Halloween Boo'ing

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:08 pm

What the actual fuck.

This is apparently a thing. Must have started in my lifetime. Never heard of it. Co-worker asked if I had heard of it as someone called her to ask her if she had "boo'd" her and was WTF about the question.

So, booing. This is a Jersey thing, isn't it? Can I blame you Jersey fuckers for this?

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GC ... CA0&uact=5

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:14 pm

Jesus, white women.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:17 pm

tennbengal wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:08 pm What the actual fuck.

This is apparently a thing. Must have started in my lifetime. Never heard of it. Co-worker asked if I had heard of it as someone called her to ask her if she had "boo'd" her and was WTF about the question.

So, booing. This is a Jersey thing, isn't it? Can I blame you Jersey fuckers for this?

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GC ... CA0&uact=5

Shit used to happen in my neighborhood when I was younger. Normally a basket of goodies for the kids and a reason to be "neighborly". Still voting to keep kids in cages, mind you, but doing it while giving away 3$ worth of fun sized candy.

elflaco2 · Post by **elflaco2** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:21 pm

never heard of it.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:28 pm

BSF21 wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:17 pm
tennbengal wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:08 pm What the actual fuck.

This is apparently a thing. Must have started in my lifetime. Never heard of it. Co-worker asked if I had heard of it as someone called her to ask her if she had "boo'd" her and was WTF about the question.

So, booing. This is a Jersey thing, isn't it? Can I blame you Jersey fuckers for this?

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GC ... CA0&uact=5
Shit used to happen in my neighborhood when I was younger. Normally a basket of goodies for the kids and a reason to be "neighborly". Still voting to keep kids in cages, mind you, but doing it while giving away 3$ worth of fun sized candy.

The midwest. I should have known. I blame my birth state. Tried to find some article on where this shit started but couldn't find anything concrete.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:31 pm

It's been a thing around here for a few years.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:32 pm

Definitely a thing in 'hood. Was not a thing growing up.

Feels a little Elf on the Shelf to me. As in, needing to spice up a holiday with new shit, when the old shit is just fine, thank you.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:38 pm

Here's what I found in one article (unsourced):

Families sneak special treats onto neighbors' or friends' porches after dark with a note attached saying "You've Been Booed". When a family gets "booed", they have two days to "boo" two other families, spreading the fun. After being booed, the family is suppose to hang a ghost in their window to signify that they have already been "booed."

Booing usually begins in late September and ends Halloween night. It's roots can be traced back to the early 1980's. Booing originated in the United States and occurs in pockets all over the country. Other names for the practice include "Ghosting", "Spooking", "Hobgobling", and "The Phantom" depending on where you live, and it occurs in neighborhoods, at schools, in offices, and in nursing homes.

If that was happening in the early 80s, it sure as shit was not happening in my small town.

This feels like a cul de sac thing that spread...

Feels a little Elf on the Shelf to me. As in, needing to spice up a holiday with new shit, when the old shit is just fine, thank you.

Precisely. Ima gonna need people to get the fuck off my lawn too.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:40 pm

My wife and youngest decided to do it for the first time this year.

They didn't leave anything identifying the source on the first bag they left, so our neighbor followed up like "did you guys leave an unmarked bag of candy on our front porch...?" which given the current situation was an understandable question.

tennbengal · Post by **tennbengal** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:42 pm

Here's bag of plague! Happy Halloween!

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:46 pm

First heard of it when we moved to current town 12 years ago. My son was 3, 11 yo girls next door taped a sign to our door along with a bag full of decorations, dollar store toys etc... It was really sweet. Crazy woman with kids same age as ours still does this to us every year, and it's just annoying because who wants a bag full of garbage and candy a few days before Halloween? A 3 yo is thrilled with this stuff. My daughter likes put together bags for little kids in the hood. We did it a couple times.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:50 pm

tennbengal wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:38 pm Here's what I found in one article (unsourced):

Families sneak special treats onto neighbors' or friends' porches after dark with a note attached saying "You've Been Booed". When a family gets "booed", they have two days to "boo" two other families, spreading the fun. After being booed, the family is suppose to hang a ghost in their window to signify that they have already been "booed."

Booing usually begins in late September and ends Halloween night. It's roots can be traced back to the early 1980's. Booing originated in the United States and occurs in pockets all over the country. Other names for the practice include "Ghosting", "Spooking", "Hobgobling", and "The Phantom" depending on where you live, and it occurs in neighborhoods, at schools, in offices, and in nursing homes.
If that was happening in the early 80s, it sure as shit was not happening in my small town.

This feels like a cul de sac thing that spread...

Feels a little Elf on the Shelf to me. As in, needing to spice up a holiday with new shit, when the old shit is just fine, thank you.
Precisely. Ima gonna need people to get the fuck off my lawn too.

Frankly, it's the type of shit started by moms that want to continue to cement the fact their kid is popular/has lots of friends = they are popular/good moms.

I've seen that type of shit playout dozens (hundreds?) of times in this hood. It's all "super cute" and "sooo much fun" until your kid doesn't get ghosted/booed. Now it's yet another social media FOMO bullshit stressor for kids and parents.

One of the things I've had to secretly revel in is that a lot of my wife's friends never really understood (or tried to empathize) with other moms that weren't in the cool clique. A number of them have been pretty shocked when the girls went off to college and their kids struggled socially.

Not all of them, but a number of these girls never had to navigate anything socially. It was all handed to them and never knocked them sideways.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:51 pm

Someone did that to us last year and my wife and I both thought it was really dumb. I have enough to do without putting together gift baskets for kids who are about to get a ton of candy either way. Has to be one of the many new effort things started by stay-at-homes.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:53 pm

boo humbug

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 12:59 pm

One more run at this, because I am just now realizing how much it bugs me and around here, you're the asshole if you point shit like this out, so it's a buried issue for me.

Halloween is a very democratic holiday. You make some kind of effort to slap together a costume. You can go with friends, but (at least back in my day) you could also ditch those guys, because at least a couple were clinically obese, and I'm filling my pillow sack, sorry but not sorry tubby.

But the point is, you go out and you get your candy and come home and pour it out, throw out the bullshit (looking at you candy corn.) There's no picking and choosing who gets the candy and the pin up of a ghost in your damn window.

You get dressed up, you hit the streets, you do the work... you get enough candy to last months.

None of this elitist "you've been chosen" bullshit.

(And don't get me started on Elf on a Shelf. Fuck that shit.)

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:02 pm

Maybe not everyone lives in a neighborhood full of assholes?

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:04 pm

rass wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:02 pm Maybe not everyone lives in a neighborhood full of assholes?

I know, I know.

(But still, fuck Elf on a Shelf. That's more a fundamental problem with the premise.)

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:06 pm

Whatever happened to good ol' seances and ritual sacrifice?

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:10 pm

Speaking of ... did you guys trade candy? Last year Q and two of her friends dumped out their entire baskets, put back in the stuff they liked most and then started working the swap details.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:14 pm

mister d wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:10 pm Speaking of ... did you guys trade candy? Last year Q and two of her friends dumped out their entire baskets, put back in the stuff they liked most and then started working the swap details.

Hell yeah we did. Big part of the fun. I was a big fan of Almond Joy and Butterfingers. Not a huge fan of Milky Way and 3 Muskateers. Everyone liked Snickers, so it was mostly trading within those other 4 that got you over the top.

rass · Post by **rass** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:20 pm

Candy trading has always been big for our kids. We've started hosting whoever ends up walking around with us for dinner afterwards, and that's the first thing the kids do when they get back. We've already said no trading this year, and probably nothing more than drinks on the front lawn if we have anyone over at all.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:26 pm

You'd probably enjoy those drinks a lot more in your mouth!

Giff · Post by **Giff** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 2:39 pm

Elf on the Shelf is awesome. I guess I enjoy my kids' laughter too much to rant about it.

Post by **Shirley** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 2:55 pm

Never heard of it. There are advantages to living in a neighborhood where the houses are kind of spread out and not too many kids. We hardly ever get trick or treaters anymore. Definitely not any Halloween Booing bullshit.

BSF21 · Post by **BSF21** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:09 pm

I started a tradition last year and I'm having trouble figuring out a way to replicate it but I sat out with margs for the adults and treats for the kids last year in my Joel from MST3K costume. Guess Corona is gonna ruin that too.

Do kids get to have Halloween this year or is another chalk it up to 2020 being shitty and try again next year?

P.D.X. · Post by **P.D.X.** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:33 pm

Some parents will make it happen to 'protest'.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:37 pm

BSF21 wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:09 pm I started a tradition last year and I'm having trouble figuring out a way to replicate it but I sat out with margs for the adults and treats for the kids last year in my Joel from MST3K costume. Guess Corona is gonna ruin that too.

Do kids get to have Halloween this year or is another chalk it up to 2020 being shitty and try again next year?

I'm considering a PVC pipe delivery mechanism to keep everyone far enough away if they go through with it in town. No, I won't be using Dave's margarita idea this year, but it was a HUGE hit last year.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:41 pm

mister d wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 1:26 pm You'd probably enjoy those d...s a lot more in your mouth!

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 5:12 pm

A_B wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:37 pm
BSF21 wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:09 pm I started a tradition last year and I'm having trouble figuring out a way to replicate it but I sat out with margs for the adults and treats for the kids last year in my Joel from MST3K costume. Guess Corona is gonna ruin that too.

Do kids get to have Halloween this year or is another chalk it up to 2020 being shitty and try again next year?
I'm considering a PVC pipe delivery mechanism to keep everyone far enough away if they go through with it in town. No, I won't be using Dave's margarita idea this year, but it was a HUGE hit last year.

We have not heard any news one way or the other regarding trick-or-treating in our town yet. We're tentatively planning on having some people over, building a bigger than usual fire in the pit, and showing "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in our back yard. We did enough socially-distanced gatherings over the summer, my wife had a go bag of s'mores ingredients.

Apparently, during last year's trick-or-treating (this will be the first time in four years I'll be home on Halloween), a neighbor actually sent stuff down from an upstairs window in a gutter or some such.

duff · Post by **duff** » Tue Oct 13, 2020 6:33 pm

DSafetyGuy wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 5:12 pm
A_B wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:37 pm
BSF21 wrote: Tue Oct 13, 2020 3:09 pm I started a tradition last year and I'm having trouble figuring out a way to replicate it but I sat out with margs for the adults and treats for the kids last year in my Joel from MST3K costume. Guess Corona is gonna ruin that too.

Do kids get to have Halloween this year or is another chalk it up to 2020 being shitty and try again next year?
I'm considering a PVC pipe delivery mechanism to keep everyone far enough away if they go through with it in town. No, I won't be using Dave's margarita idea this year, but it was a HUGE hit last year.
We have not heard any news one way or the other regarding trick-or-treating in our town yet. We're tentatively planning on having some people over, building a bigger than usual fire in the pit, and showing "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" in our back yard. We did enough socially-distanced gatherings over the summer, my wife had a go bag of s'mores ingredients.

Apparently, during last year's trick-or-treating (this will be the first time in four years I'll be home on Halloween), a neighbor actually sent stuff down from an upstairs window in a gutter or some such.

We are making a candy chute out of PVC. Either starting at the front door down the front steps or from the window in the master bath which is above the front door. Going to decorate the stairs with crime scene tape so no one walks up them to the front door. Going to hang the giant spider from the tree near the chute exit. Maybe on a pulley system so it will "fall". Trying to talk the wife into a smoke machine also.

degenerasian · Post by **degenerasian** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:56 am

So what are we doing this year? Are your kids going out? Are you giving out candy?
I'm just going to shut off the lights and go to sleep this year.

A_B · Post by **A_B** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:59 am

degenerasian wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:56 am So what are we doing this year? Are your kids going out? Are you giving out candy?
I'm just going to shut off the lights and go to sleep this year.

We bought extendable grabbers to pass the canty to trick or treaters and will have crime scene tape put up to keep people from getting too close.

The Sybian · Post by **The Sybian** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:02 pm

degenerasian wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2020 11:56 am So what are we doing this year? Are your kids going out? Are you giving out candy?
I'm just going to shut off the lights and go to sleep this year.

We've gone out with the same group of families for the last 4 or 5 years. One family throws a party before we go out, kids eat parents drink, then after we go back and parent eat. We were hoping they'd do an outdoor party this year, but they cancelled. My daughter is going out, my son thinks he is too old, but his friends are going out, so I'm pushing him into going. Town put out rules, no ringing doorbells or opening doors. Leave candy out on porch. My daughter has an early soccer game Sunday morning in NYC, so probably not a bad thing that it'll be an early than usual Halloween night. A Saturday Halloween pre-COVID, the party probably would have gone late.

mister d · Post by **mister d** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:06 pm

We're thinking of taking the kids out during the day on streets we know and seeing whats up, maybe firepit out front at night. Still pretty TBD.

Nonlinear FC · Post by **Nonlinear FC** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:11 pm

We'll put candy on a table at the bottom of the drive way. We don't typically get a lot of traffic in our cul-de-sac.

I will say, this is the most decorated out neighborhood has ever been. I guess trying to compensate for the weirdness, along with everyone having more time on their hands.

govmentchedda · Post by **govmentchedda** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:18 pm

My neighborhood is normally insane, and I'm not comfortable with any interaction. We're heading to our quarantine buddies' house, and maybe walking up and down their less traveled street, but not trick or treating. Buying the kids the candy of their choice and giving it to them, a la Easter.

DSafetyGuy · Post by **DSafetyGuy** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:23 pm

No trick or treating (taking the kids or distributing), but hosting a socially-distanced backyard gathering with fire pit. Will be like all the outdoor movie watching events from this summer where everyone wore masks when close by (including kids playing before it got dark) and was separated into groups for eating/around the fire pit/watching the movie, save for the projector now being set up in the garage due to less than ideal weather.

rass · Post by **rass** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:26 pm

Made a PVC candy chute, inspired by duff, because my youngest liked the idea. Set aside some caution tape when we were going through the Halloween decorations a couple of weeks ago. We are going to let the kids go around just our neighborhood, and no mask on the candy-givers means no candy will be taken. Supposed to be cold here on Saturday and I was weighing the comfort of bringing the fire pit to the front yard vs. the concern of some dumbass kid skirting the caution tape and catching on fire. We have hosted the past couple of years, but as I said above beyond maybe filling a cooler with beers and seltzers or something, we won't be as hospitable this year.

GoodKarma · Post by **GoodKarma** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:33 pm

We’re just letting a few direct neighbor kids stop by to get candy but not giving anything to people we don’t know. One neighbor is hanging out in his driveway so a few adults might go over there for a beer or six since the weather is supposed to be in the 60’s that day.

sancarlos · Post by **sancarlos** » Thu Oct 29, 2020 12:51 pm

In past years we’ve always gotten a few hundred trick or treaters. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, but i’m not playing this year. Turning off all the lights and hiding out in the backside of the house.

We’ll take candy bags over to the close neighbor kids in the afternoon.