So annoying, ppl knocking at my door and the light is NOT on

[RachaelA]

2) I did this for the first time this year, only bc we get so few kids nowadays, and I only put out one bowl, and I knew I would be right back. I have seen too many kids dump the whole bowl, and then there is nothing left for other TOTers. I am not a fan of this.

Just because you aren't a fan of it doesn't make it not an option. If one kid takes the whole bowl, then at least you still gave out some candy. I've also found more and more that kids are less likely to take the whole bowl.

DH and I took DD out together last night and left a bowl by our garage. It was almost full when we got back (there were only like 15 kids out in the development last night since it was the rescheduled day and no one drove their kids in from other areas). I wish I had put a sign up that told kids to take a few handfuls of candy.

 

[angelbear425]

If you don't give out candy then your kids shouldn't be going around taking.

There are many ways to do it. You find another person to stay, it could even be a babysitter who is to old to go around, you find someone for your kids to go around with, you leave candy out, etc.

I really hate to see people rudely out with their kids and taking from me when they are to cheap to give candy out to mine. What makes them better than the rest of us. Entitlement continues.

There is still no reason to personally attack the OP and say she is cheap and a mooch.

I've noticed the more time I spend on this board as a whole the more I see people personally attacked for what they do. I've heard that from others who used to come on here or come on and don't post, but never saw it until just recently.

 

[Mkrop]

If you don't give out candy then your kids shouldn't be going around taking.

There are many ways to do it. You find another person to stay, it could even be a babysitter who is to old to go around, you find someone for your kids to go around with, you leave candy out, etc.

I really hate to see people rudely out with their kids and taking from me when they are to cheap to give candy out to mine. What makes them better than the rest of us. Entitlement continues.

So am I still a cheap and a mooch when I gave out tons of candy BEFORE I had children, and I will continue to do so until my kids are long gone To me it all evens out! I probably gave out more candy when we lived in our townhouse prior to kids than I do now, we just dont get the traffic in our little cul de sac. So I guess my kids should only TOT to two doors since I wound up with only 2 kids this year???? I mean if we are keeping score and it is a tit for tat kind of thing.

And I am not paying a babysitter to sit at my house to hand out candy, that is nuts! I dont have money for that!

Also around here all the dads take the kids together, NO ONE dumps their kid on someone else, it is not how it it done around here. You go as a group but you are responsible for your own kid until they are old enough to go around on their own.

And I am sorry to the other poster...I am not leaving out candy, I just am not a fan of it and not wasting my money to give out candy for one kid to take the whole bowl, and we have seen it around here, when I take my kids to the doors the bowls are empty and it is early in the evening. To me that is extremely wasteful, and then I have nothing left to give when I got back.

I am SO GLAD that people around here dont have that attitude, my emptynester neighbors are awesome to my kids. No one complains about whether I am home or not. And I am so super glad we are beyond the years so one of us can stay home, although like I said I dont get many TOTers anyway, which makes me super sad.

But I would NEVER in a MILLION years hold it against someone or their kiddos if they could not be home to give out candy. To me that seems more ENTITLED that you are somehow keeping score than if you can not split yourself in two to hand out candy and make sure your kids can safely TOT.

I mean are you people who are complaining going to stop giving out candy as soon as your kiddos are too old to TOT or are you going to give candy out for as long as you live in a neighborhood that has TOTers.

 

[Bnb0627]

My husband and I take our kids trick or treating together as a family. Most of my relatives live in town so it's great to see them and catch up and for them to see how big the kids are getting. I can't imagine leaving my husband home to hand out candy, my kids would be disappointed too.

If we are done early the kids will usually go through their bags and any candy they don't want we will hand out to anyone who knocks on the door.

I also look forward to when my kids are old enough to go by themselves so that we can make the front of our house really spooky and hand out candy.

So for us it will all even out but I would never be angry at people for not handing out candy it's there choice.

 

[ZehnJahren]

This is honestly the best thread ever. Wow, OP, you must be just the worst person on the DIS.

I have never, ever even imagined someone would call someone else to task for not giving out Halloween candy when they trick or treated themselves. Never in my life! Maybe it's the same people who donate a turkey at Thanksgiving or a ham at Christmas and then go around telling everyone about it. Or the people who buy an extra set of crayons for their second grader's school and then guilt everyone else into doing the same (or they strongly imply it makes them the better parent, if you don't).

I guess where I live, people see it as more of a "giving something away for free" holiday as opposed to a "reciprocal" holiday.

Personally, I don't know if I got "knockers". I was away from my house. Oh the horror!!

 

[angelbear425]

But I would NEVER in a MILLION years hold it against someone or their kiddos if they could not be home to give out candy. To me that seems more ENTITLED that you are somehow keeping score than if you can not split yourself in two to hand out candy and make sure your kids can safely TOT.

Agreed.

This is honestly the best thread ever. Wow, OP, you must be just the worst person on the DIS.

I have never, ever even imagined someone would call someone else to task for not giving out Halloween candy when they trick or treated themselves. Never in my life! Maybe it's the same people who donate a turkey at Thanksgiving or a ham at Christmas and then go around telling everyone about it. Or the people who buy an extra set of crayons for their second grader's school and then guilt everyone else into doing the same (or they strongly imply it makes them the better parent, if you don't).

I guess where I live, people see it as more of a "giving something away for free" holiday as opposed to a "reciprocal" holiday.

Personally, I don't know if I got "knockers". I was away from my house. Oh the horror!!

 

[gwynne]

People were knocking on our door while we were eating dinner. I'm not going to interrupt dinner to go answer it since the light was off. Just because we go out trick or treating doesn't mean I have to reciprocate and give out candy. Half the people who come to my neighborhood are dropped off in herds by car and are way too old to be out scrounging for free candy anyway. I donated candy to my children's school Halloween Festival.

^Above is the post that was confusing.....
I'm not sure where this thread headed off, but the discussion wasn't because someone left and didn't leave treats while they were with out with their own kids Trick or Treating.

 

[Bnb0627]

Wow, I didn't read through the whole thread before posting my reply to the post before mine.

I never knew so many people had such strong opinions about handing out candy. Thankfully it doesn't work like that in my neighborhood.

Couple of questions:

1) For all the adults who hand out candy and don't have kids, should each trick or treater than be responsible to give them something because that would only be fair?

2) My neighbors used to spend about $100 each year on candy to hand out. Husband lost his job and cannot afford to this year. Should he not take his kids out because that would not be fair?

3) Since when does decorating your house for Halloween automatically mean you have to hand out candy? How ridiculous to say if you're not Handing out candy don't decorate your house. What about just getting into the spirit of Halloween?

 

[Mkrop]

This is honestly the best thread ever. Wow, OP, you must be just the worst person on the DIS.

I have never, ever even imagined someone would call someone else to task for not giving out Halloween candy when they trick or treated themselves. Never in my life! Maybe it's the same people who donate a turkey at Thanksgiving or a ham at Christmas and then go around telling everyone about it. Or the people who buy an extra set of crayons for their second grader's school and then guilt everyone else into doing the same (or they strongly imply it makes them the better parent, if you don't).

I guess where I live, people see it as more of a "giving something away for free" holiday as opposed to a "reciprocal" holiday.

Personally, I don't know if I got "knockers". I was away from my house. Oh the horror!!

This is the part I dont get...when did it become a reciprocal(I like that term) holiday for some of these folks. I guess people who dont have kids dont give out candy then in their neighborhoods??????

I mean I do not understand the OP, that she would not interupt dinner, bc hey it is Halloween night, dinner gets interuppted. Or even the baby sleeping, I mean babies can have interupted sleep for one night. But hey if for WHATEVER reason, you dont turn your light on and give out candy, I am ok with, may not totally get it but it is your perogative!

 

[Samar]

Now usually, we do not do ToT for religious reasons (I grew up ToTing so I miss it) however due to Sandy and the kids being pent up for the past week, DH allowed them to do Trunk or Treat at the Y on Saturday.

Since DH was parked at the bottom of the hill, I walked around with my "trunk" of goodies and when we were paused, I would ask people if they'd like something from my portable trunk Towards the end, a little boy about 2 or 3 took my pumpkin bucket instead of the stickers inside of it but I told his Mom that he could keep the bucket because clearly that interested him more

Had we not had a bucket of treats, I would not have let my kids collect treats. It's one thing if someone is broke but if you have the means to give out a bag of candy/stuff in some way, shape or form, then it should be done

 

[Bob NC]

when did it become a reciprocal(I like that term) holiday for some of these folks.

I think it was Section 3, Article 9 of the Halloween Code.

 

[manateesmom]

Wow, this is crazy.

1. DH and I handed out candy for years when we did not have kids, and expect to do so after DS leaves.

2. This is a "giving things away for free" holiday. Participate or don't. There's no ethics problem with taking things that people are giving away for free, even if you choose not to do the same. You may want to give your kids the experience of Halloween, but can't afford to buy pounds of candy yourself, whatever. People are freely giving out candy, no one is holding them up at gunpoint, there's no tit-for-tat issue here.

3. DH and I take DS out together because we both love to see the kick he gets out of "tricky treating." I'm not going to give that up to stay at home to hand out candy because I supposedly "owe" it to someone.

Agree with OP about lights-out meaning don't ring here. We took DS around, then went back and handed out candy at home, and when we ran out, we turned off the light. At that point, it's mostly teenagers who can buy their own candy, anyway. DS was trying to sleep. Stop ringing my bell, light is out. We had decorations up and lights out, but that's because we were out of candy.

 

[Mkrop]

I think it was Section 3, Article 9 of the Halloween Code.