Now that over the last several weeks I've managed to finish off most of the "good" candy out of my kids' candy bags, I've been thinking, is it just me or does it seem like the quality of Halloween candy passed out these days has significantly gone up? Back in my day, the days of walking to school by ourselves without a parent to sign us in our out, Halloween candy was little more than smarties, jolly ranchers, sweet tarts, pixie sticks, tootsie rolls, and those bubble gum pieces so hard that by the time you've softened it up enough to enjoyably chew, it's completely lost it's flavor. The snack-sized chocolate bar was so rare that the few we would get, my brother and sister and I have a post-trick-or-treating inventory in order to trade them with eachother and maximize their value. Or maybe it was just my neighborhood, for there were rumors that there were houses up in Oak Hills that would pass out full-sized candybars! Oh, the elusive Shangri-la! I never found it back then.
So what's changed? Because these days they're passing out full-sized bars at the ward trunk-or-treat and nary a house in the neighborhood is without a complete chocolate selection--from which they always offer two or three bars to take at once. There's enough chocolate in my kids' bags to keep me pilfering for weeks without them ever knowing that anything substantial is missing. Not that I'm complaining. Because that's the kind of mom that I really am.
2 comments:
Bit-o-honeys were the worst.
Remember the cool airplanes made of gum, life savers, and smarties the Mildensteins handed out? They still do.
But yes you are right. The quality has gone way up. All the better to pilfer my dear.
Full-sized candybars at Trunk or Treat would be a factor of where you live, I think. But my kids did collect some of those in Trick or Treating, as well as a donut, and, their favorite, a can of soda. And lots of good chocolate. But there were still some Tootsie Rolls.
Halloween inflation is a very real phenomenon. I think it's because it's such a non-meaningful holiday, so people feel like they can just have fun with it with no strings attached; no family or religious obligations. Halloween is closing in on Christmas as the holiday for which people spend the most (in fact, I think I heard that last year it surpassed Christmas, but I'm not positive.)
I like Halloween. But I think spending a ton on it is kind of, well, nuts. And profligate and decadent. I guess I like an awesome old-fashioned bargain Halloween. (I even like Bit-O-Honeys.)
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