Who finds the scariest part of Halloween to be...

[KingDox]

The Xmas stuff in stores ? Just seeing the xmas stuff reminds me that I have like zero cash and I'm going to have to deal with going to the mall and looking for the perfect gift for everyone in my family. I hate shoping durring xmas, so I've already scoped out a few things that I can order online as gifts. But it always seems that there is one person that I just can't find a gift for.

[Kaijufan]

I find it scary that Christmas stuff is alread in the stores.

[smellhasreturned]

People In Scary Masks Scare Me
PISMSM

[adamada]

It doesn't scare me, it pisses me off. I hate how companies try and scare you for not having done your Christmas shopping months in advance. Thats bullshit. Christmas isn't supposed to be about gifts as much as its supposed to be about the sentiment behind the gifts, IMO. The commercialization of Christmas sickens me and ticks me off.

[daria19]

The commercialization of Christmas sickens me and ticks me off.

I agree, especially since I am a Catholic. Even if you aren't religious and celebrate the season as a winter holiday, I'm sure that it is still frustrating to deal with the sense of obligation that stores try to impose upon you to "find the perfect gift" to show your love to your friends and family. In addition, you are pressured to feel that if you don't buy said "perfect" gift when you see it (in october), then it won't be there later.

[ElfAngel7]

the little bugger's going around asking for candy. That and hairy men in sailor moon suits.

[Moxio]

The gothic kids scare me, little shaq-fuers think they are a cult.

Exactly. Apparently it's cool to cut yourself and have strange hairdos.

[Nirvanaguy777]

why is santa always poking his big red ass into other holidays

[punqsux]

christmas is dead!

long live x-mas!!

[Kaijufan]

christmas is dead!

long live x-mas!!
X-mas hasn't replaced Christmas until we build a evil robot Santa IMO.

[LoganDX]

What I hate is how over the last few years, the idea of Halloween has changed so much. When I was younger, it meant having fun, dressing up, and getting tons of candy! Now they have 1-2 hours to trick or treat and some towns are now banning trick or treating. I just don't get it...

[Spacepest]

What I hate is how over the last few years, the idea of Halloween has changed so much. When I was younger, it meant having fun, dressing up, and getting tons of candy! Now they have 1-2 hours to trick or treat and some towns are now banning trick or treating. I just don't get it...

Yup, Halloween was one of the few times out of the year as a child that I was allowed to stay out all night (reguardless if there was school the next day) and was allowed to eat all the candy I wanted until I made myself sick. Now where I live the kids only trick or treat in the malls. Last year I only had 4 groups of trick or treaters come to my door-and I was living in one of the more upscale areas in Vegas, NEXT TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, areas which in other cities would have been deluged with trick or treaters trying to get as much candy out of us as possible. The kids that did come to are neighborhood ended up getting ALOT of candy as result.

I don't get it either.... :(

And there should be some law banning the display and sale of Christmas items before Thanksgiving.

[LV-426RS]

I have a vision that in the next couple years Christmas stuff will be on sale year round, never taken down. Sort of like the christmas lights my neighbor leaves up year round.

[ElwoodCuse]

The scariest part of Halloween is fat girls dressed up like skanks and thinking they are hot

[daria19]

[quote="Spacepest"]Now where I live the kids only trick or treat in the malls. Last year I only had 4 groups of trick or treaters come to my door-and I was living in one of the more upscale areas in Vegas, NEXT TO AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, areas which in other cities would have been deluged with trick or treaters trying to get as much candy out of us as possible. The kids that did come to are neighborhood ended up getting ALOT of candy as result.quote]

Well, apparently some sick people were putting things like razor blades in candy many years ago and people have been scared since then. I am 28 now, and this started even before my time so people were pretty frightened back then. The hospitals used to x-ray candy for people, for instance. I was not allowed to take any non-wrapped candies (sometimes old people would try to give you an apple or popcorn) and pretty much only went to places close to my parent's house. I also tried to stay close to groups of other kids. Even when I was in high school and answering the door on halloween, there were a significant amount of people that looked like they were old enough to be college students out trick or treating in addition to the kids.

One of the higher level supervisors at work had the same experience as you, with only a handful of people coming to his place and alot of leftover candy. Given the money that he makes, I'm sure that his place is pretty nice as well. Given that I live in an apartment complex and the kid across the hall is way too young for candy (and is the only kid nearby), I don't bother handing it out.

[evilmojo12542]

gesssshhhhhh and I was gonna dress up as a fat girl thanks

[Scorch]

I hate people that say "x-mas/xmas". Good work, take the christ out of christmas.. congratulations, you just made "xmas" as manufactured as Valentine's Day.

[punqsux]

I hate people that say "x-mas/xmas". Good work, take the christ out of christmas.. congratulations, you just made "xmas" as manufactured as Valentine's Day.

i say xmas because it is ironic. i am not religious, but i respect all religions (read: not cults) but i find it hilarious that people that worship jesus as the son of god cant even take the time to spell his name ^^

im not implying everyone is like that, but some are and they are funny.

i think the meaning of christmas is gone, its nothing more than a major fuel for a capitalist society now.

[Rodimus]

i say xmas because it is ironic. i am not religious, but i respect all religions (read: not cults) but i find it hilarious that people that worship jesus as the son of god cant even take the time to spell his name ^^

im not implying everyone is like that, but some are and they are funny.

i think the meaning of christmas is gone, its nothing more than a major fuel for a capitalist society now.

It's not about giving anymore.

[ElwoodCuse]

[quote="daria19"]Well, apparently some sick people were putting things like razor blades in candy many years ago and people have been scared since then. I am 28 now, and this started even before my time so people were pretty frightened back then.[quote]

The only documented cases of kids being harmed by halloween candy (and there are but a tiny amount) turned out to be done by relatives. It's in "Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner.

[evilmax17]

I'm all for the commercialization of holidays. If you can look me straight in the face and tell me your favorite part of X-mas wasn't opening presents when you were a kid, you'd be a damn liar. "Taking the Christ out of Christmas" makes the holiday more universal, so that everybody can have themselves a holiday.

I like the season in general. The music, the tv, the eggnog, the decorations. Sure, it's gautty as hell, but it only comes once a year. It's like watching Godzilla movies: if you only watch them occasionally you can forgive them of their cheesiness, and everything is right with the world.

X-mas is all about being jolly. It's about giving things to people you love (as i get older, i get more pleasure in actually giving gifts than receiving), and it's about being together. I don't care whose birthday it happens to be, but if it gets everyone to the table and people are happy, then i'm all for it.

So what's wrong with the commercialization of Christmas? It's a nationally celebrated holiday that only applies to christians anyway, so why keep the division alive? I say make it for everybody, and you make it better for everybody.

(Yes, I realize that if you are a religious christian, that you will disagree with my entire post.)

[KingDox]

well I say xmas since it's easier to type, also I'm a big fan of futurama. I think the best part of xmas is giving gifts to kids, it's a trip to seem them so happy. And the holidays are like when charities get their most donations. It's good that people are in a giving mood.

[LV-426RS]

I'm all for the commercialization of holidays. If you can look me straight in the face and tell me your favorite part of X-mas wasn't opening presents when you were a kid, you'd be a damn liar. "Taking the Christ out of Christmas" makes the holiday more universal, so that everybody can have themselves a holiday.

I like the season in general. The music, the tv, the eggnog, the decorations. Sure, it's gautty as hell, but it only comes once a year. It's like watching Godzilla movies: if you only watch them occasionally you can forgive them of their cheesiness, and everything is right with the world.

X-mas is all about being jolly. It's about giving things to people you love (as i get older, i get more pleasure in actually giving gifts than receiving), and it's about being together. I don't care whose birthday it happens to be, but if it gets everyone to the table and people are happy, then i'm all for it.

So what's wrong with the commercialization of Christmas? It's a nationally celebrated holiday that only applies to christians anyway, so why keep the division alive? I say make it for everybody, and you make it better for everybody.

(Yes, I realize that if you are a religious christian, that you will disagree with my entire post.)

I agree with you, but why does it have to be commercialized for 3 months? And then some of the furniture stores around me have "Christmas in July" sales. I'm annoyed by the whole "xmas" thing, and not so much the commercialization of it, but of all the crowds, singers, and annoying musical ducks/penguins/and whatever singing christmas songs.

[Mr_hockey66]

I tricker treated when I was 19! I got many people slam the door in my face. I had one lady throw the candy at us yell slam her door. Open it and throw candy at us again! Then she yerlld that we were to old and we should know better! LOL that was great! I laughed for a week!

[mykevermin]

I'm all for the commercialization of holidays. If you can look me straight in the face and tell me your favorite part of X-mas wasn't opening presents when you were a kid, you'd be a damn liar. "Taking the Christ out of Christmas" makes the holiday more universal, so that everybody can have themselves a holiday.

I like the season in general. The music, the tv, the eggnog, the decorations. Sure, it's gautty as hell, but it only comes once a year. It's like watching Godzilla movies: if you only watch them occasionally you can forgive them of their cheesiness, and everything is right with the world.

X-mas is all about being jolly. It's about giving things to people you love (as i get older, i get more pleasure in actually giving gifts than receiving), and it's about being together. I don't care whose birthday it happens to be, but if it gets everyone to the table and people are happy, then i'm all for it.

So what's wrong with the commercialization of Christmas? It's a nationally celebrated holiday that only applies to christians anyway, so why keep the division alive? I say make it for everybody, and you make it better for everybody.

(Yes, I realize that if you are a religious christian, that you will disagree with my entire post.)

I would agree with you, but the major fault I find is that the appropriation of a religious holiday (let's ignore national holidays for now) is not determined by the practitioners of that particular faith. It is the business owners (the bourgeoisie, if you want to use Marxist terms) that make these decisions. I'm not sure if that is a precedent that I like (though I also wonder that, since the precedent currently exists, if anyone can even change it). The ability of capitalism to destroy anything that threatens it (and believe me, spending time with your friends and family *is* a threat to the capitalist system - any time not spent working or consuming is a threat to the capitalist system) is exceptionally noteworthy. I don't know what Christmas is like without presents; I'm at the age now where I buy all of my family members gifts (and enjoy it, as well); I also find more important (and more worthwhile) is the time I get to spend with my relatives (although being married with two sets of divorced parents leaves us with far too many houses to visit on holidays, and thus we don't get to spend as much time at each home).

To be honest, the amount of dicussion on this thread from people who regard the capitalists as a very real threat astounds me. Whether I agree or disagree with it, it is a mentality that I notice larger proportions of each successive generation posessing, in spite of the fact that we are merely 50 year removed from the McCarthy era of politics (although he still has his champions today - *coughanncoultercough*).

Someone mentioned razor blades in halloween candy - just not true. There has, to my knowledge, never been a documented case of any child ever dying from halloween candy (I believe I must tentatively source that knowledge as coming from Barry Glassner's "the culture of fear")

ad infinitum...

myke.

[mykevermin]

The only documented cases of kids being harmed by halloween candy (and there are but a tiny amount) turned out to be done by relatives. It's in "Culture of Fear" by Barry Glassner.

You know, since I made my post 6 hours after yours, I'm going to look like a schmuck for thinking I was the first to mention this book.

And to think I was proud of myself for citing something at 7AM.

Crap.

myke.

[flowery]

I just cant believe it when you see kids getting upset at christmas when they open presents and it aint what they wanted. They are pumped with the delusion of anyone can get these expensive gifts and toys. A good example since this is a gaming site is thinking they can get a playstation or xbox or what have you. When I was younger growing up in a blue collar factory worker house when we got clothes or what ever toys we were estatic and didnt care that it wasnt from jcpenny or toys-r-us. I remeber getting a super nintendo a few years after it came out and I couldnt believe it. So kids need to get over themseleves and be happy you with your family and getting anything at all. I guess thats all the wisdom I must hand out today I got to get ready for a calculus test.

[LV-426RS]

I just cant believe it when you see kids getting upset at christmas when they open presents and it aint what they wanted. They are pumped with the delusion of anyone can get these expensive gifts and toys. A good example since this is a gaming site is thinking they can get a playstation or xbox or what have you. When I was younger growing up in a blue collar factory worker house when we got clothes or what ever toys we were estatic and didnt care that it wasnt from jcpenny or toys-r-us. I remeber getting a super nintendo a few years after it came out and I couldnt believe it. So kids need to get over themseleves and be happy you with your family and getting anything at all. I guess thats all the wisdom I must hand out today I got to get ready for a calculus test.

Ahh a fellow Kentuckian....

It's not the kids who need to get over it, it's the parents who need to stop spoiling the kids.

[auralia]

my scary part is i'm a rather small woman and the last two years i've spent over 100$ on halloween candy because i buy big bars and live on a military instalation (and i buy pez and lik-em-aid for the little little kids). Well at first it's fine and then once the "older kids" find out i've got good stuff they flock to my house and just grab and i am of the now just take one mind because at least i'm not giving fun size or anything and i want enough for everyone, well these guys are like 17 and say a foot taller than me so of course they don't just take one and i'm always wondering if one will beat the crap out of me in an attempt to get my bowl of candy... having my husband there doesn't really help he might be in the military but he really isn't a big guy at all... i could stand up to someone better than he could lol.

So, this year i am serously considering just turing my light off because i'm an all or nothing kind of person and those guys just make me want to do nothing because last year was just soooo bad.

but anyway last year i got over 100 easy and w/ all the dinks taking extra i went through prob over 200 candy bars and actually went in early just because i was sick of those shits being greedy and not letting the little ones get any.

[flowery]

Very true the parents can be to blame thats what our society is now a day. You got to love the contamination of our culture now as materialization (I hope thats a word) but I reckon it aint that bad of a thing because no matter who you are you have been exposed.

By the way sorry I was raised in Lexington and a UK fan so I have sport related beef with Louisville. Other than that its great to see good ol Kentuckians. Also I am down at Murray State for baseball so I am deep in Western KY with all these Tennessee loons.

[LV-426RS]

That's why I pass the candy out myself. No grabbies. I drop one in for the old kids and 2-3 for the little ones.

[rajchakrabarti]

What I hate is how over the last few years, the idea of Halloween has changed so much. When I was younger, it meant having fun, dressing up, and getting tons of candy! Now they have 1-2 hours to trick or treat and some towns are now banning trick or treating. I just don't get it...

Yea in my townshipt halloween is the 29th.. not even the 31st.. plus trick or treatin is 7-10..... thats seriously some garbage. Townships are doing it for safety reasons.. and to keep vandalism down. but honestly ... they are taking away a fun experience for kids.

When i was a kid.. it was trying to fill a pillow sack.. and trick or treating till people didn't want to answer to door. aah the good old days. and don't forget mischief night..!

[mykevermin]

I drop one in for the old kids and 2-3 for the little ones.

That's a brilliant method. I moved into Kentucky last year in Sept. from Cincinnati. I didn't hand out candy in OH (b/c of the neighborhood, nobody sent their kids out trick-or-treating anyway). In KY, we went through 4-6 bags of candy...it was amazing. There were very few older kids (what's the cutoff age? 15?), and I didn't have "the good stuff," (to cite the previous poster) so everything went smoothly. I must admit, I have no idea what kind of candy to buy this year...what do kids like? (which has a far different answer from "what will kids take for free?")

In regards to KY sports, I work at and attend UC, so it would appear that the three of us kentuckians will not agree on much sports-related.

myke.

[moiety]

Trick or treating has changed in my neighborhood, as well. When I was a kid, there were TONS of other kids out, even young teenagers. And then of course, the older teens "vandalizing" the sidewalk and people's lawns. But that was the fun of it. Lining up at the doors with other kids you didn't really know, or running into friends from elementary school.

The last time I ever went trick or treating was when I was 13. An older dude on my street yelled at me and my friend, saying we were too old for candy, but these other two guys that were ahead of us were CLEARLY at least 16, and he gave them candy. We were so pissed. I decided after that night that I was done with trick or treating.

Now that I'm on the candy-giving end, there's no one out there anymore! Last year we got maybe 20 kids the whole night. It was sad, but it just shows the generational turn-over. We were the kids of the neighborhood, and now we've either moved away or dont trick or treat anymore. I'm sure that within in the next 10 years, my neighborhood will be thriving again.

[flowery]

I have never had really any bad experience with holloween except some crapy "spooky" movies. My neighborhood wasnt the greatest but there was always tons of people out and we didnt care that there was college students out trick or treating. I believe its all in the people in the neighborhood, thats what they are missing in the era of prefab no yard reach out and touch yourr neighbor literally world we are in where nobody cares about there neighbors. Besides now a days Holloween is all about the parties, which I began attending about two year back now.

By the way Myke I was born a Reds fan and I will die a Reds fan and I will always be a closet Bengals fan even though I am a Cheese Head at heart. But when it comes to the hoops there aint no one but the C-A-T-S CATS CATS CATS.

[dtcarson]

Merry Xmas, Xmas people!
Anyway, I agree that the commercialization of Christmas is horrible, and no one, even many religious folks, don't seem to practice or know the 'true meaning' [I know there are a whole lot of Christmas and Easter churchgoers]. And it sure isn't very jolly--people walk around doing their shopping with a pissed off look on their face, and you BETTER not take their parking space or buy the last Tickle Me Furby.
We didn't get a lot of trick or treaters last year, we might this year, but I don't know. [only 2nd halloween in the neighbourhood.] We had maybe 20 people come by. We even left to visit somebody, put our candy on the porch with a note saying 'Help Yourself, but Please Be Gentle', and *had candy left when we got back*. Oh well, more candy for me--we're always careful to buy stuff we like as well.

The incidents of needle in the apple, while they do exist, have been vastly overreported.
http://www.snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.htm
"As Best and Horiuchi (authors of the Razor Blade) note, more than 75 percent of reported cases involved no injury, and detailed followups in 1972 and 1982 concluded that virtually all the reports were hoaxes concocted by the children or parents. Thus this legend type seems to have grown out of a tradition of ostensive hoaxes relying on an understood oral tradition, rather than on any core of authenticated incidents."

Not to say there aren't psycho assholes out there who might do this kind of crap, but it's not necessary to scan all your treats through an x-ray machine.

The part about Christmas I like is giving gifts that people genuinely like. It makes me feel good to give something to someone that they like/enjoy/appreciate, especially that they might not get themselves. I also like, of course, getting stuff that I want.
But my wife and I have an major difference in our views of Christmas--I'm from the 'quantity not quality' side, she has to make sure the dollar amount spent on each person is near the same and always asks 'Did we get them enough?' And we end up getting filler presents that really aren't personal and that probably aren't real important. I do like to have lots of things to unwrap/wrap, but that's just so one person doesn't unwrap one thing and everyone else has 20.
One time my mom-in-law got me Grandia 2 for the DC for a present, it came with a free shirt. They considered that a 'stocking' present, because it was 'small'. I was like, it's 50 bucks, that is *not* a stocking present. That's a take turns unwrapping present. [I also got SoA that Christmas, so I was set ;) ] Stockings are for candy, matchbox cars, cassette tape/maybe a cd, gag gifts, little 'tchotchkes' Santa left [when I was growing up, it was to buy time so my brother and I wouldn't wake up my parents too early.]

I used to Trick or Treat in high school. We would just drive to people's houses that we knew, hang out for a bit and get some candy. Our neighbourhood is having a halloween party on the 30th which we'll probably at least stop in to; my son is old enough to wear a costume and maybe get something out of it, and of course old enough to eat the candy. The party might be too much for him, though. We'll see.

Flowery: You're absolutely right. Neighbourhoods are not the same. Growing up, I remember playing kickball or tag-round-the-house all night with neighbours with up to 5 years age difference, and the mothers would come out and chitchat on the electric box. I've been in my current house a year, and have as of yesterday met all of the occupants in the 4 houses around me. kids very rarely play outside, though I do see kids and adults riding their bikes on the paths, probably to or from something.
I think in part it's that we are so jacked in--many families have both parents working, kids and parents doing activities, everybody has cell phones, pagers, internet, email; most people commute to/from work/school around thousands of other people, and other demands on their time, so that when they have 'free time' they are more apt to 'cocoon' in their house and either spend time with each other [good] or jack back in the internet/tv/videogames [bad, if that's all they do.] We're so close [physically, not emotionally] to so many people all day nowadays, that we jealously guard any private time we may have.

[mykevermin]

This might be an appropriate post to point out that Target stores have decided against allowing the Salvation Army to solicit donations in front of their store this year. Keep that in mind when deciding to do your shopping this year.

In regard to the oft-discussed raincheck scheme at Target: you aren't making the store any money that way, so my advice is to go ahead and do it. Just don't buy anything else.

myke.

[flowery]

One thing about my neighborhood is that its the same neighborhood that my dad grew up in so for him its a major change. But baseball is a big thing around my house and there is a decent park that has a couple of ball diamonds and a couple of big lots so we get tons of pick up games going. I think it actually helped out all of our baseball skills from playing all the time and back when my dad was a kid his brothers and friends would play the trailer park kids down the street (something I did as well) and they became great ball players. Today nobody plays pick up games and I havent even seen a whiffle ball game around in awhile. I believe it strenghtend us instead of today kids just going into little league and barely knowing how to play. Also we would of course during the winter or a rainy day bust out RBI Baseball and play.

[crazytalkx]

the little bugger's going around asking for candy. That and hairy men in sailor moon suits.
http://www.fansview.com/2002/animecentral/img1221.jpg
'nuff said.

[LV-426RS]

This might be an appropriate post to point out that Target stores have decided against allowing the Salvation Army to solicit donations in front of their store this year. Keep that in mind when deciding to do your shopping this year.

myke.

Then that's where I shall go!