Trick or Treating Question

[awanderingbard]

When I was little, the schools used to give out Unicef boxes to take with us when we went trick or treating and people would put pennies in it when they gave you candy. Then you brought your boxes back to school and they would donate them to Unicef. I think this stopped when I was in about Grade Four or so, so a good...fifteen years at least. My dad says it's because people would steal the boxes and keep the money, but I don't know if that's true or not. Either way, we don't do it any more around here.

I was wondering if other places still do it, though. I know I've seen the boxes advertised in recent years, so I'm assuming it's still done somewhere. Can anyone shed some light on whether this still the Hallowe'en custom in your part of the world?

I'd also like to know when the apostrophe was dropped from Hallowe'en. It was drilled into us as children, I refuse to change my spelling just because the spellcheck doesn't approve.

Comments

[donutsweeper.livejournal.com]

My kids are too old now, but their old school (age 3 preschool-9th grade) passed out the UNICEF boxes every year. One of the classes was responsible for it and sometimes there would be a class party or something if one class brought in an impressive amount.

My kids hated going around and asking for money though, so they often left the boxes at home and we'd trade them some of the candy they got for money for their boxes (a GREAT way to make sure they don't overindulge)

[awanderingbard.livejournal.com]

We used to wear them on strings around our necks and people would just see them and give you money, which saved us asking. My mum just kept a bowl of pennies at the front door next to the candy bowl and dropped a few in every box.

I remember one year it snowed so badly the handle of my box dissolved and it fell off my neck.