# Trunk or Treat??? What the heck is this?



## Shadow Mistress (Oct 26, 2007)

Okay, so I just found out what "Trunk or Treat" is. Personally, I think it's ridiculous. Trick or treating out of the trunks of cars? I went on some of these websites to check them out and the people that organize these events obviously have something against Halloween. One person said that they like to do it specifically on Halloween because that way they can go against the "dark" tenancies. 

At first, I was kind of turned off on the whole thing. But if trunk or treating falls into the wrong hands (he he he), it could actually be turned into an advantage. Open up those trunks, hang up some severed body parts. Maybe do a mad-lab on the go. Dump a bunch of bodies in there ("bring out your dead") with a portal CD player playing a buzzing sound for "flies" effect. 

You know, this might not be a bad idea......


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

Sadly, this is becoming more and more common. I think it reflects on a couple different things; parents unwillingness or "laziness" to take their kids on actual TOT rounds through their neighborhood, and misinformed "Christians" who feel it is their obligation to offer up an alternative to traditional Halloween celebrations. I commented on another forum that a martial arts studio down the block from us held a party and gave out hot dogs/popcorn/candy, in an effort to keep kids safe and (actual quote) "celebrate the light of Jesus Christ and not the dark."
I also think this is going to be an increasing threat to traditional TOT celebrations. But hey, leave it to the "Christians" to send the message that it's okay to take candy from the trunk of a stranger's car! LOL
Not bashing religion, however the inaccuracy of the information spewed by some of these well meaning zealots is a lot more terrifying than what any kid would encounter on Halloween.
The funny part was that when the kids left the martial arts studio and saw my house and the line of people waiting to walk through, they all came over anyway!


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

It is meant a safe alternative to taking kids to strangers' houses in our warped society. I agree that it is well-intentioned effort to provide a safe environment for kids, veiled in in their attempt to spread the 'gospel.' Don't expect to be welcomed with severed heads. ;-)

I also agree that this and office / mall trick or treating put serious pressure on tot-ing from house to house.

At a previous company, we decorated offices and floors and kids would come thru and trick or treat door to door. I thought it was a pretty neat idea at the time, since I lived downtown in a condo and wouldn't have had a single tot-er otherwise.


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

One other thing... it makes me laugh when churches try to hard to preach to kids. When I was 7 years old, God wasn't a big influence in my life. Papa Smurf, candy and GI Joe... maybe.


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## Jack Reaper (Nov 19, 2003)

When I was 7, the Curch I went to never preached against Halloween and actually built Haunts in the basement for a Halloween Party they would throw....The preacher dressed as the Devil one year!


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## maximpakt (Aug 11, 2006)

Trunk or treating with the hurse club would be awesome


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## boo who? (Feb 28, 2005)

I've never heard of Trunk-or-Treat, but it sounds REEEEAAALLY scary. "Hey Kid, I've got all kinds of goodies in the trunk of my car. It's right over there in that abandoned parking lot. Follow me!"


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## Glass 'eye' (Jul 22, 2007)

I purchased a 1983 Cadillac Hearse this year,I agree with Maximpakt- Trunk or treating could be really fun in that!!


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

Our church (youth group) had a haunted house each year to raise money. It was a bloody, gory, awesome affair. We had a murder bathroom, hallway with ankle ticklers, beheading scene, people under the floor, etc.... we had to shut down more than once because of faintings! 

No mention of the bible, or anything. My preacher also gave out candy at Halloween.

However, the Baptist preacher at the time was telling people that Papa Smurf was satan, etc... and the Jehovah's Witnesses were handing out tracts telling kids they would burn in hell. Hooray!


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## Dr. Slickshill (Mar 15, 2005)

Our church had a horror double feature in the basement on an old 16 mm... good times...

I read an article on Trunk or Treating that quoted someone as saying "It helps bring people together as a community". Huh? Actually, you're creating a sterilized, controlled niche within the community... the rest of us letting our snowflakes run door-to-door are participants in a real community, with real neighbors and friends... not some sanctioned, artificial world where teaching kids to get candy from people in cars is viewed as beneficial. Dunderheads.


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## jlb307 (Oct 15, 2007)

I went to Catholic school for 8 years as a kid. To this day, that school still let students dress up on Halloween for the day. I just don't get what some people's issues are with TOT-ing. It's not like I invite kids into my house and have them take part in some sort of human sacrifice........yet.
So, if any Christians say I'm going to Hell because I celebrate a holiday where people get scared for fun, and kids score some candy, then I call dibs on a window seat on the bus there.
BTW, Optimus Prime was a way bigger influence on my life than the gospel as a kid.


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## Dr. Slickshill (Mar 15, 2005)

jlb307 said:


> I went to Catholic school for 8 years as a kid...
> BTW, Optimus Prime was a way bigger influence on my life than the gospel as a kid.


Ditto on the 8 years, but my confirmation name is James, chosen by me and my best friend Buggsy in tribute to James T. Kirk! So much for religious education and traditions, eh?


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## mummy dearest (Oct 29, 2007)

Trunk or treating, Harvest festivals, when will the madness end???!!!

I would rather that my children be expossed to the same world that everyone else lives in. Not a bubble that is bound to pop eventually. Halloween exists so that we can live out things we wouldn't normally do/see, and it is in a realatively controlled environment. These people will find out what scary really is when thier sheltered children go to college. Ouch.


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## DeadTed (Aug 12, 2007)

Shadow Mistress said:


> Okay, so I just found out what "Trunk or Treat" is. Personally, I think it's ridiculous. Trick or treating out of the trunks of cars? I went on some of these websites to check them out and the people that organize these events obviously have something against Halloween. One person said that they like to do it specifically on Halloween because that way they can go against the "dark" tenancies.
> 
> At first, I was kind of turned off on the whole thing. But if trunk or treating falls into the wrong hands (he he he), it could actually be turned into an advantage. Open up those trunks, hang up some severed body parts. Maybe do a mad-lab on the go. Dump a bunch of bodies in there ("bring out your dead") with a portal CD player playing a buzzing sound for "flies" effect.
> 
> You know, this might not be a bad idea......


Just curious what area you live in Mistress... I'm in central Florida and our truck dealership had a trunk or treat.

We're closed on Sundays (very family oriented dealer) and there's a church that meets there. They put one on Halloween night. I had to work that night so I had a fun time scaring some kids from my office window (I dressed in all black with blacked out mask and had some fun with the lights). We lined up about 20 Ford pickups in the service lane and had well over a hundred kids go through while folks dressed up passed out candy from the tailgate.

Like others said, somethign to get them off the streets I guess.


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## Deadna (Oct 19, 2002)

There was a trunk or treat in a nearby town that was held on the sunday before halloween. I liked that idea because it meant kids could go toting on two days. The town funeral home really got into the idea and promoted it.
Our little town has a teen center/church that tries to take away all the toters by filling the parking lot with carnivale attractions,live bands and free food. The preacher makes it a mission to raise 30,000 each year to pay for all this. The funny thing is that right around the corner is main street where ALL the houses go all out with haunts. Even the fall colors in the trees seem to be more vibrant down main than anywhere else in town. The kids just go back and forth between both areas to get the best of it all during the night!


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## Otaku (Sep 10, 2004)

Halloween is the one night when they should be out on the streets. Meeting their neighbors, talking with the kids who live down the street that they may not otherwise talk to at all. It's a night that I get to talk to my neighbors, besides just a wave or a "hello" when I see them come home in the evening. Many parents insulate their kids from life, and for the most ludicrous reasons. How will these "protected" kids be able to deal with their peers, and the world generally, when in many cases the most interaction they have with people occurs online? I say get them out there, let them experience the wonderful diversity that surrounds them. As far as safety goes, take a flashlight, go with them on Halloween night, and check the loot when you get home. There's nothing evil or sinister about the celebration of Samhain, and if you believe otherwise, you have your own ignorance to blame.


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## Shadow Mistress (Oct 26, 2007)

I live in South Florida (Miami, to be exact) and a new church (not sure of the denomination because it has a name like New Church of Jesus in West Kendall, or something like that) and it was the first time I saw something like that. It was right next to our local Target. When I found out what it was, it made me think of that old warning we probably all got as kids...."don't go near a car you don't know." "Hey, little girl, look what I've got."

Anyway, I am another Catholic over here and I always had Halloween growing up. I dressed up as Isis one year (anyone remember that show?) and no one had a problem with me dressing up as a pagan goddess. Ditto for Wonder Woman. Yes, I had to go to church as a kid, but while you boys were G.I. Joe-ing, I was more into being one of Charlie's Angels (everyone wanted to be Kelly; no one wanted to be Sabrina). In the 80s, hair metal and new wave hit me big time and I still love both genres to this day.

So, I love haunts, Halloween, hair metal and Edgar Allen Poe. Our son is really into Halloween as well and loves the Edgar and Ellen series. Apparently, that bus to Hell is filling up fast. I had a Jehovah's Witness tell my husband and me one year that we were going to hell because we were out walking our dog instead of inviting her into our home.

Can I get a window seat?


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

Car dealerships that close on Sunday make as much sense as boats that won't float.

What days of the week do NORMAL people have off to go car shopping? 

Here's a great idea for a car dealership. M-F 9am -5pm, closed on the weekends and holidays. Hey, if people want a car, they'll just take time off from work.


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## UnOrthodOx (Apr 24, 2007)

The church in our old neighborhood did Trunk or Treats. Perhaps that explains the whopping 2 TOT's I used to get there. 

Anyhow, I went there one year. Rigged up my car with a power converter and had a fog machine and blacklight powered by the car, and a tent kids had to go through to get to my trunk. 

I was asked to leave. :lol:


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

wilbret said:


> Car dealerships that close on Sunday make as much sense as boats that won't float.
> 
> What days of the week do NORMAL people have off to go car shopping?
> 
> Here's a great idea for a car dealership. M-F 9am -5pm, closed on the weekends and holidays. Hey, if people want a car, they'll just take time off from work.


I don't know. None of the car dealerships in our area are open on Sunday either. All of them have evening and Saturday hours though. Every business needs a day off.


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## Zeltino (Aug 7, 2006)

Our neighborhood as a whole celebrates Halloween the weekend before or after Halloween, so the little kids can get the sleep they need for school during the week, so I don't really have to worry all that much about Trunk-or-Treating. But either way, it sounds un-fun! We were taught growing up to not go near a strangers car! Much less take candy from their trunk! It's too controlled. How are you suppose to scare someone with a trunk?! ...Legally, I mean...


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## Otaku (Sep 10, 2004)

Zeltino said:


> How are you suppose to scare someone with a trunk?!


I've never been able to figure that out, either. How many graveyards can fit in a car trunk, anyway?


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## hippieonastick (Oct 22, 2007)

i live in a medium sized town with a church on every corner. the nazarine is the biggest church in our area...with thousands of parisheners. this was my first year in this town and i was surprised that only every 3rd or 4th house in my neighborhood was handing out candy.

i later found out that most of the town goes to the nazarine's big trunk or treat event....thus why no one was home to hand out candy. how lame...

i'm starting to feel sorry for the kids now. remember when the best treat in your bag was a home made popcorn ball? remember trick or treating and after 1 street your candy bag overfloweth? parents aren't allowing their kids to be kids anymore. instead of cutting out the things that might get them hurt, how about being there with them, supervising, PARENTING EVEN.


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## Long_Tom (Oct 26, 2005)

Go to the trunk-or-treat, and tucked in with the candy you pass out, include a little sheet on the history of "the blood libel."


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## wilbret (Oct 8, 2004)

*[--<00>--*

I partly agree... people need a day off, businesses don't. Back to the thread! Sorry for 'jacking it.



jdubbya said:


> I don't know. None of the car dealerships in our area are open on Sunday either. All of them have evening and Saturday hours though. Every business needs a day off.


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## DeadTed (Aug 12, 2007)

wilbret said:


> Car dealerships that close on Sunday make as much sense as boats that won't float.
> 
> What days of the week do NORMAL people have off to go car shopping?
> 
> Here's a great idea for a car dealership. M-F 9am -5pm, closed on the weekends and holidays. Hey, if people want a car, they'll just take time off from work.


I just wanted to comment on this real quick. We're open 8-8 M-F and 8-5 Sat. The dealership is in the middle of a cow pasture (literally) in rural Bartow, Florida. We are one of the top 10 Ford truck dealers in the world and we do it while being closed on Sunday. It's a very conservative, crhistian area - focus on the family sort of thing. Plus, give me a break!!! I want my day off!! 

And on the note of the thread - the trunk or treat at the dealership was the first time I have heard of it. My personal opinion is that I don't care for it. Like Otaku said, Halloween is a night when kids should be on the streets! Plus, there were no decorations on the trucks and looked pretty lame. I ended up having a group of 20 kids outside my office window - I had someone turn out the lights and you couldn't see anything inside, then I'd be 2 inches from the window and flick the lights on. Kids were loving it.

I just wouldn't care to take my kid to it - I like getting to see my neighbors.


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## Shadow Mistress (Oct 26, 2007)

Okay, now that's REALLY creepy....just an open trunk and no decorations? Just someone handing out candy?

Why haven't they made a horror movie about this?


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## mooney (Oct 19, 2007)

http://www.googobits.com/articles/3056-trunkortreat--a-safer-way-to-enjoy-halloween.html

Wow.... lets change one of the oldest, most FUN traditions we have and turn it into a random saturday afternoon birthday party with a bouncy house.... unreal. This is just another way to make everything generic and cheap. 

While we are at it, lets make big plastic bubbles so that our children wont be exposed to germs.


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## ragdoll_sally (Jul 8, 2005)

my church does trunk or treat because in the area we live in it's too far/not safe to take children walking from house to house because there are little to no street lights in most areas and the huses are very widely spaced. in the 23 years my family has lived here, we have only had 1 trick or treater. ironically, that as the one year we did nt buy any candy... when i was a kid, i had to go to a relative's subdivision for trick or treating. it's not always a veiled atempt to preach. sometimes, it's just the only way kids will be able to get candy at Halloween. Acctually my church offers a prize to the best decorated trunk. my mom won this year with a graveyard scene in the back of a truck bed.


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## IshWitch (May 19, 2006)

The church that trunk or treated in our town did it from 5-8, the alloted ToT time. Thing is, hardly anybody stops ToTing at 8pm! Those kids scored their loot at the church then hit the streets. We had a sudden rush not long after 8 and had kids up until 10pm. Hahaha! On a school night!

Wonder if the church expected that?   

When I was a kid and then when we took our own kids ToTing, it was ALL about the candy! We had a game plan and hit the hot neighborhoods. And those were always the ones that had the best decorations, too! Go figure!
When I was a kid there was a Halloween parade through town which went to the elem. school where there was cider and donuts and a costume contest, to keep us safe. This was back in the late 60's and into the 70's when those dang Hippies were out there with their evil long hair and weird clothes, dusting our candy with drugs and putting razorblades in our fruit. But as soon as we were done at the school our parents rushed us off to the neighborhood and let us loose to ring dangerous doorbells as they smiled and cheered us on from the sidewalk!
 ;D


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## Spookzilla (Nov 4, 2007)

I just wrote on this same subject on Frankie’s Girl, “That’s Just Wrong” post. It is one of my major pet peeves to say the least. I’m trying my best not to a point finger at just the whacked out fundamentalist churches or greedy mall business that see it as a way to make a buck. What I think though is the major problem is that sadly parents use all kinds of excuses to avoid having to take the effort of going with little Dick or Jane door to door on Halloween night. We’ve seen and heard their excuses but what it all boils down to is lazy arse parents and their kids. The only time I would support such a think as a trunk or treat is when it’s at a local hospital or care facility for the children or elderly. Otherwise I say ban trunk or treat!


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## Freak 'N' Stein (Feb 14, 2007)

Just my 2 cents...Trunk or Treating has been around for a few years now...
...didn't really notice it until I moved to the South, however...


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## Deadna (Oct 19, 2002)

I haven't seen any church or business directly running the one near here. It was advertised for ALL to come and decorate your vehicle and park on the main street of that town. There was also winners picked for best decorated and the few pictures in the paper looked like it was alot of fun. I would participate in a minute if our town did one...as long as it wasn't held on the BIG night!


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## HappyCthulhu (Oct 22, 2007)

This thread is just made for this picture.


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## bethene (Feb 12, 2007)

A few churches in my area do trunk or treat, I know that's why I don't get any more than about 12 TOTers, I htink it is a shame. Even in my advanced years, I can so clearly remember going out , in the dark, slightly windy , night. And when we were old enough to be let loose on our own, we would go as far as we could, always just a liitle scared, who knew what was lurking out htere, some of my fondest memories are of TOTing. And when I had my own kids, I stil loved being out at night with them, the whole feeling of the experience. Of course, when they then got old enough to be out on their own, I was bummed I was deligated back indoors, I think todays kids are missing out on so much by not being able to just let loose and be kids, and that doesn't just apply to halloween, kids just don't play and act like kids as long any more, they grow up way to fast. I think it's quite sad, actually.


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## DeadEnd (Nov 10, 2006)

wilbret said:


> One other thing... it makes me laugh when churches try to hard to preach to kids. When I was 7 years old, God wasn't a big influence in my life. Papa Smurf, candy and GI Joe... maybe.


Exactly! When I was 7, God didn't influence my actions much, but Strawberry Shortcake, Barbie and Winnie the Pooh ruled my world. 

I had no clue what the heck a "trunk or treat" was until I read this thread...and I was born and have lived in the south my entire life...LOL I noticed a huge sign on Halloween night at a nearby church for "trunk or treat"...we had no clue what it was. 

I understand the concept of "trunk or treat" but heck, how is walking around a parking lot getting candy out of people's car trunks fun for kids? There's no way that can compare to the true ToTing adventure! It's a shame that yet another great Halloween tradition is slowly having the life sucked out of it.


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## fravak (Dec 11, 2006)

We did the whole trick or trunk / fall festival at our church this year. It was a blast, especially seeing kids run in terror from the giant pneumatic dragon with a 6-foot armspan come out of the back of my SUV and grab people that were standing too close. 

We do ours on a night other than Halloween so we can all still do our own thing. There isn't any preaching to 7 year olds. We just have a ton of people with kids in the 3-12 age range in the church and it gives us all a chance to see everyone else's kids dressed up. Our kids love it because it gives them an excuse to go trick or treating multiple times each year.


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## Reynard Muldrake (Oct 29, 2004)

I went to a Trunk or Treat thing this year with a woman who is religious. It was in a church parking lot. We dressed up and handed out treats from a decorated trunk. It was actually nice. They played Halloween music and some of the trunks were pretty cool. But it wasn't on Halloween, and I could never see it as a substitute for good old fashioned door-to-door trick-or-treating.


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## jdubbya (Oct 4, 2003)

As a couple have pointed out, not all of these events are on Halloween proper, so it is not seen as an alternative to traditional TOT, however in our area, most are on H'ween night during the exact established TOT hours and are billed as alternatives, and with religious undertones. I don't have a problem with events like this if they don't interfere with the normal TOT celebration.


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## Shadow Mistress (Oct 26, 2007)

The trunk or treat I saw was exactly on the 31st from 6-8pm. I don't know if the trunks were decorated or not; I have a feeling if they were, it was very tame. 

I've lived in South Florida my entire life and this was the first year I ever saw this. Well, it didn't interfere with our TOTers, so I really didn't care. I can see it work as an addition to the holiday, but leave the big 31st to the kids who still like the whole knock-on-the-door thing.

Bethene is right; kids aren't kids anymore. You couldn't get us into the house during the summer back in the late 70s/very early 80s; we only went in if it was raining. And if Halloween was on the weekend, we were running around from the second it got dark until your parents sent someone to get you. We've sterilized our kids environment so much and made everything such a politically correct issue; that's why I think the horror movies are getting more and more graphic, simply as a slap-in-the-face to that mentality. Plus, I see a lot of video game influence seeping into the movies. Which is actually fine by me. I am a HUGE fan of my PS2 (which is suffering from lack of use since I started playing WoW) and I have every violent game you can imagine. I only play them, however, when my little guy is in his room asleep. He doesn't need to see his mom running around doing drug deals in Vice City or plastic-bagging people in Manhunt. My husband doesn't mind; he says as long as I take my frustrations out on pixels, he's safe.

Anyway.....DeadEnd, I envy you in October. Halloween Horror Nights!!!!! Have only been there once, but I totally LOVED IT!!


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