Have You Been Boo'd?

Last night as I was rounding up the girls for bedtime, our doorbell rang. When you're not expecting anyone at your door, a ring after dark can be somewhat disconcerting. Right? Well not when you're five. Our daughter ran right to the door and flung it open. This prompted a whole speech (by me) about why blindly and fearlessly opening the door when you don't know who is on the other side is NOT a good idea. I tried not to employ too many scare tactics, considering we were on the verge of bedtime and our daughter has a very active imagination...but it was a teachable moment. While I was running "safety school", my husband peeked his head out the door and retrieved this:



A bag stuffed with goodies, sitting on our doorstep. We'd been Boo'd. I am no stranger to "The Boo". When I was teaching back in Indiana, I found similar treat bags on my desk every year with a little Halloween poem encouraging me to enjoy the treats and "pay it forward" to someone else by covertly dispensing treats of my own. It's like having Casper as a secret admirer. When we lived in Georgia, I found that our neighborhood also had it's share of generous little goblins when we were Boo'd there.

Here is the note that we found attached to our treat bag:



It says: It's that time of year when the nights get cool, that you'll get a visit from your favorite ghoul. He'll ring your bell and drop a treat, and leave you there with something sweet. And no one knows from where he came, beware if you don't play his game! His wrath is fierce and temper short, revenge on others is his sport. Now it's your turn to be the one, to pass a treat and have some fun. Wait til dark when the shadows are growing, then grab your bag, it's time to get going. Pick a neighbor, ring a bell. Run away without a yell. Phantom will know if you've been seen...he'll be watching you on Halloween.

I've seen different versions of this poem over the years. This one is a little more ominous, but still fun!


On the back, this note is printed:



This way, the treats get spread around the neighborhood instead of the same families getting Boo'd over and over. I'm going to go ahead and admit that I was tempted to not tape this in my window and then see how many bags of treats arrived on our doorstep. So bad, I know! I'm like the Halloween Grinch. I promise, I taped the sign in our front window right away.

It probably goes without saying that my daughter was totally psyched and scheming who we would "Boo" tonight. I haven't purchased my Halloween candy yet, but luckily, today we were making pumpkin cut out cookies for her Pre-K snack representing the letter "P". I pulled out some more of our Halloween cookie cutters and we had fun decorating!



I only had one little tub of frosting in the house, so I had to stretch it. Most of the frosting was colored orange for the pumpkin cookies, I colored a little black for outlining, and a little green for the pumpkin stems and vines. I left some white "just in case" we ran out. Good thing. I used this white frosting for the extra cookies and then covered the wannabe black cats with chocolate sprinkles. I thought that it gave them texture, like hair standing on end.



Then there were (vampire) bats and...



ghosts and skeletons. I got this skeleton idea from Tried and True Cooking with Heidi, who made chocolate skeleton cookies using her gingerbread man cookie cutter.




I wanted to individually wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and put them in a cute little gift bag. However, I ran out of plastic wrap while wrapping the Pre-K cookies and it was getting too late to run out to the store. I needed a plan "B". I decided to use one of those pumpkin trick or treat buckets instead. Looking at this picture now...those innocent trick or treat buckets are creepy...even in pink. Or maybe it's just time for me to call it a night?



I lined the bucket with tissue paper, carefully laid in the cookies, and topped with a circle of wax paper.



After dinner, I loaded up my 5 year old, one of her friends that I happened to be watching, and my toddler into the van and drove around the corner. We completely could have walked...we boo'd the house directly behind us. However, I had disastrous visions of us running through the dark after we rang the doorbell...me jiggling the toddler on my hip...someone tripping...a possible trip to the emergency room. No thank you. Probably best to just drive around the corner. I coached the girls: "Put down the treat. Ring the doorbell. RUN!" I let the two 5 year olds out of the van and I turned off the headlights and inched forward behind them. I could see my neighbors in the window. Would we get away with it? The girls set down the treat and rang the bell and ran shrieking toward the mini van, dived in the side door, and I pulled away (lights still out, automatic door closing). What a thrill! The girls had a blast and I flashed back to tee-peeing trees in my high school days. If my neighbors recognized us, I bet they think that we're crazy! I hope that they opened the door and found the treat.

It was completely fun! If you haven't been Boo'd consider starting this tradition in your neighborhood or office. Who doesn't need a treat?!

Have YOU been Boo'd?

Before I sign off tonight, just a quick reminder: tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway. Check it out here! The winner will be announced on Friday.