We had a great time trick-or-treating with Benjamin on Saturday night. We had planned to go just as the sun was setting, but although weather.com listed 6:30 as the time for sunset, it didn’t actually get anywhere close to dark until 7:15 or so. For that reason, we were the only people trick-or-treating on our street from 6:30 to 7:30, and we made it home just in time to greet our first costumed kids at the door.
It seems like every year fewer and fewer people are turning on their porch light or displaying a jack-o-lantern as a sign that they are participating in the fun of trick-or-treating. In place of the many homes that used to display a simple pumpkin or scarecrow, there are now a few people that go all out, decorating their yards with tombstones, or spooky ghosts hanging from trees, or those giant inflatable characters. One home on our street had a yard decked out with spiders and ghosts, a strobe light, creepy music blaring from a stereo, and even spooky fog from a smoke machine! I don’t know if it was because we were out early, because so many people were at Fall Festivals, or because people were hiding out in a back room, but we only found about ten houses with lights on or decorations up. Thankfully, that was plenty for a toddler on his first Halloween.
Benjamin had a great time strolling down the sidewalk and up to our neighbors’ front doors. He never actually said “trick or treat,” but when they gave him candy, he would either sign “thank you,” or give them a sweet wave goodbye as he moved on to the next house. The monkey costume was a big hit, with Benjamin, us, and the neighbors. See below for pictures of all the fun we had.
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- Proud of his costume
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- Ready to trick-or-treat!
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- Figuring out how to walk in his monkey feet
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- That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for monkey :)
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- “Which way should we go first?”
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- Benjamin’s not sure what to think of the spooky shadows caused by the setting sun. He and Daddy look like an alien and a man on stilts!
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- “Walk softly and carry two big sticks.”
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- Waiting for the sun to go down…
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- Check out the cute monkey tail!
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- “Is it time to go yet, Mom? Enough with the waiting!”
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- Our patient little monkey
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- Benjamin was excited about an airplane he spotted in the sky.
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- We finally set out on our search for candy.
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- And so we began our long, slow trek down the street. Little monkeys don’t walk very fast.
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- Benjamin quickly figured out how this Halloween thing works, and he had a blast!
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- Benjamin running away from the creepy orange glow and Mommy’s red eyes!
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- After an hour of trick or treating, we headed home.
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- “Are you going to catch up with us, Mommy?”
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- Benjamin’s cousins stopped by for a few minutes: Jacob was a storm trooper, Joel was Iron Man, and Anna was Snow White.
