Being pissy about giving out candy for a kid's holiday is pretty far up there on the list. Guess you feel differently...Really?
By "good stuff" I just mean small fun size bars of chocolate. They're actually pretty expensive! A minimum of $3 a bag, at least, going on up and if you have to buy 15 - 20 bags that isn't cheap at all. And I do think we need to buy that many bags as each bag only has what, 20 pieces in it?
(happens often!) or at a bonfire party like when I was in HS.
I love the teens who are still out trick or treating! I'd rather them be trick or treating in the neighborhood than making out on the elementary school playground
My neighborhood was depressingly dark this year. We had tons of kids out and very few houses lit up, so not the norm. IDK if everyone was too broke for candy, not participating on a school night, OR if they were all watching the Rangers (or Cowboys) games...
But I usually have a scad of them here, anyway. And I am usually feeding them. Far more expensive than a yearly bag of candy.
Really?
By "good stuff" I just mean small fun size bars of chocolate. They're actually pretty expensive! A minimum of $3 a bag, at least, going on up and if you have to buy 15 - 20 bags that isn't cheap at all. And I do think we need to buy that many bags as each bag only has what, 20 pieces in it?
I'm with the drag group. I'm happy to hand out candy to neighborhood kids, but I think people going all over large areas to collect as much candy as possible is greedy. And, yes (I know this is an unpopular opinion with some on the Dis), I don't think teenagers should be trick or treating. This is a child's activity. JMHO .........
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1. some people live in areas where people don't give candy or don't have the money to give candy. Should those children not be allowed to go elsewhere to trick or treat?
Hmmm, as I said, people going all over large areas to collect as much candy as possible is greedy. I didn't say they shouldn't be allowed to trick or treat elsewhere. But, what I'm starting to see a lot of is people hauling kids to every neighborhood in the area to make "a haul" of candy. The majority of the people doing that are not the people who live in areas where people don't give candy or don't have the money to give candy.
A poster earlier commented that she lived in a rural area and went into to town where her children visited a two or three streets (certainly not over the top). That doesn't sound like the situation I described where the police actually had to show up with lights flashing to handle the traffic jam or the 4 wheeler that pulled the same kids through the neighborhood 3 times.
In our case, we do live in a rural area. When our daughter was small, we went to family and friends in the area. She probably went to about 15 houses (20 tops). She had a great time.
2. I worked with teenagers for years. They are 'children.' They are still children in so many ways. They don't want you to know that but we as adults must be smart enough to allow them to have their childhoods. It's over way soon enough.
I also work with teenagers. They are children in the context that they are not adults. However, children don't drive and/or date (or at least they certainly shouldn't be). I don't think that thinking that teenagers are too old to trick or treat is taking their childhood away from them.
3. Imho, the greed comes from the other direction. People are so greedy, they are unwilling to allow children to celebrate a simple and harmless holiday.
it's people who feel that they 'have theirs' so no one else is worth their consideration.
I don't get this statement at all. I think that most of the people who feel like I do really enjoy seeing the children and participating in the holiday. They do NOT like to be taken advantage of, and this is happening more and more. JMHO
I do like dressing up for Halloween, but I sure don't expect somebody to provide candy for me.
ETA: This is taken from the other ToT thread, and it's exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about:
We encountered a Dad trick or treating last night. At first I thought it was a really big kid, but nope it was Dad. He was running the legs off his kids, and was a tad bit obnoxious. He kept yelling, "Let's go, we have to hit all the houses in here!" And when he got to a house and they were giving candy, he'd say, "Don't forget Dad, I need some too!" At one point his son-who was about 4-ish-complained that his legs hurt and said he wanted to go home. Dad yelled, "No way, we're not stopping now!" The kid was running after him.
AND
What really got me was mom and daughter who came to our house. Neither one of them was wearing any sort costume but both of them were carrying bags. Then to top it off, THEY CAME BACK AGAIN!!! The 2nd time they came around, I said, "oh, repeaters, huh?" and gave the girl a tootsie roll and the mom nothing. This wasn't a little girl either......she was probably 13 so definitely old enough to know you don't go back to the same house twice.
ITA!
It's one day out of the year! It won't kill you. Let the kids have fun. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the posters who are complaining about the price of candy are the ones that are too cheap to share their good fortune with others. (Again, one day out of the year! It's candy, you're not giving them $$$) Sounds very snobby to me.
You don't know what may be going on in some of these kids' worlds. A kind word, a smile and a piece of candy might brighten that child's day.
We live in a neighborhood with a lot of elementary school aged children, but we didn't get a lot of trick of treaters because the bulk of the celebrating takes place on Friday, at the elementary school, where there is a big party and a costume parade.
I was disappointed that we didn't get more kids.
I love Halloween, I especially love seeing the little ones dressed up and seeing how much fun they're having. I miss those days with my own kids.
What's wrong with teenagers dressing up and trick-or-treating, as long as they are polite? It's a wholesome activity, they're not hurting anyone, they could be out doing a lot worse! (and some are) Many of them are helping younger siblings.
Some kids can't afford fancy costumes. The elaborateness of the costume shouldn't dictate the amount of candy they receive. And I never heard of having to sing for candy! (I'm glad I live where I do!)
All the trick or treaters we had were polite. We had toddlers to middle-school age. Some fancy costumes, some plain. It didn't make a difference.
Well, you learn something new every day. I'd never ask. We haven't ever had anyone here ask either, and my boys are pretty creative.
I had a kid ask to take a picture with my cat, who was dressed as a bat. my cats pretty ummm dumb and totally let the kid pick him up and get her picture
