Welcome Everyone to a "NEW" addition to the "Soft in the Head" family “Soft in the Head Hauntings”! This blog will be devoted entirely to my love of Halloween and everything Halloween and the inner “trickster” that exists in all of us! I will debut new Halloween characters and their stories here, quirky stories from my childhood and funny and often “bloopers” of my everyday life road. I hope you will find some time to follow the "Haunting Happenings" here at "Soft in the Head Hauntings".....

~~~I'll bet living in a nudist colony takes all the fun out of Halloween. ~~~

The Countdown Begins....

"From ghosties and ghoulies and long-leggedy beasties, and things that go bump in the night...good Lord deliver us!" - Old Scottish Prayer
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The "Ghoultide Gathering" October 2, 2010

May 24, 2009

Trick 'O' Treat!

The History of Tricking and Treating.....
Trick'O'Treating, like Halloween, can be traced back to All Souls Day, a long time ago. All the poor people would go out at night to people's homes begging and the people would give them treats called soul cakes. After a while of this happening, times changed and the children became the beggars. As they went to different houses, they would be given fruit, bread, and maybe money. Now, when the custom came to America, the children would be given candy to prevent the people from being tricked. It was tradition that if a person did not give the child candy, the child would play a trick on them, such as egging their house.

What is your fondest memory of going out on that eerie night? Did you go to Halloween parties or carnivals? Did any of you have a real "Haunted House" in your neighborhood and all the local kids had their own story to tell about it? Was Halloween a family event with everyone dressing up including good ol' mom and dad? Did you decorate your own home and play scary music? What kind of treats were your favorite and what kind did your house give out? Did you you use a pillow case for collecting your treasures on that auspicious night? Oh yes and the most important question of all "What was your favorite costume"? Com'on and share....

8 comments:

Monkey-Cats Studio said...

We lived by a real haunted house growing up...or so we thought! It was an old Victorian owned by a poor little old lady that shared it with squirrels, rabbits, cats, bats and rats. I swear it was like the Addams' family home. Creepy!!

Favorite thing to get...homemade popcorn balls made with syrup, not the marshmallow ones!! They were so sticky they could pull a filling out, but they were so yummy!! We knew what houses to go to get them and we would hit them early to try to make sure we got them...greedy little poops!!

Yap, we used pillowslips to collect candy in as well as the large size grocery bags we had decorated with crayons. They were lovely--giggle!

I'll be back to see more of your Halloween creations!

Cat Nap Inn Primitives said...

Oh I loved using the pillowcase for my bag..cause you could hold alot more in it...we use to love going to the dentist house he gave toothpaste and brushes and those little red tablets that you would chew to see if you were doing a good job..my favorite costume was probably my gypsy costume.. I think I wore that in a foot of snow out trick or treating..nothing stopped us as kids..now a days..they barely say trick or treat when they come to your door..we used to scream at the top of our lungs TRICK OR TREAT, smell my feet give me something good to eat.....:) and then there were the folks that made you do a trick before the treat..oh to be a kid again during the holidays..I love, love to decorate for halloween..when its all kind of spooky...we didn't do much as kids..so I love doing it now...we are the only ones on our block that does..and we get trick or treaters that love coming to our place and their folks always give me the nice complements..so that makes it worth it...:)

The Smiling Goat said...

Oh how fun this Blog is!! I can't wait for Hallowe'en !! We used to use the pillow cases to collect our TREATS too! My Mom would decorate the whole house and we would , as young children, dress up in the costumes that cam ein those small boxes . The face of the box was clear so you could see the costume and they all came with a plastic mask. Oh my that was almost 40 yrs. ago !! Now you can go to the Wally World and buy one on a hanger! We would sit down at the neighbors when it was all said and done and dump our candy on the floor and go thru it all. We would throw the apples away because we thought they were poisened! Then my brother and I would swap for out favorites! What fun!

I will be back for more!

Goatie

softinthehead said...

This is so much fun to reminiscence about all things Halloween....I love it...Thanks guys for participating!

Unknown said...

Growing up our town has a cave that you easily walk into and through so they would make a haunted house out of it. As you went through there was the graveyard where the zombie sat up then there was the witch makin her brew(by the way was my grandma), ghosts would come by and scare you because the only lights were lanterns. We had so much fun!
take care Kim

vintagepaletteart said...

I remember dressing up one year as a big present. My mom took one of those old type storage boxes that you used to store clothes and things in. They were made of cardboard and looked like woodgrain......lol I had a big bow on my head. I think that was the only year that I ever won a costume prize at school.

No haunted houses in our neighborhood since we lived a new allotment but we did have the "Wicked Witch of the West" that lived across the street.......lol Well, at least that's what all of us kids in the neighborhood called her....*giggle* She looked like her and she rode a bike all the time. Every Halloween, her and her husband would leave or just turn all the lights off in their house and hide out in the dark so that they wouldn't have to hand out treats. Well, needless to say....we always made sure that they got tricked. And I can remember having to go wash her windows one year when we got caught.....but it was soooooooooo worth it!!! *evil laugh*

Theresa said...

Halloween was a family event in our house hold. My parents would drive me and my sisters around to different parts of the neighborhood to get treats... some times we'd be able to walk for blocks depending on the area. We did indeed use pillowcases.... it was so much easier to carry all of our loot in it. :) Let's see my favorite costume had to have been when I dressed up as Boy George... or the time I was a punk rock guitarist with my very cool cardboard guitar. LOL :)
Okay now you have a good idea on how old I am.... LOL :)

Sandy said...

Pam, Love this spooky blog. Halloween is my favorite time of the year. When I was a kid my Mom would make all of our costumes. I was the youngest of 4 kids. We used large grocery bags for our candy (I think doubled and the top rolled down for a better grip) We would get tons of candy. Those were truly the "good old days" Love all your talented work and fun stories. When ever I want a lift in my day, I check out your sites.