Ok, as my asylumites know, I have been kicking this idea around....


As a hobby I make baskets with yummy goodies inside. I've wondered how they would ship, so...

This prize will not be a coin or anything numismatic at all, but a Halloween/Autumn themed basket with cookies and other goodies made by me. Kind of like so, but different. Each one is unique. I decorate the baskets myself, bake the goodies myself, package everything myself. Except there may be some pre-packaged type or drink or drink mix.


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For entry just give me a story, memory or anything you like about Halloween. For those who don't celebrate it, substiture autumn.


Side note. I would like the winner to report back to me the condition of the contents when it arrives.

Contest ends on Friday at oh noonish. The basket will not be shipped until the last week of October.

Here's a few I've made for other seasons...


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LOL I am tempted but cookies can't be sent here



Good luck to the others!

Yeah, I know some countries may have restrictions.

Last Halloween I sat on the front porch in a gorilla suit with a candy bowl in my lap. When kids would search through the bowl I'd stick my hand out with a piece of candy in it.

Their reactions were priceless. One girl stood there for a few seconds confused and then ran away yelling. She got a few extra pieces

Nicely decorated gift baskets, Tiff! Now I won't participate in this contest, but let me just say that we do have Halloween around here. That "trend" started in Germany, say, about 15 to 20 years ago, with spooky parties mostly for/with young adults ...

Why adults? Because for kids there is Martin's Day, for example, on 11 November (referring to St. Martin of Tours). They have lantern "processions" on that day, and then go to various houses (in cities that would particularly be stores) to do that trick-or-treat thing. However, that day was/is celebrated primarily in areas that used to be mostly Catholic. So a short while after the adults started with their Halloween parties, kids elsewhere wanted their treats too.

Pumpkins have been around for quite a while but are mostly used for decoration "as they are", in dozens of shapes and colors. The Jack-o-Lantern thing is fairly new in DE, I think, but I'm not so sure about that.

Wearing funny or spooky costumes is certainly not unknown to people around here, especially in those cities where Karneval/Fastnacht is celebrated (with the peak being Rose Monday, ie. the day before "Mardi Gras"). But again, Karneval is not everywhere. Halloween is a great opportunity for both kids and adults to fill that gap - and then, why not do both or all: Karneval, Halloween and Martin's Day ...

Christian

2 years ago on the day that the neighborhood children are allowed to go out to 'trick-or-treat' I was scheduled to have a kidney stone removed from my right kidney. It had been stuck there for a while and was beginning to restrict the flow from that kidney.

The evening before the surgery, about 8 pm, I had another 'kidney stone attack; that is, a complete blockage of flow occurred. My mother, who lives only a couple of blocks away from my home, accompanied me to the emergency room where I was administered some fairly strong medicine.

By the time the partial flow was restored it was nearly 3:00 am, and my surgery was scheduled for 8:00 am in that same hospital complex. The hospital administration, in an uncharacteristic display of logical thinking, decided to allow me to remain in the hospital room I was in for the remainder of the early morning hours rather than discharge me and force me to either go home (30 miles away) or sleep in the waiting room, and everyone knows how amazingly comfortable hospital waiting rooms are in the middle of the night.

My mom stayed with me the whole time and did crossword puzzles while I dozed in and out of drug induced unconsciousness.

The time came for the surgery. It was delayed until 11:00 am but that was no big problem, I had already been there for 16 hours in the hospital bed, what was a few more. The surgery itself took about 2 hours and I was in the recovery room for at least another 2 hours. Everything came out fine (pardon the pun).

It seemed, almost as soon as I awoke the nurse rushed up to me and asked if I could stand up. Being a guy, and being very groggy, I did not see the handwriting on the wall and forced myself to comply and got up.

She then asked if I could go to the bathroom. That I had a bit more trouble with and when I did it was rather painful, but I followed those instructions as well.

After passing her two tests I was given my bag of clothes, told to get dressed and allowed (forced) to leave. I was as nearly as astonished as my mom was (who was still with me by the way), and she was a nurse for 25 years.

Well, I got dressed and we found our own way out of the hospital. No wheelchair escort, not even a wheelchair. And after having an operation in that sensitive area, I could have REALLY used a wheelchair.

By the time we got to the parking lot and her car we had been there 25 hours straight. And she was up most of that time. Me being her oldest son, she said she was only able to cat-nap off and on. So she was tired. She said she would just stay at my house for a little while, to keep an eye on me while my wife and children went out to "trick-or-treat" because it was the next day, and that next day was Halloween.

I was going to stay behind and just pass out candy to the local children. Since this is an older neighborhood there aren't that many children to begin with so I knew it would be a light turnout. And my mom was still with us so if anything unexpected came up, it could be dealt with. Now it has been 24 hours since we arrived at the hospital the last evening (not counting the 12 hours everyone had already been awake just doing regular everyday stuff). So I know she was tired.

My 5 year old son wants to be a witch for Halloween. He has the pointy hat, I put some green face makeup on his face. Everything was in place, even the broom and long cape.

Our little girl is only 1 so she is dressed in a warm onesie that looks like Winnie-the-Poo. But since she is only one we have gates that separate the rooms of the house to keep her from getting in trouble. My son, rather than open the gates, likes to climb over the gates to go from room to room.

The time came to go out and my wife calls to the now boy/witch to get a move on. He climbs the gate... *WHAM* he hits the deck. Nothing too concerning, he sometimes does fall over the gate and he gets told again to not climb the gate.

"It's not broken, it's not broken..." is the cry we are greeted to from him. Apparently he had gotten his cape tangled up around him and when he fell he could not properly break his fall. So his fall broke his arm. It was a clean break, half way between the wrist and the elbow.

Bent at an unnatural angle his only thoughts were that somehow it wasn't broken. It clearly was.

I took the little girl away from my wife. My mom volunteered to take them to the hospital while I watch the baby. My wife cradled our wounded boy into the car and they sped off to the hospital.

The girl and I spent an uneventful evening at home. No trick-or-treaters at all this time. My poor mom though. She had not had any sleep worth mentioning for the last 35 hours and after one hospital transfer for the boy to the Children's Hospital and the setting and casting of the boy's arm by the time they all got home Halloween was long over, the boy had a cast from his wrist to his shoulder, the wife was emotionally spent with concern, and mom was nearly unconscious from almost 50 hours straight, most of which either sitting with her son or grandson in the hospital.

So, if I get the cookies, I will have them shipped to my mom. Even though it was 2 years ago, that was a Halloween for the record books.

I shall tell my story in Pictures:

We went to a party at my buddies house

A Pregnant Nun and A Bling Bling Monk. Notice the Guiness


My buddy Dan was Captain Planet. Man that was a great costume.


Phil was Jack from Jack In The Box. His Wife was a Cop. See Jack "cop" a feel?


This is M&M Guy


M&M Guys brains


We all desided to hop in the PT Cruiser and...


Go To Jack In The Box!!


Jack orders from his employees.


His Pictures on the wall.

To be continued...

And we depart.


Back at home Jack relaxes with a Smoke and a Beer


The drinking continues, this time its La Fin Du Monde (Unibroue, Canada )


A Beer Bong Comes Out!!! Go Bobby Go!

There was lots of random pics that night. My digi cam got passed around like a.... well something you pass around . It seems when you are drunk and there are cats arouns and you have a camera... pictures are taken of the cats. One of phils cats eats Katchup

Thats my story and Im sticken to it!

-Bobby

Kats like Halloween, too! Where are the pictures that were taken of the cats?

Daytona


& Ninja (I didnt name him I swear)

The random pics:



Notice the funnel of the Beer bong here.... LA Galaxy Sticker (MLS Soccer Club)





See.. it eats Katchup!

....to Be Continued

2 more...



The Beer Bong shows up here to! This time you can see the Jack In The Box Halloween Pumpkin Sticker.

-Bobby

Our dog went dressed as an entree last year:

He would! Kitty eater!

Good stuff so far. BiggA, that's one helluva story.

Wow Andy....that is one helluva story. Gosh....considering me and Bobby would love to get a basket....one for Andys mom just sounds more appropriate.

BiggAndyy's Mom really should get the basket she really deserves it! And if you would like to send one to Canada as a test to make sure nothing gets all busted up then I wouldn't mind one as well. (But I can't top that story, what a special mom!)

It's a drawing, y'all. Tell me more stories.

Should I include how I had to walk 6 miles to school in the snow - uphill both ways?

Hehe, every time I look at this page, there is that Google ad at the bottom: Writing Contests - Short Story Contests - Poetry Contests ... I wonder why.

Christian

Well heck you could just say "My favorite thing about Halloween is candy." For all I care.

When I was 11 I had no clue what to wear for Trick or Treating. We had a large Lamp at home and my Mom bought a new shade for it. She handed me the old shade and said "wear this". So I did.
Full white long Johns, Lamp shade with a peep hole and written on it...."Lit at night".
I got invited into lots of houses that year to show off.

Instead of a story, how about a Haloween Safety Tip.

Never, ever put your head inside a pumpkin.

My favorite thing about haloween is candy. I especially like those little sugar pumpkins with the green tops..

Art, that is sooooooooooooooooo bad!!!!!

The only crazy story I have about Halloween happened when I was in grade school - 2nd grade to be exact. A school friend of mine was having a Halloween Party and I went - mind you, my parents very seldom let me go to anything like that, so I was soooooooooo very excited. I dressed up like a princess with a pretty pink dress, a crown - you know - all the princessy stuff. During the party the father of my friend announced that we were all going to play a game. He said we would have to go down to the basement, one by one with all of the other parents that were there and we could not see or hear what the other kids were doing. When it was my turn, I went downstairs, and there were lots of parents there. They put a big white sheet over my head and the father of my friend said, "Okay Joan, you have something on that we want. You have to guess what it is that we want. You will have to take it off and hand it to us."

Well, I had not a clue what they wanted, so off came one shoe, then the other, then a sock, then the other, then my jewelry, piece by piece. And there was lots of laughter and every time, "Nope, that is NOT what we want." So then I am down to my dress and undies and I am freaking out. I actually took off the dress, cause I knew that had to be it. I handed it under the sheet, and to my horror, I hear "Nope, Joan that is NOT what we want!!" Now I am horrified. They are not getting my underwear, NO WAY. So I am thinking, what else do I have on that they want? Then I finally figure it out and I said, "You want the sheet, don't you!!" That was it. Everybody laughed, and I was saved the humiliation of being nude under that sheet! I felt very dumb, let me tell you!!

Pull that today and you would likely get arrested.

Well it was all pretty innocent "back then."

It won't be long and parents won't be able to give their teenagers baths anymore.

Day-UM!!! I wanna basket! Cool hobby, Tiff

Unfortunately, I don't have any Halloween stories. For the majority of my Halloween years I lived in a small town in Maryland, and everyone was ultra-conservative and anti-satan, so "Halloween" was called "Fall Festival" and nobody dressed up or did much of anything.

But I will say that my favorite thing about Halloween is ROASTED PUMPKIN SEEDS!!! :yum:

My halloweenie story has'nt tecnically happened yet. Because it's going to be this halloween...

I have'nt been able to celibrate halloween since i was like 3 due to a......um......."overly Republican" family. But now that i'm on my own i'm going to get to contribute to a lot of rotting teeth.

Less than an hour left to get those entries in...

I don't remember most haloweens......remember kids...when designing a haloween costume make sure you able to drink in it...mask are no good

Lets see.....I would say the most memorable Halloween was when I was very very young. I only remember little snippiets of it, but I was dressed as a clown and my dad dressed up as Dracula. Probably the only time my dad dressed up. Im not sure if my brother was born yet.....but if he was he would of been too young to be involved. There was this "house" at the very end of our street. We lived on a very narrow street where if there were cars parked on the street....two cars could not pass side by side. This "house" was more of a castle then a house. It had a huge front yard that was really over grown and not much of a backyard....mostly just the driveway. The castle was always dark and very very spooky. And on Halloween it was even spookier. The owners of the house were good people and played the spooky castle thing to a T. They played scary music and made it extra dark......when going trick or treating it was always one of those things where you tell your friends or your dad for that matter...."you go do it....no you go ring the bell....you do it!" LOL.....I swear I remember him dragging me up there with my hands....I wasnt kicking or screaming, but my heart was racing and my face was flush....I was soooo damn scared.....keep in mind that I was only about 3-4 years old. I remember the door being rung somehow (whether I knocked or my dad) but they slllllooooowwwwllllyyyyy opened the door....cccrrreeeeeeekkkkkk! and I dont remember what he was dressed in....but it scared the living crap out of me....he stuck out a bowl and inside was a severed hand.....oh I lost it....I dont know whether I got any candy, but I distinctly remember running away as fast as I could....telling kids..."you dont want to go over there....you dont want to see what he has!" Something like that anyways. I just remember to this day that "house" and how freaking scary it was.

Fantastic!

My house is the scary one. Last year things didn't work out well and I didn't get a chance to decorate or get into my vampire garb for the night. I believe I was working or something. It was funny because I could hear the kids ask when Patrick or my Mom gave out candy... "Where's the cool vampire?" So, I'm going all out this year.

Winner to be announced shortly.

<crossing fingers>

And the winner is......





Dockwalliper!


That will go out sometime in the last week of October, my friend.

Congrats Dock!!!

All right Doc!

Thanks Tiff!

-Bobby

Sweet (pun intended) on ya Doc. Hope they don't show up in powdered form

Maybe the postman WON'T eat them.

WooHooo can't wait!!


Some great stories there folks but I'm still glad I won.

Thanks Tiff

Congrats!

Go, Doc!!! You LIGHT UP our lives.

Thanks, Tiffy! Cool game, hope the cookies travel well!

Right on Doc, thanks Tiff!

Prize is on the way. I will post the "before" pics when you get it.

"before" pics.....hahahaha thats funny......you must take "after" pics Doc....see how the postal service handled your package.

Before...

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WOW! That is lovely!