as a kid this was just a fun time to dress up, get lots of candy and other junk. it was a more innocent time. people left their doors unlocked. if they were not at home they left their candy in a bowl on the porch and everyone knew to just get one piece and left the rest so others could get some too. can you imagine that happening today?
when i was in elementary school the classes each selected a king and queen for their room. i don't remember how this process took place. each grade had several classes and each grade had a king and queen to represent them at the school program on halloween. so each class had a king and queen and then had a competition to decide which class's king and queen would represent the whole grade. the competition was to raise the most money for that grade.
to raise money each class did things like bring things to sell at recess. i can remember mother fixing me bags of popcorn and i would take them in a cardboard box (like you see the sellers at the ballgames) to school and sell them before school and at recess. probably sold them for a nickel. some other items that she fixed for me to sell were popcorn balls. i don't know about the popcorn balls but i think the popcorn sold before school started. i do know i never took anything back home and sometimes at lunch she would fix me another box to take back and sell in the afternoon.
in fifth grade i was chosen as my room's queen - don't remember who was the king and our class won the contest. so i got to represent the whole fifth grade. my brother jimmy who was in ninth grade was the king for that grade. i don't know how the high school grades selected their king and queen. my sister donna who wasn't in school yet won the costume contest for her age. i have a picture that was made of that evening of the three of us.
the program at the school had several different parts. you could buy your evening meal at the cafeteria. i don't remember what they sold. i don't think we ever ate there. then each room decorated and had some kind of game or spooky house. i think it cost a nickel to play the games or go in the spooky house. some of the games i remember were bobbing for apples, darts, and go fishing. of course prizes were awarded at the games. i don't think i ever went in the spooky house - i was too scared. but i do remember being told that they used peeled grapes for eyes which just seemed gross to me. then there was the king and queen pageant and the costume contest.
parents were very involved with the program putting together the rooms and working the games. the disadvantage of being queen was that i didn't get to go to the rooms for the fun. daddy took mother and donna because mother had to work in my classroom but i had to stay home to get ready for the pageant. later daddy wnet back to get mother to help me finish getting ready and i was at home by myself and it was dark. remember this is "halloween" when witches and goblins are out and about. i can remember standing at the door watching for them to get back and being sooo scared and of course my imagination was running wild. by that time i had seen "the wizard of oz" several times so you can guess what i "saw" out the window. yep a witch riding a broom up in the night sky. i was so glad when i saw daddy drive into the driveway. it seemed as if he had been gone for hours. of course it probably hadn't been but maybe 15 minutes tops. the school was only about a half mile away.
another thing about trick or treating - we didn't just go to anybody's house. we only went to houses that we knew or kinda knew the people who lived there. i can remember trick or treating in patsy's neighborhood because we knew a lot of those people and i guess because she lived "in town". aunt louise was one of the people who left her candy out because she was helping at the school. i remember she left hers in the living room. you just had to open the door and step in and get your candy. i don't know that she ever had any problems.
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