So, how many trick or treaters came to your home?

[mom2scouts]

3 minutes ago, Annie G said:

Yeah, there’s a sweet spot- you don[t want your kids trick or treating in a deserted neighborhood but being one of 750 is pretty scary too, even with police presence.  We handed out candy for years and it was fun but quite expensive, but we stopped when an adult teen tried to push past our Dd and grab our entire bushel basket of candy. 

I’m sure it’s safer for the police to patrol our one street instead of trying to cover the whole town, and it’s wide enough for parking all along both sides of our street and at the hospital, so it makes sense in every way except for my budget. 

Does the police help buy candy for all families that live in that neighborhood? They should. Candy is getting really expensive and I try to buy enough to last, but I also can't spend a fortune on it. Our candy usually runs out right before the designated trick or treat time ends and this year, with the rain, we even had candy left over. If we  had that many people coming to our neighborhood from the entire town, I think I'd probably just stop handing out candy. 

[Annie G]

4 minutes ago, mom2scouts said:

Does the police help buy candy for all families that live in that neighborhood? They should. Candy is getting really expensive and I try to buy enough to last, but I also can't spend a fortune on it. Our candy usually runs out right before the designated trick or treat time ends and this year, with the rain, we even had candy left over. If we  had that many people coming to our neighborhood from the entire town, I think I'd probably just stop handing out candy. 

We can opt out by not having a porch light on. Of course, kids often see people inside and knock anyway, but there is no rule you have to participate.  Oddly enough, most people participate.  It’s expensive, for sure. 

[Xahm]

Our neighborhood has mostly grandparent age folks with young couples starting to move in, so there aren't lots of kids. We got about ten trick or treaters, half from the neighborhood and half by car. People were really generous with our kids, though! I'm hoping there well be more in future years, but our town has started a thing on main street, so lots go there. I love seeing our neighbors and making those connections, especially because a lot of the elderly in our area love it and wouldn't really be able to do the big trunk or treat, but I worry most neighbors will give up if there are so few kids coming around 

[happi duck]

11 hours ago, Liz CA said:

 

Surprising. Are many people home between the hours of 2-5pm? Around here it gets going around 6:45pm when it is starting to get dark.

I grew up in the area where I now live and t or t has always been before dark with community events at night.  It is really surprising that it hasn't changed as more families aren't home until dinner time.

I find the regional differences around t or t interesting: before vs after dark, teenagers yes vs no, placing candy in bags vs kids picking from your bowl.  (Ftr our area is before dark, yes to teenagers, place candy in bags)

[AmandaVT]

We never get any at our house, but we went to a friend's house and they had hundreds. I can't even count. They live in a large neighborhood with lots of families and we had a blast. Some houses were decorated, some weren't - it felt very similar to the trick or treating I did as a kid. Nothing was organized, no set hours, just people out having fun. Kids ranged from babies to teens and everyone who trick or treated was given candy. It rained, but thankfully I was able to fit DS's costume over his raincoat, so he was able to stay dry and not have to cover his costume with a coat!

[cintinative]

We had less than normal because of rain in the forecast and then rain that started about 45 min-1 hour into it. Maybe 40? I don't count candy. I gave handfuls this year because I figured we would not have many kids and I had bought way too much candy. 

[Mbelle]

We have zero.  We do not live in a subdivision, but there are houses on our street.  We no longer even buy candy.

We used to trick or treat at a cousins neighborhood.  It was wild and crazy time.  Much fun was had!

I have lived around the same area my whole life.  Candy is in a bowl.  Most people go as it gets dark.

We just do trunk or treat now.  It is just easier as all our friends kids have aged out of the night and don't have a little one like we do.

[Faith-manor]

We don't have trick or treating in our town anymore. The population is only 200, and the number of young children is low. It was deemed safe a few years ago when the county decided it was okay for people to zip through here at 55 mph, and that includes semi trucks. They go through at that clip a very close distance to the one and only bus stop in the town. I keep worrying that one of these days some children are going to be hit and killed. But, we are an unincorporated area so despite being a "town" we aren't a town legally.

So the children that are here go to the next larger town.

We did hand out glow sticks and foam shuttles at a Trunk or Treat that a United Methodist Church had. It was a LOT of fun. The fire department came and blocked off one end of the parking lot and handing out candy, a state police officer came and parked at the head of the driveway handing out candy, and that made it a super safe venue for the kids. There 30 ish cars/trucks/vans that were decorated and kids trick or treated at each vehicle. 370 kids came through. It was a blast. Good thing I found those glow sticks on a super, bulk sale and only gave out one per child!

[gardenmom5]

Zero.   We never get kids.  Houses are too far apart. 

[Selkie]

Zero. We live out in the country, our driveway is 1/2 mile long, and our neighbors are miles apart. 

Thinking about this, I just realized that I've spent my whole life either living rural or in apartments (for a few years as a young adult), so I've never actually passed out candy to trick or treaters ever.

When my kids were young, we took them to the nearest small town for trick or treating. The fire dept. blocks the streets off with barricades so kids can walk around safely - it's nice.

[Lori D.]

In past years, we would have 50-75. This year, in spite of beautiful weather: 15. ?
They were very spread out, starting at 5:45 for the first group, to 8:30 for the last family.
We had toddlers in strollers, several families with mixed ages, some late-elementary ages with a dad, and 1 lone teen.
We were guessing that the church-sponsored Trunk or Treat events attracted many of the families in our area who used to come through our neighborhood.

Edited November 2, 2018 by Lori D.

[G5052]

We had none last year in our previous neighborhood.

This year we turned out the lights and were eating dinner at the back of the house because we didn't get any candy. The bell rang once. My younger one said she wished that we had gotten candy, so I guess we'll try it next year.

[Murphy101]

32. I know this because I bought one box of whole regular sized candy bars to give out and had to hunt down 2 more out of my night stand.  They got out their umbrellas and jackets for the stroller brigade and we all trick or treated in the cold rain.  It was great!

[Kareni]

Thank you all for answering.  It's been fun to hear the different experiences you had.

Regards,
Kareni

[Carrie12345]

15 hours ago, happi duck said:

I grew up in the area where I now live and t or t has always been before dark with community events at night.  It is really surprising that it hasn't changed as more families aren't home until dinner time.

I find the regional differences around t or t interesting: before vs after dark, teenagers yes vs no, placing candy in bags vs kids picking from your bowl.  (Ftr our area is before dark, yes to teenagers, place candy in bags)

I keep wondering how much is regional, and how much has just changed over time.  I did Halloween in one house for 22 years, and now I've done Halloween here for 14 years. (Plus two apartment buildings for a few years in between.) I thought our current area's addiction to Trunk or Treats was a custom born out of "necessity", but they seem to be everywhere now.

While it bums me out that we aren't able to have what I consider a traditional Halloween, my kids could have dressed up and gotten candy Thursday (did), Friday, Saturday, Sunday (did), *Monday*, and Wednesday from a ridiculous number of available events.  Probably even Tuesday if I had been searching for one. Malls, fire houses, parks, grocery stores, neighborhoods, schools, and on and on and on.

 

[Dmmetler]

About 50. Some years we get more like 250, because we have two churches that do Trunk or treats, and a lot of families go to one and walk to the other, Trick or treating all the way, but this year it rained, so people drove between the churches. 

[Murphy101]

I only bought one box of 30 because I figured with the rain and being on a Wednesday night, we wouldn’t get the usual turn out. But if it had fallen on a Friday or Saturday or the weather been better? I’d have bought at least 3 boxes.  Pretty much every kid in our neighborhood truck or treats here.  Some years we even get people driving through with vans full of kids from other neighborhoods and we run out. About 1/3 of the neighbors decorate and I’d say at least half or more turn on their porch lights. The houses that don’t are the minority. It’s one of my favorite things about this neighborhood.