Witches and goblins and super-heroes oh my!
Halloween in coming quickly and I for one, am very excited. I love the holiday. How could you not?
Little ones spend weeks deciding on who they want to be or what they want to dress up as. They wait all month to dress up in their costumes, walk the streets, visit your doorstep and say trick-or-treat in hopes of getting a bag full of candy by the end of the night.
People visit 'pumpkin patches' to pick out what will become their prize jack-o'-lantern. Families hold carving contests and everyone from the little ones in the family to the eldest get involved. All sorts of faces from scary to funny to silly are carved and pumpkin insides are squeezed through the fingers of all.
During October, haunted houses become an attraction where being frightened becomes the goal. Ghosts lurk in the background and scary music fills the rooms. People jump out at you and bats swing from the roof. Horror movies overtake the theatres and telling scary stories becomes the norm.
Treats take the place of vegetables and sugar highs become a challenge for parents and teachers alike. Taffy and caramel apples become as good of a breakfast as the children are going to get. Trying to limit that sugar intake is a challenge that is almost impossible for most parents.
Homes become filled with decorations. 'Do Not Enter' signs replace the Welcome signs and cobwebs are strategically placed throughout the house. Pumpkins sit on the front porch and the leaves on the ground become 'ghosts' hanging in the trees.
Family dances are held and parents, along with their children, leave the house in costumes for a fun-filled evening with friends. Dance music fills the air and children skip across the floor in their socks. Bobbing for apples, 'witch, witch, ghost', and pin the nose on the jack-o'-lantern keep the kids busy and create big smiles that stretch across their faces.
Costume parties fill the schedules of adults and houses become alive with the spirit of Halloween. It may just be the only time ever that one would see the Joker, Cruella DeVille, the Mad Hatter, Bam Bam, Al Capone, Batman and Cleopatra all in the same room. Witty costume ideas are the winners of costume contests and people put hours and hours into preparing their costumes in hopes of being original.
And it seems as though, I'm not the only one that loves a good Halloween. Halloween means big business in Canada. According to the Retail Council of Canada, in recent years, Canadians spend an average of $1.5 billion on the holiday per year or $60 each on average.
Pumpkin-wise, approximately 2,790 hectares of land of pumpkins are harvested every year. From these, the estimated farm gate value is a total of $15.3 million. Not only are 74,970 tonnes of pumpkins and squash produced in Canada, but an additional 42,380 tonnes of pumpkins and squash are imported to Canada.
On top of that, the number of farms with pumpkin patches in Canada is 2,317. That means a lot of choice for those pumpkin pickers out there.
Candy-wise, the value of monthly sales in candy, confectionery and snack foods in October is nearly $600 million. That is an extra $130 million dollars than any other month,
As for those trick-or-treaters? There are 3,723,644 children in the prime trick-or-treating age (five to 14 years) in Canada. And how many houses are there to visit? A total of 12,435,520. That means a lot of candy potential.
Carlyle-wise? There are a minimum of 550 houses here for all you youngsters to spend your afternoon and evening visiting. Arcola-wise? A minimum of 250. Manor youth can visit at least 160 houses.
Regardless of where you live or how old you are, Halloween is coming up. So get your costumes ready, your treat bags out and your doors open because the kids are headed your way.
