Kansas Snapshots by Gloria Freeland - November 1, 2024

Halloween hoopla

A giant skeleton rises up from beneath the earth near a home. A spider 10-feet across crawls up a web that reaches from the ground to the top of the roof. Equally-large jack-o-lanterns, witches, and other creatures fill nearby yards. Twinkling orange and purple lights decorate decks and porches, creating an other-worldly mood.

While these scenes might seem like something from an elaborate scary-movie set, they're just some of the Halloween decorations I've recently seen.

These large inflatable figures began popping up - pun intended - a few years ago. Online, prices ranged from $38 for a seven-foot tree with a ghost, owl, and cat, to $3,300 for a 40-foot pumpkin! Wow! I remember when I thought we were doing our part putting carved pumpkins on our porch with candles inside - candles that went out with the first breeze. Folks are now seriously "into" the ghoulish holiday!

Roller coasters, Ferris wheels, and creepy movies are a testament to the fact that we enjoy being scared, and Halloween is ideal for indulging this human quirk. The current trend of including giant figures adds the element of size.

And the holiday isn't just for kids. It's super popular with business folks too. The National Retail Federation's annual survey said total Halloween spending this year will reach $11.6 billion - about $40 for every man, woman, and child. That's $3.8 billion for decorations, $3.8 billion for costumes, $3.5 billion for candy, and $.5 billion for greeting cards. Nearly half of those surveyed started shopping before October because they look forward to the fall season, want to avoid the stress of last-minute shopping, just enjoy Halloween, or some combination of all three.

Daughters Mariya and Katie both like the holiday. Mariya watches a Halloween-themed movie every night during the month, and she spends hours designing her costume. She and wife Miriam were M&Ms - get it? - one year. Another, Mariya was the alien abductee seen on the "Saturday Night Live" TV show, while Miriam was Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This year, their baby Diana will join in the fun as a Star Wars Ewok.

In contrast, when husband Art was small, he focused on the "loot" to be harvested. Loving walking and candy, trick-or-treating seemed designed to meet his personal needs. With one of his mother's sturdy brown grocery sacks in hand, he headed out after supper on a route based on his experience from previous years' successes and failures. One loop past his home was essential so he could "off-load" his accumulated treasures before going out again. He said a full bag tended to discourage people's generosity.

One year, I was traveling for work, so Art took 5-year-old Mariya on her candy-gathering jaunt. The weather was unusually cold, with snow beginning around noon. By nightfall, three inches of slush covered everything. Art was half hoping she'd bail on the whole idea, but not so. Art kept tabs on her from the car, fully expecting she'd say she was done every time she returned shivering. But to his surprise, once warmed, she'd ask for "one more block."

When they finally left, she had quite a haul. But Art was dumbstruck years later when she referred to the night and said he was the one who kept pushing her to go "one more block!"

As a youngster, I loved chocolate candy, but was thrilled to receive a caramel apple or a homemade popcorn ball stuck together with Karo syrup. Art says whenever he sees a popcorn ball, he thinks of his dad handing them out to trick-or-treaters, while his mom was in the kitchen making them. "It suited her frugal nature," he added. "She probably thought they were cheaper than buying candy."

I've never been one to make special food for Halloween, but friend Deb makes holiday-themed cookies for neighbors and relatives. This year, her specialty was "witch fingers," made from green-colored shortbread with almonds for fingernails.

But door-to-door trick-or-treating doesn't seem to me to be as popular as it once was. Its decline seems to be matched by an explosion of "haunted houses." "Perdition Pines" was one that caught my eye, advertised on a roadside sign in rural Wisconsin. Another was featured on a TV news segment as being hosted by the local police department.

These reminded me of when 11-year-old Mariya and her friends turned our garage into a spook house. They created a figure out of a shirt and jeans, put a monster mask on it, and propped Art's chain saw in its arms. They strung fake cobwebs and spiders from one corner to the other and set up a tape recorder to play spooky sounds. When complete, they took Katie, then 4, and her little friends through it. I was a bit concerned, expecting them to be scared silly. Instead, they wanted to go through repeatedly!

My outdoor decorating this year was limited to a pumpkin and a couple of gourds. These were procured during a visit to a local market, a tradition I started when the girls were small. While Katie couldn't join in this year, Mariya, Miriam and granddaughter Diana did.

My efforts indoors were modest as well - mainly a few items the girls made when they were little. I hung the life-sized skeleton Mariya fashioned from paper plates on the inside of our front door. It startles me every time I pass by - and that makes me laugh. I also get a kick out of Katie's Q-tips skeleton on black construction paper. The papier-mâché witch with its black steel-wool hair mom made when I was small sits on our living room ledge.

As we get older, there is a tendency to feel "our way" or "our time" was the best. But I enjoy everything from yesteryear's simple trick-or-treating to today's "go-big" displays. All the Halloween hoopla makes me smile.