NJ kids finally go the extra mile with old-school tradition

It's been quite a while since I've last seen this. Actually, it's been a while since many of us have seen this.

Now that we're in November, one can't help but reflect back on the Halloween that just passed. How did it go in your neighborhood?

We're there a lot of trick-or-treaters? How late into the night did it go? And did anything happen the night before? All great questions that help gauge how future Halloweens will unfold.

And I have to tell you, I was very pleasantly surprised in my town. Although still not quite like the childhood memories I have, it was about as close as it's ever been since living in my current home.

For starters, trick-or-treating started much earlier than it ever had. Although it wasn't officially supposed to start until 3:30 P.M., kids were out and about as early as 2 P.M.

The elementary school hadn't even let out yet so this was a combination of the middle and high schoolers as well as much younger kids. But that wasn't only one different thing.

Turnout around the town was also the largest I've ever seen. And many of the kids were going house-to-house in much larger groups.

This is all great news considering the past few years have been lackluster at best. But there was something else that happened this year that I haven't seen in a very long time throughout New Jersey.

During the late hours of October 30, some kids decided to head on out and cause a little mischief. And on the following morning, some unfortunate homes had to deal with toilet paper hanging from their trees.

Or should I say some fortunate homes? And old-school tradition that I haven't seen in a very, very long time.

Multiple homes in fact were hit. Nothing too over the top, but enough to get you to notice, and enough to set off those nostalgic vibes.

And let's be honest, when do you ever see that anymore? What kids go out on mischief night and actually cause mischief? It was a beautiful sight to see the following morning.

And that's the way it should always be. In fact, all of New Jersey's youth should take note and be a part of the old-school tradition.

There wasn't any violence or malicious intent, just good-natured fun. So to those kids who went out and did this, I applaud you.

And yes, we also had many trick-or-treaters on Halloween itself. So many in fact that we actually ran out of candy at one point.

That's never happened to us since the day we moved into our home in 2015. Certainly beats the alternative of trunk-or-treat any day.

Probably the only thing that was still a bit disappointing was when trick-or-treating ended. As soon as that sun went down, it was all over.

But aside from that, Halloween 2023 was very successful in our neck of the woods. Not only that, but we also welcomed back a classic New Jersey tradition, mischief night.

The above post reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 Sunday morning host Mike Brant. Any opinions expressed are his own.