OK what's up w/ all the trick or treaters

[S. C.]

I had that - I asked all of them what they were. If they couldn't tell me they didn't get a treat. I think I may have miffed the older girl that said "myself" because I said, hmmmmm nope not good enough! She was being a smarty pants.

The rest of the kids mostly had costumes on. I just can't get over the older kids that were out and then looked at you when you gave them one of those smaller choc bars.

I would never dream of acting that way - my personal favorite tonight.
I was standing on the curb talking to a friend of mine and a Escalade pulled up rolled down the windows and said "3, they are all tired". Three kids, all too tired to show me their costume. I didn't even know them - so they got not the best out of the bucket - lucky to have gotten anything due to the arrogance.

But, I did love those little ones in costume that said trick or treat and thank you. The older ones didn't stop me from giving them a nice handfull.

I think our township needs an age limit next year....

What about the families that didn't have the money to buy costumes this year. Lots of people lost jobs.
My little grandkids would not of had costumes if it not been for DH and myself. Their dad was laid off for 3 months went back to work for 1 month and was laid back off again.

 

[DisneyCP2002]

I would say 95% of my TOT's wore costumes, lots of homemade ones this year.

 

[S. C.]

I always thought it was Trick or Treat. I must of been sleeping when they changed the name to... Costume and Treat....

 

[Becky2005]

Of course, you could have our situation this year. My poor oldest boy...we DID have a costume for him -- "Jason" but alas, his baby brother had been playing with it the last week & we could NOT find his mask to save our lives today. We tore the house looking everywhere we could think of & even some off the wall places. We finally gave up & he just tied a piece of black fabric we happened to have around his head and went as a "slasher" type of thing. He hates face make-up (I offered to do that but he doesn't like the stuff on his face) & he had the shirt that came with the costume but wore jeans with it.

It was *so* cold here (the kids kept begging me "when are we going to get home?" as we were working our way home quickly -- basically only doing 1 side of the street instead of 2 as we usually do) as their hands were freezing...so he had his jacket on, although he did have a machete, he got tired of carrying that & stuck it in his bag.

He was asked once what his costume was -- at least he did unzip his coat to show the person & explained about our missing mask but what are you going to do at that late of a time. I know with his coat on, it appeared he was just wearing jeans and by the end of the night, the black fabric was pretty much under his bangs & didn't really show up much.

We did the best we could considering the unexpected situation. We only had 2 trick-or-treaters not dressed up that I'm aware of but I think since it was so cold today, we had *way* less than I expected anyway. We didn't even go through the 150 bag that I bought & I even bought a 2nd one expecting at least to have opened it since we have TONS of kids around here.

 

[S. C.]

I took my 6 year old DCousin T&Ting with a couple of her friends. They had great costumes UNDER winter coats! haha Such is life in Northern PA!

It's like that most years here in Michigan too. Was very cold tonight and kids all had on winter coats and hats. Face paint was really all that was needed.

 

[Laurabearz]

Growing up my friends and I always made our costumes, because we had a few houses we had to hit several times which forced us into changing costumes coz the owners caught on... (one lady made fresh home made chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven!)

We hit her house 4 times in 4 different costumes All homemade.

Pj's a robe and a stuffed animal...

Dad's shirt and tie drawn on beard

Moms dress and uber glamor makeup

Once my friend and I went as siameese twin ghosts, which basically was both of us under one sheet, since her mom wouldn't give her a sheet (so we could be twin ghosts)

One year I put sticks and leaves in my hair and dirt on my face and went as a wild child... ate a few of those discloser tablets the dentist gives you...

So what really makes me sad is the lack of imagination for basic dress up play...

We give everyone a handful of "party favors" as we stopped handing out candy a few years ago. I buy Playdoh, squishy eye balls, pencils, GITD skelltons, bracelets, cockroaches etc to hand out, since I think they all get too much candy. It's also nice if we have left overs, we can save them for next year. Oh and tomorrow when everything is 60% or more off, I stock up on stuff for next year.

 

[C&G'sMama]

I always thought it was Trick or Treat. I must of been sleeping when they changed the name to... Costume and Treat....

Yeah, I understand what you're saying but did I mention the cigarrettes hanging out of the mouths of a couple of guys in one group (not part of a costume) while they were on my porch?

I also live in an area with a fair amount of gang activity on the edge of our neighborhood which is one reason I'm happy kids have a safe space to come to but these aren't the kids and parents we have the issues with.

 

[Ephany]

There are no streetlights or sidewalks in our neighborhood. Instead of DD and me walking around in the dark and rain, we went to the local fire station (bouncy, slides, balloon animals, games, etc), the mall (it was INSANE) and downtown to the local merchants when the rain paused. I noticed very few kids going to door-to-door however all three places we tried were very busy. Some stores at the mall had already run out of candy and we were there only an hour after it started. I saw lots of retro costumes and many more homemade ones than I remember seeing in past years.

We stopped by Walmart yesterday to see if they had any petticoats left in the Halloween section and the 'cheap' costume section was empty while the more expensive costume sets section was still almost completely full. Even with the 30% and 40% costume markdowns I've seen this week at some stores, the shelves were still full.

 

[Tweevil]

What about the families that didn't have the money to buy costumes this year. Lots of people lost jobs.
My little grandkids would not of had costumes if it not been for DH and myself. Their dad was laid off for 3 months went back to work for 1 month and was laid back off again.

Sorry, I know these kids as I have been in this neighborhood for years, that was not the case. These were kids (older) that thought they were being smart allecks. I didn't deny anyone as they - except the one "myself" child- all came up with something thought provoking to provide that they were. I got the from the Jonas Brothers with security, to a hard working school student.

I am not one to not consider someone's hard luck, in fact quite the contrary - I was having fun with the kids who thought no one would ask.

I am sorry to hear about your grandkids, they are very forunate to have you and your husband to help out.

 

[Tweevil]

Oh, I had one little boy, about 5, ask if he could take a piece of candy to his little brother, who was too scared of our spooky music to come to the door. He was so polite! "May I have one for Eli please?" Of course he could!

Awww that is sweet. I had one little fella that kept taking the choc covered oreos I made from the large bowl (wrapped of course) - he must of had 6 of them and all the while yelling back to his parents - "Mom these are Oreossss". Cutie Kid!

 

[ORMom2Four]

When Dh and I lived in AZ, we would have pickup trucks loaded with teens in the back with no costumes. They would drive into our neighborhood, stop, and all of the teens would pile out to trick or treat.

We had two bowls of candy back then. One with really gross candy that nobody wants. You know the kind. The stuff that sits in Grandma's candy jar for years because not even the grandkids want it. The other bowl had the good stuff like Hershey's bars or Snickers.

When we opened the door, the kids in costumes would get the "good" stuff. The other kids, well, they probably wish they had skipped our house.

 

[AustinTink]

Don't be fooled by the costumes you think are homemade or look like they are cheap in some way. My son wanted to be Mario and while there is a store bought costume that can be ordered through costume express, it didn't come in his size. So his homemade "looking" costume of overalls from goodwill ($10), red shirt ($5), newsboy cap ($15), felt to make mario emblem ($1), fabric glue ($4), plunger ($3), work gloves($3), mustache ($3) came out to $44 plus tax.

Hopefully when he went to people's doors tonight they didn't think he was screwing them out of their good candy by not wearing a store bought costume.

 

[luvflorida]

We had a wonderful night tonight! My husband and I are new to the neighborhood, so we weren't sure how many trick-or-treaters we'd have. Since the entire community is very family oriented and most of the neighbors decorated their houses, we figured there would be lots of little ones out this evening.

We had 76 trick-or-treaters and we had enough candy for about 100, so all turned out well. All of the kids had on some sort of costume, and many were home-made and quite creative. All of the kids were very polite. The first kids showed up around 5:30 and the last few came around 8:00.

I had put together special treat bags with candy (things with no nuts, lollipop sticks, etc.) for the littlest trick-or-treaters, and had a separate bowl for the older kids. We had the cutest little guy (13 months old- I asked his mom) in a pumpkin costume. His dad was videotaping him. The little one looked a bit bewildered, and reached out his hand and was attempting to step inside the house. I suppose he figured that's what you do when you see an open door. He was just precious!

I had several people comment on the Boston Red Sox sweatshirt I was wearing. One young teen was carrying a Yankees bag as her treat bag, and when I put her candy in it, she remarked, "Hmmm, not bad for a Red Sox fan."

We really enjoyed seeing all the trick-or-treaters, especially since we never got that many back in Maine. I remarked to my husband that it was almost TOO perfect- cute costumes, good manners, and no one out too late. I keep telling him that this community seems suspiciously "Stepford-ish", and tonight reinforced that feeling.

On another note- I posted a thread last week about our grandson winning first place as Benjamin Button in our community's costume contest. Well, he won first place again at a costume contest in his own neighborhood this evening!

 

[lulubelle]

I just wanted to say that we too noticed many kids without a costume at all. I understand the economy problems, but you can always manage something at home that doesn't cost money. Wear your PJ's, put on your dad's dress shirt and a tie and draw a mustache, paint your face, write something clever on a tee shirt. And what is up with the parents collecting candy? That I do not get. AT ALL. But we hand out good candy to all that come to our door. And the most touching moment was when a little one exclaimed "ohhhh, I got a Payday bar, they are GOOD neighbors, mommy!". It was very sweet.

 

[Tikitoi]

We had too many non costume dressers just come to the door looking at us with a pillowcase in their hand. So after the stare down or after I would prompt them by saying the magic words are....then I would give them some good chocolate candy. Movies next year!

 

[roliepolieoliefan]

All of our trick or treaters had costumes, from the wee little ones to the older teens. All were polite and said trick or treat and thank you.

Didn't seem like we got as many kids this year though. It was in the 40's , so that may have been a factor. My husband took my DD out with her friend . They of course walked the whole subdivision. She got anywhere from chips, to little hugs to big candy bars.

DS was in another subdivision with his friend. He did really well. Lots of big candy bars, even a few king size bars.

We have a good neighborhood for trick or treat. Lots of neighbors dress up too and some of us have adult treats for the parents who walk around also.

A neighbor had a costume party after trick or treat too. It was fun. The kids played and winded down and the adults mingled and had a couple beers and jello shots. My daughter (6) won best costume for the kids. She was a snow princess.

 

[qtwns]

almost all of mine have been in costume, and some of them were very creative! I've only had a couple of middle schoolers stop by non-costumed. Even my son's high school friends came by to see us all decked out!

And they've all been so happy and so polite. I love this night, and all the happy, cute kids!

(my kiddo's not even home tonight, but his friends still came by to see mom and dad. I love that.)

awesome!!!!

 

[golfgal]

I took my 6 year old DCousin T&Ting with a couple of her friends. They had great costumes UNDER winter coats! haha Such is life in Northern PA!

We saw a lot of that this year too

What about the families that didn't have the money to buy costumes this year. Lots of people lost jobs.
My little grandkids would not of had costumes if it not been for DH and myself. Their dad was laid off for 3 months went back to work for 1 month and was laid back off again.

Why would they have to buy anything, put on funny clothing, paint your face and off you go.

I would say 95% of my TOT's wore costumes, lots of homemade ones this year.

Same here. One of DD's friends wasn't going to wear a costume, I wouldn't let her leave until she at least did something funny with her hair or painted her face.

We didn't spend a dime on costumes this year. DD went as Waldo-wore her brother's red and white polo shirt and wore jeans and a stocking hat. DS wore ripped up old clothing with fake blood that we had from previous Halloweens and we painted his face.

 

[Carly_Roach]

I also noticed that only 5 houses on our little street had lights on so I'm sure no one bothered to come down our street since it was mostly dark.

Our city had TOT time from 6:00 to 8:00. I looked out the window at 6:15 and again at 7:15 and there were NO porchlights on at any house (including ours).

It seems every year fewer and fewer houses participate in TOT, but this was the first time I can remember the entire street being dark.

 

[monkey68]

My neighborhood doesn't really do Halloween, there aren't too many kids. My neighbors took their kids to another neighborhood. But I live off a really busy street, and saw a bunch of kids trick or treating among the stores. Couldn't tell if many of them were in costume or not, because it was cold so the kids all had coats on. I saw a few kids with makeup on their faces, and other bits and pieces of dress up, but very few full on costumes.

I saw my neighbor's kids outside while they were waiting for their dad to get the car, so I ran in and got some candy we had to get them started. They didn't have any of those Halloween bags though, just regular grocery store bags, which is what most of the kids had. I live in a largely immigrant neighborhood, money is scarce, so you make do with what you have.