Our Halloween Night Of Fun!
Trick or Treat night came late this year because the rain came early. Not only did the rain come on the 31st, it stayed all day and into the night, all throughout the entire next day and, into Friday morning.
Consequently, Trick or Treat night was changed, from Wednesday the 31st, to the following Saturday and thankfully, the weather gods finally complied.
Poo and I have not been active participants in the traditional Halloween festivities the last few years but we decided to fully embrace them this year.
We sat outside with our friends from down the street, snacks and drinks in hand, and watched the goblins, ghouls, and blow-up characters parade up and down the street. There was a large number of notable costumes, with significant effort made to shock.
We could hear Christmas music bellowing from our neighbors garage as she passed out candy from her lawn chair, all the while we were blasting scary Halloween movie music from our garage.
But, the spotlight of the night went to Poo’s flaming pumpkins.
I didn’t think to document the process with pictures, until after the fact, but they were easy to make. All you need to make this showstopper is a carved pumpkin, toilet paper, and kerosene. Oh ya, and a match! Directions at end of post.
Most of the kids loved them and remarked how cool they were, while the parents took pictures and wanted to know how to make them.
One young goblin, who probably wasn’t any older than seven or eight asked, very seriously, “Why did you set those pumpkins on fire?”
I responded excitedly, “Just for fun!”
Evidently he was quite disturbed by my playful response as he said, “You’re sending pollution into the air!”
Smiling and using my gentle voice I sympathetically said, “Well, it’s just for this one night.”
He responded, “And you’ve ruined a perfectly good pumpkin.”
Yes ……… I still led him to the bucket of candy and welcomed him to take a handful. 🙂
I try to do what I can environmentally, everyday, as I function in the real world. I drive a hybrid. I recycle with the city and whatever they won’t take, the rest goes to the church where they will take more numbers. I carry my own bags and plastic when I go to the grocery. I wash and reuse plastic baggies, limit the use of purchased water bottles and hope to begin to compost again soon.
But honestly, we could all take a lesson away from that small interaction I had with that young man. He wasn’t afraid to speak his mind and obviously is being taught to be cognizant of the environment. A huge shout out to those parents!
I think the highlight of my night however, was the young lady who was Trick or Treating for the very first time. I don’t know how old she was but if I had to guess, high school age? Maybe older?
She wanted to know all of our names and asked if she could hug each of us. She was such a kind and gentle soul who, you could tell, loved people and was having the time of her life interacting with the outside world.
The candy was inconsequential.
The adult who was chaperoning the three was the Mom to the two younger children and sister-in-law to the older.
Aside from the house down the street from us, which was a lighted Halloween display on steroids, where word on the street was they were giving away full size candy bars, our flaming pumpkins were the hit of the neighborhood, even if pale by comparison.
There was a lot of activity, right up until dark, and all of a sudden the street became deserted and it felt like the temperature dropped 20 degrees.
It was great fun and brought back some hilarious memories of trick or Treating with my own children, so many years ago.
Memories of the costumes I spent hours making and the late nights I spent on the sewing machine after working a 12 hour day.
Memories of my nephew, Casey, running from house to house unable to contain his excitement, finally taking a tumble in a roadside ditch, candy spewing out of his bag. Picking himself up, and what candy he could find in the dark, and continuing the trek. 🙂
Memories of dressing your children in their costume only to cover it with layers of clothing and a bulky winter coat to fight off the bitter cold.
Memories of a fair weather Trick or Treat night.
It doesn’t seem to matter what the weather is like from year to year, it never stops Trick or Treat night for children or their parents. It’s a yearly ceremony of sorts, calling the names of kids, big or small ………….
Us included!
Flaming Halloween Pumpkins
- Cut the top out of pumpkin, but make the opening larger than normal.
- Scoop out the guts.
- Carve pumpkin with desired face.
- Put a cheap roll of toilet paper down in the pumpkin.
- Pour kerosene in the pumpkin to soak the roll of paper.
- Let it soak in for 5-10 minutes.
- Carefully light the roll of paper.
- Keep people away from the flames!
“Sticky fingers, tired feet, one last house, trick or treat!” – Rusty Fischer
xoxo, Katy
