Halloween!
We had about 75 kids last night, which a few more than my estimate for last year, but the traffic felt slower. We had a couple big rushes just after 8 PM — the last kids of the evening — but no steady stream of kids earlier. Maybe this is a symptom of the kids in the neighborhood getting older, since the older kids usually come out a bit later.
I also had books this year. Last year I only had five books to give out, and I wasn’t sure how/if they would go, but they went with the first four trick-or-treaters old enough to enjoy them. This year Andrew and I collected books at garage sales throughout the summer, and I had about 30 books for older kids and another 5 or so for the younger kids. I wasn’t sure that they would all go, but the baskets were empty by 7:30 PM. They were a big hit with the kids — I could hear the kids approach the door, but would wait until they knocked so they had a chance to look at the books (the couple times I opened the door while they were looking at the books, it distracted them away from the books, which defeated the purpose of having them out). Through the door I heard many kids say things like, “Cool, books”, and several even thanked me specifically for the books when I gave out their candy. We’ll have more books next year!