the Paul Lynde entry. This one was unfamiliar to me, but it should be seen:

Watching these made me think about how much television viewing has changed. In our house, we have a DVD player and Tivo, so there's very little "appointment TV" except for sporting events, which are usually on too late for the kids to watch anyway (and they aren't all that interested, although they did want the Red Sox to lose, which warmed this father's heart.) Back in the day I used to look forward to holiday specials popping up annually. It's great to be able to watch whatever you want whenever you want to watch it, but it's definitely less "special" in some ways.

How about you? What are your favorite Halloween specials?

Source: Defamer

Image: Wikipedia

Strollerderby : trick or treat

Why Do People Still Hand Out Unwrapped Halloween Treats?

Incredibly Good Homemade Halloween Costumes

More Bad Halloween Costumes for Kids

Do You Dress Up for Halloween?

Why Are The Grown Up Costumes For Women So Slutty?

What are your kids wearing this Halloween?

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

7 Awesome Halloween Costumes for Pregnant Chicks

The Return of the Halloween Baby Slut Costumes

The Babble List: The Best Candy Ever

What Do You Do When Your Kid is an Extreme Partisan?

Witch Tricks Obama Kids on Halloween

Scare off Republican Trick or Treaters With the Obama Pumpkin

Defamer's Top 10 Halloween Specials

Magic Garden out on DVD

Disney movie to feature black princess

How To Fake Being the Crafty Mom This Halloween

Unusual toddler gifts

Top 10 Halloween Candies I Never Wanted in My Trick-or-Treat Bag

Sarah Palin on SNL for real

Halloween Not So Festive For Sex Offenders

Dora the Conservative

The Halloween Poll

The Singer Family says these people can't call themselves Singers anymore

The Banana Splits are back, sort of

Video of baby panda playing

Disney trying to revive The Muppets

Enormous baby sculpture

Scrooge McDuck explains inflation

Banned Books Week: Where's Waldo?

Breaking News: Cadbury chocolate made in China recalled