Sugar High

Well, I survived that annual neighborhood candy trek known as Halloween. Since the baby was sleeping, it was just son #1 and I. The weather, surprisingly, cooperated somewhat. Temps hovered around 45 degrees and, much to the relief of costume-wearing children everywhere, there was not a drop of rain. As a child, there was nothing worse than being forced to wear layers of protective clothing OVER your carefully selected costume.

Like many children this year, my son chose a pirate costume. Since I think it's absurd to spend ridiculous amounts of money on a child's costume, we went with the semi-homemade version, which, if I do say so myself, came out pretty darn cute. He was happy with it, so that's really all that matters.

I saw quite the variety of costumes, both store-bought and homemade. There were your obligatory Disney princesses for the girls, lots of pirates of varying styles, classic witches and generally grotesque-looking indescribable ghouls. Most of the trick-or-treaters were of elementary school age, with a few middle-schoolers trolling for candy as well.

Then there were the high school kids.

I know I must be getting old, because I think that there should be an age limit for Beggar's Night. Or at least a rule that if you want candy, you have to attempt a costume.

If I'm going to spend money to give candy away to small (and not-so-small) humans who ring my doorbell and demand sugar, I feel that they at least owe me the entertainment of seeing their costumes.

Heck, even a few parents got in on the game. I ran into some fellow t-ball parents who I nearly didn't recognize because they were in full costume and makeup while taking their small slugger trick-or-treating. Now if busy parents can take the time to dress up, certainly these high school kids can at least make an attempt. Don't you think?

Cheers!