Sunday, October 13, 2013

Lucky 13 Trick-or-Treat Blog Hop

From today (October 13) to the 26th, you can visit any/all of the blogs participating in the Lucky 13 Trick-or-Treat Blog Hop and enter to win a great grand prize! Read our thoughts on trick-or-treating, Halloween recipes, our stories, and more! Individual authors are also doing their own giveaways, so there will be many chances to win!

Read all the way through for my giveaway, the Hop links to all the other authors' posts and giveaways, and the overall hop giveaway at the end! The prizes include a Kindle Paperwhite!


October is my favorite month of the year. Crisp, clear air and lots of sunshine. Wood smoke. Football. And usually, for some reason, a lower level of stress. :) And then, of course, there's Halloween.

I like Halloween. I like the way a neighborhood feels with everyone out and about, exclaiming over the kids' costumes, and I like the candy. I don't like that here in central Pennsylvania, they think it's too dangerous to have trick-or-treating ON the actual holiday, so with rare exceptions (like this year), it's on the Thursday before. Which means last year, I was done with the holiday a whole week before the rest of the world.

But when I was a kid, it was different. We started when it got dark and kept going until we'd exhausted every street in every accessible neighborhood. And I was WAY more into costume planning than I am now.

I remember the year I was a punk rocker with my best friend. My mother teased my hair about a foot and a half off my head and sprayed it with all kinds of glittery spray paint/hair spray. I don't remember what my clothes looked like. There's got to be a photo somewhere...

Another year I was a gypsy. My brother's was better that year, though. He'd broken his foot so he wore jammies and a robe and put a bandage around his head so he could be a complete accident victim. I think he was missing a tooth, too.

We often went with my cousins. One year, my Pink-Panther-obsessed cousin insisted on a PP costume. It was, of course, cheap plastic, and it split up the legs. She was so upset it pretty much ruined the whole night for her. :( But every year that we did this with my cousins or with friends, we came home to warm our hands on hot cocoa and talk about what we'd seen.

And then we'd inventory our candy so our annoying, sneaky little brothers couldn't steal any.

What were your Halloweens like as a kid?

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23 comments:

Taryn Kincaid said...

My Halloweens as a kid were similar to yours. Mom (who didn't work outside the homne when we were small) made the costumes and spent a long time making up our faces...and all we wanted to do was run outside and hit every conceivable street in the neighborhood. It's a different era, though, now. Kids can't really do that and parties are the rage.

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I bet you have fond memories of those costumes, though. :)

My kids are atypical, so they never did Halloween parties. Trick-or-treating is only 2 hours, but they managed to get a good haul every year. LOL

Carol L. said...

My Halloween's were also similar to yours. We'd make our own costumes and then go to just about every house in town.With my own kids it was a great time, trick or treating with so many other kids until they ready to drop and had a supply of candy to last 6 months. :)Now I see my grandkids going to the local Firehouse and attending the Trunk or Treat in the parking lot with all the trunks open and kids bringing their pails or bags to each one and getting something healthy .
Carol L
Lucky4750 (at) aol (dot) com

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

I like that safe option, Carol, as a parent. But the kid in me...it's not the same! LOL

Beautiful Disaster said...

Thanks for sharing :) I have fond memories of Halloween as well. We (my cousins and I) would make our own costumes, take our huge plastic pumpkins and walk around our town. It was a small town of about 500-800 people and we always went around twice. We had a great time. We enjoyed watching the Peanuts Halloween special too :)

lorih824 at yahoo dot com

Unknown said...

Halloween was awesome when I was a kid. My sister and I would compete to see who could get the most! We love love love halloween around here! n.kuhn.acn@gmail.com

Teri Anne Stanley said...

I can still smell that plastic those horrible masks were made of...the kind that cut off 90% of your vision.

My favorite costume was probably my own gypsy one. My mom had made me a peasant dress when I was in Fiddler on the Roof, and I wore that danged dress every chance I got. I wonder what ever happened to that...

Unknown said...

My mother was always a really creative sower so she would always make our costumes growing up. I dressed up as all types of things from a red m&m to a witch and mermaid. It was a lot of fun seeing what new design she would come up with each year.

Jessica Schank Snow said...

I find it so funny that you were a punk rocker, I was one year as well. I remember all the work my mother put into teasing my hair up and then the work of trying to get it down. I can't believe they changed the date up there. I'm originally from New Jersey and like you it was always on the 31st and it was until you basically passed out from going house to house. I love going out as a kid and then sitting at home later with my sister and friends and doing our little candy trades and all. It's wonderful to have these memories. Thank you for sharing yours! =)
Thank you for the giveaway!! =)
JJs2468@aol.com

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

@Beautiful Disaster: Oh, yeah, the Peanuts special! That was always one of the highlights of the season, too. I was very disappointed that my kids never liked it. :(

@Nicole: Sounds like you still have fun with it! :)

@Teri Anne: OMG, yes, the smell! Trying not to breathe with the mask on. LOL

@Steph: You were so lucky to have a mom who could do that!

@Jessica: I can still feel the hairspray. LOL

JeanMP said...

I have great memories of dressing up in the costumes my mother made. Fun going into town and trick or treating.
skpetal at hotmail dot com

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Totally agree, Jean! :)

Ashley Applebee said...

I love Halloween because of all the great candy!! I like Halloween themed romances :)
Ashley A
ash_app(at)hotmail(dot)com

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

It's the only time of year we get "permission" to eat it all, huh Ashley? :)

Gina Conkle said...

Hi Natalie,
I dressed up as a punk rocker too! So much fun to dress up and "be someone else" for one night.
Gina

Unknown said...

a couple of thing one my son was almost 2 and i took him trick treat and i dressed up as a gypsy and every one thought i was his sister then my little brother dale got dress up as a girl and then he waited out side for all of us and then 5 guys pulled up and then ask him out

wyndwhisper said...

my Halloweens were alot like yours. my mom usually made our costumes out of what was around the house because there were so many of us (6 kids). but we had some cool costumes. i remeber my brothers going as r2d2 and c3po one year and my baby sister as the girl from poltergiest(looked like her). i always wanted to be a harem girl/genie.

thank you so much for the chance at such a great giveaway. Have a Happy Halloween!

tammy ramey
trvlagnt1t@yahoo.com

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

@Gina, we must be in the same generation. :)

@Desiree, that's hilarious!

@Tammy, sounds like your mom was great at that! Never too late to be a harem girl/genie, you know. ;)

jessie2247 said...

When I was younger my brother and I used to go out with our cousins in the town over. Well one year our towns held candy night on different nights. So we got to go trick or treating 2 nights! My brother and I thought we were ssoooo cool getting double candy

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Wow, your parents had to be sorry about all that sugar! LOL Definitely a perk when different towns do different nights.

Natalie J. Damschroder said...

Thanks so much for everyone's participation in this!

I'm excited to announce that my winner is Steph F.! I'll be sending you an e-mail tout suite. :)

Unknown said...

I’m browsing all over the net to find the best tricks and tips for a perfect Halloween party. From decors to games and most especially Halloween Recipes . I hope it’s fine with you that I could pin some photos from here on my Pinterest board because this is truly a cute and interesting post too! Keep sharing! :D

Uhu work said...
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