Candy for trick or treat

[Eastern]

One year I actually bought a package of teething biscuits to give to those adults trying to claim they were trick or treating for their infant. I also find some kids trying to come back for a second or third time!

That is a good idea.

Yes, I had many 'repeaters'. It's really hard to memorize the costumes for when they come back again. I don't want to accuse a little kid of trying to get more candy, but I know several kids came back last year and got 2 and 3 bars. I was giving out full size bars to entire families, consisting of a couple/three kids, two parents, and a baby! That just got on my nerves. Who asks for candy as a fully grown adult?

 

[okeydokey]

My husband and I just sit on the porch because the dogs go crazy whenever some one knocks on the door.

We do too, with friends, and wine.

 

[amcnj]

That is a good idea.

Yes, I had many 'repeaters'. It's really hard to memorize the costumes for when they come back again. I don't want to accuse a little kid of trying to get more candy, but I know several kids came back last year and got 2 and 3 bars. I was giving out full size bars to entire families, consisting of a couple/three kids, two parents, and a baby! That just got on my nerves. Who asks for candy as a fully grown adult?

Since I have a "haunted" garage for them to view, I get a lot who come back just to crawl in and see that again. But like you don't want to accuse someone of getting a second candy bar. So I just make general statements like "if you have been here before you are welcome to view again, but if you already received candy please don't take another as I won't have enough for everyone else". And that works for most. Of course there are always a few for whom it doesn't. I also have a number who ask if they can take more than one. But yeah, I agree with you that it is those big family groups with multiple adults who bother me the most when they all expect to take candy too.

 

[Sagginit]

i live in a city and my first year here bought candy. well i saw kids but no one came to our door, i have no idea how these kids trick or treat. am i expected to sit on the sidewalk with candy in the suburbs my mom usually got two of those bags from costco. one was half eaten by halloween and two were usually enough. that was a house, i lived in a townhouse when younger and you go through more candy as houses are closer together.

some people would even drive their kids to our neighborhood for that reason.
honestly the nerve of some people. they are like halloween grinches.

 

[disneychrista]

i live in a city and my first year here bought candy. well i saw kids but no one came to our door, i have no idea how these kids trick or treat.

Not sure how it is elsewhere but was you porch light on? We never went to house without their porch light on. It was the "signal" that the residence were participating.

Since I don't particpate, I keep my porch light off and all interior lights off for the night.

 

[North of Mouse]

noooo- 6-8 is only 2 hours!! Our kids come home from school, throw their costumes on and hit the road getting in as much fun as they can until night time- usually by 9 they stop coming around. We also don't have lights on or lights off stuff- every house gets knocked on. Most people here have sensor lights that light up only when someone steps up on the front walk so they don't stay on.

Sensor lights? Really? Never heard of that! When front lights are not on here - you 'do not' go up to that house!

Actually, we stopped giving out candy a few years ago when literally trucks full of kids would come in our neighborhood, stop once on each block and let the crowds converge on the houses - no, thank you!

 

[TwoMisfits]

My personal soapbox - I hope those who don't give out anything for Halloween change their minds, even if all they give out are Dum Dum lollipops, pennies, or boxes of raisins. Having been an avid trick-or-treater as a kid, I know how depressing it is to little kids to trek all the way from one house to another to find that no one's home/no one has a treat/etc - to see whole streets with all the lights out is terrible. And even worse - I still have the memory of a grown-up having his lights on and his curtains open (the sign of a "good" door) and knocking on his door to have him immediately shut down the lights and close the curtains, never answering the door - talk about rude.

It's one of 2-3 nights of the year an adult is asked to be a really good neighbor and to give back for what they received as a child - yes, maybe you have to give more (and maybe you're lucky enough to give less), based on where you live, but give you should.

Now, if you can honestly say you never trick-or-treated anywhere in your entire lifetime, then maybe you can be excused from the tradition. But those who benefited really should be ready to pass on the good they have previously received.

Hopping off the soapbox now...

 

[disneychrista]

even if all they give out are Dum Dum lollipops,

I don't understand the hate for Dum Dums they were one of my favorite non-chocolate halloween candies.

 

[mjkacmom]

My street intersects a 3 mile street that has tons of trick or treaters - big houses, no hills (I live in a hilly town, at the top of one), so it really depends. I buy big boxes of chips, so whatever is left can go in the kids' lunches. Ask your neighbors.

 

[mjkacmom]

noooo- 6-8 is only 2 hours!! Our kids come home from school, throw their costumes on and hit the road getting in as much fun as they can until night time- usually by 9 they stop coming around. We also don't have lights on or lights off stuff- every house gets knocked on. Most people here have sensor lights that light up only when someone steps up on the front walk so they don't stay on.

The elementary schools here have Halloween parades, so kids start immediately after (the people who live by the schools have to by a lot of treats), and it goes on until 10 or so - about 7 hours total.

 

[Southernmiss]

My personal soapbox - I hope those who don't give out anything for Halloween change their minds, even if all they give out are Dum Dum lollipops, pennies, or boxes of raisins. Having been an avid trick-or-treater as a kid, I know how depressing it is to little kids to trek all the way from one house to another to find that no one's home/no one has a treat/etc - to see whole streets with all the lights out is terrible. And even worse - I still have the memory of a grown-up having his lights on and his curtains open (the sign of a "good" door) and knocking on his door to have him immediately shut down the lights and close the curtains, never answering the door - talk about rude.

It's one of 2-3 nights of the year an adult is asked to be a really good neighbor and to give back for what they received as a child - yes, maybe you have to give more (and maybe you're lucky enough to give less), based on where you live, but give you should.

Now, if you can honestly say you never trick-or-treated anywhere in your entire lifetime, then maybe you can be excused from the tradition. But those who benefited really should be ready to pass on the good they have previously received.

Hopping off the soapbox now...

I disagree. I trick or treated for maybe 9 years total as a kid to family. Dh and i lived in one of those neighborhoods that gets flooded with people from outside the neighborhood. For 11 years we bought 10 super large bags of candy and still couldn't keep up. We also decorated our yard and many people would stop and take pictures.

In our current neighborhood of 12 years, only about every 4th house someone has their lights on. So those that do have the lights on and get flooded again with people from all over. Continued to buy lots of candy every year until last year. The youngest of our own 4 kids stopped trick or treating last year, so we did to.

This year is Friday night high school football. We'll support our 2 in the band and won't participate again this year.

I don't feel guilty. We did our turn.

 

[CarlisleMom]

I have lived in my current house for 11 yrs. in my old town there was not set hours, usually start around 5:30 and end around 9. My new town does 6-8 only. And never a Friday night- to many people go to the high school football game!

 

[Nztara]

Our cats hate the doorbell, so we sit on the front porch with our candy bowl. We love to see all of the costumes. Many people on our street sit outside. If Halloween is on a Friday or Saturday night, many people grill out in the driveway and it becomes a bit of a block party.

We do often have adults trick or treating for the infant in a stroller. I'm not a fan of this practice. I pushed my then 8 month old in a stroller two years ago when I took a 10 year old to trick or treat while her mom was working. I stood back at the street with the stroller while she knocked on doors. She was repeatedly offered candy for her "little brother" and each time told them "No, thank you."

 

[disneychrista]

We do often have adults trick or treating for the infant in a stroller.

This I do not have as big of an issue with as the 30 year olds in street clothes, not even pretending the candy is for anyone but themselves.

 

[Minnie-Mickey]

Halloween is one of our favorite holidays in this house. My kids loved it more than Christmas when they were little. We go over board, I know. We have a tray with the big bars. Maybe 8 to 10 types to choose from. The line sometimes goes down to the sidewalk. I give to anyone who asks even adults and even offer for those who don't. I would say I spend $250. So far this year, I have about 60 Mike and Ike mummy mix and vampire mix movie size boxes. I am waiting on the chocolate as DH will eat so many before Halloween. Everyone spends their money in different ways. I don't have a smart phone and I rarely go out to eat. Different ways to spend money for everyone. No one way is right or wrong just different.

 

[3princes+1princess]

We get a few bags of candy and some non-candy things. We put out a bowl with a note that says please take one of each while we are out with the kids. Crazy as it is, I don't think anyone has just dumped the whole bowl in their bag. I don't put a whole lot out though. When we get home, my kids (I have 4) go through their candy stash and take out what they don't like (which is a lot, my picky little monsters and we give out that the rest of the night.

Super cheap I know...don't judge

 

[TwoMisfits]

We get a few bags of candy and some non-candy things. We put out a bowl with a note that says please take one of each while we are out with the kids. Crazy as it is, I don't think anyone has just dumped the whole bowl in their bag. I don't put a whole lot out though. When we get home, my kids (I have 4) go through their candy stash and take out what they don't like (which is a lot, my picky little monsters and we give out that the rest of the night.

Super cheap I know...don't judge

Nope, not super-cheap - super smart. We buy 8-10 bags of candy to give out during our 6-8pm "official" time period and when we get home, I sort the bags we trick-or-treated for for good and "bad" candy and the "bad" candy becomes what I give by the handful to anyone who comes after 8pmish (we answer the door til 9pm or so). Usually, this candy is going to the teens who will eat anything and prefer quantity over what I consider quality anyway (we are not tootsie roll, mike and ike, junior mint fans, etc - so it's not cheap candy, just stuff we hate...

 

[HM]

My grocery store had some candy on clearance yesterday. (Kinds we like). So I bought six bags. Now to keep them hidden away from ourselves until the 31st of Oct.

 

[Egdisney]

Our cats hate the doorbell, so we sit on the front porch with our candy bowl. We love to see all of the costumes. Many people on our street sit outside. If Halloween is on a Friday or Saturday night, many people grill out in the driveway and it becomes a bit of a block party. We do often have adults trick or treating for the infant in a stroller. I'm not a fan of this practice. I pushed my then 8 month old in a stroller two years ago when I took a 10 year old to trick or treat while her mom was working. I stood back at the street with the stroller while she knocked on doors. She was repeatedly offered candy for her "little brother" and each time told them "No, thank you."

I did this with my infants as well. When they were 1 they might get a few pieces of candy when we go downtown after school. But I do not take the littlest ones to the door until they are 2 or so. Some people would see us and insist on giving my son something. He is pretty big and looked more like a just turned 2 year old than a 1 year old. People who did this usually had something like animal crackers for the little ones.
When I only had one kid we didn't go out until her second Halloween, well we didn't even go out then, we went to the zoo on the weekend. We had passes. I think it's fun to dress up your little one, but taking them trick or treating is dumb unless you have older kids.

 

[Mfisc]

I moved last year from NYC where I would go through about 2-3 bags to Miami Beach where NOTHING was giving out at any of the area houses... It took me about 15 minutes of knocking on doors with my little one before we got smart and followed some other Kids... As I found out in this area it was the Local stores on the main drag that gives out the candy not the homes... Worked fairly well for me since I had only been in the area for a month. my little on got candy, I learned what stores where around and picked up tons of menus and still had 3 bags of my favorite candy at home. There was also a City sponsored candy give away at the park property on the main strip.

Never realized how many different local "rules" there where... When I grew up it was just no light no candy and you stayed out as late as the lights where on..