Last night Gina and I took our eight year old to an event where they had a 'Candy Walk'. Yes, it's a musical chair game in which you get a small piece of candy if you land on the chair with the right number. There are festivals that have 'Cake Walks', but they don't give away cakes to those who land on the lucky number. They get Little Debbies, Twinkies and the like. Not bad mind you - but nothing like the Cake Walks of my youth. We got real two layer cakes! REAL CAKES! I kid you not.
My kids don't have Trick or Treat either. They don't go from house to house through out the night like we did. I admit that I share part of the blame for this. Trunk or Treat makes a parent feel safer. I remember going into the night with my little Bela Legosi mask on. My brother and sisters ventured into our neighborhood and beyond with our brown paper bags. If the front porch light was on, we'd come a knocking. Maybe it wasn't that safe back then, but we did it. We'd Trick or Treat until porch lights had all been turned off. We've return home only by the light of the street lamps. I remember that creepy feeling walking home at night, dressed as monsters, but wondering if there were real monsters watching from the darkness of the landscape.
Being a parent, I don't feel it's a safe thing to do today. Each year Gina and I will take our kids down a street or two so they can have a little bit of that experience. Halloween Carnivals and bona-fide Trick or Treating isn't what it used to be. What's left is still enjoyable for the little ones, but it lacks much of the thrill that I fondly recall.
