We had about 50 kids show up, all being smart, all little groups of 2-3 kids, and it did my heart so much good to see them having fun and doing something relatively normal. They’ve been through a lot this year, none of it their fault and so totally out of their control – the least I could do was get them some candy.

Honestly, I don’t think I was the only adult with that feeling – an older couple that was out for their evening walk at the start of the night said the whole neighborhood was very festive last night.

AND WE HAVE SOME LEFTOVER CANDY!!

I ordered way too many drawstring bags, so we’ll definitely do that again next year – the evening I spent sorting and bagging up the candy was one of those oddly soothing activities that I wouldn’t mind doing again, and “here, just have a bag” is soooo much easier.

Having the “no nuts or gluten” specific colored bags worked well, too – there were a few kids that said “Yes, I do have allergies, thank you!” – the only downside was that the green & white bags stood out from the rest, so kids just gravitated towards them naturally, so we got a bit low on them by the end of the night.

Looking at the bag inventory, next year, orange bags will be regular stuff, non-orange will be allergy safe, and I’ll up the ratio of “pure fucking sugar” treats to chocolate & nuts and such. (And find some damn Smarties. I couldn’t find *any* this year. WTF?)

It was just a really nice (if fucking cold!) night.