If you’ve ever sat on your front porch and observed trick-or-treaters with a bag of snack food or candy still left over, chances are you’ve been “booed.” Don’t panic, it’s not the jumpscare booing, it’s a prank where someone drops off a bag of treats and a note, saying you’ve been booed. Then, you’re supposed to make a basket and pay it forward to someone else. It is really a chain of kindness which circulates in the neighborhood throughout each October.
The first time experiencing being booed can be a little confusing at first. You walk outside to see a sweet-looking Halloween basket full of candy, cookies, and even a small pumpkin decoration. Holding a note that says, “You’ve been booed! Now it’s your turn to boo two more people!” This is when you are truly able to take in the experience and realize how exciting and wonderful it is. This small act of kindness can really turn around someone’s day.
“Getting booed is wonderful because it’s such a surprise. It just makes you smile when you see a basket out there,” senior Delaney Wolkopf said.
Making baskets of your own is even better. Scrolling the internet researching these fun surprises brought to see many people out shopping for all kinds of Halloween treats and little toys. Wrapped baskets in orange tissue paper and Halloween-themed stickers. Some people even post them sneaking out late at night so nobody would know that they were going to boo people. Through their posts people are able to see the joy of the whole experience is truly making someone’s day a little bit better with a fun treat.
“The biggest part isn’t getting the candy, it’s sneaking around to get the next basket and knowing you’ve brightened somebody’s day,” junior Brooklyn Pruett said.
The best thing about being booed is that it snowballs and it makes people so happy very, very quickly. One or two do it, and in an hour you have half the suburb booed. You’ve got signs on people’s front doors that read “We’ve been booed!” and it just brings everyone together. Strangers that otherwise don’t talk to each other join in on it because it is that enjoyable and it is so harmless.
This is such a great way to bring people together. It’s not whether you have an elegant basket, how much is in it, but that you take the time to do something good for another person. Getting booed may just seem like a dumb Halloween prank, but it really does show the way small acts of kindness are spreading. It’s something that reminds people to think about looking back and remembering that Halloween has nothing to do with candy or costumes, it’s about neighbors. If you get booed this Halloween, don’t stop there. Share it, relish it, and brighten someone else’s day.
