Popcorn Balls

[freakygirl]

Our neighbor lady has always given popcorn balls (homemade) and assorted soda for Halloween.

I changed clothing THREE times tonight just so I could keep going back

I love popcorn balls...

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

lol

My aunt has made candy apples for the past 25 years each halloween.... she has learned how to tell if someone is on a return trip.

 

[freakygirl]

Yeah..

On my second time there, Mrs P. says "Jennifer, you changed clothes to come back and get more?" I sheepishly said "Yep" and grinned. She said "well you did walk all this way and went to so much trouble to change, i'll give you one more". (3 houses down and i changed my shirt and coat). Third time, i took my nephew with me. He got his soda, and she gave me another popcorn ball. She winked when she handed it to me. I told her it was for my husband, she said "Your husband doesn't like them" I smiled. She smiled.

I didn't push my luck with one more trip back

 

[Fly_On_Wall]

Lol.... Devilish

 

[Mensa]

Times have changed

It used to be that you could always count on getting something special like homemade popcorn balls or fudge or Rice Krispie squares. It made the holiday unique.

Now with so much justifiable paranoia, everything you receive is double-wrapped, sealed, irradiated, numbered, and practically fingerprinted. No more fudge, caramel apples, popcorn balls.

The times, they are achangin', and not necessarily for the better.

 

[SexyChele]

Well, I'm jealous, Freaky Girl! None of my neighbors will make popcorn balls, and I haven't had them since I was a kid. I love those things! You are one lucky woman!

 

[freakygirl]

Re: Times have changed

It used to be that you could always count on getting something special like homemade popcorn balls or fudge or Rice Krispie squares. It made the holiday unique.

Now with so much justifiable paranoia, everything you receive is double-wrapped, sealed, irradiated, numbered, and practically fingerprinted. No more fudge, caramel apples, popcorn balls.

The times, they are achangin', and not necessarily for the better.

Mrs. P. is like a million years old, been giving out popcorn balls for as long as i can remember.

We live in a small town, everyone is either related or grew up together. People don't move from this town. We only die.

Mrs P. is the only one we get that kind of stuff from. No one else in town goes to the trouble. But if they did, it would be trusted.

I love this town

What you talk about is sad. I'm glad so far we haven't had any trouble.

 

[freakygirl]

Well I'm not telling where I live.

Everyone will move here and get all my popcorn balls..

 

[SexyChele]

Well I'm not telling where I live.

Everyone will move here and get all my popcorn balls..

Awww....how 'bout I bribe ya with free chocolate?

 

[Elizabeth]

Last week, I got a note in the bookbag of my 8 year old sdaughter. I was asked to bring cupcakes for todays' festivites. BUT I was told I needed to buy them at a bakery. Apparently, home made treats are no longer acceptable. No Rice Krispie treats, no cookies, NO carmel apples (btw, I love popcorn balls too.) or, sadly, cupcakes. 22 kids in the class, $14.99 at Sam's Club for a box of cupcakes. I was really wanting to make those cool chocolate cupcakes with Oreo cookie crumbles and gummi worms on top.

 

[Siren]

Thats what is missing

 

[freakygirl]

We can take homemade treats to school still.

My daughter got angry, because everyone else gets a birthday party during school. She says I have to change her birthday from August to early September, so she too can have a school party. I talked to the teacher and this year we were able to bring in treats for her.

I have a tummy ache now from popcorn balls and all the hershey bars (stole them from the kid after she went to bed )

 

[LukkyKnight]

paranoia

Actually, there has been no report which the FBI can find credible proof to support that any halloween candy/treat has been maliciously tampered with. There are cases where somebody picks on a specific kid in some way or another, but no "house of horrors" where a lunatic just randomly distributes harmful or tainted stuff. Our paranoia has been whipped up by people selling newpapers and TV ads, mostly, but upon investigation it's all urban legends.

 

[Mensa]

Last week, I got a note in the bookbag of my 8 year old sdaughter. I was asked to bring cupcakes for todays' festivites. BUT I was told I needed to buy them at a bakery. Apparently, home made treats are no longer acceptable. No Rice Krispie treats, no cookies, NO carmel apples (btw, I love popcorn balls too.) or, sadly, cupcakes. 22 kids in the class, $14.99 at Sam's Club for a box of cupcakes. I was really wanting to make those cool chocolate cupcakes with Oreo cookie crumbles and gummi worms on top.

Tends to drain it of all the fun, doesn't it?

 

[Aphrodisiac]

Flashbacks ...

I just LOVE popcorn balls !
I love the caramel ones .. they are so sweet sticky and just plain delicious.

When I was in high school our history teacher would bake us brownies & popcorn balls if we all did well in our exams. She would not just do it for one class but for all her classes. She was such a sweet lady...

Now I am craving popcorn balls !!!! *yum yum*

 

[Mensa]

Re: paranoia

Actually, there has been no report which the FBI can find credible proof to support that any halloween candy/treat has been maliciously tampered with. There are cases where somebody picks on a specific kid in some way or another, but no "house of horrors" where a lunatic just randomly distributes harmful or tainted stuff. Our paranoia has been whipped up by people selling newpapers and TV ads, mostly, but upon investigation it's all urban legends.

You are probably right, but ask most parents if they would willingly give their child an unwrapped candy and the answer would most likely be no. Myths can be very powerful.

 

[LukkyKnight]

I undestand

...but knowing precisly where my kid was last night I am comfortable letting him have two of the "treats" which were wrapped rather than sealed. I'd never hand them out that way on the assumption that other parents would make their kids throw the stuff away - It's a connundrum.

 

[Cheyenne]

Re: paranoia

Actually, there has been no report which the FBI can find credible proof to support that any halloween candy/treat has been maliciously tampered with. There are cases where somebody picks on a specific kid in some way or another, but no "house of horrors" where a lunatic just randomly distributes harmful or tainted stuff. Our paranoia has been whipped up by people selling newpapers and TV ads, mostly, but upon investigation it's all urban legends.

Don't your hospitals offer free xrays of kids' candy bags? I don't remember reading much about it this year, but many years the xrays have been done to check for pins inserted into candy. There are always 2 or 3 stories in the paper every year of pins being found. Sometimes it is really wacky where a parent stuck the pin in the candy to get the attention of having "found" it!

 

[Willing and Unsure]

see... i remember when i was little.. like when i first remember trick or treating and all that.. there was something going on in my area where someone had tampered with tylenol and managed to get poison into it instead, and there were a few other things. that year, we went out, but we didnt get to keep much candy. my parents were really paranoid that if someone would put poison in tylenol, they would put poison into candy too.

 

[teresafannin]

I miss the days of popcorn balls & candy apples, too. I lived in a small town in the midwest until I was 12 & Halloween was a big deal. All of the moms on my block got together weeks in advance to plan what they would make for treats. My mom made the best popcorn balls in the world. We had to take store bought stuff to the school parties when my son was in grade school. The note we got about it said that any treats had to be baked in a kitchen that was inspected by the health department. My kitchen at home is probably cleaner than most grocery store kitchens, I never gave anyone food poisoning that I know of.

 

[Cheyenne]

I haven't been trick or treating myself in more than 30 years. Even way back then, we never ever were allowed to eat any home made treats that we collected while trick or treating. My parents cleared those out of the bag as soon as we got home for safety purposes.

 

[Marxist]

I haven't been trick or treating myself in more than 30 years. Even way back then, we never ever were allowed to eat any home made treats that we collected while trick or treating. My parents cleared those out of the bag as soon as we got home for safety purposes.

That's the smart thing to do. Good advice.

 

[PowerOfOne]

You could always give out money as a treat and let me know where you are so that I can "trick or treat" at your house. In this way it will ease the parents mind that the children are not receiving poison, razor blades, etc. You DO run the risk of the little munchkin returning and robbing you. Children are much more advanced in this day and time with skills that I did not acquire until much later...~laugh~

 

[PowerOfOne]

Oops..technical malfunction caused multiposting.

 

[Gilly Bean]

When my daughter was in a private preschool, we were allowed to bring in home made goodies any time we want. Now, in kindergarten, its store bought only. -sighs- Reason being is it is against state health code to distribute home made food in any school. -sighs- I remember when we were kids that was what it was as well. Always had to bring in store stuff.

Now, if a teacher told me I was required to bring in something specif, I would laugh my ass off.

We usually have a sign up sheet that goes home with the kids. You pick what you bring. If there is to much of one thing, and not enough of another, the teacher will send home notes to half the people who signed up for one thing, and ask that they make another selection.

With Rae's school this year, the sign up was on the teachers door, so there were no duplicates. I don't think I would go to a bakery and buy enough cupcakes for any class, simply cause we are always broke as is, and its much easier to get by with buying cute holiday plates at the dollar store.


As a point of curiosity....

anyone have an actual recipe for popcorn balls? I have been wanting to make em for a while now, and can't find a recipe anywhere! Also, what about adding flavoring to them? A friend told me her friends mom sued to make flavored popcorn with jello mix, but she couldn't remmeber how precisly.