I don’t know about you, but I get a kick out of Halloween. We usually get our first visitors at sundown and the action is slow but steady until about 9:00 p.m. By the end of the evening, we enjoy the company of approximately one-hundred of the little monsters.
I answer the door about 80% of the time and Patty catches the remainder. I usually like to measure the age of the youngsters and engage them in some appropriate banter or prank for their age. I basically just encourage the first-timers by telling them how cute they look.
For the kids that are about 6-7 I know that they have been out on Halloween a few times so I just try to catch them off-guard. I tell them that at our home they have to give me candy. I get some good responses.
I have a special prank for the next older group, say ages 7-9. It is more effective as the evening progresses a bit. Somewhere around 8:00, I get out a can of tuna fish and a raw onion. I tell the kids I am out of candy and these are the only things I have left; then, I ask them which they prefer. One kid said in a disappointed voice, “Ahh, I guess I’ll just take the tuna fish.”
A few times each evening, I fold up two bucks and hide it in my hand behind the onion. Then I ask a couple of older kids if they would rather have candy or the onion. Naturally they almost always pick the candy but there have been two times when a smart-alecky teenager picked the onion and he was rewarded with the two-bucks as well. I only employ this gag a few times an evening because the youngsters are sharp enough to come back again and again if they figure out what is going on.
This year I plan on getting some catsup, plus an old shirt and a large knife. I will soak the front of the shirt in catsup (or do you prefer Ketchup?) and break the blade off of the knife. Then I will open the door and hold the knife to my stomach as if I have been stabbed and then beg for mercy. This will probably be best suited to the girls ages 6-10.
I am also considering throwing a few strands of TP in one of my own trees and then blame select young kids for it.
The next time I can get somebody to help me I would like to hide behind the bushes with a chain saw and when the victims are busy at the front door and distracted I will let out a menacing laugh and start the chainsaw (you can remove the chain, but the kids don’t need to know that) then I will act as if I am going to attack them.
In preparation for this article I did a little research to see what pranks other people like. Quite honestly, I am surprised how many people think vandalism is funny. I guess those are the people who laugh when somebody trips a blind person.
Anyway, there were some fascinating ideas and stories that I enjoyed reading.
A common idea has several variations. You dress up as a really fat scarecrow or some other character and take a seat near your front door with a full bowl of candy in your lap. Stay motionless so you look like a decoration. When the goblins come to the door they are tempted to take all of the candy but just as they reach for the bowl you yell and jump out at them and teach them a lesson.
Dress up as a hospital patient and answer the door screaming things like “I didn’t do it, or I only killed one of them.”
These folks have a few ideas. Here is a variation of one of them. Make several home-made headstones and place them in the yard as if it is a cemetery. Make a couple of dummies and dress up like a corpse. Then lay the dummies near the headsotnes and you lay very still on the ground near one that is close to your front door. When a goblin gets too close jump up and scare the dickens out of them.
The Prank Institute has quite a few. Here is their main site:
For a cool three step program to draw them in, divert their attention and then scare the bedickens out of them click here.
One of the best stops for prank stories is at ZUG They even had a contest and here are the Top 5 winners. These are pretty good.
If you would like to send some FREE e-Halloween Cards just visit these guys.
It seems like there are all sorts of odd things people do on pumpkin day. If you cannot think of anything original, you might just try cutting off your own toes and giving them away as surprise treats. That ought to keep the neighborhood buzzing for a while.
What are your favorite memories?
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