Trick or treat began as a threat.

“Trick or treat” sounds friendly now. It was not always quite so polite.

An early newspaper account appeared in Alberta’s Lethbridge Herald on November 4, 1927. It described children at the back door and the front demanding “edible plunder” with the words “trick or treat.” Wagon wheels, gates and barrels had been moved into the street. Homeowners handed over food, and the children left satisfied.

The treat bought off the trick.

The doorstep exchange had older roots. In souling, which dates to the Middle Ages, poor people offered prayers for a household’s dead in return for food. Later, children dressed up and sang songs or recited poems for nuts, fruit and coins.

The customs changed. The exchange remained: someone knocks, and someone offers something good.

On Halloween, that sounds simple - until you are trying to finish dinner between visitors.

There is a costume to fix, a missing piece to find, someone asking when it will be dark enough to go out.

Then the doorbell rings. And rings again.

So plan dinner before the evening gets busy.

Not a complicated meal. Not another project. Something good, ready to eat, with enough time to sit down before the first knock.

If you are going trick-or-treating, eat before you leave. If you are handing out candy, eat before you take your place beside the bowl.

Put the food on plates. Let the last costume adjustments wait a few minutes.

Enjoy the candy, too. Dinner is not something to get through to earn the treats. It is another good part of the night.

We cook from scratch so you can skip the cooking this time. Pick up something you look forward to eating, sit down, and enjoy it before the neighborhood comes calling.

The children get the doorstep. You get dinner first.

Get dinner in before the candy

Order online and take 10% off your first order. Something good to eat before the doorbell starts.

Source

1. The 1927 Lethbridge Herald account, and the history of souling and other doorstep customs. The Canadian Encyclopedia, Halloween in Canada.