What do you usually give out to trick-or-treaters?

[milkabum]

Do you hand out candy? If you do, what do you give out?

We usually give out a couple of treats like some popeye candy sticks and a small chocolate bar. The best treat I've recieved has had to be one of those giant pixie sticks, or a bag of chips and a handful of treats. My friend recieved a flow stick and a pumpkin bracelet once! At the end of the night, I still get a bunch of treats and I plan on going again this year. Even though I'm 12.

 

[Disney Hot Mama]

We make individual bags for our trick o treaters. This way we can track how many kids come by, can provide a variety of items (candy, pencils etc)

I think 12 is just about old enough to stop but not yet... maybe a year or two more.....

 

[TigerKat]

My neighbor does the craziest thing, she works in a dental office and actually hands out toothbrushes and toothpaste! You can imagine the looks on the poor kids faces. She should be banned from Halloween!

 

[Eeyore'sthebest]

My DD gets really good stuff. Lots of bags of stuff, cans of soda (which she doesn't drink), lots of chips, used to get the big bars of candy but both those neighbors moved away.
We usually just give out a few of the snack size bars. We don't get too many people. So I usually just let the kids pick 2 or 3 of whatever we have. We can't get snickers anymore because DH is diabetic and its his favorite! Need to keep that stuff out of the house for him.
I don't mind older kids trick or treating but I want them to make a stab at a costume. I told kids last year that they better not come back this year without some sort of costume. I have no problem turning away a 16 year old who is outside with just a pillowcase and no costume. Of course I usually have my tall, bulky DH standing behind me.

 

[MosMom]

Usually just candy but this year I'm thinking about doing popcorn balls. They have packs of 20 for 3.89 (or something like that) at Walmart.

I've got to do something big this year because my dad (who lives across the street) does the "Candy Cart" which is known around town. He buys a ton of full size candy bars and candy and fills a cart with it all. He rolls it out the door and lets kids pick things. He does Mini M&M tubes, giant licorice ropes, assorted candy bars etc. etc. etc. How can I compete?

 

[CEDmom]

I think this year I'm going to get the mini bags of Oreos and chips. I know I don't let my DD keep most of her candy and I know a lot of other parents that get rid of a lot of it as well. I want to give something good but also that will get used.

 

[Aidensmom]

We usually do snack size chocolate bars, but today DS and I were decorating the yard for Halloween and some neighborhood kids came over to help, and they all loved the spider rings we were using in the spider webs, so now I am thinking that spider rings may be a great thing to give out.

 

[disneymom3]

I don't mind older kids trick or treating but I want them to make a stab at a costume. I told kids last year that they better not come back this year without some sort of costume. I have no problem turning away a 16 year old who is outside with just a pillowcase and no costume. Of course I usually have my tall, bulky DH standing behind me.

I'm with you! I would give candy to a 20 yo if they were wearing a costume, said, "Trick or Treat" and were happy. Sullen noncostume wearing teens are another story! I have a new approach. I don't need my house egged or toilet papered so I do give them something. But what I give them is the left over 4th of July parade candy. Got rid of it all last year! We have a window beside the door and I peek out there before deciding which bowl of treats to grab. Keep in mind this is ONLY if they are not even in a costume.

ETA--I realize I forgot to answer the original question. We went to Sam's Club today and bought 675 pieces of candy We spent $40 on candy! The reason is we are going to a trunk or treat/harvest festival as well as needing candy for home. We bought mini candy bars--Starburst, Skittles, M&Ms, Reeses, Hershey choc., Snickers, Almond Joy, and a few others I think were in there. It is all in the basement and I am pretending it is not there!

 

[Pixiedust34]

I buy candy we like. We never get trick-or-treaters, so we end up eating it ourselves.

 

[ransom]

In our neighborhood, trick-or-treat time is well before we get home. All we get are the stragglers - maybe five or six sets of kids. It's so sad, because both DW and I love giving out candy at Halloween!

Anyway, we usually get the basics (mini Hershey brand candies, mostly), plus we usually throw in some good stuff, like Ghirardhelli chocolate squares.

But, most of it goes to waste, because so few kids come by.

 

[TinkerBess_SnowTori]

We give away full size candy bars -- my husband loved the houses that did that and always wanted to be those people when he grew up -- so we are

But we have the bowl of smarties and other leftover candy that we give to those who do not show up in costume.

We are becoming know as "that house that gives big ones" so we have had a couple rude kids without costumes say "Hey what gives? Where's the big candy?" And we just shrug and say - "Sorry this is it"

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

I usually give out stuff that I like. Then if there is anything leftover, I will enjoy it. Of course, that NEVER works out because I eat it before Halloween.

This year I am expecting less that 30 kids, we had about 20 last year. I have a bunch of little toys I got on sale last year, and I am making bags...Bags were ALWAYS a hit with me when I went TOTing many years ago..

I read a survey a couple of years ago to find out what candy types were most popular with kids today. Gummies were #1, followed by other chewy things-taffy, Skittles, etc. chocolate was way down on the list...good for moms that raid the candy bags...

so this year my bags contain lots of bubble gum and gummies...

In our old neighborhood, which was a mountain road that went in a 1.5 mile circle with realllllllly long driveways(translation-not so great conditions for TOTing..) our neighbor would attach his garden trailer to his Suburban and carefully pull the 6 or so kids in the neighborhood around...one house gave out dollar bills rolled up and tied with a bow...they probably spent less than $20 giving out money!

 

[Amity 3]

if they're around 16 and don't have a costume, they get packets of Taco Bell hot sauce.

 

[momof2inPA]

Hershey Kissables and Nerd Ropes

 

[snowwhite17]

My kids usually pick it out... it seems like snickers and m&m's are a popular choice.

 

[TinkNH]

Anything but those mini milkey ways..cause if I get those..there are none left by halloween

 

[Tracy Savage]

if they're around 16 and don't have a costume, they get packets of Taco Bell hot sauce.

I love it! I'm gonna do that too!

 

[georgina]

I had kids without costumes, and I did say something to them the first year we lived here. Some brat blew up our mailbox, so after that I just passed out the candy. We used to get 100 kids, because parents would drop them off at the youth center down the street, but there has been a lot of new construction, with bigger houses and sidewalks (which we don't have) so now the kids get dropped off elsewhere, and I get about 30 kids. So I give out big bars to whoever comes here. My own kids don't go around our neighborhood; they go with their friends where there are sidewalks and the houses are closer together.

 

[Disneyland1084]

The candy we usually buy for trick or treaters every year is snickers, kit kat and butterfinger. YUMMY!!!!!!!

 

[deekaypee]

We buy a couple of bags of our favorite snack-size candy bars to give away because we don't get many trick-or-treaters. If we're going to have leftovers, it might as well be candy we like to eat.

Then again, maybe I shouldn't buy candy we like to snack on. Hmmm....