Growing up in Brooklyn during the 80's, we were not allowed to trick-or-treat. I grew up in the old Prospect Heights. There were two major reasons that we could not go trick-or-treating; danger and DANGER.
1. There was always the looming stories of tainted candy and treats. I remember hearing about razor blades in apples the most.
2. The other reason was that it was a day of menace. Kids would actually throw rocks after they ran out of eggs to throw. Kids also filled socks with flour and would beat people with them.
My parents actually got to the point where they allowed us to stay home from school because of the danger.
I may have been to two Halloween parties as a child.
I remember only one costume from my childhood. I wore a plastic mask of I don't know what that filled up with so much condensation from my breathing that it was unbearable to breath in.
One year my sibling and cousins went to a party where they had bobbing for apples. Yuck, who came up with that cesspool of fun. We all insisted that we should go first and we did. We firmly believed that since we were family we had the same germs. Kids.
So as a kids I didn't look forward to it. Once autumn hit I would look forward to extended family Thanksgivings and toy based Christmas'.
Then my baby sisters came along. I was so giddy with love for them. They are 18 and 20 years younger than me and I did a great deal of care-giving.
I wanted to give them great Halloween memories so I started throwing them annual Halloween parties. I would invite their classmates and members of our family. It was so cute to see all of the kids in their costumes. I would have games and prizes. There was also candy, cakes and food. Then my son came along and the parties continued until he was three. My daughter who was born later never got a chance to enjoy these parties. Shhh. Don't tell her.
Well, at that point one of the my sisters closer to my age lived in Maryland and her daughter was enjoying those neighborhood Halloweens that I had only seen on television. She would go through her community of town houses get gobs of candy from her neighbors.
So as a mother of two and sister of two little ones, we went on a road trip to see how this "trick-or-treat" thing was done.
Halloween was on a Friday. We drove from Brooklyn to Maryland and make it just in time to try it out. My son rehearsed what we was going to say during the whole ride. He was so excited.
Trick or treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good that I can eat
It was a little off beat but perfect. The kids had a ball and the volume of candy was amazing.
The following year, Halloween wasn't on a convenient Friday. So I found place in Brooklyn to go. We lived in pre-gentrified Bushwick and while I am sure there were pockets of areas where there was trick-or-treating I didn't know them.
We headed to Park Slope. I was familiar with this area because I grew up in the neighboring Prospect Heights. 7th avenue in Park Slope has business establishments that participated in the Halloween tradition. There were also private homes that gave goodies to the costumed children. We also participated in their annual childrens' parade.
http://parkslopeciviccouncil.org/
That was also the year that I dropped the kids off with my aunt and attended the Village Halloween parade along the avenues of America in the West Villiage for the first time. Who knew Halloween in NYC could be so safe and so much fun.
http://www.halloween-nyc.com/
The following year a parent at my children's school which is located in the West Village mentioned trick-or-treating in the West Village community.
My kids and I have since visited West Village stores and homes for goodies and watch the beginning of the Village Halloween parade.
I'm well aware of the nudity and haunts that come out as the night continues. But the parade actually has colorful and family friendly floats. People wear amazing costumes. I always enjoy the Michael Jackson thriller flash mob.
This year my kids got loads of candy trick-or-treating. They also got a dollar to split from one franchise. We even went to a Halloween party of a classmate.
But as the parade hit, my son had to go to the bathroom. My now 18 years old youngest sister (youtube.com/thisismyboringlife) took him, age 12 and my daughter, aged 9 to find a lavatory. Long story short. They missed the parade and my boyfriend and I met them on the L train. It was still fun and my kids NYC Halloween experience is awesome. I'm glad I stuck around in NYC long enough to see it. My childhood experiences would have had me traumatized.
Also to my surprise my cousin, who now lives in gentrified Bushwick as well, took her children trick-or-treating right in our community. Times have changed.
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