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

[jessc79]

As a single mother, I have taken my kids out and not had anyone to pass out candy. Once my oldest was old enough to stay home alone, he passes the candy while I take the little ones out. My parents always split it up. One takes the kids out, one passes candy out. What makes me angry is when I see mom and dad taking the kids and no one passing out candy at their home. I was surprised at how many houses were decorated and not passing out candy. Really...if you decorate the outside of your home....someone should be there to pass out.

We both go but we leave a bowl outside.

 

[Lilliputian]

We got one set of trick or treaters even though the porch light and all the lights in the front of the house were off. The crazy thing is that we're at WDW right now, staying in Windsor Hills. Who goes trick or treating in Windsor Hills? I'd say that about 95% of the house are vacation rentals. People on vacation don't stock up on candy and then stay "home" to pass it out.

 

[DisneyRegulars]

We had no decorations except for pumpkins on the porch. I took my own out trick or treating, cold and rainy here. We didn't stay out long.

Wow you are giving all sorts of mixed signals. Firstly, you went out trick or treating so if neighbors saw you I think it would be 100% acceptable for them to assume you were giving out candy too. Secondly, you have pumpkins. Pumpkins ARE a decoration.

I can't believe you think it's okay to trick or treat but not give out candy yourselves.

 

[PeanutButterMom]

Well, we (me and husband) both go with the kids trick-or-treating. It's just easier to keep track of them (we live in a neighborhood FULL of kids, and ToT is from 6-8, when it's already dark). This is the first tear that I would be comfortable with just one of us for both kids. Sometimes we have someone at our house to pass out stuff (grandma, etc) or we have our neighbors pass out for us.

 

[Marionnette]

Taking your kids around to the neighbors for ToT and no reciprocating is just not cool. I can understand not participating if you have objections to the holiday itself. Contributing to the school Halloween Festival is not the same as giving back to the neighborhood. When I was a kid, you would have awoken to find that your windows had been soaped.

 

[auralia]

My light was on, I have decorations and kids were skipping my house! I buy big candy bars and I have 100 left! And i gave the last few groups 3-4 bars per child. Usually we have at least 200-250 kids and last night was more like 125. I have no idea what to do with the extra candy we gave the neighbor kid a box of 36 regular size candy bars lol.

 

[Tinkerpeas hubby]

We have the same rule where we live in the UK, it's either the porch light must be on or they have pumpkin signs to put in the windows.

Additionally I think there should be an age limit, there were so many teengers trick or treating. Who normally you wouldn't see for dust, out and about for free candy.

There is plenty of candy left over, so adding that to the amount we brought back from MNSSHP, my three boys are set for 18 months!

 

[mjkacmom]

Taking your kids around to the neighbors for ToT and no reciprocating is just not cool. I can understand not participating if you have objections to the holiday itself. Contributing to the school Halloween Festival is not the same as giving back to the neighborhood. When I was a kid, you would have awoken to find that your windows had been soaped.

Yeah, that's just weird and wrong. We either have someone home handing out candy, or leave it on the porch. I could see if it was after 9, but kids see lights on in the house. We only go with our 9 year olds - once they hit 5th or 6th grade, they just go with friends.

 

[ccgirl]

Really? In life is this such a big deal? If you don't want to answer it; don't answer. Not a big deal.

My DS is 5. It is a school night so we ate early. We started at 5:45pm when it was still light so porch lights weren't on yet. I'm sure we interrupted some people's dinner. Some got up with a smile on their faces. If nobody came to the door after the bell ring my kids left. We had over 150 trick or treaters at my house. We did walk by the houses that were all dark but if a light was on they rang the bell. One house did not know their light bulb was out.

It's Halloween......

 

[Habbott]

We live on a dead end street with very few kids (we're getting more as the older generation moves on), so we choose not to ToT on our street. For the past 2 years we've been invited to ours friends house. There are several other families that join us, but they all live in that neighborhood. We have dinner, get the kids ready, and head out. Some of the dads stay behind to pass out candy. We always bring candy to put in the bowl. It's just a better experience for our son in our friend's neighborhood, and it's more fun for us with friends.

 

[Pesky]

I agree it is annoying when the lights are off. It's a pretty standard rule and just plain good manners. Don't bother the folks who indicate they don't want to be bothered.

We always hand out candy. Usually I stay and hand it out but if not, then we leave a bowl outside for kids to take one and hope for the honor system. Most kids abide by it.

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I agree it's really bad manners to take your kids out trick or treating and not hand out candy at your own house.

I'm a single mom and there have been a few years when I had DD for TorT and didn't have someone to hand out candy at my house. I left a bowl with a note to take 2 pieces. 2 out of 3 years it worked fine. The last year I did it, someone emptied the bowl very early on.

Some years parents of my DD's friends offered for her to go with them while I stayed home to hand out candy. And last night, I asked my DD's after school babysitter to stay an extra hour to hand out candy while I went out with DD.

 

[bumbershoot]

We found it very confusing tonight. People with lights off, but still handing out candy...people with major Halloween decorations, but no candy...sure would be nice if everyone subscribed to the "light on- candy, light off- no candy", but they don't!

We were out with DS (yep, both of us*) and there were some houses that were VERY confusing.

And sometimes a house is just too scary for some kids to go to. Or, as DS found out last night, if you have to walk up stairs to every single house, sometimes you start skipping ones with the longer staircases, LOL.

We had no decorations except for pumpkins on the porch. I took my own out trick or treating, cold and rainy here. We didn't stay out long.

Pumpkins are decoration, and your house would have been one of the confusing houses.



*one of these days we'll own a house in a neighborhood and totally make up for it, but that's not now.

 

[Wills Mom]

Oh this bugged me last night! We made a sign and hung it outside. It said "Small baby sleeping. Please do not knock" And parents still brought their kids to our door! We disabled our bell and put white noise on in DSs room so he wouldnt hear the trick or treaters. We went to bed at 9.30 and we were still hearing the door knocking at 11!!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

We went to bed at 9.30 and we were still hearing the door knocking at 11!!

That's crazy. Does your area not have set hours for trick or treating? For our city, it's 6-8pm. And I've never had an issue with kids not observing those times. In fact, most kids come between 6 and 7, and I only have a handful of kids after 7pm. But the ones that did come after 7pm last night got huge handfuls of candy from me. I bought the same amount of candy that I normally do, but the weather was cold and rainy. We only got a fraction of the amount of trick or treaters that normally come.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

That's crazy. Does your area not have set hours for trick or treating? For our city, it's 6-8pm. And I've never had an issue with kids not observing those times. In fact, most kids come between 6 and 7, and I only have a handful of kids after 7pm. But the ones that did come after 7pm last night got huge handfuls of candy from me. I bought the same amount of candy that I normally do, but the weather was cold and rainy. We only got a fraction of the amount of trick or treaters that normally come.

We just moved to where we're living now, and it blew my mind that they don't have set TOTing hours. We had our light on (also, to me, the standard sign that you're offering treats) from 6-7:30. We left a bowl outside and took both of our kids out. Doing this was never a problem at our old house, and we always came back to candy in the bowl. Not so much last night...it was completely empty when we got home, so we shut off the outside lights and turned away the two groups that came knocking anyway. Sorry kids. Some other little jerks took all the candy.

 

[lucifie]

Halloween etiquette 101...If you go out Trick or Treating, then you should reciprocate by answering the door at least a few times.

Seriously, if nothing else sort out the losers from your kid's treats and retreat them.

My kids are past Trick or Treating but I'm half way through 6 bags of candy.

A lot of people in our neighborhood turn on their lights and leave a bowl of candy on the porch. That's what we did when we went out. By the time we got back it was late enough that I needed to get the kids to bed so I turned the light off. We don't usually get many kids, though.

 

[lucifie]

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.

When we were heading home last night I saw a few cars from outside the neighborhood driving the kids around. If they just dropped the kids off and walked around the neighborhood I wouldn't have cared, but there weren't a lot of houses giving out candy so they would let the kids out for a couple of houses, then drive them to the next couple of houses, etc. Maybe I've just gotten old and crotchety but it annoyed me that these people were creating traffic in our quiet little neighborhood that hardly has any traffic at the same time that my little kids were out walking after dark.

 

[lucifie]

We don't have set T or T hours either, but it's generally from about 6:00 - 7:30 or 8:00. My kids go to bed at 7:30 (they were up later last night) so the light goes off when I start getting them ready for bed.

What I find really annoying is when a house has lights on but they aren't home.

 

[wishing4PA]

What I find really annoying is when a house has lights on but they aren't home.

I could see myself taking a trip and leaving the light on, or on a timer, and not thinking of it!
But I'd probably remember if I were just gone for the evening around town.