When Good Pumpkins Go Bad or Halloween just officially became LAME!

When Good Pumpkins Go Bad
Originally uploaded by Michael_L

First it was the poor weatherman and now it's Halloween.

I was cruising around this morning and just happened along the new Pumpkin Masters Power Poker and Saw.


I won't tell you what I originally thought of when I read the words "Power Poker" ok yeah I will, I thought "You brought her, you poke her."


But seriously, they're taking all of the fun out of Halloween....half the fun of Halloween (at least when I was growing up) was making your own costumes and carving pumpkins. We always had a contest to see who could do the best Jack o'lantern using only a steak knife and a spoon. My sister always won, I usually got a hang nail.


I grew up in a small town and every year they had a big Halloween Party at the "One Room School House" (my Dad actually went to school there before they opened the "big school"). It was a huge party, where everyone got dressed up in home-made costumes - none of this "I bought it at the store" stuff and we played Bingo and ate ice cream and drank cider. The only cost to attending this party was to bring a small wrapped gift that went into the pool for Bingo winners.


One year my father went as a "robot". He took a 55-gallon barrel, cut holes in it with a welding torch, put a bucket on top and used dryer venting as the arms....he dropped us off at the party first and then he showed up about 20 minutes later (so that no one would know who he was). He ended up winning the contest that year because it was the most creative costume and since he wouldn't talk to anyone no one knew who he was - he was the "most intriguing guest."


But now with the advent of the Power Poker and Saw AND the Power Scoop, commercialism has finally put the last nail in the coffin for Halloween. Now you just go to Target buy the most "popular" costume and grab a Power Poker! How much fun can it be to "create" a Jack o'lantern if you're using an electric knife? Half of the fun was making sure you didn't cut off a finger. The other half of the fun was digging inside the pumpkin, pulling out all of that gross stuff and flinging it at your sister when she wasn't looking.


Unfortunately though, people don't want to have that fun any longer....instead they want to print out a stencil on their computer, use battery powered knives and scoopers and "make" a pumpkin that someone else created for them. Where is the fun in that?


I would much rather dress up in a home-made costume, go to the Church Hall and play Bingo. Although I do remember one year I was rather disappointed because I actually won a game of bingo and picked the most fancily wrapped present.....it was a bible! So now I only pick crappily wrapped presents.


What are you going to be for Halloween?