All-time worst Halloween treats
Categories: Preschoolers, Kids 5-7, Kids 8-11, Teens & tweens, Holidays, Weird But True
There's nothing quite like it -- dressing up as your favorite character, heading out (at night! in the dark!) to ask strangers for candy and getting ... wait for it ... a brand-new toothbrush.Yes, friends, it's that time again.
Halloween is just around the corner and children (not to mention some adults) are counting the days until it's time to bring home a giant bag o' cavities. But not every treat in your huge plastic pumpkin is pleasing to the palate. Some of the all-time worst Halloween treats include apples, boxed raisins and old, loose hard candy.
Oh, yeah, and pennies.
Who does that? Pennies!
But the list doesn't end there. How about some yummy baked goods from the crazy lady down the street with all the cats? Or the classic unwrapped popcorn ball. You know, the stuff your parents started throwing away back in the '80s when some crazy dude supposedly put pins and needles in the goodies he gave out.
Remember when it was cool to hand out McDonald's coupons? Not so much anymore. Coupons of any kind made one list of Top 10 Worst Halloween Treats, along with dried fruit and mints.
My personal least favorite Halloween treat? That really hard bubble gum. You know of what I speak - the kind that breaks your jaw because it was manufactured in 1976 and sat on the shelf at your local Big Box store ever since.
How about you? Plastic bugs? Pencils? Play Doh (yes, I got that once). What's the worst treat you ever got?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
cml3720 10-02-2008 @ 11:28AM
My younger sister was not permitted to eat sugar as a child (she became a monster whenever she ate anything with refined sugar in it).We had one apartment building on our block housing college students and when we came to the door to trick or treat they were handing out the usual fare. My sister informed them that she could not eat sugar (most neighbors had something else for her), so they asked us to hang on a second. They quickly returned and dropped something into her pail. Later that night during the thorough examination of treats we finally saw what it was... a large bulb of GARLIC!!
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J Benjimin 10-02-2008 @ 11:44AM
I dissagree with Play Doh making the list. We give out full size candy bars every year. Last year our kids took goody bags to school and one of the items in them was play doh. In order to get enough for school we had to buy 3 packages which left us with some to give out to the neighborhood kids. As the kids came trick or treating they were given a choice of the full size candy bar or the play doh, guess what untill the play doh was gone it was the choice of at least 75% of the kids.
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Jennifer 10-02-2008 @ 12:06PM
I also disagree about the play doh. Seriously? This is one of every young child's favorite past times. Why would they not like to recieve play doh? I can only hope my daughter, 3, will recieve more play doh than sugar from Halloween knocking.
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Sabrina 10-02-2008 @ 2:08PM
I really appreciate non-candy treats. Yeah, tooth brushes and plastic spiders and crocheted doilies from the old ladies who live together down the street (Yes, I did get those) are a disappointment, but stuff like play doh, erasers, holiday themed pencils are fun LONGER than candy. We're giving out stickers and fake tattoos this year. If that disappoints you, don't come to our house. Besides, around here the candy usually ends up being eaten by the adults anyhow.
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luckysdaisy 10-02-2008 @ 2:30PM
once i got canned armadillo meat and my younger brother got canned possum. that guy is now remembered as "the road kill guy."
and i can understand how play-doh isn't the most favorite item, though it did NOT make any list that i saw. for younger children, it is probably a big hit (for parents too!). but for the older elementary to high school kids that you see nowadays at your door ... they are probably not too excited to get play-doh instead of the candy they were expecting.
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Melissa 10-02-2008 @ 3:06PM
ok, stickers? really? my daughter had these old ladies (yes OLD LADIES, not young "yuppy" parents) telling her "choose some stickers sweetie".....she looked at them like they were nuts! then she asked "candy?" okay, she was only 22 months old so it was ok i guess, but this year i can tell you we won't be going there, cuz rude as it may seem, she will tell them she wants candy! and yes i stick my hand in her candy pail, but she gets two treats every night AFTER halloween, and that's all (and i only take 1 lol)....that candy can last until christmas! ha! stickers, how lame!
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Jennifer 10-02-2008 @ 3:28PM
Here is the thing about play doh not being fun for High schoolers. I am not thinking that Trick or treating should be for High schoolers. So, if they have an issue with play doh, too bad. We don't even open our doors for them. I think that that the activity should be for smaller kids anyway.
Francis 10-02-2008 @ 5:36PM
Our Halloween blog will get you thinking more about this great holiday!
http://www.holidayreports.blogspot.com
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Kirstie 10-02-2008 @ 6:36PM
I might be strange, but I always liked that the old lady who lived behind me gave out apples - I would eat it as I walked through the neighborhood, and I got to eat all my friends' apples too because they thought it was weird! =]
The playdoh thing may have made the list because I know some parents I have sat for in the past hated it - it tends to stick in the carpets, or so they say. I rather like it, myself, and I'm giving it out to the trick or treaters who come through my dorm this year. (My dorm runs a program for the children of the grad students who live on campus.) Even older kids like playdoh - I'm almost 20 and still play with it! =] And for the record, I trick or treated up until my senior year of high school and am trying to convince my friends to trick or treat this year, as sophomores in high school. I'm not above volunteering to take the kids I babysit trick or treating if I have to - I just really love the holiday! This was the norm in my town when I was growing up, btw - all the way up through high school.
Worst I ever got was a pencil and pamphlet about how Jesus is a super hero and Halloween is an evil pagan holiday meant to bewitch children.
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