I would much rather have the older kids be out trick or treating than out just tricking. Kids have to grow up too fast in a lot of other ways, I don’t mind them hanging on to childhood in this way.
My mom always made donuts to hand out at Halloween. She was always in the kitchen cooking and dad passed them out. She often gave out 300+ in a small town of less than 1,000 people total.
I am not sure how I got out trick or treating when I was little, but I always went. I miss those donuts and am almost tempted to make some for myself, though it is a lot of work for a lot of calories.
Trick or treating is 6pm to 8pm. There are only 9 houses back here tucked away. Even delivery people can’t find us. When the kids were younger we lived in a kid friendly neighborhood and we got tons and tons of kids at the door. We’d decorate the porch and just sit outside to greet them while the other parent took the kids.
I have no problem with teens trick or treating as long as they wear a costume. I nasty neighbor once yelled at my friends special need son who had a high school volunteer “buddy” take him around. I still scorn her when I see her.
With so much negative going on now, tragedies, divisions etc. it’s nice to provide a little fun thing for the kids (and teens). If can give someone a smile, it’s worth it.
When we first moved in there were a lot of young kids and we’d get 20-30 groups coming by. Last year only 3 groups came by, so it was kinda sad. Anyway, I have 4 bags of candy ready just in case. The “just in case” really means I bought only candy I personally like so I can eat it all just in case there’s leftovers, which is practically guaranteed.
Funny story - one year early on we got a bag of candy hanging from the doorknob with a note. “Wow free candy!” Ate the candy and tossed the note unread. A couple days later, more free candy! “Yay me!” Rinse and repeat 4 times before I thought, “Hmm maybe I should read the note”. Yup, it was some Halloween game that’s apparently common but I’d never heard of. I was supposed to be taping the note to my door and giving out candy and notes to houses without a note taped to their door. But still, “Free candy! Yay me!”
Last year I was living in a new house, had just moved in and didn’t have time to put up decorations. I was disappointed that I didn’t have anyone coming to the house since I could hear many many groups of kids and parents walking by and the neighborhood decorations showed that people really go all out for it here.
The next morning I realized that I had forgotten to unlock the front gate!
@eyemamom One year a group of older teenage guys came by in plain jeans and t-shirts, using plastic garbage bags for candy. It was so lame I gave them an eye roll and said, “Come on guys, at least make an effort!”
For our full size bars we got the Mars chocolate variety packs from Costco. It has M&Ms, plain and peanut, Snickers, Twix, and Milky Way bars.
We will get 30-50 kids typically, though, with rain in the forecast, it may be lower this year. We love seeing the neighborhood kids dressed up including the 11th graders from up the street.
Last week, our local WP parents club packed Halloween “boodle” boxes to send to the 65 cadets from our state. Everyone brings tons of candy and non-candy treats. You fill your own cadet’s box and then grab an empty box and go around the table again filling for those whose parents don’t live close to the event. I tucked a card and some toys into our son’s box along with all the sugar. They’re never too old.
Not this year. My kid is the one who usually is the one home to hand out stuff, and he’s off to bigger and better things nowadays. I wonder if kids are brave enough to go to dorms lol.
“I live on a low Candy to Effort ratio street as well. The kids don’t want to do the uphill walk.”
And this is why I give movie theater sized candy. They’d burn more calories walking up the hill than they’d consume eating a fun-sized piece of candy.
My neighbor gives out big candy as well so, although we don’t get gobs of kids, word gets around and we get several dozen at least.
“Full-size candy people: which candy?”
All kinds. I probably have at least 15 choices this year. I bought more than usual because it is going to be an unseasonably warm 52 degrees at trick or treat time. Mike & Ike’s are always popular.
Over the years I’ve come up with a system. A case of cases (432) of Hershey bars. Everyone seems to love chocolate. Another few cases of M&Ms (if they’re left over I can bake with them), something guaranteed nut-free (this year cases of gummy bears), a couple of backup cases of popcorn (for small children or if we run out of candy). Someone in the house will eat the popcorn after Halloween if it’s left over. The difficult part is getting the balance right so I’m not stuck with a ton of leftover candy.
My daughter and her husband live in a brand-new neighborhood where the single-family homes are so close to each other that you can barely walk between them. It’s a kids’ paradise for Halloween.
I spent most of my childhood in a neighborhood with acre zoning. I want a do-over.
I’m always the grinch who thinks there’s a time to give it up, and I’ll say when you’ve got your bag in one hand and a cigarette or a three-month-old in the other, that’s the time.
Also, my kids stopped after middle school but ran a nifty haunted house display in front of our house. They had plenty of fun!
We call it low CPA density - candy per acre. Never had a single trick o treater when we lived in the area with 5 acre lots, but I was always prepared. Current place also has low CPA as it turns out. Plus it is not fun to trudge up the hill.
I stopped on my home st Dollar Tree and bought 10 bags of Smarties and Tootsie Rolls. We will get 5 kids at most and one of those will be the 4 yr old who lives two doors down that I bought as special treat for.
