Happy Halloween, everyone! Where I grew up, when kids trick-or-treated, you would have to tell a joke to get candy. You'd walk up to the front door (undoubtedly all bundled up, your awesome Halloween costume completely obscured by your winter coat -- like the year I was a hula dancer and no one could tell, tragedy!), ring the bell, and say "trick or treat!" The grownup at the door would always act so surprised that these ghosts/goblins/ninja turtles/fairy princesses were at the door, and then say "Okay, let's hear your jokes." You'd volunteer your comedic gem -- something like "Knock knock. Who's there? Orange. Orange who? Orange you going to give me some candy?" -- and only then would you have "earned" your candy. We used to swing back at our house halfway through our trick-or-treating to ask my mom if any other kids had told her good jokes, so we could use them at other people's houses.
After college, I moved to Chicago, and the first Halloween I lived in my apartment, my roommates and I got a few trick-or-treaters. I kept asking for their jokes, and they all looked at me like I was sort of nuts. I chalked it up to them being bashful, but after it happened about three times, my roommates asked what on earth I was doing. And that's how I found out that nobody does jokes except for in St. Louis, where I grew up. Isn't that funny? I always assumed everyone did it, and it had something to do with the "trick" part of trick-or-treating.
Anything like that ever happen to you, where something you assumed everyone does turned out to be a locals-only practice? (I also learned, after I moved to Chicago, that St. Louis is the only place that has Provel cheese!)
And what are you (or your little people) being for Halloween?
(Top image of Carl from Up by Auburn Soul Photography via My Modern Met; middle image of Spider-man by Amy Stein via My Modern Met; bottom image of Powerpuff Girls by Amy Stein via My Modern Met.)
