Halloween: Frugal Costumes Bring in Record Hauls

Posted on | October 31, 2008 |

I will say right now, I’m not a big fan of Halloween. I hate the commercialism. I’m not big on the scary stuff or the gore. I don’t like the concentration on candy or kids walking around after dark. And I despise the very concept of paying hard-earned dollars on incredibly tacky and over-commercialized store-bought costumes. If that makes me a grouch or a party-pooper, then so be it. Bah Humbug, I say.

But no matter how I feel about Halloween; my kids enjoy the holiday. The Son in particular. In fact, it is The Son who creates the little bit of enjoyment I derive from the holiday.

The Son is all about the candy and several years ago he figured out how to maximize his take. The key, he says, is to appeal to the adults handing out the candy. And the best way to appeal to adults is to appeal to their sense of humor. If anyone knows how to appeal to an adult’s sense of humor, The Son does.

Two years ago, The Son decided to dress as the scariest thing he could think of — a phone bill (pictured above). Adults loved his costume and rewarded him with extra handfuls of candy. They’d take one look at The Son and hoot and hollar and call all the other adults in the house to come see it. Anyway, The Son ate it up.

Last year, feeling a little insecure about whether or not he was too old to Trick or Treat and having procrastinated until the very last minute, he grabbed a piece of cardboard, a large Sharpie, and wrote “This is a costume.” Again, the adults loved it and rewarded him with extra servings of sugar.

This year The Son (now 14) continued his tradition of appealing to adults. He expanded on last year’s cardboard-sign theme and, to me, demonstrated a slightly higher degree of sophistication. He also took in a record haul. Would you believe he came home with 13.5 pounds of candy!?!

Funny thing is, a couple of years ago I would have freaked at the idea of him having that much candy. But he’s older and I’m wiser and I understand now that, for him, it’s the game. The challenge. The positive feedback. Oh, sure, he’ll eat some, maybe even a large portion of the candy over the next several months. I’ll take steps to limit how much he eats per day keeping in mind that he’s likely to sneak a piece or two now and then.

However, how much candy he consumes is not the point here. The point is that The Son took in a record haul of candy because he designed a frugal and home-made costume that appealed to his audience. He said one fellow loved his sign so much that he upended his entire bowl of candy into The Son’s bag. For The Son, a quirky and painfully shy adolescent, Halloween represents the lion’s share of the extra-familial positive feedback he’ll receive all year.

I wasn’t home for any of this evening’s events (the handing out of candy at home by The Husband or the collecting of candy by The Son) — as I was busy driving a carload of kids in from the boondocks of our fine state. When I finally returned home, this is what greeted me just inside the front door. The Son was truly in rare form this year. I wonder what he’ll use as inspiration next year since we won’t have the election as a source of material?