With Halloween fast approaching, everything is fast approaching at my age, I was talking with my wife about trick or treating. You know, back in the days of yore.The Grand kids had been out selecting their costumes and that is what sparked the conversation. Neither of us could recall buying any costumes or exactly what we wore.
Seems like our costumes were home made deals most of the time. I do remember having those one piece overall style costumes with the plastic mask. You remember, the kind where the material could burst into flames and the mask all but blinded you. They were usually a dark color so as not to be seen in the dark. The good old days.
Barring those I think we were usually pirates,hobos,cowboys,witches and some mummy's.The mummy thing usually didn't work out, kept coming unwrapped. I remember burning the end of a cork to use in blackening your face.( for the hobo look).
I do remember one year, not for what the costume was, but for the way the costume smelled. You see my father worked at a fish processing plant. There was,as you can imagine, a distinct odor associated with this process. Over time, we all but became immune to it.
Well, one year we decided to make our costumes using some burlap sacks my father had brought home from the factory. I can't say with certainty what we were supposed to be portraying. At any rate, there was a definite odor present, unnoticed by us.We always went to our Aunts house first. She lived just a short distance away. We got our candy alright but Aunt Bet was laughing and said, no need for you guys to knock, we could smell you coming ! There is no doubt whose kids you are. Smells like promise land ! ( Promise land was the name of the factory) I remember that because it was talked about for years afterwards.
The treats were got were even different back then. Got a lot of apples. Popcorn balls were popular too. And sometimes pennies of nickels. One unusual one I remember getting was a plastic bank. It was a pig wearing a top hat. Put a coin in the slot and he tipped his hat. Some rich person uptown was giving them out. We got a lot of penny candy. Homemade cookies or brownies might be in the offering as well. We didn't have too much concern over the candy being tainted in any way. Mom and Dad would insist on going through the candy to make sure it was "safe ", code for they took all the best stuff !
Funny how neither of us could remember in any detail about costumes. Remembered going alright and the goodies we collected. Of course it was fifty years ago ! Well it was for me anyway, my wife is still 29, just ask her. I don't know what her excuse is. Times were definitely different. I'm not sure if it was just that we were all more naive or was it that times were a whole lot safer. The costumes weren't ! But in my opinion all this " safety " takes some of the fun out. Ah, for the days of yore.
I still remember, " Trick or Treat for UNICEF " those little orange boxes. Do they still do that ?
Seems like our costumes were home made deals most of the time. I do remember having those one piece overall style costumes with the plastic mask. You remember, the kind where the material could burst into flames and the mask all but blinded you. They were usually a dark color so as not to be seen in the dark. The good old days.
Barring those I think we were usually pirates,hobos,cowboys,witches and some mummy's.The mummy thing usually didn't work out, kept coming unwrapped. I remember burning the end of a cork to use in blackening your face.( for the hobo look).
I do remember one year, not for what the costume was, but for the way the costume smelled. You see my father worked at a fish processing plant. There was,as you can imagine, a distinct odor associated with this process. Over time, we all but became immune to it.
Well, one year we decided to make our costumes using some burlap sacks my father had brought home from the factory. I can't say with certainty what we were supposed to be portraying. At any rate, there was a definite odor present, unnoticed by us.We always went to our Aunts house first. She lived just a short distance away. We got our candy alright but Aunt Bet was laughing and said, no need for you guys to knock, we could smell you coming ! There is no doubt whose kids you are. Smells like promise land ! ( Promise land was the name of the factory) I remember that because it was talked about for years afterwards.
The treats were got were even different back then. Got a lot of apples. Popcorn balls were popular too. And sometimes pennies of nickels. One unusual one I remember getting was a plastic bank. It was a pig wearing a top hat. Put a coin in the slot and he tipped his hat. Some rich person uptown was giving them out. We got a lot of penny candy. Homemade cookies or brownies might be in the offering as well. We didn't have too much concern over the candy being tainted in any way. Mom and Dad would insist on going through the candy to make sure it was "safe ", code for they took all the best stuff !
Funny how neither of us could remember in any detail about costumes. Remembered going alright and the goodies we collected. Of course it was fifty years ago ! Well it was for me anyway, my wife is still 29, just ask her. I don't know what her excuse is. Times were definitely different. I'm not sure if it was just that we were all more naive or was it that times were a whole lot safer. The costumes weren't ! But in my opinion all this " safety " takes some of the fun out. Ah, for the days of yore.
I still remember, " Trick or Treat for UNICEF " those little orange boxes. Do they still do that ?
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| I'll be watching for these this year. |
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