Do You Boo?

We started this tradition in our neighborhood a good five or six years ago. One of my friends told me about it, and I knew we lived in the perfect neighborhood for this to take off. And it has.

If you don't know what "Boo'ing" is, simply put it's like a chain letter version of "Ding Dong Ditch." Only you leave a little Halloween treat for the family on the doorstep before you run off into the night giggling like fools. In turn, the recipient must "Boo" three other neighbors within 48 hours to keep the Boo going until Halloween.

The Ballerinas LOVE the "ding dong ditch" part. We take off on our bikes under the cover of darkness, riding super slowly so our carefully packed baskets don't topple over. The Big Ballerina is the one who usually walks the basket up to the doorstep while the rest of us hide behind a tree to watch. The nervous anticipation of getting caught is half the fun. Choosing what and who to Boo, and then keeping it a secret all month is the other half.  

Getting Boo'ed in return is also a big part of it. You hope that you'll get something good. After a few years of getting less than a stellar stash (and one year nothing at all :(), we finally hit the mother lode last year. We were Boo'ed by our neighbor who is an artist. She knew I'd been drooling over her Halloween driftwood sculptures so when we found THIS on our doorstep, I was doing the Monster Mash. The ballerinas, on the other hand, were a wee bit disappointed that we didn't get a basketful of sugar.

The treat you leave can be whatever you like. We usually try to bake a Halloween goodie (although last year I was lazy and just baked chocolate chip cookies) and add some other fun Halloween decorations. Since we'll be bombarded with candy on the 31st, I try not to add much candy at all. Last year, I started adding a little adult beverage to the basket. A little Firefly vodka and some lemonade.

 This year, I found some fun Magic Hat "Hex" beers that fit the theme perfectly.

We made some pretzel pops. Hard to tell from the photo, but the brown one is a Witch's Finger.  

Threw in a little black crow, a mini pumpkin and some gummy pirate's teeth, and...

We're ready for nightfall. 

Hopefully, we won't get caught. And LB won't blab our secret at the bus stop on Monday morning. If you're interested in starting this in your neighborhood, leave a comment and drop me an email at kimgrowsup@yahoo.com. I'll email you the Boo letter and instructions to get you going.