It looks like the Halloween season is starting early this year

[Andybev01]

I'm seeing the candy, but not much else yet.

I did buy a container of the pumpkin chews.

[Murfreesboro]

I know what NBC is, but I don't know what "Pop Ups" are.
Some kind of push-up candy?

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

They are just lollipops but they come with a character that holds the lollipops inside, my kids love them. We already have some for Star Wars, Marvel, and other Disney characters, but we haven't seen the NBC characters yet. I got the pictures below online.

pop-ups-lollipop a.jpg (298.17 KiB) Viewed 10467 times

pop-ups-lollipop aa.jpg (195.34 KiB) Viewed 10467 times

[MauEvig]

I've seen those! I usually find them at Sheetz when I go that way, but they aren't in a box container like that.
I've got Sonic, Tails, Shadow and Knuckles and they're in our Sonic collection. I also have Simba, Nala and Pumbaa from the Lion King, and Rocket from Guardians of the Galaxy.
I briefly saw some Jack Skellington ones, but I didn't get any. I saw Halloween pumpkin buckets, the ol' classic orange ones, candy, and some fall decor. That's about it for the local Walmart.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

It's interesting that they still make the classic pumpkin buckets for trick-or-treating because I haven't seen a single kid out there using them. I think they make them for people our age, for nostalgia reasons, like when McDonald's brought back the Boo Buckets. I think that adults just use them to hand out candy, or to have around for fun, but the kids today don't use them, not even the little kids, they just use the reusable cloth bags. That's what my kids use, they have cloth bags with pumpkins and skeletons on it.

When I was a little kid the pumpkin bucket was the first thing that I used to go trick-or-treating with, then we switched to plastic bags for a few years, I remember one year we had plastic bags with light up pumpkins on the sides. Then when I was 7 a older kid we knew told us that he used a pillow case, and from then until I stopped trick-or-treating, I always used a pillow case.

I remember one year I filled 2 whole pillow cases, it was the best trick-or-treating haul I ever had, it took until the following Apr. before I finished that candy. Man, the 80s were definitely about excess, those were the good old days.

[Andybev01]

I guess that would be okay if it were mandatory that every tenth house had to give out a vial of insulin.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I'm old as dirt. I can remember when the pumpkin buckets were introduced, back in the '60s. I got one when they first came out, and used it.

I always got a ton of candy but never finished it. My mother would end up feeding some of it to the dog in March or April. Of course, I always ate the chocolate. And there was an older couple in our neighborhood who always gave out nickels. They would have a huge bowl of nickels, and you could take a handful. I guess they just went to the bank and had whatever they would have spent on candy converted to nickels. I guess it spared them from having to finish leftover candy, especially if one of them was diabetic.

As well as I can remember, my own kids used plastic buckets most of the time, pumpkins or cauldrons or whatever, though we did have at least one decorative cloth bag a friend had made and gave to us.

When I was a kid, the candy was always secondary. Mainly I was just excited by the nighttime masquerade, the festive atmosphere. And if anyone decorated, even the tiniest bit, I was thrilled and remembered it forever. Back then, in Mississippi, I almost never even saw a jack -o-lantern, except in photographs or coloring books. I'm not sure the pumpkins were sold in the stores much. And our parents had never ToTed themselves. For them it was a very new thing, nothing nostalgic. So hardly anyone bothered to decorate or costume. I remember once, going to a house with a lighted jack-o-lantern, and the door was answered by a young man, maybe a college student. He had a nylon stocking stretched over his face and held a flashlight beneath his chin, so he looked eerie as he distributed the candy. Such a simple thing, but I've remembered it forever. He's the only person who ever tried to participate in the fun when he answered the door, my entire childhood long. In my adult life I've tried to create for the kids the Halloween atmosphere I always wanted but never had.

[Andybev01]

My family is from the upper Midwest and my parents (dad would have been 102 this year and mom, 97) enjoyed Halloween as kids, but more so the bonfires and pranks, and not so much candy.

It truly was a celebration of all saints and ancient traditions, since most of that area was settled by Germanic and Scandinavian peoples.

As I have mentioned before, my parents were married on October 31stin the late 1940s, and we always had memorable halloweens.

[MauEvig]

I still remember when I was a kid, there was one house that looked kind of creepy. I remember they made it out like it was haunted. The people answered the door in ghost costumes. I was kind of scared, but back then I was still little. I look back on that now and think that was really cool. It's funny how your perspective changes as you get older.
I grew up in the 90's and I don't think we had a lot of people actually go all out either. I think at most, people had a carved jack o lantern and that was about it, and maybe one of those plastic plugs in pumpkins.
But I do remember having a plastic bucket that I carried around. I have no idea what happened to that one, but I remember years later as a young adult too old now to go ToTing, I saw a lone bucket laying in the street. I scooped it up and now it's part of my decorations. It had a friendlier face on it than your typical jack o lantern face, but that was alright.
I think it was around 6th grade or so when I finally stopped going, but mom did still get me candy anyway. I enjoyed the candy, but it was kind of a pain having to go through it first to make sure there weren't any razor blades in it or anything. I guess by the 90's that was just something we had to do. My cousin claims she did bite into one once, which is scary to think about. But then again, looking back and considering how she turned out, I question some of her claims sometimes.
But at least you don't have to check the candy at the store...theoretically anyway. But I guess you never know!
I agree with Murf though. It's fun just putting on a show for the kids. I still remember my singing black cat I'd get out for ToTer's at my Grandma's house. She resented Halloween, but still let me do it anyway. I was very limited in what I was allowed to do though. But it was fun. I think the parents liked it more than the kids, I think the kids actually got scared of it.
Now I can pretty much do what I want, but we barely get any ToTers. Oh well. I still have fun with it. It's a good time to watch scary movies or visit a haunted attraction.

[Murfreesboro]

My parents were both in their 40s when I was born in the 50s. They would both be way over 100 if they were still alive. My father was born in Alabama in 1907 and grew up in the Mississippi Delta. My mother was born in southeast Arkansas in 1914. The South was hard-core Protestant back then, and people didn't know much about Halloween. My father, an Episcopalian, would have known about All Saints, but my mother, a Southern Baptist, wouldn't have known squat about the liturgical year.

Mama told me that when she was growing up, all she knew about Halloween was that sometimes teenage boys would pull pranks. She remembered once when someone smashed a pumpkin in the middle of the road near her house.

When Mama was in her early 20s, she moved to California because she wanted some adventure. She had a friend whose family had moved to Beverly Hills. So she went first there, and later got an apartment in Hollywood. She said she first heard of ToTing out there, and the kids would dress like hobos mostly. She came back to Arkansas when WW2 started, because she wanted to see her brothers before they left for war. Obviously, with food (and sugar) rationing, nobody was ToTing during the war.

Watching The Haunted History of Halloween on DVD, I've gotten the impression that Halloween really took off in the upper Midwest (like Annoka, MN), and possibly also in the Northeastern cities, where there had been lots of Irish immigrants. By the time I was school age, there seemed to be a concerted effort to disseminate a unifying American culture to everyone. We learned about Halloween at school (I sang Halloween songs to my own kids that I learned in 2nd grade). We had costume parades in the lower grades and colored pictures of pumpkins, or made them out of construction paper. I longed to have a real jack-o-lantern, but they weren't yet a big thing in the deep South. My mother was fine with my ToTing, but she always told me it was something she had never done. I remember one year, when I was ten, she let me invite my friends for a Halloween costume party. It was so much fun, but of course held near the day, not on it.

[TheHeadlessHorseman]

Thanks for sharing your stories guys, I enjoyed reading them.

[Murfreesboro]

And to get a little more on topic, I've seen Halloween treats for dogs on the pet food aisle at Kroger. I've forgotten the brand. Maybe Blue? But they have a display showing a dog in a Dracula cape, and the treats are shaped like Halloween icons, pumpkins and ghosts, etc.

[MauEvig]

I know Chewy has holiday boxes. One year I did get the kitties a Halloween box from them, which came with treats and toys. I got them the Christmas one too, and our female kitty likes playing in the tunnel that it came with. If you have pets, I do recommend Chewy for things like toys and treats. Sometimes they send coupons in the mail too.
Sometimes I think Walmart has cat treats for Halloween too, but I know they definitely do dog ones. It seems my wish for cat treats years ago didn't fall on deaf ears, as more and more people are appreciating cat videos on YouTube.
Now if they would JUST make a frozen dessert for cats like they do for dogs...you know the "Frosty Paws" treat they sell for dogs? I wish they'd make a version of that for cats. I think I saw somewhere where they made ice cream for cats, but I think you had to add something to it and put it in the freezer. It would be nice to just have something pre-made. But I don't know, maybe I can find some recipes online somewhere.

[Murfreesboro]

Well, I took pics at Kroger yesterday, but one didn't turn out, and I'm too ignorant to bring the other two over. The brand is Blue, the dog on the poster is dressed like a ghost, not Dracula, and there are two types of treats: the Boo Bars, which are a little larger and baked with pumpkin and cinnamon, and the Boo Bits (or Bites?), which are smaller, darker, and have a greater variety of shapes. The Boo Bars resemble shortbread cookies imprinted with either a jack-o-lantern, a ghost, or a bat.

I feel your pain about the shortage of holiday themed cat treats, Mau. I love dogs, but right now I'm a cat owner, and cats definitely don't get the same love in the stores that dogs do.

[MauEvig]

Well, at least Chewy has a nice selection of Halloween themed cat toys:
https://www.chewy.com/b/cat-11826
I recommend Chewy for things like toys and treats and such. But I still like to buy things like cat food and litter at the store.

The dog treats do sound pretty interesting and creative though. My mom has a dog, so maybe I could look and see if anyone has dog treats her dog would like.

But yeah, it's sad that there's a comparatively lack of selection for cats. And cats are, I'd arguably say, as popular as dogs are!

But like I said, I think the kitty trend is picking up thanks to Youtube. I see people who say they aren't cat people who adopt their first kitten or rescue cat, or simply get chosen by the "cat distribution system" (basically, a cat shows up and decides you're going to be their human now, and that's what happened with our calico girl) who end up changing their minds. It might be that they simply don't have experience with cats or grew up with dogs and may not know as much about them. It doesn't help so many people have cat allergies too. It's not the cat's fault though, and it's sad.

Truth be told, I have cat allergies. But I think I've desensitized to it because I can bury my face in their fur and be just fine!

Maybe if more treats, toys and such were marketed for cats, maybe more people would be interested in having cats. Just a theory though.

Anyway...there is one Halloween treat for cats that I can't help but find the name of amusing by "Temptations." It's called "Tasty Human" Temptations makes a lot of different cat treats, they even make some for Christmas too.

Here's the Halloween ones if anyone's interested:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Temptations- ... om=/search

Edit: Looks like Chewy has those treats too, in smaller pouches. They really have a great selection of treats, costumes, toys and bandanas for cats. They're a great company, I highly recommend them:

https://www.chewy.com/b/shop-all-cat-ha ... it-button=

Although with my own cats...I can't keep them in a costume for more than five seconds.