Halloween - oh, my word!

I bought my 'new' house about a year ago.  I had some remodeling to do so hadn't moved in when Halloween hit.  So, I wasn't sure what to expect this year.

In my previous house, the neighborhood was older and a bit farther to the west side of town.  Over the years, the kids seemed to grow up and move away.  The first several years I had a respectable but not overwhelming showing.  As the years went by, there were fewer and fewer kids and I always had candy left over. 

Here in the new neighborhood, things started at 6:30 and I now know what it's like to experience a human tsunami.  I think I had more kids troop to my front door in the first half hour than I did for the ENTIRE time I lived at the old house.  I think the longest I've gone between groups in the last hour has been about 3 minutes.  (Which I will use as the excuse if this is a bit disjointed.)

I strongly suspect that a large number of the kids don't live in this subdivision since I've not seen this many kids either individually or collectively coming out of the neighbors' houses.  I suspect some of the kids play sports in the park out back and decided we looked like we had potential.

I don't really have a problem with this.  With the exception of a few of the older kids who went 'minimalist', most of the kids have been well costumed.  If they've made the effort, why not get some candy?  A few minutes ago I saw the cutest, tiniest USAF 'officer' ever.  He was darling.  I find I'm amused at the parents who are 'trick or treating' for their babies (in strollers or being held).  Yeah, right.  Like those kids are going to see any of that candy.  Ever.

I forget where I saw it (Facebook, maybe?) but the suggestion was made to do a drinking game of shots whenever an Elsa from 'Frozen' showed up.  Surprisingly, I've not seen any so far.  I did see one pre-teen as 'Maleficent'.  A couple of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, one of whom was quite young and obviously tired. 

I was at the liquor store earlier and decided to follow the Halloween theme and get a bottle of Vampyre ale.  I'm glad I did because I think I'm going to be in the mood when this is all said and done.

Wow, I think I've just gone 5 minutes with no kids.  Things may be slowing down.  I'm thinking I'll give it until 8:00 and shut things down.  Spoke too soon, just had another group.

Oh, this is the first Halloween where I've seen so many smartphones.  Not just the kids, but also a few parents. 

Well, an honest little girl just told me she'd already been to my house.  OK, now I'm apparently getting repeats.  I may stay 'open' for the remainder of the bag of candy, but will be shutting things down.  End of bag or 8:00, whichever comes first.

It looks like I'm getting a bit punchy!  All for now.

Papillon

Well, it's about 10 after 8:00 and I've finally shut things down.  I usually give out Smartees - small rolls of very tart candy.  The manufacturer says there's about 217 servings in the big bag.  I have a few rolls left so it looks like I had approximately 200 kids come to my front door in just about 90 minutes.

At the old house, Oscar the cat liked to watch me hand out treats.  This year, he checked out a couple of groups and then, meh.  Granted, he's an old geezer at 16 YO, but I think he was overwhelmed.  He spent most of the evening in the recliner.

I think the house across the street either ran out of candy or energy about 7:45.  I totally understand.