Halloween is already The Thing. We don’t need ‘Boo baskets,’ trunk or treat, other dumb stuff

[Anonymous]

Halloween night is already The Thing: an evening of dressing up, getting candy, seeing friends and neighbors, having fun. That’s it, that’s the thing. Maybe also a school party or school parade—great, fine.

If someone lives in a neighborhood where there is literally no Trick or Treating, fine, some kind of trunk or treat or whatever.

But we don’t need “Boo Baskets”—no one needs more cheap plastic crap from China.
We don’t need five trunk or treat events—HALLOWEEN IS ALREADY THE THING

And FFS pass out some candy and maybe a few non-candy treats for kids with allergies or who can’t have sugar or something. Not some huge ass bag filled with spider rings (trash), cheap and literally useless erasers (trash), those stupid fake teeth that get put in one time and then go in the…wait for it…trash.

Stop. Halloween is already special, you don’t need to make the entirety of October a landfill-exploding wasteland of cheap, cheap, tacky garbage.

[Anonymous]

I totally agree. We throw out everything from Halloween the next day. It’s gross how much waste there is. Same with Valentine’s Day. I don’t understand when these converted from small candy days to “candy plus stuff” days.

[Anonymous]

Agree.

[Anonymous]

Halloween doe not need to run the entire month. However, most kids enjoy it. My neighborhood goes all out. Even though my kids are older, they like to sit out front and hand out candy. It is a great memory for some.

[Anonymous]

Agree with the content, disagree with the tone. But still agreeing with the content.

I don't want to take fun away from anybody. I would be over the moon if things changed so this holiday became not All About The Plastic, over and over

[Anonymous]

If people want the holiday to run the entire month, they should focus on decorating or making costumes from scratch or something not constant plastic.

[Anonymous]

I am not a fan of Halloween in general, but I don't understand this logic.

Would you apply the same to Christmas? Christmas morning and presents is already THE THING. No need for caroling or holiday parties or gift exchanges or pictures with santa or anything else. The morning of 12/25 is already THE THING.

Just participate in what makes you happy OP and skip the rest.

[Anonymous]

What exactly are we supposed to give kids with allergies or don’t eat sugar? Seems like money is the only thing you would find acceptable, which isn’t going to happen. I have a variety of candy and let kids pick. That’s the extent of it. You can’t please everyone all the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:you don’t need to make the entirety of October a landfill-exploding wasteland of cheap, cheap, tacky garbage.

+100

Halloween section at Target makes me cringe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Halloween doe not need to run the entire month. However, most kids enjoy it. My neighborhood goes all out. Even though my kids are older, they like to sit out front and hand out candy. It is a great memory for some.

OP here. I have no problem with decorating, putting up lights, and making the day itself as full-blown as anyone wants it to be. We do a big set-up at the end of our driveways, and many neighbors light fire pits, adults bring adult beverages to pass around—it’s a great night! And there is usually an outdoor “wear your costume and walk around the bus loop” at school.

So it’s a special day, but why it needs to be a whole month full of landfill items for some people is truly beyond me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not a fan of Halloween in general, but I don't understand this logic.

Would you apply the same to Christmas? Christmas morning and presents is already THE THING. No need for caroling or holiday parties or gift exchanges or pictures with santa or anything else. The morning of 12/25 is already THE THING.

Just participate in what makes you happy OP and skip the rest.

I dunno. There's not a lot of physical waste product with caroling. Parties tend to be about consumable foods and spending time together (maybe disposable plates? Easy substitution there, or use ones that deocmpose). Gift exchanges in my experience are "white elephant" half the time. Pictures with Santa is just time and pictures.

Halloween MonthPlus is just so ... trinket-y piles of garbage doodads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are we supposed to give kids with allergies or don’t eat sugar? Seems like money is the only thing you would find acceptable, which isn’t going to happen. I have a variety of candy and let kids pick. That’s the extent of it. You can’t please everyone all the time.

OP suggested a few non-candy treats for those who need it, but doesn’t think people should skip candy and hand out nothing but the plastic trash, sorry, I mean, toys. I agree with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What exactly are we supposed to give kids with allergies or don’t eat sugar? Seems like money is the only thing you would find acceptable, which isn’t going to happen. I have a variety of candy and let kids pick. That’s the extent of it. You can’t please everyone all the time.

If you are going to give a cheap toy, it doesn't need to be plastic.

[Anonymous]

What is a Boo basket? Is that like an an Easter Basket?

So extra candy on top of the trick-or-treating candy?

It’s so wasteful all of that candy gets tossed and donated a couple days after Halloween ends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not a fan of Halloween in general, but I don't understand this logic.

Would you apply the same to Christmas? Christmas morning and presents is already THE THING. No need for caroling or holiday parties or gift exchanges or pictures with santa or anything else. The morning of 12/25 is already THE THING.

Just participate in what makes you happy OP and skip the rest.

OP here. That…is how I feel about Christmas.

I…do participate in just what makes us happy and skip the rest. But even when we proactively put up a sign that “We’ve Been Booed,” literal baskets of plastic landfill items somehow end up on our front porch. We put them back on the porch of the person we suspected. Once a friend texted why and I said, “Oh, you must not have seen our sign—we were Booed already, so I wanted you to have the chance to Boo someone who didn’t get Booed!” Like no thank you to a bin of crap.