Halloween in the 70’s as a kid was awesome. Entire neighborhood kids were out. Most of time I was a Hobo, old clothes and used Dad’s ashtray ashes (most adults smoked back then) spread it all over my face and hands to get that Hobo dirty look. Just before Halloween made sure to be home at 7pm to watch Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Special, a must. It really felt like Halloween, no mention of Christmas only Halloween time.
We bought our house last summer in the suburbs in a small Texas town. We bought Halloween candy not expecting that many kids, but we were clearly not prepared. We had TONS of Trick or Treaters. We prepared this year and bought 5 giant bags of candy.
That is awesome. Sadly, that is not every neighborhood like it once was. I do not know if you are in a new or affluent area, but I bet lots of kids travel to places like yours in the suburbs. We didn't live in those, just grids of streets and avenues crisscrossing in town. Here's to hoping Halloween stays fruitful for you.
@GENXPERIENCE we live in Sanger, a small town north of Dallas. Average folk, average if not a tad country town. We have kids outside playing basketball, riding bikes, and playing. We love it! We weren't expecting Trick or Treaters TBH, but they just kept coming. It was a lot of fun!
I think you really summed it up about the anticipation of Halloween; the commercials, TV specials, etc all made it so fun. Now Christmas decorations are already on store shelves. It really takes the spotlight off of Halloween in my opinion.
I like what you're saying. The rush of everything takes the magic of way from it all. I loved everything that reminded us of what was coming. Today we are too far ahead before we even get there. UGH
My wife and I took our son trick-or-treating until he was 12 and decided he didn't want to go. Since then we have spent each year sitting on our front porch handing out candy. There are fewer and fewer kids every year but we will wait for them listening to Halloween music on Pandora. It's how we spend our wedding anniversary (yes, we got married on Halloween!) this year will be #26.
October and Halloween are very special to me as i turned 60 on the 14th which was this past Monday and Halloween has always been a magical month for me. This was an awesome look at Halloween in the 70's and 80's which lived through as a kid and as a teenager have a great Halloween this year and thank you.👻👹🎃🇺🇲
YOu are the comment I LOVE. Thank you so much for understanding this is all about memories, recollection, reminiscing, etc. Happy Birthday and thank you for sharing. Halloween was cherished then, I bet you have some great memories.
The only holiday I ever cared a fig about. It's pretty much nonexistent now.. here, anyway. Sad, but if anything could rise from the dead to haunt the world again, it would be Halloween!
It is still cool if teenagers or parents want to Trick-or-Treat, so long as they are participating in the holiday vibe. An awesome costume always gets a treat. I've been delighted to see some of the local parents, unrecognizable in costume, swinging by for Treats. Wine bottle swinging...
I went as a Serial Murderer in college. I wore a necklace that held a plastic cereal bowl, & for a Trick or Treat bag carried an empty Frosted Flakes box!!!
This was delightful and totally took me back! Some of my fondest memories from childhood are from Halloween. Shout out for the clips of Tim Curry in the Worst Witch too (🎶Anything can happen on Halloween!)🎶
Man, having a bunch of kids just quietly standing on your porch without ringing the bell sounds very creepy. I'm not opening the door to Black Eyed Children or the Children of the corn.
When i was younger in the late 70s to early 90s, the streets were packed with kids trick or treating. Nowadays they are barren. Never see anyone. Our local firehalls and malls usually put on events for kids to go to. Its kinda sad. Im so glad i grew up in the time i did.
Me too. It is simply that, people have taken them off the streets. Neighborhoods just don't play a long, so there is no community...until you go to a community hall. We got the best memories.
I had Sounds to make You Shiver as a kid. Forgot about even owning it, until a good friend pulled out his copy last year while we were getting dressed for the night. What sweet nostalgia.
I feel like I got shorted as a kid as Mom never took us trick or treating. I grew up in a small town of about 800, but Mom was worried there'd be razor blades in the apples. She took us to the school which had a big all-ages Halloween party. Costume contests, games, cartoons. It was fun, but I never got to experience the door-to-door candy begging, I feel like I missed out. 🎃🎃🎃
I understood people would think about it, but its hard to imagine in such a small town. I mean I'm glad you still had some fun, but it is too bad you did not get to experience the freedom and walking around late with friends and just feeling exhilarated about it all.
When my 30 year old daughter was in grade school they switched to a fall festival but they were allowed to dress up. I made her a bag of fall leaves. We used a huge black garbage bag, made the twist tie and leaves out of paper bags. What I didn't know is the school was picking best costume and she won. It was a pretty epic costume and all staff and teachers were laughing.
Me and my husband are both gen X, we still dress up for Halloween and his amazing mother sews our outfits or we get separate pieces and build our own costumes. But when it comes to decorating we go crazy on the outdoor decorations, in fact our house is decorated goth style all year long anyways. 😅 And yes, each year, we're getting less if not any trick or treaters at all.
I am about to put on my Halloween Costume for our huge Halloween Party tomorrow...themed to MAD MAX of all things. Should be wild. We have evolved to NO trick or treaters here, which stinks because I would love to hear that doorbell a few time Thursday. Thanks for sharing.
The rich street in my town gets blocked off and a bunch of the houses go all out while hundreds of people in costumes walk up and down the block. It's not endangered where I live
GREAT episode! I used to LOVE Halloween. I don’t get into it as much as an adult. But when I was younger the costumes, the candy, getting to run around a subdivision at night with my friends…it was so fun! I trick or treated every year from 4-18 (yes, even went my senior year of high school!) - my friend and I wore legit costumes and didn’t pull any tricks but at some doors we were told we were a little too old for this. I would just say you’re never too old, especially if no one ever comes to your door. Most years my mom sewed all or part of my costume. I felt sorry for the kids who had to get those plastic mask costumes from the store. I figured you’d definitely point out that teens often did pranks and general mayhem on Halloween, so much so that we have a band named after such an autumnal rite of passage: Smashing Pumpkins😢!
Thank you for watching and for the great comment. Sounds like you did it right as a kid...even up to 18. You are NEVER to young; probably why I still have a Halloween Party every year (this year themed to Mad Max). Also, I almost put some of the pranks and other behaviors in this video...but alas, I am so far from that behavior, I would haven't done it justice, lol.
That is sweet of you. Oh the USA in the 70s and 80s and 90s....such a great time. I appreciate you enjoying what we did have, but sadly we destroy ourselves from within.
I remember doing costume parade.. When I went to school we would walk from room to room and after we would have a party. I remember going trick or treating and using a pillow case for my candy. To bad that the kids of today are missing out on what I remember. Ah me, I grew up in the 70's and I have good memories of those days.
I live in an ordinary, middle class community outside Los Angeles. The neighbor has one of those old-fashioned clickers that you would use in the grocery store to count up your tally... Each year for trick-or-treating we have seen upwards of 1,000 kids and a steady stream of trick or treaters for 3-4 hours. Apparently, some of these kids get bussed in or driven in a van from other communities because there are not 1,000 kids in my immediate neighborhood!!! It costs me over $200 in candy but its worth it to me! 👻
You must have a great neighborhood as parents and families sound like they are bussing in. So where are they leaving? Their own neighborhoods. Leaving them dark, lonely, and void of any celebrations. There is no one there to give out candy, either, so no one decorates. But you, you are doing awesome that night. Thanks for sharing.
Great video. One thing that has definitely disappeared are homemade treats given out. I remember popcorn balls and Halloween cookies. Also trick or treating was a one and done event and now kids wear their costumes to go to several trunk or treats leading up to Halloween and then finally going out on the 31st.
Exactly right! I remember the fun l had creating my own costumes watching Halloween cartoon specials and the excitement felt going house to house. Sadly this generation will not experience the magic of Halloween.
I am sure they think it is magic, but we had more fun (they just don't know it) and nothing was wrong with the way it was done. Anticipation for the big day was part of the excitement, but they don't have that as much.
Excellent Vlog, Am from Liverpool UK and I love Halloween. Here in the UK we celebrated Halloween but until the mid to late 80s different from USA. In the Late 80s it seemed to take off ie USA version dressing up, knocking on doors for Sweets”UK” or Candy”USA”. When me and my wife bought our 1st house we decorated it outside and our son and daughter loved it. Local children knocking on the door what fun times but our Children went off to university we downgraded the house and moved about 6 years ago. Our 1st year I decorated the Garden and I think we got 2 or maybe 3 children knocking. Our neighbours frowned and comments were made about the Halloween decorations and how it was very American to we don’t do this in this area. We now have Grandchildren 7 and 3 and this year they are with us for Halloween and they are going to learn what Fun you can have at Halloween.Keep up the great work 🎃🎃👍👍
I absolutely love you...I've never seen your videos and WOW, what a rush down memory lane. That was halloween, that was the holidays. Born in Dec 1966. Thank you. Subscribed
YOU are TOO COOL. So sweet and these are the comments I live for. I just do this for fun and to make me NEVER forget. I am creating something that will keep all this alive, because I want it to...and because there are people like you who appreciate it. Please come back for more, and thank you.
WOW! im glad you made this vid cause actually 2 days ago i was wondering how Halloween is now (in the US) i just moved to a new city and i was walking around and i said to myself... Man Halloween is really dying!!!... this might be a good idea or a very dumb one but i always thought Halloween should be on the last Saturday night of October, a lot of ppl dont wanna give candy on a week night, they have a million things to do but on weekends they would be more incline to celebrate this.... (my favorite) holiday!!.... and i cant believe kids dont say TRICK OR TREAT anymore, its one thing i thought it suck back in the day, in french we have nothing cool to say at the door.
Thanks for writing. Believe me, it was incredible, it was huge, it was a shared experience by all. It has just changed over time with OVERPROTECTIVE Parents and people no longer wanting to be part of a community. A lot has driven that neighborly feeling apart. And I am not kidding, kids don't say Trick or Treat. I might get the doorbell, but when I open, blank stares. Should be yelling at me, lol. THanks for watching.
It is so sad that kids don't get the excitement of going trick or treating, it used to be so fun in rural WV. I'm o glad I was a kid in the 70's yes, that means I'm old now, but I wouldn't change a thing. I look at kids today and my heart literally breaks for them. Trunk or treat?? Community halls?? Get outta here what fun is that??? I remember so many people being out that it was just so cool. Now, we have not had a single trick-or-treater in over 5 years. Sad kids and teens staring at phones all day and night. Yeah, its great for us old folks, but man, when I was a kid the fun was being with my pals and once into young adulthood, going to nightclubs and chasing the ladies...nothing better. I feel so, so sad for kids, teens and young adults today they seem so disaffected, and distant and seem to have no fire or empathy for anyone or anything. Sad.
Thank YOU for pointing out how it's all or nothing these days! I'd like to lean back on simple window decor and stretch spider webs this year but our neighbors have all gone OTP (we're all in an apartment complex on the street facing side). The pressure is stressing me out lol
We always had it in the daytime when I was a kid, they moved it to evening in the late 90s and without streetlights or sidewalks in most of the subdivisions there are hardly any trick or treaters after the first hour.
It happened in the daytime before the 90s? That is wild. Never head of that. I remember young kids might start at 500pm or so, but it was during the night where I was from. Even so, most neighbors don't bother and it has really made Trick or Treating extinct. Kids and Free Play is sadly disappearing.
The freedom we had as kids in the 70's. As long as Mom knew who I was going Trick or Treatin with, she'd say, "stay in the neighborhood and be back by 9!" Wouldn't dream of letting my girls go by themselves! We'd stay out till our pillow cases were full! Trully the last of the Trick-Or-Treaters!
You got that right. It is funny how you do know how it was, remember it well, but can't do it with your own. no judge, just interesting. Seriously, thank you for writing and Happy Halloween.
You've been on a roll with your Halloween videos,Victor! My all-time favorite holiday & this and the other recent videos bring back so many joyous memories. Good stuff as alway!!
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your comment and so happy you are enjoying the videos. Halloween is so magical and I want us to remember what it was like.
As a Gen X and have seen how much MORE candy is given at Trick or Trunk I would of chose THAT over door to door getting little pieces of candy and somtimes apples you had to throw away, cuz ya know razor blades! lol
I get one small group of trick or treaters at our door at sundown, but that's it. I lice in an apartment complex with 200 apartments. I would include early 90s. My mom sewn a few costumes which included clown and devil. Put together was Frankenstein monster and Wolfman. Lol. I had a few of those thick paper decorations. Introduced my daughter to the Charlie Brown Halloween special and it was probably the first time I seen her put the smart device down to watch what I want to show her. Lol. Vinyl and tapes have became extinct.
I love how your daughter put down the smart device. Although yes, this does go into the 90s, I tend to leave it out as we GENXERS cross over with the Millennials there. But you are absolutely right. Thank you for writing. The Vinyl Spooky Albums, you can just listen on RUclips.
@@tecpaocelotl Vinyl isn’t extinct! There are lots of people who collect vinyl and newer artists even put out their albums on vinyl just for those who love the unique sound of a record! And just a few days ago I saw blank cassette tapes being sold on Amazon! I think they were newly made. There are now tons of stereo devices that will play cassette tapes over your Bluetooth speakers! The younger folks are embracing our retro tech and bringing some of it back into production!
We’re one of those houses that goes all out crazy with the decor and animatronics because no one does anything at all here beyond a blow up or a bale of hay with a pumpkin on it. (Which is better than nothing!) Ours ended up being a necessity because we’re clear at the back of town where no one ever trick-or-treated and never did. In order to get anybody back here we had to go big. To grow our numbers, we started offering food and drinks beyond the typical treat baggies and juice boxes. I had to put out a sign on the main road to get people to come back here. It took a few years, but we now get hundreds of people back here. So while it is excessive and it is expensive, I can say one thing for it. Suddenly, some of the people on our street and other places around town have started decorating at least somewhat when they never did before. My grandparents owned my house and we bought it when they downsized. So I know how things have gone here my whole life. So if it did nothing else for the town, it got people decorating again (or for the first time ever in many cases). There’s another guy a few streets over who only ever did Christmas displays, and suddenly his yard is jam packed with Halloween stuff now too. I can count on one hand the number of people who put anything at ALL out here in the entire town. Ever since I was little, and then when taking my own kids around, and now suddenly people are starting to care about decorating for it after we did. And it does sort of feel like it’s an unspoken competition against us. But the joke is on anyone who thinks that, if that is the case-because I’m absolutely THRILLED that we got this ball rolling and the town took notice and joined in. A neighbor down the streets sort of grumpily said that they had just bought an empty lot across from us to do a big garden on and they planned to “challenge” us in the future with competing Halloween decor. They had an attitude about it, and the look on their faces wasn’t very pleasant. I just laughed and said “good! Glad to hear it-because the more, the merrier. I’m nothing but happy when people put out decor because it’s so much fun to look at what everyone does with their own displays and the kids in town just love it so much. I pointed at their new piece of land and said “the school bus reroutes past our house even though there are no kids who live down here anymore. I’m sure the kids would really love it if there was even more fun cool stuff to look at over there! I look forward to seeing what you do with it.” That seemed to sort of deflated them (they left shortly afterwards) and sadly they never did anything over there for a few years now. They garden but nothing else. I don’t get that, I don’t know if they were looking to upset me and when they didn’t get the expected reaction they just gave up. Saddens me because it’s really true that the kids on the bus would have been thrilled by that. I know when they go by my house they have their faces plastered against the windows. It would have been nice if the kids on the other side of the bus had stuff to look at on their side as well. A different neighbor two doors down put out a few things and said she wasn’t going to bother doing more because she can’t compete with what we do. I told her that she was very wrong because my daughter drove past her house and noticed her little display immediately and called me squealing in delight that she had put one up. She was so happy about it and it was really cute! I told her that and she grinned widely. I said “it’s not about the size at all. It’s about the heart behind it, that you even cared to do anything for the kids. They NOTICE that, and they love it. Some of my best childhood memories were of simple little old school displays no matter how small-I was just happy that someone did ANYTHING when so few people did. Bonus points if they wore a costume to hand out candy. It was exciting and fun. I really appreciated that extra effort on their part even as a child. That sticks with you, you know?” She said she’ll keep doing it every year that she can after hearing that. I said that I’d send the kids down her way after they collected their candy from us.
This is a great story, and I thank you for sharing it. So much detail and exactly what I am looking for. These shows are just keeping it alive...like you and your family. I love that you go all out, that means others don't pick up a finger...and no matter how little they should...just to share in the fun. You are a ROADSIDE Attraction, and I would have loved it. Thank you and keep up the spirit.
My mom and dad took my brother and I around to several neighborhoods every year. Afterwards, my mom would carefully inspect our candy haul, and confiscated every single Snickers bar! We learned to hide them before she got to them lol! I miss those days. We live in the country now, and we have ZERO trick or treaters.
HA, you're mother was trying to be slick. T hose were some favorites of mine. Thanks for sharing some memories, they are similar to mine. We walked and walked and walked until just too late for anyone to give anything out. It was so fun to be out there. Felt so wild. I see no one. I know they are in SPECIFIC neighborhoods, but sad they don't stick around their own.
Trick or Treating is as dead around here as kids being allowed to go out and play on their own is. Things are so bad here that if a kid is alone, playing, at all, the police get called and the parents sternly talked to. 100% helicoper parent supervision is expected around here and is enforeced with an iron hand. And it's BAD. Remember when kids used to walk home from school or get dropped off at a bus stop and walk home from there? Those days are GONE where I live. Here, the parents all either pick their kids up from school, or the busses drop the kids off at their doorsteps, or in spots where there IS a bus stop, the parents all park their cars and wait for the kids there. The local bus stops are always crowded with parent's cars here. Nowadays, parents are terrified to let kids out of their sight or let them do their own thing! I've seen such a lack of play and creativity in kids nowadays on a level that I've never seen before.
The whole waiting in long ass lines to pick up kids instead of them walking or riding their bike is BANANAS to me. It is safer now, and they still just can't do it. Agreed.
I remember fondly sometime around 5-7th grade, I bought a kit to put facial and hand hair on with spirit gum and went as a werewolf. Way better than the tongue-cutter masks.
A decade ago, I lived in an apartment building in a neighborhood consisting of other apartment buildings. There were no Trick or Treaters on Hallowe'en, for a few reasons. First, most of the buildings had security doors, and there were no front yards to just walk up to. Second, almost all of my neighbors were of a particular religion, and they frowned on the Hallowe'en "holiday". Even our building supervisor would remove pumpkins and any decorations from outside stairs, or shared spaces, so as not to "offend" anyone. Also, crime was common at night, outdoors, regardless of the season. Then I moved to the neighborhood I live in now, for the past ten years. It's wonderful! We have front yard spaces, the neighbors are tolerant of this tradition, and most of us join in with decorations, from minimal, to totally over-the-top! My daughter, now a young adult, is the mastermind of our Hallowe'en set up, and we definitely have one of the more "over-the-top" houses on the street. Her partner and I do the grunt work, and she is the planner and the brains (as it should be) 🙂 So Hallowe'en is far from extinct in my neighborhood. Endangered? Perhaps. We still see lots and lots of Trick-or-Treaters coming for candy, but many others (older, almost teens) are unfamiliar with the tradition, but they tag along just looking for something free, and they don't attempt to wear costumes of any sort. We discourage them. Join in or opt out. In the local schools, Hallowe'en is more or less forbidden, because it's not "inclusive" of everyone. But in the neighborhoods, outside of the schools, most kids and parents are still keeping it alive. For now... Great video, thanks! 🙂
Great comment and thanks for sharing. YOu got lucky, for sure. It is only certain neighborhoods now. We were not in an affluent neighborhood growing up, and yet everyone was involved. So happy you have some great experiences now with Trick or Treaters. I miss when teens really got into it...yeah, don't try, don't get candy, lol. Thanks again for watching and commenting.
@@GENXPERIENCE I know I've been a pest in the past about this topic (your action figure videos) but did you ever view that Woman's Day Space Station article from the late 70s? I posted the links on your other article, and the keywords, in case the links didn't work. I'd love to read your take on that! 🙂
@@GENXPERIENCE I agree. My neighbourhood is not posh, mostly "town houses" (connected units, in Canada), and a Co-Op, but we have outdoor spaces, some porches, driveways... With any apartment building, Trick Or Treating is difficult. I'm lucky that my humble neighborhood has less concrete and stairs, and more open areas. Lucky indeed though, I recognize it.
I work at an elementary school and the kids and school staff are allowed to dress up on Halloween day, however it's called Book Character Dress Up Day where everyone is encouraged to dress up as their favorite book character (although, really, this means you can dress up as anything because there are books about literally everything). Any costume is allowed as long as it's not too frightening (this means no masks or face paint) and no fake weapons as props. And classrooms usually celebrate with parties, but I think they're called fall celebration or something like that. I hate this war on Halloween in the schools, but I'm glad that it isn't completely stamped out. Teachers are afraid to mention Halloween to the kids because they know some families may not celebrate it (especially since my school has a lot of immigrant families). And I get it, but at the same time, I don't want any kid to miss out on these fun traditions. And I'm glad they're still allowed to have Halloween fun at schools. They also do Halloween coloring sheets and some teachers have spooky decorations in classrooms and the kindergarten teachers carve a pumpkin for a science lesson or something. They're just very careful not to call it Halloween.
@@GENXPERIENCE Thank you, sir. I'm so happy to have found your channel. I'm a 33-year-old millennial, not Gen X, but I still have a lot of nostalgia related to 80s media because I grew up watching a lot of movies and shows from the 80s and listening to 80s music. I have a lot of love for Gen X.
Elvira also has her own Halloween soundtrack that's worth listening to. I highly recommend my personal favorite of hers, Monster Rap. Criminally underrated and deserves to be listened more. 🧛♀️🐩
It's fine for bad neighborhoods and rural areas where everyone lives miles away from each other, but not every suburban church, school, fire, and police department needs to do it
Sorry to say Halloween has been fading for some years now. I still see a few houses decorated, but they grow fewer each year. Hardly any trick or treaters. I hate to see OUR halloween dying out, but it looks like that's just what is happening -- my Jack o' Lantern weeps.
Hi GenX.😊 When I was a little kid my mom always bought my one of those cheapy costume that came with just a dress and a mask, usually a witch or a pilgrim. About 10 yrs. Old I started dressing like a hippie every year. Ya know, holey Levis, T-shirt with Flower Power and peace signe drawn it. And mom allowed me to wear some eye make up, and when you’re 10, that’s pretty bitchen!!!😅😂🧡👻🎃
This is a great story and I love that you shared. You started just doin' your own, make your own, hand made costume, and suddenly you were living your best life. I love it. And love that you used BITCHIN
I remember that most of those Halloween "sound effect" records were scams. It always used to annoy me that you would get them, and it would turn out that instead of a whole record album of spooky, haunted house, sound effects, you would get an album that was maybe 4 tracks with haunted house sounds, and the rest would turn out to be dumb, goofy, annoying, Halloween themed songs played by bland, heartless, session musicians. They were almost always cash grabs where they couldn't bother using a foley artist to make a record of sounds and instead, they would just go through the archives and pull out Halloween songs that they hadn't published yet and just slap them in. And these records ALWAYS advertised themselves as "Sounds from haunted houses" or graveyards... etc... You would set up that fun display in front of your house, and make your house look like a spook house, put the record on with the record player speakers pointing out the window to make your house make cool haunted house sounds. And then you would get one track of sounds, followed by an entire album of some knockoff Groovie Ghoulies songs. MOST of the records were like this.
I agree with ALMOST all your saying about those albums. My problem was that the kind I had didn't have bad songs/cover songs, etc on them...but the stupidest stock sound effects that as the record went on no longer seemed to have anything to do with a haunted house. I mean even the Chinese Water Torture I demonstrate in my video is really strange and off base. It is like they start off pretty good as SFX for a haunted house then go into one insane and nonsensical out of the blue sound SFX after another and are no longer fun. So, yeah, they had some play value, but I would usually stop them and start them over.
yep us kids could make costumes just by grabbing things from around the house , we used imagination to come up with things nobody else was doing . my last year maybe 7 it was ace bandages and they kept unhooking those clips mom ended up using safety pins and grinned each time she poked me hahaha think she enjoyed it i was a terror at times but most kids were as we loved to play and would always use our moms best sheets or towels hahahaha
I loved when mom would jsut pin some fabric around your neck under something else to give you, I don't know, a better look...whatever. It was just putting it together and trying to be imaginative. Mom's stuff was fair game, lol...Love the story, thank you for sharing.
Trick or Treating is completely dead where I live. We haven't had kids doing for almost a decade around here. They all go to parties now. Parents around here are too damn scared to let their kids go out. As a matter of fact, I never see anyone over the age of 6 or 7 dressed up anymore around here either. When I was a young, the streets were full of kids of all ages, including teenagers. And the teenagers almost always had the best costumes, except for those lazy ones who wouldn't even make the effort and wouldn't dress up, and just go around expecting candy handouts. My grandmother also HATED teenage trick or treaters in all forms and would refuse to give them candy. Then again, she hated teenagers. I was the ONLY exception when I became a teenager. The rest were TROUBLEMAKERS in her eyes.
You said something I didn't really hit on, but only eluded to. We were Trick or Treating right up to 14ish (give or take) and in costume. NO one seemed to mind. It was when you wanted to stop. Yeah, I don't LOVE teens much either, lol, but it would awesome if they could be kids a little bit longer. However, parents over schedule the poor kids and that, plus all the screen time make them "Grow Up" too quickly.
Halloween was the best when I was young. It wasnt magic so much as care and planning. By our parents and adults in our life. Costume contests at the mall, the haunted fire house and police station or just the old mans walk throuth at the end of the block. The houses lined up with jack o lanterns carved and lit, trash bags ghosts in the trees, lawn pumpkins. That couple down the street that dress up, pretending to be decorations so they can scare the crap out of you. Dressing up for the parade. If we dont want the magic to disappear, we have to keep it alive. We are the ones who have to pass the torch, or jock o lantern.
YOu hit that on the head. We have to keep the magic alive. Parents must pass it down and not let them disappear. Passing the torch is a great way to put it. Thank you
ABOUT 10 YEARS BACK, I GOT THE IDEA OF BLASTING SCARY HALLOWEEN SOUNDS AS WE HAD NO HAUNT TO SPEAK OF. BEFORE THIS FIRST TIME, WE HAD BETWEEN 50-75 KIDS COMING FOR CANDY. ON THIS NIGHT, WE RAN OUT OF CANDY 20 MINUTES AFTER THOSE FIRST SOUNDS. NOW WE DO A NOT-SO-SMALL HAUNT, AND WE'RE THE ONLY ONES TO DO THIS IN OUR MONTREAL COMMUNITY. ALONG WITH SCARY SOUNDS, WE START AT 12:00PM. NOW WE GET NO FEWER THAN 500 KIDS EACH HALLOWEEN. IT'S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN THINK OF FOR DIY BUT FOR KIDDIES 5 AND UNDER, THEY DON'T SEEM TO CARE THEY WEREN'T BOUGHT AT SPIRIT HALLOWEEN. BY THE WAY, IT'S ALL FRIENDLY WITH NO GORE WHATSOEVER!!
I think much of the experience today is hyper local. For years if I got four trick or treaters that was a lot, and there are children in the neighbor. However last year I got 16 kids. Yet if I speak to people who live in other sections of town they will say they get 60 to 100 + kids. Also growing up, I and most of my friends went trick or treating after school and not at night. Of course in the 70s and 80s there where still many housewife's so there was someone home during the day, now that's rare.
True about someone being at home, but we still went at dusk...mom needed us to eat dinner first, lol. There were some kids out early, though. I do not have any in my neighborhood now, but there are kids. So I do believe they ship out for the evening. T hanks for the great insight and the watch.
@@GENXPERIENCE For us night time was homework time. That said my paternal grandparents and four aunts and uncles lived in neighboring towns, so when my father came home from work he would take to those relatives at night.
Do parents still take their kids trick or treating at the mall anymore? As a child my parents took us around the block. Then they took us to the strip mall a few blocks from us for trick or treating. My first Halloween in Haddonfield, NJ we ran out of candy. So my mother opened up my mother started handing out cans of soda that she bought from BJ's warehouse.
Okay, she was all about it, and deserved respect. Even with the small number of malls around, I never hear of that anymore. That is sad too, because what a great place for it.
Depends on where you live as far as Trick or Treating goes. Still very popular in the small midwestern town I live in with a population of 950. I think people in more urban areas maybe don't feel safe as they have gone from being a higher trust society to low trust in recent years. In western nations we don't have less of a cohesive culture as we did twenty years ago or even the last ten years. Higher crime rates coupled with mass immigration in pockets of the nation probably has alot to do with it. The community has to share in the nostalgia and recognition of the holiday to have door to door trick or treating and you have to feel like you trust the safety of your neighborhoods and the ability of the police to keep your streets safe. None of this is to get bring up politics and I really don't want to discuss that aspect, but you can't deny it comes down to safety and having a cohesive culture which shares in celebrating the holiday to pull something off like this in your neighborhood.
YOu must live in a very nice area. Kids might even be traveling to go there. They dont' do it in their own neighborhoods today. The parent leaves with the kids, so no one to give out candy. SAD
Dude you sound like one of those sad old “back in my day” men. Come on you’re better than that. Halloween is way better now, we get hundreds of kids in our neighborhood and the costumes are way more original and better quality. Still, I look forward to your next video
I appreciate you enjoying my shows, but I AM THAT GUY. Better than that? I think there is nothing wrong with waxing poetic on a time that was slower and filled us with things we still talk about today. See, regular neighborhoods (maybe poor like mine) don't dress up their houses like they used to. All the kids don't come out of their house and start walking up and down each street and knock and yell Trick or Treat. Many today, and I have friends who are moms, pack up kid and go placed to do it. There was also this other thing, up until the 2000s, teenagers were really into Trick or Treating. The age has seemed to get progressively lower. So I am a "BACK IN MY DAY" guy, I can't help it....there was nothing better than the 70s and 80s to me. And I get every generations is different, has their own traditions, make their own way, and loves their own childhood...so I get it. It isn't all bad, lol. I guess I wish kids could be kids more...or longer, like we were. I appreciate the comment nonetheless. I don't agree it is better now, but I do agree we can disagree, and it's all good. Thanks again.
Halloween in the 70’s as a kid was awesome. Entire neighborhood kids were out. Most of time I was a Hobo, old clothes and used Dad’s ashtray ashes (most adults smoked back then) spread it all over my face and hands to get that Hobo dirty look. Just before Halloween made sure to be home at 7pm to watch Charlie Brown Great Pumpkin Special, a must. It really felt like Halloween, no mention of Christmas only Halloween time.
I miss those days so much! Thanks for keeping those memories alive!
Another thing is most people don’t decorate as much nowadays with what I’m seeing it’s only an average of one or two houses per block
We bought our house last summer in the suburbs in a small Texas town. We bought Halloween candy not expecting that many kids, but we were clearly not prepared. We had TONS of Trick or Treaters. We prepared this year and bought 5 giant bags of candy.
That is awesome. Sadly, that is not every neighborhood like it once was. I do not know if you are in a new or affluent area, but I bet lots of kids travel to places like yours in the suburbs. We didn't live in those, just grids of streets and avenues crisscrossing in town. Here's to hoping Halloween stays fruitful for you.
@GENXPERIENCE we live in Sanger, a small town north of Dallas. Average folk, average if not a tad country town. We have kids outside playing basketball, riding bikes, and playing. We love it! We weren't expecting Trick or Treaters TBH, but they just kept coming. It was a lot of fun!
I think you really summed it up about the anticipation of Halloween; the commercials, TV specials, etc all made it so fun. Now Christmas decorations are already on store shelves. It really takes the spotlight off of Halloween in my opinion.
I like what you're saying. The rush of everything takes the magic of way from it all. I loved everything that reminded us of what was coming. Today we are too far ahead before we even get there. UGH
I dont think you can ignore the fact that the halloween stuff has already been on the shelf for two months by October 31
Same over here. At this rate we'll be getting Easter decorations around Christmass.
@@godofzombi so true.
They'll have all the Valentines Day stuff out by the Solstice...
My wife and I took our son trick-or-treating until he was 12 and decided he didn't want to go. Since then we have spent each year sitting on our front porch handing out candy. There are fewer and fewer kids every year but we will wait for them listening to Halloween music on Pandora. It's how we spend our wedding anniversary (yes, we got married on Halloween!) this year will be #26.
Okay, your family sounds awesome. Great anniversary, great way to spend the holiday, and your kids sound well adjusted. Nice job.
October and Halloween are very special to me as i turned 60 on the 14th which was this past Monday and Halloween has always been
a magical month for me. This was an awesome look at Halloween
in the 70's and 80's which lived through as a kid and as a teenager
have a great Halloween this year and thank you.👻👹🎃🇺🇲
Happy birthday! I'll be 53 tomorrow.
YOu are the comment I LOVE. Thank you so much for understanding this is all about memories, recollection, reminiscing, etc. Happy Birthday and thank you for sharing. Halloween was cherished then, I bet you have some great memories.
Happy 53rd to you, too.
The only holiday I ever cared a fig about. It's pretty much nonexistent now.. here, anyway.
Sad, but if anything could rise from the dead to haunt the world again, it would be Halloween!
It is still cool if teenagers or parents want to Trick-or-Treat, so long as they are participating in the holiday vibe.
An awesome costume always gets a treat.
I've been delighted to see some of the local parents, unrecognizable in costume, swinging by for Treats. Wine bottle swinging...
ALL OF THIS. AGREE with ALL OF THIS
I'm 62 and I dress in Ghostbuster gear Halloween every year...
This year I'm going to Florida and taking my nephews Trick or Treating.
Does attending parties count?
@@jesseincognito. Yes!
I went as a Serial Murderer in college. I wore a necklace that held a plastic cereal bowl, & for a Trick or Treat bag carried an empty Frosted Flakes box!!!
This was delightful and totally took me back! Some of my fondest memories from childhood are from Halloween. Shout out for the clips of Tim Curry in the Worst Witch too (🎶Anything can happen on Halloween!)🎶
Trick-or-treating and Halloween in general was great in the 60s and 70s.
Absolutely EXCITING
Man, having a bunch of kids just quietly standing on your porch without ringing the bell sounds very creepy. I'm not opening the door to Black Eyed Children or the Children of the corn.
When i was younger in the late 70s to early 90s, the streets were packed with kids trick or treating. Nowadays they are barren. Never see anyone. Our local firehalls and malls usually put on events for kids to go to. Its kinda sad. Im so glad i grew up in the time i did.
Me too. It is simply that, people have taken them off the streets. Neighborhoods just don't play a long, so there is no community...until you go to a community hall. We got the best memories.
I had Sounds to make You Shiver as a kid. Forgot about even owning it, until a good friend pulled out his copy last year while we were getting dressed for the night. What sweet nostalgia.
I had it too! Loved listening while decorating the house or dressing up to go trick or treating.
That is awesome. Glad that surprise happened. What a nice taste of memories.
I bought Sounds to Make You Shiver thru the mail from Famous Monsters Magazine🧛 Still have it today.
I feel like I got shorted as a kid as Mom never took us trick or treating. I grew up in a small town of about 800, but Mom was worried there'd be razor blades in the apples. She took us to the school which had a big all-ages Halloween party. Costume contests, games, cartoons. It was fun, but I never got to experience the door-to-door candy begging, I feel like I missed out. 🎃🎃🎃
I understood people would think about it, but its hard to imagine in such a small town. I mean I'm glad you still had some fun, but it is too bad you did not get to experience the freedom and walking around late with friends and just feeling exhilarated about it all.
Same mainly cuz I was shipped off to another country for 5 years and everything changed when I got back
Feels no different as a grown up working non stop
When my 30 year old daughter was in grade school they switched to a fall festival but they were allowed to dress up. I made her a bag of fall leaves. We used a huge black garbage bag, made the twist tie and leaves out of paper bags. What I didn't know is the school was picking best costume and she won. It was a pretty epic costume and all staff and teachers were laughing.
That is a great costume. It fits perfectly and you still made a costume...a costume THAT ONE. Thank you for sharing.
So creative and budget friendly!
Me and my husband are both gen X, we still dress up for Halloween and his amazing mother sews our outfits or we get separate pieces and build our own costumes. But when it comes to decorating we go crazy on the outdoor decorations, in fact our house is decorated goth style all year long anyways. 😅 And yes, each year, we're getting less if not any trick or treaters at all.
I am about to put on my Halloween Costume for our huge Halloween Party tomorrow...themed to MAD MAX of all things. Should be wild. We have evolved to NO trick or treaters here, which stinks because I would love to hear that doorbell a few time Thursday. Thanks for sharing.
fantastic video! I still listen to my Disney Haunted Mansion vinyl record every year for halloween
I do love listening to that one every year...and the one with Ronnie Howard on a date with a girl through the Haunted Mansion. Funny cute.
NO, not extinct, just ENDANGERED Traditions of Halloween Past. Enjoy the COZY Memories.
The rich street in my town gets blocked off and a bunch of the houses go all out while hundreds of people in costumes walk up and down the block. It's not endangered where I live
Maybe we need a visit from Sam
More like changing sadly but I’m glad I’ve had some great memories
GREAT episode! I used to LOVE Halloween. I don’t get into it as much as an adult. But when I was younger the costumes, the candy, getting to run around a subdivision at night with my friends…it was so fun!
I trick or treated every year from 4-18 (yes, even went my senior year of high school!) - my friend and I wore legit costumes and didn’t pull any tricks but at some doors we were told we were a little too old for this. I would just say you’re never too old, especially if no one ever comes to your door.
Most years my mom sewed all or part of my costume. I felt sorry for the kids who had to get those plastic mask costumes from the store.
I figured you’d definitely point out that teens often did pranks and general mayhem on Halloween, so much so that we have a band named after such an autumnal rite of passage: Smashing Pumpkins😢!
Thank you for watching and for the great comment. Sounds like you did it right as a kid...even up to 18. You are NEVER to young; probably why I still have a Halloween Party every year (this year themed to Mad Max). Also, I almost put some of the pranks and other behaviors in this video...but alas, I am so far from that behavior, I would haven't done it justice, lol.
I'm from a country where there's no Halloween. But I love the good traditions in the USA and I don't want them to disappear.
That is sweet of you. Oh the USA in the 70s and 80s and 90s....such a great time. I appreciate you enjoying what we did have, but sadly we destroy ourselves from within.
Same here. The closest I got as a kid was watching that grafield Halloween special and seeing the Devil's night fires on the news.
I remember doing costume parade.. When I went to school we would walk from room to room and after we would have a party. I remember going trick or treating and using a pillow case for my candy. To bad that the kids of today are missing out on what I remember. Ah me, I grew up in the 70's and I have good memories of those days.
The 70s and 80s were my jam and I loved Halloween then, too. Such great fun.
I wish I thought of using my pillowcase
I live in an ordinary, middle class community outside Los Angeles. The neighbor has one of those old-fashioned clickers that you would use in the grocery store to count up your tally... Each year for trick-or-treating we have seen upwards of 1,000 kids and a steady stream of trick or treaters for 3-4 hours. Apparently, some of these kids get bussed in or driven in a van from other communities because there are not 1,000 kids in my immediate neighborhood!!!
It costs me over $200 in candy but its worth it to me! 👻
You must have a great neighborhood as parents and families sound like they are bussing in. So where are they leaving? Their own neighborhoods. Leaving them dark, lonely, and void of any celebrations. There is no one there to give out candy, either, so no one decorates. But you, you are doing awesome that night. Thanks for sharing.
Great video. One thing that has definitely disappeared are homemade treats given out. I remember popcorn balls and Halloween cookies. Also trick or treating was a one and done event and now kids wear their costumes to go to several trunk or treats leading up to Halloween and then finally going out on the 31st.
100%. There is something to be said about multiple Halloween events...just as long as they can go around the neighborhood, right?
Exactly right! I remember the fun l had creating my own costumes watching Halloween cartoon specials and the excitement felt going house to house. Sadly this generation will not experience the magic of Halloween.
I am sure they think it is magic, but we had more fun (they just don't know it) and nothing was wrong with the way it was done. Anticipation for the big day was part of the excitement, but they don't have that as much.
Excellent Vlog, Am from Liverpool UK and I love Halloween. Here in the UK we celebrated Halloween but until the mid to late 80s different from USA. In the Late 80s it seemed to take off ie USA version dressing up, knocking on doors for Sweets”UK” or Candy”USA”.
When me and my wife bought our 1st house we decorated it outside and our son and daughter loved it. Local children knocking on the door what fun times but our Children went off to university we downgraded the house and moved about 6 years ago. Our 1st year I decorated the Garden and I think we got 2 or maybe 3 children knocking. Our neighbours frowned and comments were made about the Halloween decorations and how it was very American to we don’t do this in this area. We now have Grandchildren 7 and 3 and this year they are with us for Halloween and they are going to learn what Fun you can have at Halloween.Keep up the great work 🎃🎃👍👍
I absolutely love you...I've never seen your videos and WOW, what a rush down memory lane. That was halloween, that was the holidays. Born in Dec 1966. Thank you. Subscribed
YOU are TOO COOL. So sweet and these are the comments I live for. I just do this for fun and to make me NEVER forget. I am creating something that will keep all this alive, because I want it to...and because there are people like you who appreciate it. Please come back for more, and thank you.
WOW! im glad you made this vid cause actually 2 days ago i was wondering how Halloween is now (in the US) i just moved to a new city and i was walking around and i said to myself... Man Halloween is really dying!!!... this might be a good idea or a very dumb one but i always thought Halloween should be on the last Saturday night of October, a lot of ppl dont wanna give candy on a week night, they have a million things to do but on weekends they would be more incline to celebrate this.... (my favorite) holiday!!.... and i cant believe kids dont say TRICK OR TREAT anymore, its one thing i thought it suck back in the day, in french we have nothing cool to say at the door.
Thanks for writing. Believe me, it was incredible, it was huge, it was a shared experience by all. It has just changed over time with OVERPROTECTIVE Parents and people no longer wanting to be part of a community. A lot has driven that neighborly feeling apart. And I am not kidding, kids don't say Trick or Treat. I might get the doorbell, but when I open, blank stares. Should be yelling at me, lol. THanks for watching.
It is so sad that kids don't get the excitement of going trick or treating, it used to be so fun in rural WV. I'm o glad I was a kid in the 70's yes, that means I'm old now, but I wouldn't change a thing.
I look at kids today and my heart literally breaks for them. Trunk or treat?? Community halls?? Get outta here what fun is that??? I remember so many people being out that it was just so cool. Now, we have not had a single trick-or-treater in over 5 years.
Sad kids and teens staring at phones all day and night. Yeah, its great for us old folks, but man, when I was a kid the fun was being with my pals and once into young adulthood, going to nightclubs and chasing the ladies...nothing better. I feel so, so sad for kids, teens and young adults today they seem so disaffected, and distant and seem to have no fire or empathy for anyone or anything. Sad.
Distant. It is so sad just how FAR they all seem. I hope this changes...for their sake.
Thank YOU for pointing out how it's all or nothing these days! I'd like to lean back on simple window decor and stretch spider webs this year but our neighbors have all gone OTP (we're all in an apartment complex on the street facing side). The pressure is stressing me out lol
We always had it in the daytime when I was a kid, they moved it to evening in the late 90s and without streetlights or sidewalks in most of the subdivisions there are hardly any trick or treaters after the first hour.
It happened in the daytime before the 90s? That is wild. Never head of that. I remember young kids might start at 500pm or so, but it was during the night where I was from. Even so, most neighbors don't bother and it has really made Trick or Treating extinct. Kids and Free Play is sadly disappearing.
That’s how trick or treating is meant to be
The freedom we had as kids in the 70's. As long as Mom knew who I was going Trick or Treatin with, she'd say, "stay in the neighborhood and be back by 9!" Wouldn't dream of letting my girls go by themselves! We'd stay out till our pillow cases were full! Trully the last of the Trick-Or-Treaters!
You got that right. It is funny how you do know how it was, remember it well, but can't do it with your own. no judge, just interesting. Seriously, thank you for writing and Happy Halloween.
In the 60s a pillowcase was standard equipment and if you didn't come home with 4 or 5 pounds of candy you weren't trying 😊
I remember back in the 80s we used to have costume contest in school .
It was fun, and no one got bent out of shape they didn't win. There was some real creativity.
You've been on a roll with your Halloween videos,Victor! My all-time favorite holiday & this and the other recent videos bring back so many joyous memories. Good stuff as alway!!
Thanks so much. I really appreciate your comment and so happy you are enjoying the videos. Halloween is so magical and I want us to remember what it was like.
As a Gen X and have seen how much MORE candy is given at Trick or Trunk I would of chose THAT over door to door getting little pieces of candy and somtimes apples you had to throw away, cuz ya know razor blades! lol
I get one small group of trick or treaters at our door at sundown, but that's it. I lice in an apartment complex with 200 apartments.
I would include early 90s.
My mom sewn a few costumes which included clown and devil. Put together was Frankenstein monster and Wolfman. Lol.
I had a few of those thick paper decorations.
Introduced my daughter to the Charlie Brown Halloween special and it was probably the first time I seen her put the smart device down to watch what I want to show her. Lol.
Vinyl and tapes have became extinct.
I love how your daughter put down the smart device. Although yes, this does go into the 90s, I tend to leave it out as we GENXERS cross over with the Millennials there. But you are absolutely right. Thank you for writing. The Vinyl Spooky Albums, you can just listen on RUclips.
@@tecpaocelotl Vinyl isn’t extinct! There are lots of people who collect vinyl and newer artists even put out their albums on vinyl just for those who love the unique sound of a record! And just a few days ago I saw blank cassette tapes being sold on Amazon! I think they were newly made. There are now tons of stereo devices that will play cassette tapes over your Bluetooth speakers! The younger folks are embracing our retro tech and bringing some of it back into production!
Some houses would play the spooky Halloween record. You know the one I'm talking about.
We’re one of those houses that goes all out crazy with the decor and animatronics because no one does anything at all here beyond a blow up or a bale of hay with a pumpkin on it. (Which is better than nothing!) Ours ended up being a necessity because we’re clear at the back of town where no one ever trick-or-treated and never did. In order to get anybody back here we had to go big. To grow our numbers, we started offering food and drinks beyond the typical treat baggies and juice boxes. I had to put out a sign on the main road to get people to come back here. It took a few years, but we now get hundreds of people back here. So while it is excessive and it is expensive, I can say one thing for it. Suddenly, some of the people on our street and other places around town have started decorating at least somewhat when they never did before. My grandparents owned my house and we bought it when they downsized. So I know how things have gone here my whole life. So if it did nothing else for the town, it got people decorating again (or for the first time ever in many cases). There’s another guy a few streets over who only ever did Christmas displays, and suddenly his yard is jam packed with Halloween stuff now too. I can count on one hand the number of people who put anything at ALL out here in the entire town. Ever since I was little, and then when taking my own kids around, and now suddenly people are starting to care about decorating for it after we did. And it does sort of feel like it’s an unspoken competition against us. But the joke is on anyone who thinks that, if that is the case-because I’m absolutely THRILLED that we got this ball rolling and the town took notice and joined in. A neighbor down the streets sort of grumpily said that they had just bought an empty lot across from us to do a big garden on and they planned to “challenge” us in the future with competing Halloween decor. They had an attitude about it, and the look on their faces wasn’t very pleasant. I just laughed and said “good! Glad to hear it-because the more, the merrier. I’m nothing but happy when people put out decor because it’s so much fun to look at what everyone does with their own displays and the kids in town just love it so much. I pointed at their new piece of land and said “the school bus reroutes past our house even though there are no kids who live down here anymore. I’m sure the kids would really love it if there was even more fun cool stuff to look at over there! I look forward to seeing what you do with it.” That seemed to sort of deflated them (they left shortly afterwards) and sadly they never did anything over there for a few years now. They garden but nothing else. I don’t get that, I don’t know if they were looking to upset me and when they didn’t get the expected reaction they just gave up. Saddens me because it’s really true that the kids on the bus would have been thrilled by that. I know when they go by my house they have their faces plastered against the windows. It would have been nice if the kids on the other side of the bus had stuff to look at on their side as well. A different neighbor two doors down put out a few things and said she wasn’t going to bother doing more because she can’t compete with what we do. I told her that she was very wrong because my daughter drove past her house and noticed her little display immediately and called me squealing in delight that she had put one up. She was so happy about it and it was really cute! I told her that and she grinned widely. I said “it’s not about the size at all. It’s about the heart behind it, that you even cared to do anything for the kids. They NOTICE that, and they love it. Some of my best childhood memories were of simple little old school displays no matter how small-I was just happy that someone did ANYTHING when so few people did. Bonus points if they wore a costume to hand out candy. It was exciting and fun. I really appreciated that extra effort on their part even as a child. That sticks with you, you know?” She said she’ll keep doing it every year that she can after hearing that. I said that I’d send the kids down her way after they collected their candy from us.
This is a great story, and I thank you for sharing it. So much detail and exactly what I am looking for. These shows are just keeping it alive...like you and your family. I love that you go all out, that means others don't pick up a finger...and no matter how little they should...just to share in the fun. You are a ROADSIDE Attraction, and I would have loved it. Thank you and keep up the spirit.
I agree these days things have certainly changed!
And not ALWAYS For the better. Too fast, too.
My mom and dad took my brother and I around to several neighborhoods every year. Afterwards, my mom would carefully inspect our candy haul, and confiscated every single Snickers bar! We learned to hide them before she got to them lol! I miss those days. We live in the country now, and we have ZERO trick or treaters.
HA, you're mother was trying to be slick. T hose were some favorites of mine. Thanks for sharing some memories, they are similar to mine. We walked and walked and walked until just too late for anyone to give anything out. It was so fun to be out there. Felt so wild. I see no one. I know they are in SPECIFIC neighborhoods, but sad they don't stick around their own.
Trick or Treating is as dead around here as kids being allowed to go out and play on their own is. Things are so bad here that if a kid is alone, playing, at all, the police get called and the parents sternly talked to. 100% helicoper parent supervision is expected around here and is enforeced with an iron hand. And it's BAD. Remember when kids used to walk home from school or get dropped off at a bus stop and walk home from there? Those days are GONE where I live. Here, the parents all either pick their kids up from school, or the busses drop the kids off at their doorsteps, or in spots where there IS a bus stop, the parents all park their cars and wait for the kids there. The local bus stops are always crowded with parent's cars here. Nowadays, parents are terrified to let kids out of their sight or let them do their own thing! I've seen such a lack of play and creativity in kids nowadays on a level that I've never seen before.
The whole waiting in long ass lines to pick up kids instead of them walking or riding their bike is BANANAS to me. It is safer now, and they still just can't do it. Agreed.
I remember fondly sometime around 5-7th grade, I bought a kit to put facial and hand hair on with spirit gum and went as a werewolf. Way better than the tongue-cutter masks.
Oh, see now that would have just looked cool to any of your friends. NICE
A decade ago, I lived in an apartment building in a neighborhood consisting of other apartment buildings. There were no Trick or Treaters on Hallowe'en, for a few reasons.
First, most of the buildings had security doors, and there were no front yards to just walk up to.
Second, almost all of my neighbors were of a particular religion, and they frowned on the Hallowe'en "holiday". Even our building supervisor would remove pumpkins and any decorations from outside stairs, or shared spaces, so as not to "offend" anyone.
Also, crime was common at night, outdoors, regardless of the season.
Then I moved to the neighborhood I live in now, for the past ten years. It's wonderful!
We have front yard spaces, the neighbors are tolerant of this tradition, and most of us join in with decorations, from minimal, to totally over-the-top!
My daughter, now a young adult, is the mastermind of our Hallowe'en set up, and we definitely have one of the more "over-the-top" houses on the street. Her partner and I do the grunt work, and she is the planner and the brains (as it should be) 🙂
So Hallowe'en is far from extinct in my neighborhood. Endangered? Perhaps.
We still see lots and lots of Trick-or-Treaters coming for candy, but many others (older, almost teens) are unfamiliar with the tradition, but they tag along just looking for something free, and they don't attempt to wear costumes of any sort. We discourage them. Join in or opt out.
In the local schools, Hallowe'en is more or less forbidden, because it's not "inclusive" of everyone. But in the neighborhoods, outside of the schools, most kids and parents are still keeping it alive. For now...
Great video, thanks! 🙂
Great comment and thanks for sharing. YOu got lucky, for sure. It is only certain neighborhoods now. We were not in an affluent neighborhood growing up, and yet everyone was involved. So happy you have some great experiences now with Trick or Treaters. I miss when teens really got into it...yeah, don't try, don't get candy, lol. Thanks again for watching and commenting.
@@GENXPERIENCE I know I've been a pest in the past about this topic (your action figure videos) but did you ever view that Woman's Day Space Station article from the late 70s?
I posted the links on your other article, and the keywords, in case the links didn't work.
I'd love to read your take on that! 🙂
@@GENXPERIENCE I agree. My neighbourhood is not posh, mostly "town houses" (connected units, in Canada), and a Co-Op, but we have outdoor spaces, some porches, driveways...
With any apartment building, Trick Or Treating is difficult. I'm lucky that my humble neighborhood has less concrete and stairs, and more open areas.
Lucky indeed though, I recognize it.
I don't like trunk or treat. It's conditioning kids that strangers have candy in their vehicles and it's ok to step into the windowless white van.
Also, TRUNK Or Treat just sounds kinda lame.
I work at an elementary school and the kids and school staff are allowed to dress up on Halloween day, however it's called Book Character Dress Up Day where everyone is encouraged to dress up as their favorite book character (although, really, this means you can dress up as anything because there are books about literally everything). Any costume is allowed as long as it's not too frightening (this means no masks or face paint) and no fake weapons as props. And classrooms usually celebrate with parties, but I think they're called fall celebration or something like that. I hate this war on Halloween in the schools, but I'm glad that it isn't completely stamped out. Teachers are afraid to mention Halloween to the kids because they know some families may not celebrate it (especially since my school has a lot of immigrant families). And I get it, but at the same time, I don't want any kid to miss out on these fun traditions. And I'm glad they're still allowed to have Halloween fun at schools. They also do Halloween coloring sheets and some teachers have spooky decorations in classrooms and the kindergarten teachers carve a pumpkin for a science lesson or something. They're just very careful not to call it Halloween.
Thanks for the share...sounds like they are getting around it just fine. Happy Halloween.
@@GENXPERIENCE Thank you, sir. I'm so happy to have found your channel. I'm a 33-year-old millennial, not Gen X, but I still have a lot of nostalgia related to 80s media because I grew up watching a lot of movies and shows from the 80s and listening to 80s music. I have a lot of love for Gen X.
Elvira also has her own Halloween soundtrack that's worth listening to. I highly recommend my personal favorite of hers, Monster Rap. Criminally underrated and deserves to be listened more. 🧛♀️🐩
I am a fan of some of her music. But I will stop and listen to that now, as I really know Here Comes the Bride best. I might need to know this rap.
Trunk r Treat is ruining Halloween
I will agree that many of these scheduled events have put a NAIL IN THE COFFIN
It's fine for bad neighborhoods and rural areas where everyone lives miles away from each other, but not every suburban church, school, fire, and police department needs to do it
It’s been over 20 years since the trick-or-treater has been to my door. Really sad.
Ooooh, that sucks. But sounds like my place.
Sorry to say Halloween has been fading for some years now. I still see a few houses decorated, but they grow fewer each year. Hardly any trick or treaters. I hate to see OUR halloween dying out, but it looks like that's just what is happening -- my Jack o' Lantern weeps.
Hi GenX.😊 When I was a little kid my mom always bought my one of those cheapy costume that came with just a dress and a mask, usually a witch or a pilgrim. About 10 yrs. Old I started dressing like a hippie every year. Ya know, holey Levis, T-shirt with Flower Power and peace signe drawn it. And mom allowed me to wear some eye make up, and when you’re 10, that’s pretty bitchen!!!😅😂🧡👻🎃
This is a great story and I love that you shared. You started just doin' your own, make your own, hand made costume, and suddenly you were living your best life. I love it. And love that you used BITCHIN
@@GENXPERIENCE 🤣
I remember that most of those Halloween "sound effect" records were scams. It always used to annoy me that you would get them, and it would turn out that instead of a whole record album of spooky, haunted house, sound effects, you would get an album that was maybe 4 tracks with haunted house sounds, and the rest would turn out to be dumb, goofy, annoying, Halloween themed songs played by bland, heartless, session musicians. They were almost always cash grabs where they couldn't bother using a foley artist to make a record of sounds and instead, they would just go through the archives and pull out Halloween songs that they hadn't published yet and just slap them in. And these records ALWAYS advertised themselves as "Sounds from haunted houses" or graveyards... etc... You would set up that fun display in front of your house, and make your house look like a spook house, put the record on with the record player speakers pointing out the window to make your house make cool haunted house sounds. And then you would get one track of sounds, followed by an entire album of some knockoff Groovie Ghoulies songs. MOST of the records were like this.
I agree with ALMOST all your saying about those albums. My problem was that the kind I had didn't have bad songs/cover songs, etc on them...but the stupidest stock sound effects that as the record went on no longer seemed to have anything to do with a haunted house. I mean even the Chinese Water Torture I demonstrate in my video is really strange and off base. It is like they start off pretty good as SFX for a haunted house then go into one insane and nonsensical out of the blue sound SFX after another and are no longer fun. So, yeah, they had some play value, but I would usually stop them and start them over.
Maybe I should I just check out local Halloween events around town
Absolutely. We went to local Haunt this week. It was awesome. Just probably not ON Halloween, lol
yep us kids could make costumes just by grabbing things from around the house , we used imagination to come up with things nobody else was doing . my last year maybe 7 it was ace bandages and they kept unhooking those clips mom ended up using safety pins and grinned each time she poked me hahaha think she enjoyed it i was a terror at times but most kids were as we loved to play and would always use our moms best sheets or towels hahahaha
I loved when mom would jsut pin some fabric around your neck under something else to give you, I don't know, a better look...whatever. It was just putting it together and trying to be imaginative. Mom's stuff was fair game, lol...Love the story, thank you for sharing.
@@GENXPERIENCE yep mom could always make things better but she let me figure things out had to learn to sew by hand and iron that way to hahaha
Hobo ,ghost or pirate .or a witch or skeleton which is what most people dressed as for homemade.
Trick or Treating is completely dead where I live. We haven't had kids doing for almost a decade around here. They all go to parties now. Parents around here are too damn scared to let their kids go out. As a matter of fact, I never see anyone over the age of 6 or 7 dressed up anymore around here either. When I was a young, the streets were full of kids of all ages, including teenagers. And the teenagers almost always had the best costumes, except for those lazy ones who wouldn't even make the effort and wouldn't dress up, and just go around expecting candy handouts. My grandmother also HATED teenage trick or treaters in all forms and would refuse to give them candy. Then again, she hated teenagers. I was the ONLY exception when I became a teenager. The rest were TROUBLEMAKERS in her eyes.
You said something I didn't really hit on, but only eluded to. We were Trick or Treating right up to 14ish (give or take) and in costume. NO one seemed to mind. It was when you wanted to stop. Yeah, I don't LOVE teens much either, lol, but it would awesome if they could be kids a little bit longer. However, parents over schedule the poor kids and that, plus all the screen time make them "Grow Up" too quickly.
Halloween was the best when I was young. It wasnt magic so much as care and planning. By our parents and adults in our life. Costume contests at the mall, the haunted fire house and police station or just the old mans walk throuth at the end of the block. The houses lined up with jack o lanterns carved and lit, trash bags ghosts in the trees, lawn pumpkins. That couple down the street that dress up, pretending to be decorations so they can scare the crap out of you. Dressing up for the parade. If we dont want the magic to disappear, we have to keep it alive. We are the ones who have to pass the torch, or jock o lantern.
YOu hit that on the head. We have to keep the magic alive. Parents must pass it down and not let them disappear. Passing the torch is a great way to put it. Thank you
ABOUT 10 YEARS BACK, I GOT THE IDEA OF BLASTING SCARY HALLOWEEN SOUNDS AS WE HAD NO HAUNT TO SPEAK OF. BEFORE THIS FIRST TIME, WE HAD BETWEEN 50-75 KIDS COMING FOR CANDY. ON THIS NIGHT, WE RAN OUT OF CANDY 20 MINUTES AFTER THOSE FIRST SOUNDS. NOW WE DO A NOT-SO-SMALL HAUNT, AND WE'RE THE ONLY ONES TO DO THIS IN OUR MONTREAL COMMUNITY. ALONG WITH SCARY SOUNDS, WE START AT 12:00PM. NOW WE GET NO FEWER THAN 500 KIDS EACH HALLOWEEN. IT'S AMAZING WHAT YOU CAN THINK OF FOR DIY BUT FOR KIDDIES 5 AND UNDER, THEY DON'T SEEM TO CARE THEY WEREN'T BOUGHT AT SPIRIT HALLOWEEN. BY THE WAY, IT'S ALL FRIENDLY WITH NO GORE WHATSOEVER!!
Way to go. That works and you're keeping it alive.
I think much of the experience today is hyper local. For years if I got four trick or treaters that was a lot, and there are children in the neighbor. However last year I got 16 kids. Yet if I speak to people who live in other sections of town they will say they get 60 to 100 + kids. Also growing up, I and most of my friends went trick or treating after school and not at night. Of course in the 70s and 80s there where still many housewife's so there was someone home during the day, now that's rare.
True about someone being at home, but we still went at dusk...mom needed us to eat dinner first, lol. There were some kids out early, though. I do not have any in my neighborhood now, but there are kids. So I do believe they ship out for the evening. T hanks for the great insight and the watch.
@@GENXPERIENCE For us night time was homework time. That said my paternal grandparents and four aunts and uncles lived in neighboring towns, so when my father came home from work he would take to those relatives at night.
trunk or treats ruined trick or treating
Not disagreeing
Do parents still take their kids trick or treating at the mall anymore?
As a child my parents took us around the block. Then they took us to the strip mall a few blocks from us for trick or treating.
My first Halloween in Haddonfield, NJ we ran out of candy. So my mother opened up my mother started handing out cans of soda that she bought from BJ's warehouse.
Okay, she was all about it, and deserved respect. Even with the small number of malls around, I never hear of that anymore. That is sad too, because what a great place for it.
@@GENXPERIENCE I worked at the Cherry Hill mall where it was common for trick or treating up until Nordstrom moved in.
Kenny and Co.
🎃🎃🎃
Depends on where you live as far as Trick or Treating goes. Still very popular in the small midwestern town I live in with a population of 950.
I think people in more urban areas maybe don't feel safe as they have gone from being a higher trust society to low trust in recent years.
In western nations we don't have less of a cohesive culture as we did twenty years ago or even the last ten years. Higher crime rates coupled with mass immigration in pockets of the nation probably has alot to do with it. The community has to share in the nostalgia and recognition of the holiday to have door to door trick or treating and you have to feel like you trust the safety of your neighborhoods and the ability of the police to keep your streets safe.
None of this is to get bring up politics and I really don't want to discuss that aspect, but you can't deny it comes down to safety and having a cohesive culture which shares in celebrating the holiday to pull something off like this in your neighborhood.
not to brag but i had 122 kids last year hoping more this year
YOu must live in a very nice area. Kids might even be traveling to go there. They dont' do it in their own neighborhoods today. The parent leaves with the kids, so no one to give out candy. SAD
@@GENXPERIENCE I live behind a very prestigious elementary school. People move to this neighborhood so the kids can do there.
Yup I mad mayine
WORD.
LOVE
Big deal.
Ahhhhh, imagine having to come all this way to make a negative comment. That probably comes easy to you. You must be a really big deal...to somebody.
Today, no matter what costume you choose, someone will be offended.
Sad but true. No one was trying hurt anybody.
@@GENXPERIENCE And sometimes they aren't actually offended. They just see an opportunity for some virtue signaling points.
Dude you sound like one of those sad old “back in my day” men. Come on you’re better than that.
Halloween is way better now, we get hundreds of kids in our neighborhood and the costumes are way more original and better quality.
Still, I look forward to your next video
I appreciate you enjoying my shows, but I AM THAT GUY. Better than that? I think there is nothing wrong with waxing poetic on a time that was slower and filled us with things we still talk about today. See, regular neighborhoods (maybe poor like mine) don't dress up their houses like they used to. All the kids don't come out of their house and start walking up and down each street and knock and yell Trick or Treat. Many today, and I have friends who are moms, pack up kid and go placed to do it. There was also this other thing, up until the 2000s, teenagers were really into Trick or Treating. The age has seemed to get progressively lower. So I am a "BACK IN MY DAY" guy, I can't help it....there was nothing better than the 70s and 80s to me. And I get every generations is different, has their own traditions, make their own way, and loves their own childhood...so I get it. It isn't all bad, lol. I guess I wish kids could be kids more...or longer, like we were. I appreciate the comment nonetheless. I don't agree it is better now, but I do agree we can disagree, and it's all good. Thanks again.