Does anyone else have this happen at Halloween?

[KiminChicago]

We live in a very small subdivision of 120 houses. Since this was new construction when we bought, a lot of families have kids the same ages as my two. I know a lot of the families in the subdivision from the school, Scouting, church and other activities. The subdivision has also held several block parties and after living here 13 years, I probably know 70 to 80 percent of the people living here.

In the last couple of years, we've noticed an interesting phenomenon at Halloween. People have started driving into our subdivision from neighboring towns to trick-or-treat. They park all up and down the streets, then get out and go from house to house, blocking our mailbox and making it hard to navigate through the side streets. I think half the kids I opened the door to last year were from outside our subdivision. Even worse, some of the trick-or-treaters were teenagers pushing sleeping infants in strollers and they were asking for treats for themselves and their infants. And they kept coming long after the village's trick-or-treating hours. We finally just turned out the lights and stopped answering the door since we were out of candy.

DH and I talked it over and this year we're just going to tape a note to the door saying "No candy" and take our kids to a park or museum or something. Given that Halloween is on a Saturday this year, I'm sure it's going to be worse than ever. Poor DS wanted to have a Halloween party for his birthday (later in the week) but I can't even imagine where all the parents would park to drop off the party-goers.....

 

[Magic Mom]

The same thing happens in my neighborhood, but I don't mind. My guess is that it's a lot of rural and low income families that don't live in areas safe enough (or fun enough) to trick or treat in. I'm happy to see them out having family fun time.

 

[klj27]

Some people come to our subdivision to trick or treat. It doesn't bother me because I figure it is probably safer than where they may live (no sidewalks or busy streets) and a lot of times they come to walk with people who live in our neighborhood.

 

[C.Ann]

This is a common problem in many neighborhoods - and even more so if kids live in a rural area where houses are far and few between..

Since Halloween is on a Saturday this year, I think most people will see a lot more kids out because they will have the time to move from neighborhood to neighborhood..

Could you have your son's birthday party this week instead?

 

[m&m's mom]

Happens in my neighborhood as well. Seems to happen the most at the end of the evening. What I do is keep 2 buckets of candy. One for the cute little kids wherever they come from. The 2nd is for the older kids unless they truly dress up etc.
1st basket has all the really good chocolate in it and the 2nd has like Smarties and Dum Dums. And if there are busloads of kids from afar late at night- we close up shop. I will not deny a little kid a fun Halloween because maybe their neighborhood is too poor.

 

[FireDancer]

I'm pretty mixed on this and see where the OP is annoyed. I don't hand out candy because I go to my friends with kid's homes and go out with them. I don't get candy of course. Not only do I not eat candy but feel the trick or treating is for the kids. It isn't really the odd family here or there that goes to trick or treat with friends that bother me as much as the people who just go to other neighborhoods because they think they have better candy. I look at it like forum shopping and don't like that one bit.

Since I am at someone else's house I don't hand out candy any more so it doesn't bother me and where I live now it isn't an issue but have heard horror stories. One of my friend's has had buses drop kids off to trick or treat in their neighborhood. That was when they turned off their light. That just seems against the principal of trick or treat to me.

 

[emma'smom]

I used to have the OP's attitude, but then a neighbor pointed out that we're lucky we have a safe neighborhood that others want to come to. In the interest of having enough candy though, I do put the candy in bags (one per child for kids I don't know) rather than just holding out a big bowl for kids to pick a handful from. For the kids who live in our neighborhood (so my children's friends) we toss in more candy.

P.S. I'm still not sure where I stand on the pre-tweeners in no-costume issue. It is hard to grow up and be stuck between wanting the fun of being a kid and the cool of not wearing a costume. So, I usually give them candy just as heartily as everyone else. So much of childhood passes by so quickly---but we do shut our lights off at the end of the designated neighborhood trick or treat time, so that avoids some of the "late crowd".

 

[diznygirl]

You have no idea! The main part of town is a zoo. Most make the best of it and have parties for handing out candy. The more the merrier!

Traffic and parking is a problem though. And it can be a safety issue.

 

[AustinTink]

Happens in my neighborhood as well. Seems to happen the most at the end of the evening. What I do is keep 2 buckets of candy. One for the cute little kids wherever they come from. The 2nd is for the older kids unless they truly dress up etc.
1st basket has all the really good chocolate in it and the 2nd has like Smarties and Dum Dums. And if there are busloads of kids from afar late at night- we close up shop. I will not deny a little kid a fun Halloween because maybe their neighborhood is too poor.

I like the 2 bucket idea. I'm going to do that this year!

 

[allison443]

I admit that I have driven my dd to her friends' neighborhood to trick or treat with them. Her school is two miles away and all her friends live closer to the school. So we drove there and she walked around with her friends. I certainly don't block anyone's driveway so I don't see why people have a problem with what my dd did.

Really, what's the difference? You have a certain amount of candy to give out, when it's gone, it's gone. I give out candy and I hope the recipients enjoy it, whether they live in my neighborhood or another part of town.

 

[allison443]

I think half the kids I opened the door to last year were from outside our subdivision.

How do you know-couldn't they be from the 20-30 percent of your subdivision that you said you don't know?

 

[MAKmom]

Everyone comes here too. We can get over 200 kids some years. We only hand out 6:00 to 8:00 but it is over by 7:30. I don't care if the kids are from other communities...just don't knock until Trick & Treating starts

 

[Jaimee]

We have the same thing in our neighborhood. I live about 6 blocks from the "city" line. I'm in a suburb technically. Our neighborhood association always has TOT on the Saturday evening closest to Haloween. We actually have to pay to do this like $3 per kid, plus provide 2 bags of "quality" candy (no cheap stuff, they check when you register) per kid. The neighborhood association then distributes the candy to those neighbors who want to hand it out, this way people without kids can get free candy to give out if they wish (but everyone buys extra usually). Each kid is given a glow stick to wear around their neck in a specific color, they have crossing guards at each corner also in costume handing out candy. It's a big deal and a LOT of fun. I always pay for my friends kids to come because they don't live in a safe area.

The problem is that the county (Milwaukee) has TOT on Sunday afternoon. So every year we get non neighborhood kids all day on Sunday. Many have no costumes. I ALWAYS get extra candy for these kids. I feel thankful my DS has a great neighborhood to celebrate in, and don't want to deny these kids the same experience. I always feel bad because 80% of the people on the block don't answer the door. DS always hands out candy on Sunday and enjoys it.

 

[etoiles]

Happens in my neighborhood as well. Seems to happen the most at the end of the evening. What I do is keep 2 buckets of candy. One for the cute little kids wherever they come from. The 2nd is for the older kids unless they truly dress up etc.
1st basket has all the really good chocolate in it and the 2nd has like Smarties and Dum Dums. And if there are busloads of kids from afar late at night- we close up shop. I will not deny a little kid a fun Halloween because maybe their neighborhood is too poor.

We also do two baskets. One basket is for the appropriate aged kids who are doing trick or treating with cool candy. The other is for people asking for candy for infants who will not eat it or teens or even adults my age or older with el cheapo candy.

 

[SCHBR'smom]

We don't usually hand out candy because we are out trick or treating ourselves, but I know people from outside the subdivision come here. We live in a pretty rural county and there aren't that many neighborhoods to go to. It doesn't bother me and if we didn't both take the kids out, I would be fine handing out candy to anyone who comes to the door. One Halloween, we were between houses and we were one of the families who went to a different subdivision.

 

[Sparx]

why don't people give teenagers the good candy?
i mean, as long as no one is rude or anything, why not give them all the same candy?

 

[Grumpy's Gal]

We live in a nice, safe part of town. It's by no means rich, but middle class.

The key part is "SAFE" and very well lit.

We used to get busloads of kids -- seriously -- a bus would pull up and a hundred kids would get out.

We had SO MANY kids come for trick or treat from unsafe areas. I know 300-500 kids is not great for many people for halloween but then I thought how glad I was that they could go somewhere safe.
It's only one night -- I just deal with it (and buy extra candy)

 

[*BTMRR*]

We live in a neighborhood where this happens. I don't mind it at all. When I run out of candy I just close up and turn all the lights off and ignore any doorbell rings.
We used to live in a neighborhood where kids pulled a lot of pranks (toilet papering, egging, pumpkin smashing) but little of that happens here so I'm fine with the crowds.

For a year or two after 9/11, we had almost no trick or treaters. That was so sad that I'm really glad to see so many again.

 

[barkley]

my experiences are from living in a variety of neighborhoods-

a kind of "condo/association" neighborhood near some VERY dangerous areas,

an older (think kind of primarily sr. citizen inhabited) neighborhood adjacent to younger adult w/kids neighborhood,

the newest (and thought to be top dollar) development in a small town, and currently

the rural sticks (literaly a quarter mile minimum on dirt/unlighted, cyote rampant roads).


when i lived in the 'condo' type place we got lots of kids because their parent felt it was safer to take their kids there vs. the dangerous adjacent neighborhoods. only kids in the complex got inside to trick or treat. there were people stationed at the entrances to the complex on halloween that did not permit walk in or cars to enter w/o the desigated resident parking pass, and they had bowls of small treats they gave out to the cars w/kids before they turned them away.

the older neighborhood got very few trick or treaters, most if not all of us purchased in case someone's grandkids came by (or in my case my kids) but we always ended up with more than we bought (even if it was just one bag).

NEW NEIGHBORHOOD-we got lots of kids there and we did'nt mind it at all. we bought in as did our neighbors because it was appealing to families-and in close proximity to public parks and schools. we perceived it as a compliment to our neighborhood watch (and some neighbor's awsome halloween decorations) that we were considered a safe draw for trick or treaters.


rural-i would love to get trick or treaters here but i respect that parents won't let their kids come down our dirt/unlighted/critter infested roads. when we moved here i called our local police department as well as community services to see if there were any organized trick or treat activities for kids. they replied their were not but THEY named a specific subdivision and stated that the neighbors went all out decorating, it was safe, and it would be their suggestion that we take our kids there.


i guess what i'm saying is-call your local p.d.-tell them you're new to the area and you live ruraly, ask what resources/where your kids can safely trick or treat-see what they say. you never know, it may be that your neighborhood has such a good reputation that local officials are steering kids there.


oh, and btw-the subdivision we go to is in a BIG university town, and although we previously live near a HUGE university i never saw there what i'm told is absolutly the norm here-college students mass trick or treating to stock up on bulk goodies (apparantly they start going sub divison to subdivision for hours on end).

 

[lillygator]

why don't people give teenagers the good candy?
i mean, as long as no one is rude or anything, why not give them all the same candy?

kind of sucks I think.


we live in a neighborhood with not many kids and quite a few snow birds who are not here by Halloween. There are quite a few "teens" who aren't teens really but tall and well, looking like they are teens. Not only are they kind of outcasts at school, but then to have to worry about being self consious TOT'ing!!