How to
maximize your candy gathering potential
I
remember as a kid that there were not a lot of other
children in my neighborhood and while most of our
neighbors did hand out candy to the few costume clad
denizens that knocked on their doors on Halloween night,
there simply were not that many family homes in our
area, meaning a short-fall of candy for us!
This
simply would not do, and not to deny ourselves that one
big sweet haul
on this one special night of the year, we began to travel outside
our own neighborhood in search of better hunting
grounds.
After our
family handed out candy to the small contingent of
children that lived in our vicinity, and we had
collected all the treats available on our street, my
parents would load the whole clan into the car and we
would drive to what we knew to be treat richer
neighborhoods.
Over the
years we knew which streets held the largest sugar
coated bounties and would return to them every year
religiously. While there are other reasons behind the
displaying of a Jack O' Lantern, to a kid, its a blazing
symbol stating "Candy Available Here...Come and Get It!"
I
remember getting a local street map of our small town
and surrounding areas, yes a paper map of old. We'd
place circles and squares around the areas to be
targeted for candy extraction that we should invade on
Halloween night, not that
I didn't have them all memorized, but having a map as
part of our Halloween battle plan seemed much more
organized. Hey, I'm a list maker, I loved making lists
even as a kid so this was all thoroughly planned out
down to the very last house.
My
brothers and I would meet late at night in my room and
plan our attack, which areas to hit first, which houses
had the best treats, which ones were last on the list
because they just didn't give out the biggest pieces of
candy.
Today,
with the advent of computers, the Internet and online
maps, we can take our candy scouting plans high-tech,
identifying and printing out critical information
including a "Prime Candy Locations" street map.
Now days, many businesses hand out candy, so be sure to
add them to your scheduled stops.
Be sure
to take notes every year and re-do your map to keep it
up to date. In these bad economic time, people may move
so a place that was a good house last year may be empty
this year. Keeping a map of prime candy
locations is a fun way for your kids to plan for the
best Halloween haul and it also let's the parents know
where the kids will be if they are old enough to go out
Trick-or-Treating on their own.
Here's an example of a
"Prime Location Candy Map", you can see the best areas
blocked out in orange. You could even go so far as to
mark particular streets and houses. Make a game out of
it, this is all done in fun! Some people have said "But
that teaches our kids to be greedy." Well, we don't see
it that way.
In these Urban - Suburban cities that so
many live in, it's hard to find areas for kids to go
trick or treating. Malls hold "Safe Trick or Treating",
as do churches and strip malls. Unless you live in the
Midwest or a small town, your kids will miss the fun of
door to door trick or treating. This is just a fun way
to mark areas, like a treasure hunt, for your kids on
Halloween night.
