My brothers and I used to go out trick or treating for an hour and a half to two hours, so that’s a lot of time to collect a LOT of loot. We were always allowed to keep all of our candy.

We didn’t have to turn it over to our parents for rationing or anything like that. When we were growing up, my Mom would let us have that one time a year to keep and enjoy our haul the way we wanted.  This is probably because she didn’t keep a lot of treats around the house.  Why? For one, we were just such a big family with six kids, and, it may also have been partly cultural. My parents are from Europe and in their country, treats were almost always home made, and were for special occasions only. As an adult I wholeheartedly agree with this, (but as a kid you can bet I whined!)   So,  we had this free pass at Hallowe’en to enjoy our treats the way we wanted!

Wanting to be sure I was making the most of this special freedom afforded us, this required a special system, some organization. Every year I would find a medium-sized cardboard box and arrange my candy around the bottom in careful order. Section by section.

First, chocolate bars. These would be grouped first by like kinds.  I’d put peanut butter cups and peanutty chocolate bars together. The plain chocolate would go into its own grouping, same for the raisin and peanut glossettes. And a special category was reserved for my favourite, Crispy Crunch.  Yes, I actually did this.

Near that, would’ve been my second favourite candies, the caramels and toffees. Next to that, licorices, candy corn, jujubes and gum drops.

Gum and bubble gum got it’s own section. Rockets got their own section. And then far down the list, the molasses candy kisses were stuffed into the tiny loot bags to be handed to my mother. I didn’t even like the smell of them.
To read this you might think I’m a highly organized person, with perhaps some O.C. tendencies. I’m actually not. As a kid my mom was always after me to tidy up my room. But this was one area, where I became highly motivated to get my act together. I guess it’s about priorities.
And when you’re a kid, you have kid priorities.
Happy Hallowe’en!

Filed under: Halloween Candy