Monday, October 21, 2013

The Halloween Dilemma

I don’t know about you, but I love Halloween. I mean, I really love Halloween. My kids are all grown up and on their own now. So, I don’t have any legitimate excuse to dress up on Halloween anymore. I truly miss it.

Back in the day, I got as excited, if not more so, as my kids when picking out costumes each Halloween. I am proud to say that I never succumbed to the kids’ requests to buy a manufactured costume with plastic masks and slick satiny fakeness. No, not me. We started planning costumes in late September and scrounged through closets, the attic and basement to find bits and pieces that would later become a costume of unparalleled awesomeness.

Headless men, hopeless hobos and clowns that made Stephen King’s Pennywise shiver in fear, have emerged from the scraps in my closets. Each masterpiece became a notch in my proverbial Awesome Halloween Costumes belt. I understand your envy. My kids and I were masterful. By the way, Pennywise has his own Facebook page – yay, social media!

But, alas, that was then and this is now.

In an effort to create tradition in my office, I go all out for Halloween. The decorations come out on the first day of October and our patients have spooktacular experiences at our office for the whole month. I get excited when Halloween lands on a scheduled work day, as it does this year. That means we can get a little funky with our apparel and encourage the neighborhood kids to stop by for some treats. This is where my annual Halloween dilemma comes in. What to give to the kids that do stop by our spooky emporium?

Do you give candy out at your office on Halloween? Do you give candy out at your home?

My wonderful dad, who was also a dentist, used to give out toothbrushes for Halloween. Young me was horrified! We were the only house that didn’t give out candy. While Mom and Dad thought it was funny and cute, I wanted to apply to be adopted by a candy-giving family. It may, in fact, be the trauma from this toothbrush memory that causes me to feel so strongly about giving out candy. I’ve actually been lambasted on Facebook (to the lambaster’s credit, it was done in a private message) about my Facebook-public relationship with chocolate and chocolatiers, and the inferred incongruencies inherent in that relationship as a dentist. Sigh…

So, do I succumb to the pressures of being a good sweet-fighting dentist and follow in my dad’s footsteps, giving out cute toothbrushes? Or do I stand up proudly as a Halloween-loving, candy-toting, sweets-supporting dentist? What do you do?

By the way… anyone want a Milky Way?

Claudia Anderson, DDS

6 comments:

gatordmd said...

I go to Costco and buy the GIANT Snickers bars and give them out at Halloween at my house (I don't want any middle schooler egging my house because I gave them floss).

But the day after Halloween I do the Candy Buy Back at the office and send all the "bought" candy to our troops overseas.

Unknown said...

Thanks for your fun comment! I LOVE that you do the Candy Buy Back the day after Halloween...what a great cause! So, be honest...how many of those GIANT Snickers end up in your tummy? ;-)

Lilya Horowitz DDS said...

I try to avoid sugar myself, but every year around this time I give in to my terrible candy corn addiction!
I live in an apartment building so I do not get many trick or treaters but I would probably give candy out since it is OK on special occasions. I may throw in a toothbrush though :)

Unknown said...

Hi Lilya! Thanks for your "sweet" comment! What is it about candy corn??? I LOVE candy corn too...I can't really explain why....maybe it just has a warm fuzzy childhood connection. I live out in the country and we never get trick or treaters because we are just too far off of the road so...we never buy candy for the house on Halloween because you know who'd eat it...maybe that's why I love getting the office all involved in Halloween! Have a SPOOKTACULAR Halloween!!!

Gina Dorfman, D.D.S. said...

We do Candy Buy Back too. We also stock up on Dr. John's sugarless candies with Xylitol to hand them out on Halloween.

Unknown said...

Hi Gina! Well, I have to say...thanks to the inspiration of you and @gatormd , I signed our office up to participate in the Candy Buy Back program. I feel really great about this and I am grateful to both of you for spreading the sweetness! And sugarless candies with Xylitol are a GREAT compromise! Thank you you for the Halloween comment love! Claudia

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