Halloween Party this year?

[whatsername90]

I would love to have a party... but I live around 15 miles away from most everyone I could invite so I'm not sure. I know I'll be doing a lot of Halloween baking and treats but not sure it will turn into a party or not. Might only get around 5-6 people there

[iHaunt]

My girlfriend and I will attend to Halloween party this year at one of her best friends' home. Sadly, I won't do anything to decorate at my house, but I only put Halloween lights and 3 Jack O' Lanterns on the front yard while my grandpa is giving out candies to TOTers. Sorry me and my gf won't be at my home till the first day of November b/c we will stay over the night at her friend's house.

[Pumpkin_Man]

I am definately going to have some sort of a party, be it a bon fire, back yard barbecue or get-together in October for Halloween. Also, my grand nieces and nephew come over to my town to ToT because of all the impossible stipulations that Arm Pit condominium where my nephew lives puts on ToT. It's not bad enough he hs to live in arm pit New Lenox, he's also pimped with having to live in a condo.

Anyway, the kids go ToTing, and when they get back we watch one of the old Unidersal monster classics, and we have a weenie roast in the living room.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Your Halloween sounds like fun, Mike.

What kinds of stipulations does your nephew's condo put on TOT?

[iHaunt]

Mike, we will have some pepperoni pizza, chicken wings (plain, mild and hot), some chips, cupcakes, beers, wines, and some mixed drinks, fresh veggies for dipping in ranch or french onion, fruit punch for kids only. When the party will be over then they will go home for any leftover foods and candies, everything u know? Maybe some of drunk azz people will be staying over the night until they get better!

[Pumpkin_Man]

Murf, for one thing, they can only ToT at their own unit. They can't go to other unites in the sub division. For another thing, they can only ToT for one hour, and that hour is from 1:00 to 2:00. They don't even get home from school until 2:30. Then there are a whole bunch of tules about what kind of containers they have to use for their ToT candy, Halloween decorations have to be approved, under the guise of "fire hazzards," and the list goes on and on. In my howm town, we get 4 hours, but there are no other restrictions. So they can get plenty of candy. The cops are pretty strict about sticking to that 4 hour time table, but a lot of people start early and go late, and I allways give them candy before the official ToT start time, and after the official ToT end time, and I have had no problems.

The little ones come over to the house after ToT, and they love my 100 year old creepy looking house at Halloween.

iHaunt, I will have Oreo cookies for the little ones, in addition to all kinds of Butterfingers, Nestles Crunch, Snickers and Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. Additionaly I will have a fire in the living room fire place where we will roast Oscar Meyer Weiners and Best Kosher weiners, and there will also be plenty of chips to go with them. I thought bout barbecuing something, but the kids had a ball the last time we did a weenie roast in the fire place.

MIke

Mike

[iHaunt]

I do love Nestle dark chocolate Raisinets!

Anyone love it?

[Murfreesboro]

Mike, I don' think I have ever lived anywhere where the authorities mandated when people could TOT! I am astonished by that. I guess, if that happens up North or maybe out West, it does explain those scenes in movies where kids are TOTing in the daylight (as in ET & even the original Halloween). I have always wondered why anyone would TOT in the daylight.

Around here, TOT starts at dusk and is winding down around 8 p.m., but in some neighborhoods it goes longer. Down on Main Street it probably lasts until about 10, but after 9-ish the older kids & young adults sort of take over the streets. Families with younger kids go home. This is all completely intuitive, though. Nobody ever says when to start or when to stop.

The only thing that has ever been stipulated by authorities in any place I have ever lived is the decision of which night to TOT if the 31rst falls on a Sunday. Typically, in the Bible Belt, Halloween on a Sunday means TOT gets shifted to Saturday night. But the last few years, even that rule has been relaxed.

Condominiums are a PITA everywhere, though the one I am most familiar with (where my MIL used to live) doesn't seem to have quite the stick up the rear that your nephew's place does.

iHaunt, I love Raisinettes. Always my candy of choice at the movie theater.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Murf, the state of Illinois has no laws about ToT what so ever. ToT laws are strictly up to the individual communities, and some towns are more restrictive then others. Condominiums are typicaly run by condominium associations, and those associations often have 'house rules' as to what kind of holiday decorations you can put up, and the place whre my nephew is is, as you say, "a stick up the rear," and I wouldn't live there if they offered me a unit for free. Additionaly, the comples is located in arm pit New Lenox, and I woudl rather live in Bayrute then New Lenox. One of the few things I don't like about my home town are the time restrictions on ToT, and while I don't agree with them, I do understand them. One seriously unfortunate happenstance of living in today's world is that there are a lot of predators out there these days, and many of them molest children. There are also a lot of teenagers and young adults who use ToT to break in on and rob elderly people. That happened in Joliet when I lived on Illinois Street. There were about 5 kids, the oldes being 18, the youngest being about 12. They knocked on the door of an elderly woman like they were ToTing, and when she opened the door they rushed past her, beat her up and stole all the cash out of her purse. She had just cashed her Social Security check, so they got all of her living money for the entire next month.

So that's why some communities are so draconian about ToT.

iHaunt, I love Hersheys dark chocolate, and Hershey's also makes a candy simular to M & Ms that's filled with dark chocolate instead of regular milk chocolate.

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

That's terrible about what happened to that old lady, Mike. So far we don't seem to have a whole lot of crime associated with Halloween (knock wood). Those who choose to celebrate it seem to have a genuine community spirit about it. Especially down on Main Street, the wealthy antebellum homes border very low-rent neighborhoods, if you know what I mean (historic district, some of it restored, some just run down). Yet I see the kids from those poorer streets happily collecting candy at the rich folks' houses. Everyone just has a good time.

I don't see a whole lot of Halloween decorations at the condominium complex where my MIL lived, and they do have a lot of rules about outside decor, etc. But if they had such draconian rules about Halloween, I would have seen it in their monthly newsletter. It is mostly occupied by elderly retirees and single career people--not too many kids live there. If I lived there with kids, I would take them somewhere else in town to TOT.

[Pumpkin_Man]

Thats what my nephew did with his kids at first. He would take them to the various other sub devisions, but the kids wanted to see crreepier looking old houses, so one year he decided to take them to Dwight, and they fell in love with it.

Ever since, ny grand nieces and nephew spend Halloween ToTing in my town, and then they visit me for a Halloween party. Unfortunately, since they both go to public schools, they will have to call it a night a little earlier, because Halloween is a school day, and Halloween night is a School night.

From what you tell me, though, Tenesee is looking better and better to me all the time. I am a DIE HARD gun person, a DIE HARD motorcycle person, a DIE HARD Halloween person and a DIE HARD fireworks person. I have two cousens who live in Tenesee, and they say that fireworks are also leagal.

Mike

Mike

[Murfreesboro]

Come on down! We like it here.

What part of TN do your cousins live in?

Oh, we have no state income tax here, either.

[Pumpkin_Man]

No state income tax???? Can you tell me a little about what I need to do to get a car and motorcycle driver's license? How are the jobs for photographers down there.

My cousens live on some acherage, that I THINK is on the eastern edge of the state, but I can't swear to it. I have been planning on visiting them for some time, but for some reason or another never get around to it.

At any rate, I am seriously considering retiring in Arizong, Indiana, and now you have me seriously considering Tennessee.

Mike

[Spookymufu]

no state income tax here in TX either...

[Pumpkin_Man]

Illinois DOES have a state income tax, and it's GOING UP!!!! And it's GOING UP after that most embarassing eposide with oru general assembly over spending ad failing to fund the pension fund that I'm in.

Mike