<p>It’s trick or treat night and in our multicultural, upper middle class area the kids were out in droves with parents trailing not far behind. There are about thirty five houses in our neighborhood. All have been built in the last five years with one acre wooded lots. There are ten houses on our cul-de-sac and we have three white families, four Indian families, two Chinese and one black family. This is a common racial breakdown on the other streets in our neighborhood. As I was handing out the candy this evening I could not help but notice that everyone was kind of grouped by race. Only one white family, who had hosted a party for several of the kids on our street had a multi-racial group. Everyone else that came to the door was clustered by race. These are all very well educated people with children in excellent schools. Do birds of a feather still flock together? Is this true in your neighborhood?</p>
<p>OK, it sounds like you might not have had a really representative sample (?). How many groups did you have?
It’s hard to say unless there are large numbers. We used to live in a neighborhood where I’d buy 2 or 3 large SAMS bags of candy and end up giving out of candy! We had our own neighborhood kids, plus hundreds of others whose parents drove them in buy the van load. It was a blast.
In our current neighborhood, I might see 40 or 50 kids max. Not a representative sample.</p>
<p>You’re probably right. We only had about 45 small groups of kids tonight. (I bought way too much candy! EEK!) The thing is, my son says that at school the same is also true. I just wondered if it others were also aware of this or if it was just our little “suburbia thing.”</p>
<p>Maybe it’s a Wednesday thing.
What a bad night for Halloween.</p>
<p>I think I’m going to give it all to my son to take to school and pass out after lunch. Those Twix bars are just calling to me like Sirens!</p>
<p>“One acre wooded lots” and you still have trick-or-treaters? Wow. In my neck of the woods there is so much new construction with 6-8 houses per acre where kids can instantly fill their pillowcases with candy without much walking, nobody bothers showing up on our street where the lots are big. Too few candy pieces per acre!</p>
<p>We never get anyone at our house. I’d welcome kids of any ethnic background. I have Dutch chocolates. Come to me!</p>
<p>We had two kids. Two! Of course, we also have 30 mph winds, rain and we’re under a tropical storm watch, so only the really determined kids are out tonight. Guess I’ll have to take the candy in to work tomorrow if I don’t eat it all first :eek:</p>
<p>Bethie, I’m on my way! Do you still have snow?</p>
<p>I have Swiss ones, and no takers 
I used to give out 3-5 Costco-sized bags of candy when we lived in our old neighborhood.</p>
<p>We do see people following kids in their cars sometimes, I was thrilled to have them all! They were sooo cute! Lots of Princesses and furry animals. We had great weather, so parents even had their babies dressed up and they were tagging along with their sibs. We had a three year old “Tigger” who sang “The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers”, I love Halloween!</p>
<p>Sarahsmom, I think it just depends on the people. The group of people that I hung out with in college was <em>very</em> diverse… Most of the time I was in the minority, and I’m as pale white as can be. I look practically albino next to a majority of my friends. When we all went on vacation last year in May my one friend made a joke while we were driving to a place for kareoke that the “minority mobile” was set in motion. It was one comment I will never forget from that trip… it still makes me laugh every time I think about it… </p>
<p>yet my sisters roommate at her college (which is about an hour away from where I went to school) can’t get over the fact that at their college it appears as though birds of a feather stick together there. I don’t know if that’s really how it is there, or if she’s just imagining things since I don’t go to the school.</p>
<p>No trick or treaters at all. No candy either. We are on a 2 acre lot at the end of a long and steep driveway. AFter my kids left public middle school, no one ever traipsed down the driveway, and now no one even drives down.</p>
<p>Thanks, fendergirl. I just wondered if others thought that this was still true or not. I’m sure that it’s much different in urban areas than the suburbs. We have neighborhood get togethers and there is always a mix, but I notice that when individuals have parties, their guests often tend to be of their own race.</p>
<p>patsmom, You are in Fla?
It’s not bad here, but with all the squalls in the past two days, plus the fact that it’s Wednesday…
It’s deadsville.
Halloween this year is a BUST!
I bought Charms lollypops with bubblegum in the middle. Figured it keeps for a long time; it’s all wrapped up; I can give them to my students (piano); I can give the rest to my kids (who doesn’t like to suck on a good lollypop?).</p>
<p>Oh cnp55…I would really miss it. My friend who lives on a busy street had one trick or treater.</p>
<p>doubleplay, You were smart! I bought Twix and Butterfingers and they are too much for me to resist. I’m definately going to get rid of them tomorrow!</p>
<p>Definitely not ‘birds of a feather’ in our area. The packs at school (and at Halloween festivites) are very diverse. Probably not fair to compare, as it is a small International school in Asia. The kids find their kindred spirits, irrelevant of culture or race.</p>
<p>My mom bought a huge bag full of 25 snickers, 25 reeces, 25 twix, etc. She then proceeded a few days later to make goody bags up with one of each. She got two done before realizing all of the snickers were gone. She began questioning everyone and found out that my dad ate 23 snickers in the three day period between buying the candy and goody bagging it. He had to go to the store and buy a new bag of snickers for her baggies as punishment.</p>
<p>I thought it was hilarious.</p>
<p>Sarasmom, I think when these parties are put together by adults, they tend to be more segregated than gatherings organized by teenagers. My teen hangs out with the most diverse crowd one can possibly gather in our relatively homogenous middle-class neighborhood.</p>
<p>OMG Fendergirl, that IS hilarious!! At our house, once the bag is open those little bitty candy bars call to me. I can’t leave them alone. I almost never buy junk food because I have NO will power. I’m always amazed when people are still doling out candy at Thanksgiving. Here it never lasts more than a week. Pitiful!
Bunsen, I’m sure you are right. The theatre kids my D hangs with are of all shapes, sizes, colors, and creeds.</p>