Is this TOO cheap? or smart?

[wmharley]

I turn off the lights and put a sign on the walkway saying we don't participate. The lights off doesn't deter kids too ignorant to realize...

 

[Dani C]

I would not print the coupons, but I would not say that you have to give out candy either.

As a child I went out trick or treating with my brother on many occasions and in all those years there is only one treat I truly remember receiving. It was a nickel and it was from a young minister in town. They could not really afford to buy the "good candy" but knew also that many parents would not allow their children to eat homemade treats and that many children did not like the "cheap, oldfashioned candy" (Mary Janes and Peanut Butter Kisses) and would throw it away. They gave each child a nickel that year and many of the kids in my neighborhood were impressed and none that I am aware of were offended by the gesture.

Your post did not appear to indicate that you cannot afford to buy treats and I am not interpreting it that way. Rather to me it appeared that you would prefer not to give candy. My daughter while trick or treating has received numerous non-candy items from stickers to crayons to erasers to happy meal toys. If you wish to give out something to the kids whether to just see them come around in costume or to add in your own enjoyment of the season, please do what you feel right about.

If you are looking for deals and you have a dollar tree in your area, they often have balls or bags of the mini erasers (around twenty or so I think, which girls especially seem to like) that could be easily opened for handing out as well as stickers, etc.
If you are interested in chocolate candy, Rite Aid has the eight packs of fun size candy bars on sale this week for $.88 each.

Whatever you choose to do, please enjoy the holiday!

 

[luvmy3]

I don't know so much about the "kids only want candy" theory.

My kids and their friends have always enjoyed getting stickers, tattoos, little bouncy balls, plastic mini yo-yos, even mardi gras beads (always get a bunch of those!) and most of that stuff (if you buy in large quantities) is cheaper than candy.

ITA. My kids love that stuff more than the candy. One year they got a fake million dollar bill and thought it was soooo cool. The only problem was it had religious stuff printed on it talking along the lines that everyone is sinner etc. We don't go to that house anymore

OP, I wouldn't do the coupon. If its a money issue I would just keep your light off and not give anything this year.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

That is alot of kids. While i dont necessarily like the idea of giving away something printed off of someone's website(no matter what it is), you could just buy a bag of dum dums which has about 300 candies and give each kid one.
I know that today everyone is watching their dollars so i understand not wanting to spend alot. So on the flip side, as a parent, i teach my children to be grateful for what they get. No one has to do anything. I appreciate people spending their money on treats for children.

I was just in Sam's this morning and I checked their prices on Dum Dums. A large bag of 350 suckers is around $7. For the same price at Walmart the count is 300. I would get those, give them out one at a time, and when they are gone, Halloween is over.

 

[wdwfan16]

I would not print the coupons, but I would not say that you have to give out candy either.

As a child I went out trick or treating with my brother on many occasions and in all those years there is only one treat I truly remember receiving. It was a nickel and it was from a young minister in town. They could not really afford to buy the "good candy" but knew also that many parents would not allow their children to eat homemade treats and that many children did not like the "cheap, oldfashioned candy" (Mary Janes and Peanut Butter Kisses) and would throw it away. They gave each child a nickel that year and many of the kids in my neighborhood were impressed and none that I am aware of were offended by the gesture.

Your post did not appear to indicate that you cannot afford to buy treats and I am not interpreting it that way. Rather to me it appeared that you would prefer not to give candy. My daughter while trick or treating has received numerous non-candy items from stickers to crayons to erasers to happy meal toys. If you wish to give out something to the kids whether to just see them come around in costume or to add in your own enjoyment of the season, please do what you feel right about.

If you are looking for deals and you have a dollar tree in your area, they often have balls or bags of the mini erasers (around twenty or so I think, which girls especially seem to like) that could be easily opened for handing out as well as stickers, etc.
If you are interested in chocolate candy, Rite Aid has the eight packs of fun size candy bars on sale this week for $.88 each.

Whatever you choose to do, please enjoy the holiday!

When we run out of bags we give out four quarters. The older kids love it.

 

[Indiana Rose Lee]

Kids like candy....period. The "free" game of bowling will cost mom and dad at least the price of shoe rental. Not so free. I would go to Sam's or Walmart and buy a large bag of Dum Dum suckers and hand those out. Kids I know would really turn their noses up at a pencil.

Besides, I hate floor magnets. Crappy toys, pencils that fall apart when you sharpen them.

And throwing out dumdums and gum is over-reacting.

 

[delmar411]

I'd just stick with smarties or dum dums and when you are out, you are out.

TOT'ing has gotten way out of control if hundreds of kids that don't live in your neighborhood are coming there to score free candy! Sorry but I was raised that TOT'ing was something you did strictly in your own neighborhood.

I dont' see why the kids aren't TOT'ing in their own buildings. High rises would be awesome for TOT'ing since you don't have to worry about the weather, cars, if the kids are warm enough or worry about them getting lost in the dark.
(just a random thought that popped into my head)

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

As kids we hated getting those. We wanted and thankfully got the good chocolate. We give out the good chocolate. The kids get 5-6 different kinds in the bags. It is really not that expensive. We get 100 kids. I wish we got more. I love Halloween

OP ditch the idea and just turn off the lights.

Of course I preferred chocolate, but I also liked lollipops. And I was always happy to get candy of any type--I could trade the stuff I didn't like with my brothers & sisters.

OP, either get cheap candy or turn out your lights. I doubt the bowling alley would be happy with that many "free" games.

I loved the chocolate best, too. I read this article a couple of years ago, and the writer does his own little study to see what kind of candy kids like best out of four groups. Chocolate came in 2nd! Of course it was just an exercise, nothing scientific about it. But to agree with him my kids like the non chocolate candy better than chocolate.

http://www.slate.com/id/2057541/


When you guys would get home with all your candy, did you pour it out on the floor and divide it into groups like this? I did, and I counted every piece to see how much I got. I had one more group, though..money. I hated getting pennies!

I hope they have improved the packaging of pixie sticks. It never failed that every one of them broke in my bag and caused a big mess.

 

[luvsJack]

Besides, I hate floor magnets. Crappy toys, pencils that fall apart when you sharpen them.

And throwing out dumdums and gum is over-reacting.

I would not give dumdums or bubblegum because they are such a choking hazard, in fact most hard candy can be. Not only to very small kids, but to grade school kids that are over excited running and jumping around. I would rather give something that I know they aren't going to stick in their mouth and go running down the road.

When I give small toys I have special ones for the under 5 set so that I am not giving them something they will choke on.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Off topic, but for those that give out dum dum lollipops or anything that can easily be unwrapped and wrapped again, aren't you afraid they will go to waste? I am "trained" to throw these items away.

no

 

[luvsJack]

I turn off the lights and put a sign on the walkway saying we don't participate. The lights off doesn't deter kids too ignorant to realize...

how nice.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

When we run out of bags we give out four quarters. The older kids love it.

OMG, this reminds me of the first time my DS11 went trick or treating. He was 4, and we lived on a mountain road in a very nice area..the houses were each on several acres and the road went around in a mile and half circle. A neighbor used to hook up his little lawn trailer and pull it around with a bale of hay on it behind his SUV to take the kids on this very "unproductive" TorT route. So DH comes home with DS4 and we look through his candy bucket. In it is a one dollar bill rolled up so tight you would think a coke addict had rolled it-that's what it looked like-except it had a red ribbon tied around it. It had come from an older couple that lived in the "big house" that looked like "Tara". We all got a laugh the year my DS got a "coke snorter" for Halloween.

 

[Mrs. Charming]

I always hit up "my" comic book guy for back issues at a bulk price and pass them out instead of candy.

The kids love it.

LOL, you'll end up with my DH at your house!

That's so cool you still have a comic book guy. All of the shops here have closed, how sad! Dh said it's the end of an era. <-- DH

 

[BoogasMom]

Personally, I would save the money you would spend on toner to print those little suckers out and put it into other goodies. There are tons of great ideas that people have had in this thread! However, I can appreciate your desire to be creative and think outside of the box.

My children aren't big candy eaters at all. They love the little stickers and pencils that they get every Halloween. My DH and I always end up taking the candy they get to work with us so we don't end up throwing it all away a month later or eating it all ourselves.

Really, as a parent I would hate a free bowling game coupon but ONLY because if my kids got one, they would bug the living CRAP out of me until I took them to redeem it!!!

 

[C.Ann]

Just turn off your light.

I think the bowling alley would have an issue with someone printing and handing out hundreds of their coupons. And your neighbors would have an issue with the litter as I'm sure many of those would get tossed on the ground.

I agree.. If I owned the bowling alley, I think I would be pretty ticked off..

Halloween = candy in my mind.. Not pencils; not stickers; not toothbrushes; not free certificates; etc..

Either order from Oriental Trading - or simply leave your lights off..

 

[englishteacha]

My mom gets hundreds of kids. She gets enough candy for 150 kids, and when it's gone, the light gets turned off. By then it's just the big kids or the kids whose parents drive them to the neighborhood, so Mom doesn't feel bad. The neighbor kids all know to go to Mom's house first. The littlest ones (that Mom knows) get homemade cookies. Everyone else gets candy, usually lollipops or Smarties or something.

 

[PaulaSue]

I'm not crazy about the coupons since bowling place isn't your place of business but I do like the pencil idea.

I lost a bunch of weight (now a healthy BMI) after being fat all my life and don't like to give my girls junk food for every little thing. I don't want them to have a weight problem like I did. So I have been giving out healthy/healthier treats the last few years.

 

[auralia]

we get close to 300 kids and i buy full size bars runs me close to 150$ a year but the look on the kids faces is so precious that i just love it! it's worth it to me and then when i walk in the neighborhood w/ my 2 year old they call me the candy lady and the one who gives out the "good stuff" on halloween ... even 6 or 7 months after halloween kids still remember.

 

[Disneylush]

OP HERE

Okay it is time for me to fess up... there is no way I am doing this but I wanted to get your reactions... THANK YOU! (didn't expect it to be this big)

This was on another forum I follow called pocket your dollars and I thought this was going a bit far to pocket my dollar and I thought maybe I was the one over reacting and that doing this was fine and dandy. I know there was only one group of people I could count on to put me on track.... my fellow dis budgeters!

Thanks for the input.... the laughs... and I promise I will hand out the "good" chocolate and leave my light on all night long

 

[hmdavid]

OP HERE

Okay it is time for me to fess up... there is no way I am doing this but I wanted to get your reactions... THANK YOU! (didn't expect it to be this big)

This was on another forum I follow called pocket your dollars and I thought this was going a bit far to pocket my dollar and I thought maybe I was the one over reacting and that doing this was fine and dandy. I know there was only one group of people I could count on to put me on track.... my fellow dis budgeters!

Thanks for the input.... the laughs... and I promise I will hand out the "good" chocolate and leave my light on all night long

Sneaky, sneaky...