Halloween is next Monday...NOT Saturday

[SingleFather]

Our town is throwing our annual Trunk and Treat/ haunted house this Friday, but the neighborhood is doing Halloween on Monday.

Enough parents raised a stink with the club and activities director that they have dropped trying to get kids to trick or treat on a night other than Halloween.

 

[NikitaZee]

Enough parents raised a stink with the club and activities director that they have dropped trying to get kids to trick or treat on a night other than Halloween.

Good for you guys I would have done the same thing.

 

[hanutedmansionmomma]

Heck, let's also move Christmas and the 4th of July to fixed days, too.

Welllllll most folks get those days off. No days off for sugar day.

BUT I'll start the petitions

My guess is that they all know what it's like and that's why they don't want to deal with their kids all day on Sunday. Much easier to ship 'em off to school the next day (That was a joke.)

I'm surprised people wouldn't rather do it on a weekend then on a weekday. Seems to me like it would be a lot easier.

And nobody is moving Halloween. They're just moving Trick-or-Treat. Not necessarily the same thing.

omg you are probably right. Sugar 'em up and send 'em to school

This is great!

 

[CandyMandy]

Our light goes off at 6:15.

Ya - in strict compliance with the local Holiday Gestapo.

Yes, Halloween is the 31st. Trick or Treating is the 30th.

Only in a minority of areas that allow this sort of totalitarian behavior. The majority of America does not ban trick or treating on Halloween.

I don't think it's a matter of people not being able to think for themselves.

And here is an alternative viewpoint: this sort of "here are the offical rules for when and how you can celebrate a Holiday" stuff only rears its unattractive head when the locals are too asleep to notice that local micro-management types with far too much time on their hands are at it again with their favorite hobby ...looking for more control over others.

Is Halloween considered a "major holiday" for some people?

Apparently, yes:

"The National Retail Federation predicts that Americans will spend about $6.86 billion on Halloween-related items this season. That's the most recorded in the nine-year history of the federation's holiday survey....retailers report that spending on Halloween decorations is now second only to what is spent on Christmas decorations.."

http://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2011/oct/25/b6-ct2-halloween-really-big-business/

 

[indimom]

And here is an alternative viewpoint: this sort of "here are the offical rules for when and how you can celebrate a Holiday" stuff only rears its unattractive head when the locals are too asleep to notice that local micro-management types with far too much time on their hands are at it again with their favorite hobby ...looking for more control over others.

Oh my gosh, this made me lol!!! Maybe that's the reason in some towns, but it sure isn't here. In a town this size, if the locals (sheeple, if you prefer) don't like what's going on with city council, they have no problem making their voice heard. And, council members or the mayor aren't going to hear about it at the next scheduled meeting or via e-mail. Nope, it's not going to be that easy.

I've seen it happen time and again. They are going to get cornered at church or their day job, lectured in the grocery store or post office, chased down at the high school football game or called out on their daily jog. There is NO WHERE they can hide!!! And because of that, I can promise you, they are directly accountable for any stupid decision they make.

 

[Mermaid02]

?? Are you saying that trick or treat should be unlimited? Really? Ours is from 6-8pm, and I think it's for a good reason! I would not want kids running around my neighborhood at all hours ringing my doorbell. I think setting a time is a GOOD thing, for everyone.

Nobody around here complains, because it's been like this FOREVER. If you are from around here, it's just the way it is. Friday before Halloween, 6-8pm. No biggie. The Halloween parade is ALWAYS on the last Sunday in October, at 2pm, unless it rains. It's been that way for as long as I can remember.

Another reason I really like trick or treat to be on a weekend night is because we always get together with neighbor friends and have a gathering. The dads walk with the kids (and bring along their adult beverages to get them through it!), the mom's give out candy, and then we meet at a neighbors house for drinks and food. We don't have to worry about going to school/work the next day.

Yes. Here we have the lights out rule- if someone's outside light isn't on, they are not accepting trick or treaters (for any reason, out of candy, not home, sick, or just don't want to participate) We keep our light on until we run out of candy When my kids were toddlers, we would go early- many nights we were done by 6pm and they were in bed by 7pm.

 

[herdtoDisney]

Here, people trick or treat on the 31st. Malls and places like that might have their giveaways on the weekend, but generally door-to-door is on the actual day.

Really, if anyone shows up at my house at 4pm on Saturday night-I'll be at work so they're wasting their time. Monday I'm here. Lights are on till the candy's gone, and I don't care how old you are-teens welcome.

 

[golfgal]

Kids don't even START going out until about 6:00 here. We don't have any set hours, kids just wait for it to get dark before they go. We usually get a couple little, little kids around 5:30 or so but the bulk of the kids are out between 6-9. We have the lights out rule too but we don't usually turn our lights out until 9:30 or so. Toward the end we get more of the older kids, all in costume, all very polite. They get big handfuls of candy from us .

 

[aprilgail2]

Yes. Here we have the lights out rule- if someone's outside light isn't on, they are not accepting trick or treaters (for any reason, out of candy, not home, sick, or just don't want to participate) We keep our light on until we run out of candy When my kids were toddlers, we would go early- many nights we were done by 6pm and they were in bed by 7pm.

Most houses here have motion lights- they come on if someone walks up the path- so unless you walk up the path there is no light on the majority of the houses!

 

[Nancyg56]

I don't really care when the kids go out Trick or treating but I sure wish it was on a Saturday night. I have no idea how it is in areas other than my own but we don't get many kids anymore. Maybe more would be out is there was no school the following day.

When my children were young there were several years when they could not go out for Halloween. Candy had been tampered with and it really was dangerous for a few years. Local stores, Malls and Fast Food places started having parties. They had fun but it was not the same. There is something very special for kids when they go from door to door. Anyway, i don't think the kids care what day they go out, I think the parents have more of an investment in the night than they do.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

ToT is this Sunday afternoon for us.......and I could really care less which day it is on.

 

[Toad_Passenger]

I don't really care when the kids go out Trick or treating but I sure wish it was on a Saturday night. I have no idea how it is in areas other than my own but we don't get many kids anymore. Maybe more would be out is there was no school the following day.

When my children were young there were several years when they could not go out for Halloween. Candy had been tampered with and it really was dangerous for a few years. Local stores, Malls and Fast Food places started having parties. They had fun but it was not the same. There is something very special for kids when they go from door to door. Anyway, i don't think the kids care what day they go out, I think the parents have more of an investment in the night than they do.

When was this? I've read countless articles that claim that all of the tampered candy stories are nothing but myth.

This article goes more in depth about it:

How often does Halloween candy tampering really happen?

Shame to think your kids may have missed out on something due to media perpetuating a decades-old myth.

 

[Nancyg56]

When was this? I've read countless articles that claim that all of the tampered candy stories are nothing but myth.

This article goes more in depth about it:

How often does Halloween candy tampering really happen?

Shame to think your kids may have missed out on something due to media perpetuating a decades-old myth.

Early 80's. I must say that I have no firsthand knowledge of the tampered candy, I did not buy any for a while nor did my children eat any. The fear was real though, enough so the school's opened their doors to host school-wide parties and local businesses came up with activities as well.

When I was a kid we turned all of our Halloween loot over to my Mom who tosses the apples, any homemade treats and anything that was not individually wrapped. A man on our street did put razor blades in apples so she was taking no chances. When my own kids were young I followed the same rule and never really thought too much about it. But IIRC, the candy thing happened after the Tylenol problem and as a parent I had no problem taking the kids in their costumes to celebrate in places that offered no candy treats.

I don't know if the threats were real but as long as there was a question of safety I felt that it was better to find different ways of Trick-or-Treating for my children. They really did not miss out on much because they were in the same boat as their friends. No one was on the street getting candy so they did not think that they missed anything. Again, I believe that the parents might have felt shortchanged but the kids were fine.

 

[ms.yt]

Our town's ToT is ALWAYS the Thursday before Halloween. If Halloween falls on a Thursday, ToT would be on the 24th. Never on Halloween.

I don't understand the logic behind this at all. Can you explain why this is done?

 

[Metsfan520]

When was this? I've read countless articles that claim that all of the tampered candy stories are nothing but myth.

This article goes more in depth about it:

How often does Halloween candy tampering really happen?

Shame to think your kids may have missed out on something due to media perpetuating a decades-old myth.

Early 80's. I must say that I have no firsthand knowledge of the tampered candy, I did not buy any for a while nor did my children eat any. The fear was real though, enough so the school's opened their doors to host school-wide parties and local businesses came up with activities as well.

When I was a kid we turned all of our Halloween loot over to my Mom who tosses the apples, any homemade treats and anything that was not individually wrapped. A man on our street did put razor blades in apples so she was taking no chances. When my own kids were young I followed the same rule and never really thought too much about it. But IIRC, the candy thing happened after the Tylenol problem and as a parent I had no problem taking the kids in their costumes to celebrate in places that offered no candy treats.

I don't know if the threats were real but as long as there was a question of safety I felt that it was better to find different ways of Trick-or-Treating for my children. They really did not miss out on much because they were in the same boat as their friends. No one was on the street getting candy so they did not think that they missed anything. Again, I believe that the parents might have felt shortchanged but the kids were fine.

Nancy explained it perfectly. Yes we know now that it was all bogus, but in the pre-internet days, all we had were news reports. And it seemed that there was some kind of scare every year. And don't forget the Tynenol poisonings that happened in 1982. (they never found who did it) I'm sure that stuff scared a lot of people. It really was a different world back then. We still went trick-or-treating in the suburbs, but we only went to houses we knew & my mom checked over everything.

 

[okeydokey]

I am waiting for this thread to morph into "drinking wine while passing out candy" versus "how can you drink alcohol during a children's event you alcoholic". Has that happened yet?

For the sake of transparency I will be serving a Reisling and a Cabernet.

 

[Metsfan520]

I am waiting for this thread to morph into "drinking wine while passing out candy" versus "how can you drink alcohol during a children's event you alcoholic". Has that happened yet?

For the sake of transparency I will be serving a Reisling and a Cabernet.

Not yet. But those threads usually pop up after Halloween.

 

[Planogirl]

We must live in a really weird place. Our town doesn't get involved in when kids trick or treat.

 

[jrmasm]

I am waiting for this thread to morph into "drinking wine while passing out candy" versus "how can you drink alcohol during a children's event you alcoholic". Has that happened yet?

For the sake of transparency I will be serving a Reisling and a Cabernet.

The bolded is always appropriate regardless of which day children go trick or treating!!

 

[mom2aandj]

Nancy explained it perfectly. Yes we know now that it was all bogus, but in the pre-internet days, all we had were news reports. And it seemed that there was some kind of scare every year. And don't forget the Tynenol poisonings that happened in 1982. (they never found who did it) I'm sure that stuff scared a lot of people. It really was a different world back then. We still went trick-or-treating in the suburbs, but we only went to houses we knew & my mom checked over everything.

yes, we lived near the Chicago suburb where the Tylenol tampering case occurred, and that Halloween I can vividly recall how my brother and I were practically the ONLY kids trick or treating in our neighborhood. (apparently my parents were early pioneers of the Free Range Kids movement because they never thought not to send us out.) It was very eerie.

And my town limits the hours for ToT, but it is always held on the 31st. They apparently feel no compuction about moving around the 4th of July fireworks though, which this year took place on July 2nd. That irks me more than any other holiday moving--the NAME of the Holiday is the date for goodness sake!