Tonight was Halloween and we were up to our usual tricks. This makes seven years of handing out full size candy. The magic continues to impress. Children are wowed and often shocked at the idea of receiving and full size candy bar when the rest of the night is filled with minis. The cries of 'awesome' and 'look Mom, it's a big one' are great. I highly recommend you give it a try.
We also carved a few pumpkins.
Mira's Dalek
Zoe's Frank from Donnie Darko
Michele's Boo
Once again, I made a timelapse movie of all of the trick or treaters as I handed them candy. This time, I filmed it on my iPhone.
Halloween 2011 from Michael Pusateri on Vimeo.
As I have in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 I asked every person what they were dressed as and wrote down the answers. I am careful to ask what they are, accepting their answers rather than interpreting what I see. I now have seven years of data to compare.
Here are the top ten costumes for the last seven years compared.
Out of nowhere, Zombies grab the crown from Witch. There were also several variations on the zombie theme. Clearly, the zombie meme is growing in American culture. More homemade costume this year. Only Captain America made it to the top ten, it being the only all store bought costume.
Almost everyone had a costume this year. Only a few came close to the perilous "nothing" answer.
We ran out of candy early, going through ~230 full size candies before 9PM when we closed up. After the candy ran out, I shut down the lights and put a bowl of extra single candy we had in the house outside. Michele threw in extra energy gels and bars we get at sports expo. I wonder how much will be left tomorrow.
This year's complete costume list of 217 people:
12 Zombie
7 Witch
6 Pirate
5 Princess
4 Dorothy
4 Fairy
4 Ladybug
4 Vampire
3 Captain America
3 Cinderella
3 Fireman
3 Ninja
3 Pirate Girl
3 Snow White
2 Alice in Wonderland
2 Ariel
2 Barbie
2 Batman
2 Cat
2 Clown
2 Cowboy
2 Indian
2 Kitty
2 Knight
2 Little Red Riding Hood
2 Monkey
2 Ninja Turtle
2 Power Ranger
2 Rose Court Princess
2 Scream
2 Skeleton
2 SWAT
2 Tiana
2 Wolverine
2 Zombie Ken & Barbie
1 60s Woman
1 80s Girl
1 A Boy
1 A Warbler from Glee
1 Angel
1 Batgirl
1 Bee
1 Beetle
1 Ben Ten
1 Bloody Nurse
1 Britney Spears
1 Bumblebee
1 Bumblebee from Transformers
1 Burger King
1 Candy Corn
1 Candy Corn Witch
1 Cheerleader
1 Cop
1 Corpse Bride
1 Cow
1 Dancer
1 Daphne from Scooby Doo
1 Day of the Dead
1 Deatheater
1 Dementor
1 Devil
1 Devil Witch
1 Disco Lady
1 Dodger Fan
1 Dog
1 Easy-E
1 Every Day I'm Shuffling Robot
1 Evil Jester
1 Fancy Kitty
1 Frankenstein
1 Ghost Person
1 Ghostbuster
1 Ghoul
1 Good Pirate
1 Gorilla
1 Goth Red Riding Hood
1 Graveyard Zombie
1 Grim Reaper
1 Hermoine Granger
1 High Schooler
1 Hippie
1 Hobo
1 Hogwart's Student
1 Indian Girl
1 Jason Voorhees
1 Jessie
1 Jester
1 Kitty/Beaver
1 Lagoona from Monster High
1 Lion
1 Little Demon
1 Lizard
1 Mario
1 Mermaid
1 Mexican Man
1 Michael Myers
1 Minnie Mouse
1 Miss Wonderland
1 Monster Spiderman
1 Mummy
1 Mustard Bottle
1 Nerdy Zombie Soccer Player
1 Ninja Assassin
1 Nurse
1 Panda
1 Pea in a pod
1 Peacock
1 Penguin
1 Phantom
1 Pikachu
1 Pink Lady
1 Policeman
1 Princess Aurora
1 Princess Mom
1 Pumpkin
1 Robber
1 Rock Star
1 Rorschack
1 Rose Fairy
1 Scarecrow
1 Scary Axe Guy
1 Scary Thing
1 Scorpio Ninja
1 Shadowknight
1 Skull Rider
1 Smurf
1 Smurfette
1 Spidergirl
1 Spiderman
1 Sundrop Girl
1 Superwoman
1 Surfer with Bite
1 The Joker
1 Thomas the Tank Engine
1 Thor
1 Tinkerbell
1 Tooth Fairy
1 Unknown Monster
1 Waldo
1 Warrior
1 Werewolf
1 White Swan
1 Wolf
1 Wonder Woman
1 Zombie Hunter
1 Zombie Soccer Player