Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Festivities

Growing up, I don't remember that Halloween was that big of a deal.

We walked around, said, Trick-or-Treat, got candy, said Thank you, and that was it.

In northern Illinois, some Halloweens there was snow on the ground, other years it would be cold and rainy, and if we were lucky, on rare occasion would be warm enough to walk around with out a coat covering up part of our costume.

Moving to the St. Louis area provided a completely different Halloween experience. They love Halloween around here. I mean really love it.

On the Missouri side, St. Louis area kids have to tell a joke for their candy. Here's the best one I've heard:
Why did Snoop Dogg carry an umbrella?
For drizzle.
It still makes me chuckle every time I read it!

Over on the Illinois side, in our area, kids say plain ole, Trick-or-treat, but on the 30th of October. On the 31st, the entire town gathers for a Halloween parade. It's a big deal. Lots of kids stay up way past their bedtimes. Not Brynne and Hadley just yet. They will be nestled in their beds promptly at 7:00.

Does your town have a unique Halloween tradition? I'd love to hear about it!

I'll leave you with our girls' costumes. I think they're pretty much the cutest little garden gnomes ever.


Lots of great Halloween costumes over here. Join us!

5 comments:

MandyE (Twin Trials and Triumphs) said...

Our girls are not staying out past their bedtime, either (!!!), but we did go on a short walk after supper last night, which is usually our "settle down / family" time.

They call our part of the neighborhood "Pumpkin Alley", and there's about a four-block long drive, just past our house, that's a boulevard with trees in the middle. The city actually buys pumpkins for us, since it's such a huge attraction (although we far make up for that with all the candy we give away!). Pumpkins line the boulevard, and it's such a cool sight at night!

I loaded the girls in their stroller (to expedite things a bit), and went for a jog, up and back. The girls enjoyed seeing the pumpkins, but much more, they were enthralled with the MOON.

Makes me think we need to get out after dark from time to time! HA!

Happy Halloween! Brynne and Hadley certainly are precious garden gnomes!!!:) :)

Heather said...

Their gnome costumes are so cute! My girls are going to be gnomes too! It's what all the cool twins are being :)

Sara said...

Love the garden gnomes! So sweet!

championm2000 said...

Love the costumes!

And, I totally stole your Snoop Dogg joke and shared with my husband. giggle.giggle.

Renae said...

I grew up in Iowa, and I remember Halloween being a big deal. We'd trick or treat no matter how cold or how bad the weather, and it was always on the 30th so we could be in or watch the parade on the 31st. I marched in quite a few with school groups (first brownies and eventually the HS marching band). It was always so much fun.

So far, we haven't gotten much past trick or treating at a few neighbor's houses with our kids. We've been to our town's Halloween party for two years in a row, but I don't think there's a parade or anything else to celebrate. Definitely no joke telling. That sounds like a very fun tradition, though.

This year, our trick-or-treat night was put on hold as many of us still don't have power and there are lots of down trees and power lines. The make up night will be this Saturday. We're already looking forward to it (and hoping and praying that we'll have power by then)!