Even with all my current health issues, my favorite holiday is coming up and I’m very likely going to to once again take part in an annual Halloween candy giveaway. A few residents have been doing this for about a dozen years (some for much longer) and it’s always rewarding to see those smiling kids, some of whom have popped up over later years as teenagers and young adults to grab a bag or two of treats (or a few bags of treats). Meeting all those parents over the years has also been rewarding as I’ve found a whole lot of parents who like not having to take their kids again out unless it’s to a Halloween party they’ve been invited to later. (but not too late).

One early October morning in 2012, I went to the management office and inquired about handing out candy to kids in the complex. There was yes, a full background check.They also checked my state and city ID and address to see if I was a resident here. The process took about a half hour or so but it gave some of the staff something else to do other than whatever other tasks they did. Then, a security officer went over a few basic ground rules with me. I had to be inside the Oval area (an outdoor oval-shaped park open to residents), sit on a bench near the security booth, stand near the booth or both (the security guards were more or less protecting me from any rowdy antics). I was told not everyone celebrates the holiday and to be respectful and don’t “force” fun or candy on anyone if they refuse. I also had to let security search the candy I was giving out and it all had to be sealed. They also wanted to see what I intended to wear on that day. If the mask and/or costume were deemed too frightening, I’d need to have a backup handy.

The next day, I did some shopping. The first stop was Deal$, which is now a Dollar Tree ($1.25 Tree, actually), where I bought $40 worth of bagged mixed and wrapped Halloween candy and a few $1 Halloween masks, which were simple pull over the head masks with mesh faces. I bought three with skeleton faces. three with Ghostface inspired images and four cuter cartoony masks, just in case. Then I went down the street to a small thrift store and bought a few irregular orange sweatshirts (3 for $5). The shirts, I found out later just needed to be laundered and were “irregular” only because they were labeled incorrectly by the manufacturer.

To store the candy, I found a great deal in Summer 2011. A local hardware store had a special on what they called “DIY” Halloween buckets, which were large orange buckets, some of which were unpainted or were misprinted on one side. “How much for a bucket?” I asked. “Tell you what” the clerk said. “it’s a slow day. so buy $10 worth of stuff and I’ll thrown in two buckets for free”. That was too hard too pass up, so I asked if the store had cloth tape in orange (I needed two rolls) and some black enamel paint. The clerk (he was actually the shop owner) pulled a drawer open and and picked two rolls of orange tape out, then from behind the counter, he produced a medium sized can of black enamel paint. “Just opened this yesterday. My son painted that sign.” He pointed at a sign for the buckets. It was $11 for the tape and paint but the owner added four more buckets for a buck each. He rang me up, then wrote me a receipt on a small pad and tore off a copy, placing it, the tape and the can of paint in one of the stacked buckets. “Thanks for the business” he nodded and flashed a wide smile as I nodded back and left the shop. There was still a lot of work ahead for me…

(To be continued…)

-GW