Flashback Friday - Let's Do the Monster Mash

Halloween. Do you celebrate it? Participate? Dread it? Avoid it? I have mixed feelings about it. But that's not what this post is about. Linda at Mocha with Linda wants to know about our childhood memories of Halloween. Here's her prompt:

What  was Halloween like when you were growing up? Did your family participate? If not, was there a substitute activity? Did your school or church have a fall festival or carnival? Were there stipulations regarding costumes? What sorts of activities did they have? What about Halloween parties? Have you ever bobbed for apples or been on a hayride? What are your memories of "haunted houses"? (I'm not referring to the ultra-scary, secular ones, just the fun kid ones, with bowls of grapes and cold spaghetti!) If you went trick-or-treating, what were the rules, both for trick-or-treating and for candy consumption? What types of costumes did you wear? Were they store-bought or homemade? Did you carve a jack-o-lantern? How are your children's experiences similar or different to yours? And the most important question: Do you like candy corn? What is your favorite (and least favorite!) Halloween candy?

When I grew up, we didn't worry about the predators and lunatics who derived pleasure from hurting small children. Not as much as we worry today. Rarely was there a report of a razor blade in a popcorn ball or a drug injected into Halloween candy. That type of activity was reserved for large metropolitan cities not small rural towns.

I remember my brother and I going out trick or treating together. The rules? We had to stay together. That was it. We went everywhere. By ourselves. For more than two hours. Crazy right? Not back then. We would come home with a brown paper grocery bag half full of candy, apples, and popcorn balls. We loved it.
Tomorrow, I'm taking the grand-boy and niece trick or treating to a few of the local businesses downtown and the mall. No door-to-door trick or treating in neighborhoods where you don't know the residents. How the times have changed.

Another big change. We came up with our own costumes with clothes we already had. We didn't wear store bought outfits. We didn't carry plastic pumpkins to put our loot in either. Those grocery sacks worked just fine and held more goodies.

My favorite treat was the popcorn balls. Do people still make them? That sounds so good. Maybe I'll make some for the grand-boy and niece this weekend and teach them to do the mash:


What about you? How did you participate in Halloween? If you'd like to join in on the fun, hop on over to Linda's and join in the fun. Have a scary but safe Halloween weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by and visiting. 

Peace and Joy,
Susan

Deuteronomy 18:10 (NKJV) There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, or one who practices witchcraft, or a soothsayer, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,