Halloween Surprises

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:
So here's one of the things that absolutely floored me. Did you know this? That if you stack candy corn like this, it becomes a cob of corn? this was jawdropping  the first time I saw it--and continues to wow me. Amazing. I mean, someone thought of this, and designed the little candy corns to be ACTUAL candy corns. Remember, I am from Indiana, so this is not city-girl Hank being baffled by corn. (I am not fond of candy corn, but I love this every time.) Did you know it?

ANYWAY.

I was so impressed to hear of our Jungle Red blogger pal Jay handing out comic books to his trick-or-treaters on Halloween. What a wonderful and generous idea. And it beautifully crosses the cool line. If we handed out, say, pencils, it would not have the same cachet. Or, a little notebooks, that trick-or-treaters could fill in with their deepest thoughts and poetry.

I’m just imagining that for a minute.

I remember the dismissive sneering we did, as kids, when we got apples, or raisins. Items that are forbidden now, aren’t they? Because of what might be hidden inside. Homemade anything, I guess, is suspect.

Personally, I use Halloween as an excuse to get Twizzlers. Individually wrapped Twizzlers. Then I am always loathe to put them out by the door, because someone will take them all. I know, you are saying, Hank, that is the point. But I selfishly save some back for myself. Along with the Snickers. And the Almond Joys. And the Mounds Bars.

So now while there's still time to plan, I am trying to think if there is anything else as clever as comic books to hand out for Halloween trick-or-treaters. What do you all have at your door? And might you… have any alternative ideas?

RHYS BOWEN: Okay, I confess. I only buy Kit Kat and Snickers in large numbers because I know almost no children come to our house and there will be at least two bags left. And someone has to do their duty and eat them, right?

I used to go through my own children's bags and throw out anything that looked as if it was homemade or had been tampered with, unless I knew the neighbor who had made the popcorn balls. 

Other things I have given away? Fake spiders, Halloween puzzles, but now I figure it's just once a year and kids should be allowed to binge on chocolate once. They certainly look forward to the holiday enough! For most kids it's bigger than Christmas.

JENN McKINLAY: I want to trick or treat at Jay's house! Giving out Comics is brilliant!

 I am bummed out this year because I'll be at Bouchercon and the Hub refuses to pass out candy so I can't even decorate the house because I don't want to give kids false hope. And I usually deck out the whole house - full sized skeleton, strings of light up skulls and pumpkins, a scarecrow, headstones, a huge spider, ghosts, etc. And I give out tons of candy. ALL the candy! 

So, there's your answer, Hank. This candy freak gives out about ten bags of candy per year and I love every second of it. No ore conferences on Halloween - grump, grump, grump.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I think Jay's comics are so brilliant!! I've never given out anything nearly as fun on Halloween. My mom used to love to sit on our porch swing with me and give out treats, but these days we don't have many trick-or-treaters and last year I never even managed to buy candy. Boo. And now I'm craving KitKats, so maybe it's a good thing I won't have an excuse to buy them this year.

HALLIE EPHRON: I agree, Jay's comics are brilliant. I'd have been lined up at his front door.

Jerry's Pumpkin!

We NEVER keep candy in the house so Halloween is my one excuse (and Christmas) to have some. Chocolate! Almond Joy. Hershey's kisses. (They come in dark chocolate now.) I buy what I like so that I'll enjoy the leftovers. Because life's too short...

My husband carves a brilliant pumpkin.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Thank heavens almost no one comes to my door for Hallowe'en, because my house sitter would be stuck with the job this year, and I strongly suspect that as a young single woman, she'll have better things to do than stay at my place, waiting to hand out candy. (I, also, always get something I love - the Hershey's mini collection with the mini Reeses cups.

One of my nephews is extremely peanut-allergic, which made me aware of the importance of also having non-candy items so kids with any sort of allergy can take part in the fun. One of my go-to places is Party City, where they have fun little goodies. 

There are Hallowe'en specific things like spider rings and bloody eyeballs, but their birthday party favors section also has tiny toys, games, and disguises.  Another good place for cheap non-candy fun? The Dollar Store. Coloring books, crayons, fairy wands, pirate hats, etc., etc., etc.

LUCY BURDETTE:  We live off the beaten track so I don't buy candy. I would eat it, period. I bought candy corn a couple of weeks ago for a Halloween recipe for Mystery Lovers Kitchen. After I made the cookies (a kitchen disaster!), half the bag was left. It sat in the pantry, calling to me--and I don't like candy corn very much! After I'd eaten half the bag, I had to throw it out.

Back on topic, I love Jay's comic book idea. Coloring books and crayons brilliant too, but that would get expensive!

HANK: And oh, Jenn you are right--we'll all be at Bouchercon for Halloween. Hmm. Wonder how Jonathan will handle that. Wonder if there will be any Snickers left...
Oh, and look at these Twinkie minions a pal of mine made!
How about you, Reds and readers? What's your Halloween strategy?

RED HOT NEWS
Hank is still on tour for THE MURDER LIST! This week in Wisconsin with Jennifer Hillier, in Minnesota with three fab authors, and in Rhinebeck, New York with Carol Goodman. Check my website for all the details. 
AND I have one review copy of THE MURDER LIST--if you are interested and do reviews, be the first to email me at hryan at whdh dot com. 
 And for a big excerpt of  THE MURDER LIST  audio, click here.

JULIA: I's October, which means the third Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery, HID FROM OUR EYES, is on sale for just $2.99 all month! 

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iBooks: https://apple.co/2kDDh11

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Prefer a paper copy? Enter at Goodreads for your chance to win one of 25 copies!

How Sweet It Is!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  I get it now, I do. They invented Halloween not as an opportunity for kids to dress up, but as an opportunity for adults to buy candy, all they want, with the built-in excuse that it's "for the kids"

Halloween is also an excuse for women of a certain ilk to dress up in skimpy outfits and pretend it's a costume. One year, one of my pals wore black tights and a black leotard--and that is all! And then she the swirled herself in pale blue gauze, and called herself a hurricane. I beg you. In fact, I bet the sales of black tights and black leotards skyrockets at Halloween. but I digress.

Seriously, Reds, I buy Twizzlers and Snickers and Almond Joy, my very favorites, and then I hope nobody comes to the door. :-)  Well, no, that's not true, I love trick or treaters, actually ,and get a huge kick out of them.  But I am also happy to be able to buy Twizzlers and Snickers.

This year I also bought pencils. Yes, pencils. They are cool, funny, Halloween pencils, and I wondered if that was a better (healthier and more useful) treat than candy. I mean--I LOVE pencils! They are not as sweet and swirly as Twizzlers, but they last longer and do not melt. And although you can write with a Twizzler, you cannot read it. And you can never erase Twizzler marks.

But I fear the goblins and hurricanes will not appreciate pencils.

So two things: Are you getting candy?  What kind?

And: Do you think the kids will go for pencils? Or any candy alternative?

No, three things. Do you eat candy corns color by color? Or all at once?

LUCY BURDETTE: Speaking of costumes, Hank, as you well know, the Crime Bake conference banquet is famous for costumes. I wanted to go this year with 2 pals as James Bond and two of the Bond girls. (Speaking of leotards and all...) But whispering now, instead we're going as Poirot and 2 Miss Marples. Sigh. It turns out that I used to dress as Miss Marple in my therapy practice days, so the outfit was a snap.

No candy, we don't live in a neighborhood so no one comes. Pencils for the gluten-free or sugar averse? And the few candy corns I eat, all at once.

RHYS BOWEN: This is so funny, Hank, because John and I were in Safeway yesterday and he actually said, "We need to stock up on Kit Kats for Halloween. Look, two big bags for ten dollars." And I replied, "We only get about five kids at the most."  And he grinned and said, "So?"  He loves kit kats. I deplore this devious way of stocking up with Kit Kats. If I do it it will be with healthy Snickers and Milky Ways!

 

I've been to a couple of fun Halloween parties--I once went as a fallen angel when John was the devil. In those days he had black hair and a little black beard and he stuck on fake horns and looked very scary. But I fear our dressing up days are over.  I'm more concerned about sexually provocative costumes for little girls!

HALLIE EPHRON: Always candy! My neighborhood is full of kids. They play out in the street, such a lovely quaint idea, and Halloween is about the biggest holiday of the year. I mean the street is seriously lit up, more even than Christmas. I used to buy the candy I don't like because otherwise it would all be gone by Halloween. Turned out it was still gone. Now I buy what I like (Hershey's chocolate, Swedish fish) but not until just before Halloween so it can't get Hoovered if up before the kiddies arrive.

My granddaughter will visit us for Halloween and I can't wait to re-experience a 2 1/2-year-old's Halloween. Remembering when my daughter was that age and helped answer the door and told us "Man with four faces" had come. Four was her generic number for anything more than 1. Translation: man wearing a mask.

Pencils? Not so much. But I haven't got a better idea.

I feel outed on the Candy corn. I like the brown/orange/white ones and I bite off one color at a time.

HANK: Well, I do, too,  of COURSE, because that’s the only way to eat  those things. Yucky as they are...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: They truck in trick-or-treaters to a street a few block from us. I'm serious! It's a madhouse. But we don't get many. If it's nice I'll sit on the front porch for an hour or so just in case any "littles" come by. (Once we start getting teenagers in hoodies, that's it.) So of course I have to buy candy! Mini Hershey's from the supermarket yesterday. Now to keep Rick from eating them all between now and Halloween, that's the trick. (I might eat a couple, I admit. I love the crackly ones.)

Hank, good luck with the pencils... I would like them.  As for candy corn, ugh. Cannot stand. Even when I was a kid. It makes my teeth hurt.

Oh, and actually I think the hurricane Halloween costume was pretty clever! Did she have a blue drink to match?

HANK: Yes, fine, it was cute. Sigh.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Debs, that makes me think of one of my life lessons: just say no to blue drinks. I don't know what that blue liquor is, but it's a killer.

We live in the country, and have hardly any trick-or-treaters, but Ross buys the giant bags of Hersey's Miniatures just the same. It used to be my job to get the Hallowe'en candy, but he and the kids complained that I was the only person left alive who still likes those caramels-wrapped-around-the-white-center candies. Our location was wonderful for the children when they were little; we could hit every house within walking range in a half hour and they knew all the grown-ups answering the doors, so it wasn't scary. When they got older and more, shall we say, result oriented, we'd drive into Portland and hook up with friends. Half the fun of taking the kids trick-or-treating is wandering a few steps behind with another couple moms, drinking Sam Adams Pumpkin Ale and critiquing everyone's decorations.

Hank, I think your pencils will go over fine. Every year, Youngest got Hallowe'en pencils, stickers and plastic tchotkes like spider rings and eyeballs. She loved them. And I eat candy corn by the colors, of course. Anything faster is just tooooo sweet - those things are solid corn syrup, right?

So two questions, Reds—what candy do you get? And is it for the trick or treaters? Or for…you?

And the mystery of the universe: do the sections of the candy corn taste different?

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And HANK ON TOUR news: are you in Indianapolis (Carmel Clay Library), Madison WI (Mystery to Me Bookstore)  or Oakmont PA (Mystery Lover’s Bookstore? That’s my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday schedule—before I come home to see Susan! Please come visit and talk about WHAT YOU SEE!   Click here for the details!  

And Susan's MRS. ROOSEVELT'S CONFIDANTE is out tomorrow! YAY!