Trick or Treating - A Vent!

[HoneyPooh]

I had kids of all ages at my house (about 125 or so of them I guess) and the only one out of the whole bunch who was rude was a little guy of about 6 who didn't say a word, grabbed a big handfull of candy out of my basket Karate chopped one of my headstones and ran laughing off my porch. Sheesh. The teens pleasantly surprised me. To a one they were polite and complimented my jack-o-lanterns, decorations and my costume. They were not all wearing costumes and I really didn't care. As long as they were polite, they got candy.

BTW, what's the big deal about using a pillowcase or backpack for a trick-or-treat bag? Never had a "store bought" bag my entire life and neither did my kids. Wish I had thought of the backpack for the boys, much easier to carry!

 

[Linnie The Pooh]

I have a 6 year old with special needs, although, just to look at him, you'd never know he was different than any other kiddo. Last night was the first time he's really gone TOT'ing. I had my 3 year old DD with me, my mom, my brother and his 2 boys ages 9 and 6.

My son (even though he can't speak well) said TOT at nearly every door on his own. If he didn't, I made him do it. (Mean mom) and he said thank you on his own after I told him to at the first house.

He did have a problem with attempting to grab for the candy that he wanted and sometimes made a fast grab for candy when the person had already put some in his bucket. He just doesn't understand that wasn't ok-a part of his bigger complex issues.

My big vent for the night is:

So many kids just crowd up to the door (my brother's included) and don't back away once they get their candy that it made it hard for me to get to the door to make sure my son wasn't being too grabby. I'm sure the people at the door thought he was rude b/c they don't know he's a "special" little guy and that was a little embarrassing for me. I was starting to get irritable at the other kids. My brother never made his kids say thank you and never told them to move out of the way once they got their candy.

I saw some teens out for TOT and they were all dressed up and seemed like they were being appropriate. We did go to a haunted house where a guy in a ghoulish mask kept trying to scare my son and make him jump, but my boy just kept looking at him like he was normal and not in a mask. Kind of stole the guy's thunder!

Thanks for letting me vent. It was a fun night overall. We'll definitely do it next year!

 

[PixieDust32]

Hi All-

My older dd is nearly 5. She dressed as Cinderella bride last night and we went trick or treating. While out we ran into several large groups of tweens and young teens with no costumes using backpacks to collect candy. They were awful! They'd push past the little kids (not just my dd) or they would pack in so tight at the door that the little ones couldn't move once they'd gotten their candy.

When I was at my house giving out candy the same age range kids wouldn't say "trick-or-treat" they'd just hold out their bags and wait for the candy. Next year I am going to have two candy bowls - one with good stuff, and one with something yuck. Are all kids that age purely obnoxious or was I just running into the wrong kids all night long?

UUUGGGHHH!

Erin

We saw a lots of teens just like that, rude and loud, no costume and just asking for candy, they had bookbags or regular plastic bags! I was upset bcs we did spend money on costumes for our girls, and my DS 16 didn't want to dress up so he stayed at home watching movies.
Some girls had super mini skirts and their breast was hanging out, it was so nasty.
We saw DD's friend and she told us that her mom didn't have money for a costume so she wore her cheerleading outfit. I have no problem with little kids with no costume, bcs i know some people can't afford one, but 16, 17 YO kids being rude, no way. I don't care how old they are, as long as they nice and polite with the rest of the kids.

 

[robinb]

We served beer. Heck, Monday night football was last night.

I'm glad I was not the only one! I left a bucket of candy on the porch and Trick-or-Treated with my 6 year old DD who was Tinerbelle. I pulled our wagon with a 12-pack of beer in it. When I would run into parents I knew I would ask them if they wanted some liquid adult trick-or-treat . I had a few takers on our little walk!

As for the teens and tweens ... all of them were great! The only non-costumed people I saw were some hispanic kids. I'm not sure if the parents were 100% sure what was expected in the costume department, but they were very nice and their kids were having a blast!

 

[nwdisgal]

I made DH go out last night dressed in a chef's uniform with my DS. DH had lots of people hit him up to cook dinner.

Wow, kids with backpacks and no costumes. That is pretty bold. Yep, I'd probably keep a bowl of Good and Plenty's around for them.

I want to TOT at the neighborhood that serves wine.

 

[dixipixi]

What I don't understand is why they are out TOTing? My teens won't do it at all (costume or not). It's just a thing for little ones around here (up to about 11 or so). Any older than that and they have parties and such...they are definitely not out with the "little kids".

 

[nwdisgal]

Everybody gets into it here. Even the adults like to dress up with a big party in town that attracts people from all over the place.

 

[DVC Jen]

For your 17 year old who really wanted to go- child at heart- maybe she could volunteer to escort some little ones. It would let the parents stay home to handle the tot'ers, and she'd have the fun of saying tot, likely getting some candy, and enjoying watching the younger children.

she actually was so busy with review sheets for finals that are Thursday and Friday(her school is on a trimester system) that she didn't have time to even pass out candy like she usually does.

Found out yesterday.. because of her high scores on her benchmarks and perfect attendance she is exempt from all her finals.. doesn't have to take any and gets to hang with me on Thursday and Friday.

 

[Iott Family]

We had a lot of teens tot'ing and many were so rude. This one group of 3 boys were shoving my kids ages 9-8 and 20 months at the door and one tried to take my 20 month olds bucket but DH jumped in and stopped that fast. Our neighbors across the street were watching our house for us and said that a group of two teen girls in street clothes came back 3 times for hand outs. Where are the parents? I know if these kids werent left unsupervised they wouldnt be acting out.

I think once a child hits that "teen" age there are other tot'ng events they can participate in and leave the door to door to the youngsters. JMHO! We have told our oldest that they can have a party that we will host and all their friends can stop in and dress up and such.

I liked the posters suggestion about collecting canned goods for the shelters, etc. Im going to propsose that to my local scouting council. Kudos!