Reverse Trick-or-Treating
I was really cool in college. So were my roommates. We were so cool in fact that upon finding ourselves with nothing to do on Halloween (i.e. no parties to go to, no boyfriends to go out with, no alcohol to drink and no illegal subsistence to consume) that we decided to go reverse trick-or-treating.
I’m pretty sure it was my idea. (In addition to being really cool, you see, I also had some really cool ideas.) The plan was to go door to door giving candy out instead of asking for it and everyone would find us so adorable that we’d be the most popular girls on campus by the end of the night.
Surprise, surprise, it didn’t quite work according to plan.
Most folks who answered the door were confused. “(Huh? We don’t have any candy. Oh. You’re giving out candy? Why?”)
Or suspicious. (“Is this a trick? Is there something wrong with those lollipops?”)
Or engaged in sexual congress. (To this day, I don’t know why they bothered to answer the door. Unless they were waiting for a third party to arrive?)
Now that I’m officially in my late 20s, I sometimes get nostalgic for my undergraduate years: the dining hall, the cheap wine coolers, the gay guys I had crushes on, the straight guys I had crushes on, the parties (all two of them), the Sunday morning omelets.
In fact, I just wrote an email to an old professor and had a minor conniption as I began to write, “Dear Professor so-and-so, I’m not sure if you remember me but my name is Kat Richter and I took your class in… when was it? 2003? OH MY GOD!!! That was 10 years ago! I was a college Freshman TEN YEARS AGO!!! I am OFFICIALLY OLD!!! This is best I am ever going to look in a bathing suit. This is the firmest skin I am ever going to have. These are big as my breasts are going to get (unless of course I have children). My life is OVER!!!”
But then I thought about how “great” my freshman year really was: the bad hair days, the parties I didn’t go to, the fifteen pounds I gained thanks to those damn Sunday morning omelets and finally the well-intentioned but ill-fated reverse trick-or-treating. Suddenly being ten years older than my college freshman self didn’t seem like such a bad thing.
In fact, it seemed like a very good thing.
What Halloween traditions are you glad to leave behind this year?
Kat Echevarría Richter 
10 Responses to “Reverse Trick-or-Treating”
NONE! I am so sad that we hardly get any kids on our block (and we no longer decorate BIG TIME), I am also sad that we couldn’t do our Fall Fest at our Park because of construction, I want my traditions BACK! I was away for our neighborhood party, so didn’t even get to dress up this year…BOO!
There’s still time… TWD just bought a big bag of Reese’s for us to hand out tonight but he said he doesn’t get many trick or treat kids either.
One tradition I’m never giving up is going out trick or treating with my daughter. I’ve been the neighborhood moose. (Blow up moose outfit) and my 20 year old squirrel outfit) no I don’t go to the door..
Nice!
Several random comments spring to mind:
1) my costumes have been better, mostly because instead of trying to impress everyone, I can enjoy what I’m wearing. Which seems to impress people, too. I think it’s fun to dress up, whereas I always used to worry I was going to be made fun of for my choice of Halloween costume.
2) Maybe they weren’t waiting for a 3rd party, but taking the opportunity to see who it was, in case they wanted to invite a 3rd party in. Or perhaps they were secretly exhibitionists and you helped them out that way. No telling, but awesome story.
3) I find that the “older” (or more mature, maybe) I get, the more I appreciate a good looking woman – re: not early-20’s girl – in a bathing suit or other skimpy outfit. I think women get more confident and know their style, and thus the outfits/bathing suits/etc they choose seems to catch my attention more.
4) Breasts can get bigger. They’re just less real.
Okay, I’m done.
I’m hanging on to all of my Halloween traditions. My boys are almost out of the house and I still rushed home from work today to buy candy, carve a pumpkin, light candles, put on the scary music, and turn out the lights to wait for trick-or-treaters.
As far as old? Honey, you don’t know old. You’ll finally come to really know yourself in your thirties; you’ll become more graceful in your forties…Until you’re sitting at home with a glass of wine handing out candy to little kids you don’t know even though your children are grown and gone, you’re not old.
In fact, I’m not old; I’m just getting started.
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Cool, thanks 🙂
This was the first Halloween EVER that I didn’t dress up at all. Instead, we went on vacation and did nothing. I love doing nothing. Being back at work sucks.
I could see this Reverse Trick-or-Treating being awesome for charity events. Good stuff.