The Hille Happenings: Halloween

In a very strange way, Halloween makes me proud to be from Des Moines, Iowa. Halloween is done differently there. Of course, I never knew it was different because it was normal for me growing up.

In Des Moines, we trick-or-treated the night before Halloween. And named it Beggar's Night. And in order to actually get candy, each kid must have a joke they tell at each door they visit. Why, you ask?

I don't actually know.

Thanks to the surge of social media, on October 30th my facebook blew up with pictures and status updates having to do with trick-or-treating, costumes, and silly jokes. I was flooded with memories of my younger days of trick-or-treating. My mom would actually only give out candy if she didn't know the answer to the joke the kid would tell. Cruel, you might think. But kids loved the challenge.

I enjoy being from a place that's different. I like not being able to explain our traditions to people. Or somehow justifying the joke-telling by saying "kids have to work for their candy!"

Like the rest of the country, we trick-or-treated last night. On Halloween.

Adele comments we heard were "Can we go to just one more house?" (after every single house), "This night is SO MUCH FUN!" and "I was just wanting another piece of candy" (after visiting a house that gave away small toys instead of candy).

We heard the occasional growl and squeal out of Henry, which fit his lion costume perfectly.

It was a fun night, filled with cute kids in costumes, candy that will last us for many months to come, and a very excited Adele.

But I have to admit...I missed the jokes.

Here are the kiddos:

Talking about their costumes