Dori’s Halloween ‘humbug’

With Dori Monson’s three daughters in high school or college, there’s a lot he misses about having young kids and all the special occasions they get really excited about. But Halloween isn’t one of them.

“I hated Halloween. It’s almost always raining, it’s always cold on Halloween and this might sound really dumb, I couldn’t stand my kids going up to somebody’s house asking them for something for free,” Dori says.

He went along with it begrudgingly. But the whole trick-or-treat thing just never sat well with him.

“I hate the whole thing,” he says.

“Do you want them to go up and offer to do some chores in exchange for candy?” asks Producer Jake.

Actually, Dori says he would have much preferred they pull some weeds for a Tootsie Roll rather than just stick their hands out.

“I don’t like the little moochers that come up to my door and I don’t want my kids to be a bunch of little moochers.”

It’s not just about Halloween. Dori says he pretty much feels that way all the time. As a youth basketball coach, he refused to let his players simply send out letters asking for money for fundraisers. Instead, he made them work for it.

“I said ‘No, we’re not going to just ask people to give us money.’ We’ll do a car wash, we’ll provide a service in return for the money. Or we’ll do something, but I don’t want people just giving people stuff.”

But it’s not all Halloween “humbug” for Dori. He admits he loves carving pumpkins, and for the trick-or-treaters that show up, his wife has stocked up on candy and decorated the house. But he’ll be counting the minutes until the evening is over.