What should we really fear on Halloween?

Today marks the beginning of our family's Halloween Festivities. My husband's office (which is a huge building) is going to be decorating and letting the kids trick-or-treat through the cubicles.  The military members who work there (there's also a lot of civilians) are even going to be permitted to go home after lunch and change into costumes.

Sunday I plan on taking the kids trick-or-treating, assuming the South Dakota wind doesn't suck the fun right out of it.  Either way, we probably won't go too far through the neighborhood just because the babies get whiny, even with the candy incentive, and besides, how much junk food do the kids really need to take home, anyway?  My main plan is to let the kids watch a movie in their costumes and eat popcorn and caramel apples, and probably a few pieces of trick-or-treat candy.

This morning the to trick-or-treat, or not to trick-or-treat controversy popped up on facebook, and I came across some enlightening articles about the safety of Halloween. 

Snopes.com did the research on how many kids are actually poisoned or hurt by tampered candy passed out on Halloween, and the results where that there are no recorded incidents of a child legitimately being poisoned by trick-or-treat candy, and as the research by Barabra Michelson at Snopes showed, the incidents that appeared to be poisoned candy where either hoaxes, misinformation, or there was a whole lot more to the story; one sad example was a premeditated murder of a specific child by his father poisoning his candy.   There are very few cases of needles or razor blades found in the candy, and those were pranks or turned out to be hoaxes. 

This commentary from the Wall Street Journal backs this up, and goes on to say that a professor who researched Halloween crime statistics from 30 states was actually tempted to name her paper "The Safest Day of the Year." She says: "Why is it so safe? Because despite our mounting fears and apoplectic media, it is still the day that many of us, of all ages, go outside. We knock on doors. We meet each other. And all that giving and taking and trick-or-treating is building the very thing that keeps us safe: community."

And that is my favorite thing about trick-or-treating.  It gives us a chance to get to know our neighbors, meet the kids running around the block (and note which ones might be trouble), and give our kids a chance to just dress up as whatever they want and have fun.  Back in Oregon, it became our tradition to take my kid's trick-or-treating in my in-laws neighbor because on Halloween the neighbors set up haunted paths around their lawn, served ~gasp~ hot chocolate, and dumped candy generously on the kids. It was the one night of the year where there were no strangers and everyone was just neighbors. 

Since this is our first Halloween in our new neighborhood, I think it will be a great opportunity to meet some of the families new to the neighborhood and let my kids at least get some fresh air and exercise in their pursuit of candy.  Weather permitting, of course.