I used to think Halloween for kids in NYC sucked the big one. My memory of walking from house to house in my old neighborhood was the way Halloween was SUPPOSED to be, I thought. Trick or treating shouldn’t be in an apartment building with a candy sign-up sheet left at the doorman so every parent knows exactly which apartments will be home to give out candy at what time.
Everyone has a friend who lives in a really big building and those are supposed to be Halloween windfalls for the kids. Five hundred apartments can be completed in a half hour! What could be better than that?
As if the point of trick or treating is only about the candy haul.
Most people on those sign-up sheets haven’t even committed to being home. They just leave a free-for-all candy bowl in front of their closed door. Which might be fine if you walked there from someone’s house and down their walk and up their front steps in the dark. But no, in a NYC apartment building, you’ve just taken two steps from the neighboring candy bowl on the left. They are sharing the same carpet, for god sakes. In a well-lit hallway!
Last year, after we finished trick or treating in our building, I decided to venture out with Mazzy after dark, so she could see all the grown-ups dressed up in our neighborhood— NYC being an excellent place for an ADULT to celebrate Halloween.
To my surprise, we found a nearby street lined with storefronts, that actually went to great lengths to make it festive for the kids. Most shops had decorated and their respective cashiers, barbers, baristas, etc. were all dressed up. In REALLY STELLAR COSTUMES, this being the East Village and all.
That was my first clue that Manhattan hadn’t totally failed our children at Halloween.
This year, with Mazzy being almost five and my network of NYC moms friends bigger than ever, we had it all figured out.
I picked up Mazzy from school at 3pm and we changed into her Anna costume in the bathroom. (Yes, she ditched her original handmade Flower Girl costume for a store bought Disney Princess dress. At least it wasn’t Elsa.)
We met my friend and her daughter (Wonder Woman) outside school and headed to Washington Square Park to meet up with Harlow, who was at the Kid’s Halloween Parade with our nanny.
We headed down Bleecker and stumbled into a green fountain with all the cops lined up to man the West Village Halloween Parade that would be happening later that evening.
Bleecker street was littered with costumed kids going store-to-store trick or treating.
Most stores and restaurants were not only giving out candy to the kids, they were giving promotional items to the adults. I made out with a shot of carrot juice, a cup of gourmet tea and a Bantam bagel which is basically the bagel version of a munchkin filled with cream cheese.
Only in NY.
I told Mazzy she could eat as much candy as she wanted on Halloween, but that was it. There would be no candy tomorrow. She was so excited for the limitless bounty, she nodded excitedly when I told her the rules. Although I’m sure she completely understood because she still asked me before each piece of candy if she could have it. I’d say yes and then Mazzy would promise it would be her last.
“You don’t have to say that, Mazzy. You can have as much as you want.”
“No, Mom, This is my LAST PIECE.”
“You’ve said that for the last five pieces of candy.”
“This one will be my LAST piece, Mom. REALLY.”
“Whatever you say, Mazzy.”
Two seconds later she would be asking for another piece and saying that would be her last. Kids are funny.
This is what Harlow looked like when I found her.
Is that not too much?
She insisted on getting out of the stroller, grabbing a bag and trick or treating just like the big kids.
As with everything, she took Halloween VERY SERIOUSLY.
It’s worth noting, the first candy Harlow ate was M&M’s and she stuck the whole bag in her mouth without opening it.
The next part of our plan was to walk up to 11th Street between 5th and 6th aves, a brownstone lined block well known for being prime trick or treating territory.
Apparently, there are a few blocks around the city that specifically dedicate themselves to making Halloween fun for the kids. 11th Street is sectioned off by the cops so no cars can come down and all the brownstones decorate. The families who live in those brownstones (lucky ducks) are mostly all dressed up and giving out candy personally on their front stoop. As if that was a requirement for living there. The first stop on the street is actually an old church that decked itself out as a haunted house for the occasion.
Mike met us there and took over watching Harlow, while I went door-to-door with Mazzy. When the crowds got overwhelming, Mike took Harlow home and Mazzy and I stayed to finish the block.
I call this photo, “CANDYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!”
After we had gone up one side of the street and back down to the other, it started to get dark and we headed back to the East Side of town, staring at all the crazy costumed people along the way. We saw minions (“Look at those funny people!”), Clockwork Orange costumes (“His underwear is over his pants!”), grown-up versions of Anna (“Look, Mom! It’s the real Anna!”), and tons more. The streets in NY are filled with people in costume.
We got pizza at Joe’s and then headed to the block we discovered last year for one last Halloween trick or treating finale.
The stores were decorated and the last few kids were still trick or treating before bedtime. My favorite shop had to be Dinosaur Hill whose owner was dressed as a tiger.
In one shop, the clerk asked Mazzy if she was from Frozen.
“No.”
“You’re not from Frozen?”
“No.”
“Then where are you from?”
“New York City.”
Ha! That got a big laugh from everybody.
On the way home, we passed an apartment where two girls were hanging a basket of candy out their window, exchanging candy for screams.
But it was when we got home that Mazzy and I got our biggest surprise. We rang the bell and Mike and Harlow answered together wearing their matching Superman costumes.
Now THAT was unexpected.
Mike and I put the kids to bed and then ate all the Kit Kats out of Mazzy’s candy haul. Then we put our candy bowl outside the door in case there were any trick or treating stragglers and called it a night.
A pretty perfect Halloween night.
Dare I say, better than trick or treating door-to-door in my old neighborhood?
Omg I LOVE David’s tea!!!
That sounds like an amazing Halloween!
Where is the picture of Mike and Harlow in their matching Superman costumes?!
Adorable pictures. 🙂
I know! I can’t believe I didn’t take it!
Yes, you can’t end a blog post with a statement like that and NOT have a photo! I demand a re-enactment! 🙂
FYI – Trick-or-Treating in Texas is also amazing, as most adults who take the kids out and a lot of the people handing out candy are in costume (with tons of decorations). I think a lot of the credit goes to the insanely nice weather we usually have so you can actually see the costumes and those in them aren’t freezing or wearing winter coats.
I have said this countless times before, but GAH your girls get more and more gorgeous everyday! Love the pics! Especially the serious picture of Harlow, I mean Audrey.
You made this suburban valley girl from California jealous of your NYC Halloween. Perfection.
I personally would think trick-or-treating in the city would be badass. But then again I’ve never been to the city.
Your girls are such show stoppers.
what do you do with all the leftover candy from the haul? It was insanely frigid here in Wisconsin so my 3.5 year old got to do 3 houses this year and forgot about his candy the next day… yaaa more for Mommy!
Love it!! We trick or treated at our local liquor store, dive bar, sports bar, dry cleaner, coffee shop, swanky restaurant, bodega, knitting store, shoe repair..all around W. 79th Street! Then we had 18 floors in my building to conquer! #sugarcoma
this year we handed out candy and i think my favorite was my son stealing back his pacifier. I borrowed one of his pacifiers (baby costume) and put it on a string like a necklace about 3/4 of the way thru the night i bent down to scoop him up for a quick cuddle between kids and the little darling snagged the paci and put it in his mouth before i could even pick him up when the kids showed up i tried to take the paci back and he would not let go so i had to take him with me. he held on to the paci thru a half a dozen kids. we went back in and i told his daddy to take a picture but he finally spit it out before we could get a decent picture.
While I’m sure you are a compassionate person, it bothers me that from what I’ve seen, you never mention much more about your nanny than a mention here or there of “the nanny”.
Nannies do a LOT for the kids they care for. They love them like their own, and your kids will always remember them. In my mind, anyone who I let take care of my children in that way is family. Family deserves recognition, and not simply a little drop here or there of, “the nanny”.
There’s a lot of mean things I could say about rich moms in NYC and their “nannies”. But I won’t, because it seems like you are a caring and kind person. I just figured I would point this out to you, because maybe you needed a little perspective…
Our nanny’s name is Ruth and she is amazing. She has been helping take care of our children for over four years, since Mazzy was six months old. She is indispensable to us. Talking about her on the blog is tricky because a) she did not sign up to be a character here and I want to respect her privacy and b) most of the time I spend with my kids and the time she spends with my kids does not overlap. She comes to our apartment at 8am on weekday mornings. I leave to take Mazzy to school at 8:05. I come home from work at 5:45pm and she leaves at 6pm. We are not usually going on outings together with the kids so my stories and her stories are not the same. When she is involved like on Halloween, I feel very odd calling her “our nanny” and not just Ruth. But I think if I just say “Ruth” nobody will know who I am talking about so I say “our nanny” to clarify. The reason I say “nanny” instead of “sitter” is because “sitter” to me indicates someone who changes depending on the day. The term “nanny” to me means someone who is a constant caregiver and part of the family. I am also aware that bringing her up makes some people assume things about my lifestyle. What you need to know is that I am a hard-working person who earns the ability to raise my kids in Manhattan in partnership with my husband.
Yeah, I don’t get that from reading about the odd mention of Ruth. I know that when Harlow was overtired from taking too long to fall asleep, she would only be happy in the arms of mom, dad or Ruth. I know that Ruth used to take Mazzy to preschool at least sometimes. I know Ruth is an excellent carer and is passionate about her job. But Ruth is not the subject of the blog, having ‘a lifestyle that needs a nanny’ is not the subject of the blog. Bringing her up more often would be disingenuous, and in my mind would be trying to make a big deal of something that doesn’t define their life.
I personally do not have on my radar ‘rich NYC moms’ but that is not how I see mommyshorts coming across. I see a family where every member loves their nanny, and parents who want to and are able to provide a stable carer in their working absence.
The fact that you bring this up in the public comments section says more of you than it does of Ilana.
Totally agree with you Bethany. Please let’s not get into any lifestyle bashing here. Not one of our families is the same and we are all as parents doing the best for our kids in the way that works best for our family situation – blanket judging about someone else’s family is a total waste of everyone’s time. Personally for selfish reasons I am super grateful for Ruth (who has been mentioned by name before) because she is obviously doing a great job in that the girls are clearly flourishing and Ilana has peace of mind that the girls are happy so she can be at her best and write a blog I never fail to enjoy reading.
The girls are so adorable in the pictures – Harlow is ridiculously cute. I foolishly let my daughter be around while I was catching up on the blog and thanks to Mazzy’s Anna hair she is now woefully aware of my lack of braiding skillz…
Dear LaurN,
While I’m sure you are a compassionate person, it bothers me that there’s “a lot of mean things” you could say about “rich moms in NYC” and their “nannies” (and by the way, why put the word “nannies” in quotation marks, like it’s a bad word to use?). It seems to me like you are judging successful working mothers. And what are these mean things that you could say? What is it about living in NYC, or being financially successful, or being a working mother, that leads you to make assumptions about another person’s character? And do you think that’s fair? Or compassionate? Or kind? And for the record, telling someone that you could say mean things about them is actually already saying something mean.
It also seems to me that you don’t read this blog frequently, or you would have read the glowing things Ilana has posted about Ruth before. So maybe you shouldn’t write a comment like yours when you don’t know what you are talking about. I just figured I would point this out to you, because maybe you needed a little perspective…
My thoughts exactly! Thumbs up and thanks, Debbie!
I love that Harlow’s bag is almost as big as she is!! That pic on humans of New York is so perfect. She looks so fabulous. Did people recognize who she was supposed to be?
People say money isn’t the most important thing but the reality for many people is, when there’s no money, it can become the most important thing.
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Sounds like a great time. My only criticism is the mention of your friend’s daughter dressed as Wonder Woman but the photos show a Supergirl costume. Overall a wonderful Halloween though.