Trunk or Treat 2013

I grew up in a neighborhood that was considered THE trick-or-treating destination for the city.  Minivans dropped off "outsiders" to collect candy on our turf.  If you were on candy distribution duty, there was no point going back inside in between gangs of children, you just stayed on the porch with the bucket in hand for the eager hordes.  My brother and I would arm ourselves with pillowcases instead of little treat buckets, and J would insist on drawing up our ToT route to maximize efficiency.  When I got too old to trick or treat, I happily took over the candy hand-out and insisted on playing our spooky sounds cassette tape on full blast during the festivities.  I've probably blogged about this before, but Halloween holds many of my favorite childhood memories, so when the scent of wet leaves and cut pumpkins fill the October air, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I was so entrenched in traditional trick or treating culture as a child that I had no idea that alternate ToTs existed.  I first heard of Trunk or Treat when we lived in WA, but experienced my first one after we moved back to the Midwest.  Although I found myself my own little trick-or-treating neighborhood paradise and we are once again living in a hotspot for candy cravers, we love that Trunk or Treating gives us an excuse to use the costumes an extra time, to celebrate the holiday with our close friends, and to pass out unconventional treats.  If you're not familiar with the custom, you invite friends to an empty parking lot, open your trunks (I don't decorate mine because I'm a slob that way, but some families create adorable festive decorations, and set up stations for the kiddos.  This year, we gave out glow rings, stickers, and chocolates.  Our kids were treated to an apple dipping station, s'mores kits, homemade cookies, adorable candy corn-stuffed tulle pumpkins, vampire teeth, and more by our creative and generous friends.  Then we pot-lucked a lunch for those who braved the chilly wet day, and wiped down the damp playground with beach towels so the kids could run off the sugar.  This was my first year co-hosting the event, and I was pleasantly surprised at how smoothly it went and encouraged by my friends' stalwart commitment to family fun in the less-than-perfect weather.  

 A skeptical penguin surveys the scene from the safety of the stroller....

...but is soon won over by the prospect of collecting treats.

 "Dis one!  Wit a spoon!"

 A certain flower fairy thinks this would be a whole lot more fun if we lived in say, FL.  But she approved of her first m&m's.

His majesty peruses an assortment of cereal treats!