November 01, 2014
Halloween 2014

Cruft Manor has once again returned to our Halloween traditions. Every year, we give out full size candies, made a listing of all costumes, and made a timelapse movie.

~300 Full Size Candies, ready for the trick or treaters!

The Mike Tyson costume was great.

A Minecraft Creeper showed up, but had a hard time juggling his head, sword, and bag.

My favorite costume of the night, a Cereal Killer.

I let the kids choose their favorite candy themselves. This can sometimes lead to a prolonged choosing process and discussion. It's awesome to hear them debate the pro and cons of various candies.

The classic sheet over head with eye-holes cut out costume. I gave him two for awesomeness.

As has become tradition, I made a timelapse movie of handing out candy to the kids. This year, I started when the first trick or treaters appeared around 5:30, so there is some time until the action gets started after dusk.

When people come to the door, I ask every person what they were dressed as and wrote down their answers. I am careful to ask what they are, accepting their answers rather than interpreting what I see.

This Halloween makes it 10 years of data to compare, going back though 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012and 2013.


Here are the top ten costumes for the last ten years compared.

Many predicted that Elsa would dominate, but I only saw 3 Elsa costumes. Cat and Witch again dominate as the go to costume for girls. There was more variety, as you can see when costumes with 2 people wearing them make it into the top ten.

No one showed up without a costume, except one father who appeared quite new to the concept of Halloween and was simply interested in the free candy.

This year, we saw a dip in visitors. I had thought that Halloween on a Friday woudl lead to big numbers, but maybe people went to parties or other things instead of heading out. Another factor may have been the rain forecasted. Some may have stayed home due to that as well. This was the first time under 200 people in several years. I have a lot of candy left over.

While I waited in the doorway, I watched The Shining and 47 Ronin. The Shining was better. Thanks to Cousin James who helped me set up for the night and keep me company in the beginning.

After giving out ~200 full size candies, the rain started around 9:15 PM and I closed up for the night. Outside a few groups were scurrying home to get out of the rain.

This year's complete costume list of 177 people:

1 "I Don't Know"
1 50s Girl
1 Alien Soldier
2 Anna - Frozen
1 Annie Oakley
2 Ariel
2 Assassin
1 Astronaut
1 Ballerina Bat
1 Batgirl
2 Batman
2 Belle
1 Biker Girl
1 Black Mask Guy
1 Box Troll
2 Broken Doll
1 Broken Porcelain Doll
1 BumbleBee
1 Bunny
1 Burglar
1 Buzz Lightyear
2 Captain America
1 Carebear
9 Cat
1 Catwoman
1 Cereal Killer
1 Cheetah
1 Chinese Girl
1 Cinderella
2 Clone Trooper
1 Comic Book Character
1 Commander Cody
1 Cowgirl
1 Dad
1 Darla from Nemo
3 Darth Vader
1 Demigod
1 Demon
1 Dipper from Gravity Falls
1 Doctor
2 Dorothy
1 Elmer
3 Elsa
1 Fairy
1 FBI Agent
1 Finn the Human
1 Fiona - Adventure Time
1 Fireman
1 Floating Sheet
1 Football Player
1 Goth Zombie
1 Greek Goddess
1 Green Ninja
1 Guy w/ Cigarette & Tux
1 Indiana Jones
1 Iron Man
1 Jabberwocky Dancer
1 Jason Voorhees
1 Killing Guy
1 Kitty
1 Koala Tamer
1 Lilo
1 Link
2 Little Red Riding Hood
1 Lizard
2 Luigi
1 Luke Skywalker
1 Magician
1 Mangaverse Spiderman
1 Mario
1 Matt Harvey of the Mets
1 Merida
1 Mermaid
1 Michaelangelo - TMNT
1 Mike Tyson
1 Minecraft Creeper
1 Minnie Mouse
1 Monster High
2 Monsters Inc.
2 Mouse
1 Mulan
3 Nerd
3 Ninja
1 Panda Bear
1 Paper Doll
1 Pikachu
2 Pirate
1 Pokey
1 Policeman
1 Power Ranger
1 Princess
1 Queen of Hearts
1 Rafael - TMNT
1 Rapper
1 Red Power Ranger
2 Robber
2 Sailor
2 Scarecrow
1 Scary Clown
1 Scary Hockey Player
1 Scary Rice Picker
2 Scream
1 Severed Hand Guy
2 Skeleton
1 Skeleton Girl
2 Snow White
1 Soccer Player
1 Soccer Referee
4 Spiderman
1 Starlord
1 Stitch
1 Sub-Zero - Mortal Kombat
1 SWAT
1 Sweet Scare Crow
1 The Devil
1 The Doctor (11th)
1 The Purge
1 The Reaper
1 Thor
1 Tuxedo Guy
1 Union Soldier
1 Unusual Kind of Alien from Homestuck
2 V for Vendetta
2 Waldo
1 Werewolf
1 Whoopie Cushion
5 Witch
1 Wolverine
1 Woody
1 Zombie Bride
1 Zombie Doctor
1 Zombie from the Core

Posted by michael at November 01, 2014 08:59 AM