However, I do really like your idea of handing out something different. I'm thinking maybe one-bite salad this year would be a nice Halloween treat.

We are coming into the home stretch here and I am running out of options. I really like the sardine and mustard idea, dont get me wrong. And I want to do something other than hand out the usual stuff.

Can you tell me what a 1 bite salad consists of? I have never heard of this. It sounds like a more economically viable option than my backup plan of going to the affy tapple store and buying 4 cases of them. (By the way I understand the store moved from belmont to niles?)

Also, we usually get from 60-90 kids and it is mixed 50/50 hispanic/gringo . Is there something I can give the hispanic kids that would be more typical of what they would get back in mexico? If it is those little boxes of sugar/chile powder/lime at least I wont have to worry about breaking the 300# mark eating the leftovers.

I would be interested in hearing what other LTH'rs that are breaking away from the norm are doing

Bob

Hi,

I think the only way I would present a one bite salad is at a dinner table.

One-bite is a Thai Salad presented on a lettuce leaf, recently had on a blanched collard green, there is a mixture of dried shrimp, chopped peanuts, chopped limes, onions (and possibly other stuff I don't know) with toasted coconut on top. There is also a cane sugar based sauce which goes on top. Not exactly condusive to wrapping and throwing into a bag. Once the kid, or the parents see it, they will wonder what it is and toss it just to be safe.

Manee Thai's One Bite Salad


Treat yourself to a one-bite salad!

bob kopczynski wrote:Also, we usually get from 60-90 kids and it is mixed 50/50 hispanic/gringo . Is there something I can give the hispanic kids that would be more typical of what they would get back in mexico?

Bob,

DulceLandia (referenced above) has all the hispanic candy stuff you could possibly imagine.

I agree with C2 that one-bite salad might be tough to pull off; items should probably be factory-wrapped and sealed.

In addition to some of those listed I've mentioned, my selections this year are taking a decidedly Japanese turn: I've got packets of green tea (wrapped in shiny aluminized paper) and individualized packets of Nori Maki (rice crackers with sea weed). The Nori Maki seem like they'd be appealing: they're golden brown and have shiney sheets of sea weed on top). Plus BBQ worms...I'm just about ready.

Hammond

David Hammond wrote: Bob,

DulceLandia (referenced above) has all the hispanic candy stuff you could possibly imagine.

Actually, it had much more than i could imagine!!! After my first cup of coffee went to work I realized that Dulcelandia is 5 minutes away from me and took a run over there. I was the first customer today. The staff was very freindly and helpful and everything is on display and easy to find. For under 30 bucks I was able to pickup more than enough treats to hand out as well as some better items for my special neighborhood kids. They had a limited supply of the chocolate decorated skulls but I was able to snag 6 of them for the special goody bags. I am a bit confused though about the the white skulls, the package clearly says they arent edible but the counter girl said some of them are edible. I think the packages of skulls and coffins on sticks with gum inside will be a great hit. and quite a bargain at 1.99 for 12. Once again problem solved thanks to LTH Forum

bob

Cathy2 wrote:Hi,

I think the only way I would present a one bite salad is at a dinner table.

Thanks Cathy, it certainly looks very appetizing. But I dont imagine that surviving a kids trick or treat route too well, you are right. Thanks for clueing me in

I just got back from the Oak Park Farmer's Market where I picked up a bushel of Swiss Gourmet apples.

Now, when I was a kid, I never liked getting apples on Halloween, and I'm not going to foist fruit on any unwilling trick or treater, but these are marvelously full-flavored apples...plus, they look terrible. I was talking to Mr. Skibbe, and he said the Swiss Gourmets, usually mottled, were especially horrific this year because they had been exposed to frost, so their skin lumped up and became even more horribly mishapen and unnaturally discolored. Inside, however, they are cool and crisp, very sweet with a tart touch.

So, I'm going to offer my entire arsenal of treats for each kid to choose from. When we get to the apples, I'll explain that "They look monstrous but taste much better than any other apples I've had this year." I will also point out that there's a moral there somewhere, though I'm not exactly sure what it is.

Hammond

David,

I would hesistate to offer those apples to your fans.

Remember when Halloween almost went off the cultural map? People spiking candy with poisins or some idiot inserting razor blades into apples. Fear of a real kind almost took the whole works down.

If the apples are as good as you suggest, then why not keep them for yourself. Wouldn't you hate the idea of a suspiscious parent tossing the perfectly good apple away? If it is not fear of razor blades, then they may suspect the quality of the apple. Giving these apples away just might consign them to the waste bin.

However, it does go well with your theme of teasing their sensibilities with stuff foreign to the Halloween tradition!

Cathy2 wrote:If the apples are as good as you suggest, then why not keep them for yourself.

Hey, the seaweed crackers and green tea are also good, and that's why I'm offering them up to the All Hallow's Eve festival goers.

Cathy2 wrote: wrote:
Wouldn't you hate the idea of a suspiscious parent tossing the perfectly good apple away? If it is not fear of razor blades, then they may suspect the quality of the apple. Giving these apples away just might consign them to the waste bin.

There's some evidence that the razor-blades-in-apples stories are overblown media events (promulgated by those who also fuel fears of mushrooms), and some suspicious parents will likely toss the seaweed crackers and tea, which I hope are sufficiently weird to appeal to select children.

Overall, I can't account for the actions of the willfully blind and foolishly paranoid. In all humility, all I can do is attempt to cleanse the doors of perception, bring light and happiness to those willing to see, and continue my unstinting efforts to make this a better world. No, please, hold your applause. It's just my job.

Hammond

Well, the bulk of the trick-or-treaters have come and gone. The bags of hard candy, including Japanese candy, were a huge hit and they're all gone. Every kid who was offered a choice grabbed one. The little girls were especially excited because some of the bags had Hello Kitty candy in them.

The two major movers at my house were the indivdiually wrapped green tea bags and packets of Swiss Miss hot cocoa (The Wife had bought a huge quantity of these at Costco, and kids seemed to like them a lot).

Overall, I'm encouraged by the kiddies' interest in things other than Mars bars.

Hammond

we had a banner day here today as well. The started trickling about around 130 and where in full swing from 4pm-630. the biggest hit where the plastic skeletons and coffins on sticks full of candy fron dulcelandia. I went through 60 of them as well as bags of paletos choco/marshmellow pops and those cool peanut/cocoa/marzipan wheels. Those large chocolate decorated skulls where huge with the older kids. I think I had as much fun as they did.I even dubbed a CD full of halloween sounds and songs for them to play out on the porch. Although my wife didnt think inlcuding Patsy Cline - Crazy was appropriate . I was able to sneak Jan & Dean - Dead Mans Curve by all the critics though.

Anyway, I am getting ready to pull the plug on the haunted flowerbed until next year.
bob

bob kopczynski wrote:The biggest hit where the plastic skeletons and coffins on sticks full of candy fron dulcelandia. I went through 60 of them as well as bags of paletos choco/marshmellow pops and those cool peanut/cocoa/marzipan wheels. Those large chocolate decorated skulls where huge with the older kids.

Bob, I almost got a box of the marzipan wheels, but I wasn't sure if the kids would be attracted to them. Once again, I underestimate the interest that children take in the slightly off-center.

Strangely, those skeletons on a stick were not as popular as I would have thought.

Hammond

Love the science joke, Bob, but what does the tombstone in the background say? You've piqued my curiosity (as to what's inscribed on it).

David Hammond wrote:Bob, I almost got a box of the marzipan wheels, but I wasn't sure if the kids would be attracted to them. Once again, I underestimate the interest that children take in the slightly off-center.

Strangely, those skeletons on a stick were not as popular as I would have thought.

Hammond

It could be the ethnic makeup of the trick or treaters, this year mine was probably 60% hispanic and they all reached for the stick figures or paletos or the wheels. of the mexican candies what did not seem to go over where the mexican versions of tootsie pops as I still have a bag + left. The caucasian kids mainly went for the standards purchased by my wife in her "we wont have enough" mode. And of course we have tons of skittles and starbursts left over.At least she knows enough to buy what I dont like.

Well the last trick or treater has come and gone. I have hung up my dickensian era tophat and the neighbors continuous playing loop of haunted house sounds has gone from being uplifting to annoying. I am going to see how the bears can do without a quarterback and eat wheels of marzipan

bob

Hi FFS,

Bunson (burner) was a chemist, a chemist he is no more, what he thought was water (H2O), was Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4)

Cathy2 wrote:Hi FFS,

Bunson (burner) was a chemist, a chemist he is no more, what he thought was water (H2O), was Sulfuric Acid (H2SO4)

Thanks, Cathy, but I was actually referring to the "other" tombstone (slightly obscured by flash). Great quote, though.

fastfoodsnob wrote:Love the science joke, Bob, but what does the tombstone in the background say? You've piqued my curiosity (as to what's inscribed on it).

These signs where a father son project over a decade ago. My andy was just a little guy then. And today I just got back from going with him to vote in his first presidential election, how time flies. Anyway, I dont know where he got the rhyme he put on there, but here it is

Mac stepped on a tack
and now as you have seen
he didnt know
he hurt his toe
until his foot turned green!

bob kopczynski wrote:Mac stepped on a tack
and now as you have seen
he didnt know
he hurt his toe
until his foot turned green!

Thanks, man. I'm not sure what the first line or two says ("Here lies Mac..."?), but you gotta love a rhyme (and this Halloween election!).

Cathy2 wrote:I would hesistate to offer those apples to your fans.

C2,

The Wife and Daughters discouraged the apple offerings, too. My daughters because no one likes them; The Wife because she likes them.

Next year, I'm thinking I might like to prepare some homemade thing, but wrap it so it looks official and safe and scares no one.

Incidentally, the bubble bath balls went immediately, to males and females alike.

Hammond

I hang my head in shame........

After all the wonderful ideas, we gave out mini kit kats, mounds and snickers.



Enjoy,
Gary

Gary,

There is always next year.

We managed to have zero kids, so the skeletons go back upstairs to wait another year.

Cathy2 wrote:We managed to have zero kids, so the skeletons go back upstairs to wait another year.

Same here. At least this provided the opportunity to share my gummi treats with people I actually knew. Earlier that day, a friend brought up the issue of marketing; I simply had no Halloween props to let kids know I had the goods. Maybe if I put out some more pumpkins (or tombstones!) next year, I'll get a better turnout.

Maybe if I put out some more pumpkins (or tombstones!) next year, I'll get a better turnout.

This was the first year we didn't do the carved pumpkin. Usually I do it with the girls, which is why I never thought about it. They just went ahead and did it as they no longer need adult supervision.

We probably didn't give the most inviting impression. Just as well, my Mom didn't want to interrupt her 'Secrets from the Dead' marathon on public television.

C2,

On the subject of pumpkin carving, and in keeping with our pagan tendencies, my family does a Wild Pumpkin Dance every Halloween. After we carve the pumpkins, we put them in the living room, light them up, turn off all the lights, admire them, and then...beat pots and pans and shriek at the top of our lungs, dancing about like insane and confused spirits. Then, after about a minute or so of this pandemonium, we become deathly quiet, and slowly, in absolute silence, we carry the pumpkins to the front porch, put them on the railing and, without saying a word, walk to the front of our house, stand on the sidewalk, and watch them glowing spookily.

Hammond

Why don't you dance outside so the neighbors can enjoy it.In my 'hood that would be considered normal.

hattyn wrote:Why don't you dance outside so the neighbors can enjoy it.In my 'hood that would be considered normal.

hattyn,

Rituals are rituals. One can't go changing them wily-nily.


Hammond

HI,

Some years ago, while I was working on the Christmas tree. Yes, my obsessive compulsiveness shines, it takes me hours just to wind the strings of lights on the tree. I also have so many ornaments, I pack away many without using them, though I try to rotate.

Anyway, one year my Mother and cousin put on some African rhythmic drumming music. The frenzy was so intense, they were peeling away clothing until my cousin was shirtless and sweating up a storm. Rather than a yearly ritual, it was a one-time deal though very memorable.

BTW - at least twice, I have left the Christmas tree up an entire year. Yes, we did turn it on for the 4th of July.

Ah ha, the Hammond household is not the only eccentric clan on the board!

Tonight, I gave away upwards of 75 bags of green tea (and about 250 pieces of regular candy: Butterfingers, etc.).

I feel one should always give a kid a non-standard option.

At some point tonight, the word rippled throughout the itinerant kid network that our house was offering green tea, and late in the evening I had eight or so kids at the door at one time, bags open, eyes yearning, beseeching me to give them green tea. It had become "a thing to have."

Beautiful.

Hammond

David,

Congratulations on being a trend setter!

I looked above to find a post written by me with the comment:

BTW - at least twice, I have left the Christmas tree up an entire year. Yes, we did turn it on for the 4th of July.

In true idiosyncratic form, my Christmas tree never came down last year. For this holiday season, I need to replace one or two strings of lights, add a few more ornaments (I have boxes and boxes), plug it in and flip the switch! Voila, instant Christmas!

Regards,

This year, I picked up some off-center Asian candy.



I'm putting the durian candy in with a bunch of other stuff that I hope will appear alien and interesting to the kiddies who huddle around my door -- and I will warn them that it tastes a little like bad eggs and matches.

The Wife got the usual Baby Ruths, Butterfingers, etc., and my gambit will be to present trick or treaters with an option: one of these standard things or two of the odder ones. Those who pick the odder choice will be roundly congratulated, hailed as culinary adventurers and set on their way with all good hopes for a stranger Halloween and a more interesting life in food.