When We Did the Boo'ing, Plus a Poem For All You We've Been Boo'd Visitors

So last week we finally got our baskets together and set out to "Boo" our neighbors. Trout had spent an inordinate amount of time drawing pictures for the victims to put up in their windows, but they were lovely and creative masterpieces and I didn't have the heart to stop her. It also took forever for me to type up the poem to go in the scroll, but I eventually did it and you can find it here. Plus going to the dollar store to get goodies to go in the baskets is never easy with at least  2 kids, but we did it.

We set out about 8:30 pm, nice and dark and really pretty near bedtime for most people, including my kids. The first victim was the girl who was my mother's helper this past summer, who we don't really get to see too much anymore because she started middle school. We discussed the strategy before we set out: Trout put the sign on the door, I carried and put the basket down on the steps, Little Man rang the doorbell, and Sunny just crept about noisily, whispering at the top of her lungs stealthily. We scattered back to our house, about 3 doors away. So far, so good. We went back in the house to discuss our strategy for the next house, friends of Little Man's and Trout's who live down the street, about half a block away. This time, Little Man taped the sign and Trout rang the doorbell. Sunny and I kept our previous roles.

Unfortunately, we got about two houses away when our first victims came out on their porch to look around to see who left the basket. I'm sure it wasn't too much of a giveaway as we crept down the street with the subtlety of a herd of elephants with an identical basket filled with goodies. Yay, us!

We did the same thing at the other neighbor's house, and then came home. We never went back out to see if they got it or not, as we were afraid of discovery. It didn't matter. The girl recognized Trout's handwriting on her lovely sign.

So! Lessons for you when you go Booing:

1. When possible, use a computer to make the "We've Been Boo'd" signs. Or, have an adult do the actual writing so that the handwriting isn't a giveaway.
2. Wait a fair amount of time, at least 20 minutes, between hits, or don't Boo a house too close to your own.
3. Leave the herd of elephants at home. Or tape their mouths shut. Duct tape works nicely for this, or so I've heard.

Of course, this all assumes you don't want to be discovered. We still haven't discovered the identity of our Neighborhood Phantom, and frankly, I like that just fine.

Comments

[Modified mummy]

That sounds like such a lot of fun! we're very into halloween, but have never heard of this sort of activity!

If we weren't running around like blue arsed flies trying to get things ready for halloween scares, we'd so do this!

Oh, maybe I'll plan it for next year! yay!