Dan's Papers - October 30, 2009

My first Halloween in New York City in 1979 was a real eye-opener. After work one day, as I came out of the subway on the Upper West Side, a group of middle school kids wearing masks ran up to us commuters and yelled, "Got any money?"

I felt sorry for kids in the city when it came to Halloween. Celebrating it seemed limited to parties at school or friends' apartments, or getting a few pieces of hard candy from dry cleaners and liquor stores. It was a far cry from childhood memories of waiting at the door to see all the cool costumes, and even better, trudging from neighborhood to neighborhood with a mob of friends and a pillowcase from which apples and oranges were regularly hurled.

Remember the razor-blades-in-the-apples scare? I haven't heard of any horrible Halloween dangers lately and I'm glad to say that in my entire trick or treating life I've never had a bad Halloween candy experience, except for one year when I didn't get as much chocolate as I would have liked.

Otherwise, the big dangers in Halloween candy are limited to what it can do to your blood sugar, weight and dental health. Not only do you have to be concerned about your child, having all that candy around isn't great for adults either.

You probably already have the giant bags of candy from the drug store, but if not, there are other options for Halloween treats. You can avoid the candy predicament all together by giving out non-food items like scary stickers, pencils/erasers or bubbles. But there are risks to this. First, you risk the disapproval of your kids and the shame they may endure at school next week. Also, once word gets out that you have the worst Halloween treats in the neighborhood, traffic to your house will decrease.

So if you go with candy, one suggestion for helping kids and adults manage temptation is to buy candy you don't like very much (even thought this is the perfect opportunity to stock up on Butterfingers), and to get rid of any that you haven't passed out to the kiddies right after Halloween. If you bought things you don't like, it will be easier to part with it. If it's still packaged, you can give it to a food pantry. Otherwise, it should be quickly relegated to one of those nice Norsic garbage carts.

Out here on the East End, which seems like Mayberry sometimes, it's still important to take precautions to keep those tricksters safe in the dark Hallow's Eve night.

Put the kids in bright costumes or add reflective tape to them (the costumes - not the kids) and candy bags so the kids can be easily seen in the dark. Carrying a glow stick or flashlight is always good, too.

Plan out a general trick-or-treating route in familiar neighborhoods with well-lit streets. Avoid poorly lit homes

Don't send the little ones out alone, and always walk with them to the door to get treats. Older kids should travel in groups.

Remind kids not to go near cars, occupied or not, unless you're with them.

Make sure kids know their home phone number and address in case you get separated. Little ones should know how to call 911 in an emergency.

For fun events for kids, see the special Halloween calendar. For scary grown-up festivities, see Day By Day calendar, page 51.