Millie Marie Poley was somewhat joking when she asked fellow Facebook users on DeSoto Missouri 411 if anyone would let some kids toilet paper their house for a fun, safe and memorable activity.
Now she’s the organizer of the “De Soto 2-Ply Typhoon TP’ing Crew” that she hopes will become a Halloween tradition.
“We have all these trunk or treats going on around town, and I know a lot of the older middle school and high school kids don’t have anything to do besides the trunk or treats, and that kind of gets boring for the older kids,” said Poley, 33, who has lived in De Soto with her son for three years. “So, I was just joking around. I made a (Facebook) status, and I was like I wish somebody would let the kids come TP their house. I woke up the next morning, and 10 people (said) they can come do theirs.”
Since people were willing to let their properties be decorated with streams of toilet paper, she made it happen.
“I got permissions from all of the people who said they would let the kids come and (TP),” Poley said.
And then she went to the store and bought a bunch of toilet paper and announced the meeting spots for seven evenings of TPing, with the last being held on Oct. 29.
Seven children, from preschool age to high schoolers, and four parents took part in the first TP event on Oct. 19.
“The first day we did two hours because one of the houses was kind of little, and I wanted the kids to get the full effect,” she said.
Five kids participated on Oct. 20 and about 18 kids participated in the third on Oct. 22.
Millie Marie Poley was somewhat joking when she asked fellow Facebook users on DeSoto Missouri 411 if anyone would let some kids toilet paper their house for a fun, safe and memorable activity. Now she’s the organizer of the De Soto 2-Ply Typhoon TP’ing Crew that she hopes will become a Halloween tradition.
Poley convinced her friend, Chrislyn Atchley, who moved from the De Soto area to Wentzville, to bring her two girls, 8-year-old Adeline and 7-year-old Arya, to toilet paper Matthew and Shi Haws’ home in Sunrise Lake on Oct. 22.
Atchley said when she was growing up, an Alton, Illinois, church organized a toilet-papering event.
“Now (my girls) get to do it, too,” she said.
David Vandaveer Jr. and Karen Kuda of House Springs, formerly of De Soto, brought 9-year-old Brantley Lamborn and 7-year-old Faith Birkenmeier after seeing it on Facebook. Kuda thought the kids would have fun.
The kids had so much fun they were hunting down partially used toilet paper rolls after the older kids left. Some left wearing toilet paper as scarves.
When asked why Shi Haws volunteered her backyard for the TP crew, she said, “Why not? It’s something for kids to have fun and not get in trouble.”
Shi’s two children and her sister’s three kids joined in the fun. She said she would probably take the toilet paper down after a few days.
Poley admits she did her fair share of toilet papering houses as a kid growing up around St. Louis.
“We never had permission to do it,” she said. “It was a lot different than it is nowadays.”
She said she tries to remind the young participants that they should only TP these houses.
“If this goes well this year, I do plan on continuing to do this every year for the kids,” Poley said. “I got a couple negative comments about it (on Facebook), and then I’ve got a lot of great, wonderful comments about it.
“The good definitely outweighs the bad with this. It’s wonderful to see the kids laughing and running around having a good time. It’s nice to see.”