Are you having trick or treat?

[mom2scouts]

Our city has always had a designated time for trick or treat. My youngest kids are teens now. Sometimes DD will go to a few houses in the neighborhood with a friend and DS likes to hand out the candy, but it's not that important to us at this point. Our neighborhood is older and is in a turning over stage, with older people still living in their family homes and very young families moving into their first houses. Because of this and the fact that we have sidewalks and houses that are close, most houses participate and we usually have hundreds of kids trick or treating. Our city hasn't cancelled trick or treat this year and our neighbor told us her kids can't wait to go this year. I feel kind of bad, but we've already decided we're not participating. We have vulnerable people in our family that we need to be able to see at least occasionally and we aren't willing to use up our "risk budget" to hand out candy. I bought my kids some candy, but the budget has been stretched this year and I don't have the money it usually takes to buy all the candy. I suspect that many of the older people who usually hand out candy won't do it this year. So, I'm curious. If you have a city sanctioned time to trick or treat, is your community doing it this year? If so, are you participating, either taking children or handing out candy? If you know, what are your neighbors saying?

[wendyroo]

Our town encourages residents to limit trick or treating to 6-8pm.  This year they are additionally encouraging people to mark 6 foot lines on their front walks, have candy out on a table for kids to take, and talk to children ahead of time about physical distancing.

We will not be participating in any way.  We live in a prime trick or treat neighborhood which I expect will be swamped with people since Halloween is on Saturday this year, especially is the weather is half-way decent. The majority of people around here do not take Covid seriously and have completely abandoned any precautions that are not legally mandated...and are flaunting noncompliance of those too. I fully expect most will be treating this Halloween as business as usual with many people traveling into the neighborhood to trick or treat, minimal supervision, groups of kids running around (and across the streets 😵) willy nilly pushing and shoving and crowding on porches and grabbing handfuls of candy even if they are told to only take one.

Nope, nope, nope.  Our porch light will be off.  In fact, all our lights will be off because my kids will be hunting for orange and black "Halloween eggs" filled with candy, coins and trinkets by flashlight. 

[mommyoffive]

2 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

Our town encourages residents to limit trick or treating to 6-8pm.  This year they are additionally encouraging people to mark 6 foot lines on their front walks, have candy out on a table for kids to take, and talk to children ahead of time about physical distancing.

We will not be participating in any way.  We live in a prime trick or treat neighborhood which I expect will be swamped with people since Halloween is on Saturday this year, especially is the weather is half-way decent. The majority of people around here do not take Covid seriously and have completely abandoned any precautions that are not legally mandated...and are flaunting noncompliance of those too. I fully expect most will be treating this Halloween as business as usual with many people traveling into the neighborhood to trick or treat, minimal supervision, groups of kids running around (and across the streets 😵) willy nilly pushing and shoving and crowding on porches and grabbing handfuls of candy even if they are told to only take one.

Nope, nope, nope.  Our porch light will be off.  In fact, all our lights will be off because my kids will be hunting for orange and black "Halloween eggs" filled with candy, coins and trinkets by flashlight. 

Exactly me.

Our town is still having it.  Our neighborhood is packed.   We are in the middle of a bad surge.   Neighbors have been acting like life is normal.   We are not doing Trick or treating.   We will not be handing out any candy either out of principle.   I don't think it is a responsible thing to be doing right now.  Our porch light will be off.

[Not_a_Number]

We're not trick or treating. We'll set up some candy at home and decorate to make it fun, and then do the same with the in laws when we go up 🙂. But I feel like our job for the remaining months of this pandemic is really just to stay healthy. 

Our in-laws' neighbor just got COVID, and his elderly father is in the hospital. We've had COVID in our apartment building twice (the first time, we didn't even know!) Things are safe until they aren't 😕 . There is a lot of fall and winter left... 

[Spryte]

We live in a Halloween neighborhood. Throngs of kids from sundown till 9 - 10.  

Packed streets.  Crowds of kids and adults.

We usually decorate a ton, and have a firepit on the driveway, and we put the stuff in to make it glow green. We have  a little haunted area with “butter beer,” chili in the crockpot, adult drinks for neighbors.

Not this year.

We only decorated inside.  We’re turning out the lights, and having a family party in the basement with silly monster foods, games, and prizes.  I wanted to do the Easter egg thing, but we don’t have the right colors, so I’m hiding different items.  We might do the firepit in the backyard, but I think not - so I bought a little electric s’mores maker.  And we will watch Halloween themed movies.  
 

It’s a poor substitute, but ... it’s the plan here.
 

Oh!  And we always have the Switch Witch!  She comes to food allergy kids after they ToT.  She switches the candy out for safe treats and usually a small toy.  So I ordered our safe chocolates, and some little things for the kids to have from the Switch Witch.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Spryte

[Janeway]

We are trick or treating. 

[wendyroo]

4 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Things are safe until they aren't 😕 .

I agree, and I just don't understand how adults can fail to grasp that. 

Their argument is that things are not "too bad" around here, and they are nominally right that things are not quite as dire here yet as they were in April, but the numbers are looking worse every week...and as one would expect with exponential spread, the rate of worsening is increasing every week. 

Last week our state was averaging a dozen deaths a day and this week it is a few dozen.  The third week of March we were averaging a dozen deaths and the last week of March it was a few dozen.  But that first week in April it was well over 100 and the second week of April was much worse.  Things can go from not "too bad" to fully "too bad" so quickly! 

Yet people just want trick or treating like normal, and schools operating like normal, and gyms and bars like normal, and restaurants like normal, and parties, holidays, weddings and funerals like normal, and shopping like normal (aka maskless!!), and sports like normal, and, and, and!!!

I just want to scream at them that it is the middle of a friggin' pandemic - normal is not in the cards.  But if they would just knock off all the noncompliant, oppositional bullshit (and wear their masks!!!) then we could all pull together and find safer ways to do all those activities in non-normal ways. Trick or treating could be done very safely...but only if a community has the cooperation, self-control, commitment and buy-in to making small sacrifices to achieve that goal.

Instead, most of our community has chosen head-in-the-sand, reckless denial so that they can do exactly what they want with no regard for the elderly, the sick, the poor, the innocent, the medical workers, the teachers, the prisoners, the homeless and disadvantaged, etc.  Screw those guys - maskless, close-proximity, "normal" trick or treating is a God given right...or maybe a constitutional right...Geneva Convention...Magna Carta...boy scout pledge...whatever, they are just sure it is their right and that is exactly what they will be doing!

[Not_a_Number]

3 minutes ago, wendyroo said:

I agree, and I just don't understand how adults can fail to grasp that. 

They don't know any probability. Really. I've come to the conclusion that that's the problem, and that when I talk to people about it, I am expecting a level of mathematical literacy that doesn't exist in the population. 

The problem is that since this largely spreads via superspreading events, people get complacent, because they do their normal stuff and nothing bad happens... for a while. And people are really rotten at thinking about quantities like 0.9999^100000. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[KungFuPanda]

Not this year. My kids are too old, but we usually pass out candy. A few houses recently sold to cuuute young families and I love seeing those little kids announce who they are because they think you don’t recognize them. 🤣

[RootAnn]

I feel really bad for the little ones that are old enough to remember trick or treating last year & the year before but this year is different.

We will be rigging up a chute to drop full size candy bars down for the T or Ters that come to the door. Well, my engineer kid will be. Usually, we keep the full sized ones for neighbor kids & friends but this year, they are for everyone.  We usually only get 20 kids total. I have enough for double that. 

We won't go out this year ourselves, but will try to safely support those who do.

[Arcadia]

My city has decided against public trick or treating. My county has published a one page flyer of guidelines 

https://www.sccgov.org/sites/covid19/documents/halloween-and-día-de-los-muertos-safety-guidance.pdf

[wendyroo]

30 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

They don't know any probability. Really. I've come to the conclusion that that's the problem, and that when I talk to people about it, I am expecting a level of mathematical literacy that doesn't exist in the population. 

The problem is that since this largely spreads via superspreading events, people get complacent, because they do their normal stuff and nothing bad happens... for a while. And people are really rotten at thinking about quantities like 0.9999^100000. 

What I don't understand is do they not install smoke detectors, buy life insurance, wear seatbelts, save emergency funds, have colonoscopies and mammograms, microchip their pets? Statistically, none of those things are important the vast majority of the time...right up until they are very important!

Has the average adult not learned that you can't wait until mid-accident to put your seat belt on or mid-fire to install the smoke detector? Preventative safety measures only work if they are implemented ahead of time! Really, that is not a hard concept and requires no math whatsoever!

[Bootsie]

Trick or Treating is allowed in our area, but people are being cautioned as to how to handle it safely.  There are only a couple of houses on our block with elementary school kids.  One of those families dropped flyers by all of the houses describing how they would be placing treats on a table, remaining at a distance, and restocking the table, etc.  They mentioned how much the kids were looking forward to Halloween.  

I would like to provide a special experience for kids like that who might be Trick or Treating.  We are seeing if we can come up with some design of sending candy down pvc pipe or down a skateboard ramp to pass it out socially distanced in a fun way. I am eager to hear any ideas people may have.  

[rebcoola]

Trick or treat is allowed here and we plan to participate.  We will set up a chute to give out candy.  The bigs kids will go out.  It's never been crowded and we get a couple of dozen kids usually.  It should be easy for people to keep their groups separate. I don't think it's particularly risky. There are lots of drive-thru trunk or treats going on but honestly, that seems annoying.

Edited October 24, 2020 by rebcoola

[happi duck]

Our town has great Halloween stuff but everything except trick-or-treating is cancelled.  

I'm planning to block our steps and put a folding table near the sidewalk.  I'll put treat bags there and wave from inside the house.  I'll add more treats when no one is there.

 

[Loowit]

We don't live in the city limits, and the county hasn't said anything about it. We are setting up a zip line from our second story window to the sidewalk and giving out treats that way. We will set up caution tape and lights along our sidewalk and driveway to keep kids away from the door. 

Our neighborhood has tons of trick or treaters, although our cul de sac is a bit less traveled. I do fear that we will get a lot of people show up from outside our neighborhood. I don't know how safe others will be, but we will be staying well distanced. 

[Carrie12345]

I grew up in the greatest area for trick or treating, and then spent 15 Halloweens being bummed that we don’t live in a house that gets trick or treaters. That makes this year a heck of a lot easier though!

Our community will be having a trunk or treat and the annual scheduled trick or treating time which people really only do up and down our main road, where houses are closer together. We won’t be participating.  They also finally canceled the annual INDOOR Halloween party due to changes in the capacity allowed, not because of the inherent risks. I think they’re having a more casual party on the beach, which we also won’t be participating in.

I will probably make up candy bags for the 3 young kids on our block, which I usually do anyway.

[Sherry in OH]

My children are on the older end for TOT and this seemed like a good year to change traditions.  We will be renting a movie and having treats at home.     

 

[mlktwins]

We get a lot of trick or treaters in our neighborhood.  It isn’t cancelled in our county.  Lots of people talking about it on our neighborhood FB page. These coversations don’t usually go well -  very divided opinions about it.  I don’t participate in these discussions 🙄.  My boys have passed out our candy the last 2 years.  This year the porch lights will be off.

[ScoutTN]

My kids are too old and I don't  want the exposure or to contribute to the sugar-fest, so we will not be participating this year. Sad bc lots of cute little neighbors. 

We'll have a special dinner and watch movies instead. Harry Potter, most likely.

 

[CTVKath]

We are still ToT but changing up how we do it. My husband usually has demo lights and speakers on hand so we light up the yard and add a bubble or snow machine - whatever demo gear he has at the moment. I don't expect as many trick or treaters this year. Ours usually come in groups in cars as they enter or exit the neighborhood either on the way out or way home from Halloween festivities. Since most of those festivities aren't happening this year, I don't think we'll have a many kids stop by. We normally sit on the front porch, eat pizza and greet the kids with a bucket of treats. This year we're making a candy chute for the little kids. And for the older kids, my husband is going to use a sling shot to shoot the candy bags up in the air and let them catch them. Should be fun. I made up a bunch of treat bags with several candies in it each instead of having the individual candies. I've also got our trinket bags for the teal pumpkin food allergy kids. We'll put on our masks as kids come to the house.

Our kids have food allergies so they don't ToT much. My husband takes them to a few neighbor houses that we know personally. He'll probably do the same this year.

The numbers are still low in our county and not rising. If the numbers were high and rising, we'd do something different.

[TravelingChris]

We have had a few families with children move in.  I plan to decorate this weekend and will be volunteering out our church's drive through Costume Carnival event.  We are not having our typical event where we bring decorated cars and kids walk around and also a hot dog dinner is served in the cafeteria. 

As to our house- I don't yet know if we will do bags, a bowl (we have had done those before) or a shoot or maybe throw the candy at them. My porch is big enough that if they right outside the porch, I can open the door and throw it to them.

[Not_a_Number]

10 hours ago, wendyroo said:

What I don't understand is do they not install smoke detectors, buy life insurance, wear seatbelts, save emergency funds, have colonoscopies and mammograms, microchip their pets? Statistically, none of those things are important the vast majority of the time...right up until they are very important!

Sure they do. But they don't have to think much about it. Their cars come with seatbelts. Their houses come with smoke detectors. Their doctors tell them to get colonoscopies and mammograms. They don't have to look through tons of data and make up their own minds. That's why the public health messaging was such a disaster --- it forced people to make individual decisions using conflicting data. That's not how successful public health interventions work. 

 

Quote

Has the average adult not learned that you can't wait until mid-accident to put your seat belt on or mid-fire to install the smoke detector? Preventative safety measures only work if they are implemented ahead of time! Really, that is not a hard concept and requires no math whatsoever!

As an interesting anecdote, they didn't have seatbelts in Ukraine when I was a kid, and when I visited, people still weren't using them much. I'd ask where they were, and they'd be hidden somewhere weird under the backseat or uninstalled, because they came with the car. People definitely thought I was very odd to care. There's definitely some sort of shift that comes with getting everyone to use something like that. 

Edited October 24, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[JustEm]

We are trick or treating this year and handing out candy. The way our neighborhood is set up we don't get out of neighborhood trick or treaters so it doesn't get too packed.  We're already playing with all the neighborhood kids outside again and have been doing so since June so there is no reason to avoid them.  I'm hoping that people set up a way for the kids to be socially distanced while handing out candy.  It not, I'm really not all that worried.  Numbers are low here.

[73349]

Usually DS trick-or-treats with friends (including dinner at their house) and we have a treasure box (allergy-friendly) for ToTers who come to our door. We're not doing it this year.

The state's average daily new case count has not gone down, stuff has been reopening anyway, and I'm not playing.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Carolina Wren
grammar

[Guest]

DD and I will be participating in the Parks and Rec drive through event (basically, the drama kids, cosplayers, dancers, etc are setting up displays for people to drive through, and the kids will get a bag of treats sponsored by local businesses at the end. DD is setting up a Pokemon themed display. 

 

I'm planning to set up a table with treat bags so kids can come up, wave, and get one for ToT. I'm focusing on non-candy since I don't really expect as many kids this year). 

[Farrar]

No one seems to know what's going to happen this year. The streets that close for ToT can't close. City refused to permit for it. They told people try to stay home. But... I just do not know. I mean, the areas that are insane... if I lived on one of those streets, I'd board up and turn out all the lights. Here, we usually only get a few, so I'm fine if people come. I just... I don't know. I know in some suburbs and smaller cities that the local government orders people to ToT during certain hours, but that's laughable here. 

 

ETA: Adding that my kids are teens and basically too old, though they like to take small children around to be nice and collect candy. They're planning to meet friends and watch an outdoor movie with a projector.

Edited October 24, 2020 by Farrar

[Paige]

I'm not sure. My LO is 3 and became obsessed with Halloween, trick or treat, and spooky things around Thanksgiving last year. He missed out on trick or treat last time because he was little and didn't get by like 3 weeks! He's been looking forward to it all year long and it would be really sad to disappoint him. He asked for a trick or treat birthday cake for his birthday this month and we watch Halloween episodes of his shows over and over. I'm trying to think of a way to do it safely. He won't want to go forever and get lots of stuff so we may just go to a couple houses and hope it satisfies him. We may put candy out on a table for kids, spread out so they only need to touch what they get. 

[mom2scouts]

Trick or treat is still supposed to happen tomorrow within the city limits, but the surrounding township cancelled. I wonder if that will cause more people to come to city neighborhoods. If our neighborhood gets as many or more than usual, there won't be any social distancing. Also, the city passed an ordinance that bans gatherings of more than ten people, but I'm sure they did it so they can shut down parties that college students will have. Positive cases are rising rapidly in our area and the city and university are doing everything they can think of to stop Halloween gatherings.

[Ellie]

23 hours ago, mom2scouts said:

Our city has always had a designated time for trick or treat. My youngest kids are teens now. Sometimes DD will go to a few houses in the neighborhood with a friend and DS likes to hand out the candy, but it's not that important to us at this point. Our neighborhood is older and is in a turning over stage, with older people still living in their family homes and very young families moving into their first houses. Because of this and the fact that we have sidewalks and houses that are close, most houses participate and we usually have hundreds of kids trick or treating. Our city hasn't cancelled trick or treat this year and our neighbor told us her kids can't wait to go this year. I feel kind of bad, but we've already decided we're not participating. We have vulnerable people in our family that we need to be able to see at least occasionally and we aren't willing to use up our "risk budget" to hand out candy. I bought my kids some candy, but the budget has been stretched this year and I don't have the money it usually takes to buy all the candy. I suspect that many of the older people who usually hand out candy won't do it this year. So, I'm curious. If you have a city sanctioned time to trick or treat, is your community doing it this year? If so, are you participating, either taking children or handing out candy? If you know, what are your neighbors saying?

I have never heard of a town having a designated time for trick-or-treating. I'm old and I've lived in many places, and I've never heard of that.

I will have candy, and the lights will be on. If children would like to come up for candy, they will be welcome.

[Hilltopmom]

We usually get hundreds of kids. Our neighborhood is leaving it up to individual homes what they want to do.

We are not participating.

We plan to leave all the lights off & have a spooky evening in the basement with the little kids. I’ve got lanterns & flashlights, glow sticks, a craft, Mystery Science activities, pizzas, & candy.

[lynn]

I haven't heard anything.  I will put out a bowl of candy for our few neighborhood kids we have.  My daughter has outgrown trick or treating😢.  Id let her go if she wanted to.

[Laura Corin]

The Scottish government is discouraging guising, the Scottish version where children perform to be rewarded with sweets. So I won't be providing sweets this year.

https://news.stv.tv/scotland/families-advised-to-avoid-guising-on-halloween-night

Edited October 25, 2020 by Laura Corin

[Ali in OR]

I know the downtown trick-or-treating is cancelled, but there aren't rules for individual neighborhoods. Our neighborhood is popular--I typically buy candy for 350?? I have more like 250 for this year--I'm guessing numbers will be down but that many will still go out. I think trick-or-treating can be done safely, but not by multiple parties meeting at the front door at the same time. We're trying the candy-chute idea. Our walkway to the front door rises quite a bit higher than the sidewalk. Dh bought 8' of 3" diameter black PVC pipe today. We tested out the concept--need to have a pretty steep angle for skittles or m&m's, but starbursts and little snickers go through easily. The girls want to light up the candy chute with Christmas lights. We'll be up near the front door, kids will be down at sidewalk and put their bag under the pipe, then we'll send candy down to them. We'll block the walkway up to the front door, always be 8' apart, wear masks and gloves, and have a good time I think.

[prairiewindmomma]

Youngest is planning to go room to room in our house trick or treating from the rest of us...but that’s it. Our Halloween festivities are staying within the confines of our house and don’t involve others.

[cintinative]

I'm thinking of leaving a candy bowl at the end of the driveway. The trouble with that is if some early kids empty the bowl, but I don't want to pass out candy this year.  We could just turn the lights off.

[KungFuPanda]

My county government hasn't outlawed it, but it's "not encouraged." We'll be hiding with the lights out.

[mom2scouts]

Can I whine for a little bit? If you don't want to read whining, skip this post! I've never been a big fan of Halloween because my mom usually didn't let us trick or treat (I had to pass out the candy to all my friends who were trick or treating.), I was scared of haunted houses, we never did hayrides or farm visits, and our pumpkins always got smashed as soon as we put them outside. Also, I made a point to take my kids to a farm for pumpkins the other day and they haven't even bothered to carve them. I got out a few Halloween decorations and they complained about them. Missing a year of handing out candy didn't seem like a big deal to me since nobody seemed interested anyway. So, since we decided not to participate this year, we decided we'd go off to a park and take a walk around the lake while trick or treat was going on. Sounds like a nice fall activity, right? When we drove away, all the neighbors with little kids just stood and stared at us. We've always given out candy before and I think they were surprised we were leaving, so that was uncomfortable. Then DS kept asking how long we were going to be at the park and making comments about how he liked to give out candy, and I wanted to tell him to go buy the candy himself if he wanted to do it. He hadn't shown any interest in doing Halloween stuff until then. We got to the park and it was very cold by the lake and nobody was happy about the walk and then it started raining a bit and we ended up coming home. Does everything have to suck this year?

[gardenmom5]

I dont' think they are.  The mall had signs out saying they weren't this year.  The trunk or treat at church is doing a really weird format.

I can count on one hand the number of times trick-or-treaters have come to my house in 35 years. . . . but, if they do come this year . . . 

I bought the full-size candy boxes from costco to stock the grand opening of the theater (hopefully will be this month . . . .  we're down to platform, carpet, move in furniture) . . . . .I will give out the pkgs of peanut M&Ms.   Or dudeling's fruit snacks.  I stopped buying candy for kids coming to my house eons ago.  (we went to the trunk or treats, so I bought candy for that.)

[gardenmom5]

1 hour ago, cintinative said:

I'm thinking of leaving a candy bowl at the end of the driveway. The trouble with that is if some early kids empty the bowl, but I don't want to pass out candy this year.  We could just turn the lights off.

There will be kids who empty the bowl.  I remember that happening when I was a kid and the homeowners left a bowl with candy.

[Drama Llama]

47 minutes ago, mom2scouts said:

Can I whine for a little bit? If you don't want to read whining, skip this post! I've never been a big fan of Halloween because my mom usually didn't let us trick or treat (I had to pass out the candy to all my friends who were trick or treating.), I was scared of haunted houses, we never did hayrides or farm visits, and our pumpkins always got smashed as soon as we put them outside. Also, I made a point to take my kids to a farm for pumpkins the other day and they haven't even bothered to carve them. I got out a few Halloween decorations and they complained about them. Missing a year of handing out candy didn't seem like a big deal to me since nobody seemed interested anyway. So, since we decided not to participate this year, we decided we'd go off to a park and take a walk around the lake while trick or treat was going on. Sounds like a nice fall activity, right? When we drove away, all the neighbors with little kids just stood and stared at us. We've always given out candy before and I think they were surprised we were leaving, so that was uncomfortable. Then DS kept asking how long we were going to be at the park and making comments about how he liked to give out candy, and I wanted to tell him to go buy the candy himself if he wanted to do it. He hadn't shown any interest in doing Halloween stuff until then. We got to the park and it was very cold by the lake and nobody was happy about the walk and then it started raining a bit and we ended up coming home. Does everything have to suck this year?

Isn't Halloween next weekend? I am confused by this post.

I'm sorry you had a hard day, I agree that it feels like everything has to suck, I'm just also confused.

[mom2scouts]

2 minutes ago, BaseballandHockey said:

Isn't Halloween next weekend? I am confused by this post.

I'm sorry you had a hard day, I agree that it feels like everything has to suck, I'm just also confused.

Yes, our city has this weird tradition of always doing a scheduled trick or treat time on the Sunday *before* Halloween. The Saturday closest to Halloween (actually ON Halloween this year) is when all the drunk college students take over the town.

[Drama Llama]

Just now, mom2scouts said:

Yes, our city has this weird tradition of always doing a scheduled trick or treat time on the Sunday *before* Halloween. The Saturday closest to Halloween (actually ON Halloween this year) is when all the drunk college students take over the town.

Aaah, I have heard of towns scheduling it.  We don't do that here. But I always assumed they were moving it so it to Saturday.  So, moving it away from Saturday confused me.  

[BusyMom5]

We are having funny Halloween themed foods and playing games- some plan to dress up, too. Half of my kids are too old to ToT anyway,  but normally I would take the little ones.  

[Amy Gen]

I spent the day filling treat bags for our swim team. Next week, I’ll wear my pumpkin costume and hand out treats to swimmers after they have their costume contest, in small groups and masked and outdoors. Parents are also donating prepackaged treats. I’m happy about this, because I think if we canceled our Halloween celebration, our kids would have resorted to house parties instead. 
 

Saturday night, we will stay home and watch movies. I may have Dh buy a bag of candy in case some kids come to the door. 

[SKL]

As of the latest info, yes, our city is having trick-or-treat, and my kids plan to participate.

In my neighborhood, there are few kids, and most of the homes around us don't normally hand out candy in a good year.  I was thinking maybe my kids should go t-or-t in their friend's neighborhood where there are more houses closer together.  (The friend came to our house last Halloween so it would make sense.)  We'll see.

I am all for people taking whatever precautions they feel right taking, including keeping their light off if they want to.  What I'm not fine with is people saying things or posting signs that shame or punish kids who don't follow the protocols that adults think they should.  Covid isn't the kids' fault, and they have suffered enough.

[SKL]

On 10/24/2020 at 7:37 PM, Ellie said:

I have never heard of a town having a designated time for trick-or-treating. I'm old and I've lived in many places, and I've never heard of that.

I will have candy, and the lights will be on. If children would like to come up for candy, they will be welcome.

A designated day/time for trick-or-treat has been the norm wherever I've lived for decades.  Annoyingly, where my parents live, it's never on actual Halloween.  Even this year, with 10/31 falling on a Saturday, they scheduled it for 10/24.  No idea what they are thinking.

At least where I live now, it's always on actual Halloween.  It's 6-8pm.  I prefer it that way, because we have other things to do that day.  We generally hand out candy from about 6-7 and then leave a bowl on the porch and go.  (It's a household member's birthday also.)

I think this year I might put the candy in separate bags and spread them out.  Because I have so few kids come to my house each year, this should not be a big deal.  I don't think traditional T-or-T is a risky activity, but in case it makes people feel better.

Am I the only person who wonders if those Trick-or-Trunk / alternative Halloween things are actually less safe than traditional Trick-or-treat?

[Spryte]

Question for those of you who normally don’t participate in ToT (or who throw in the towel early):

Do you find that turning off your porch light is enough to prevent lots of doorbell rings?  Or do all visible indoor lights need to be out?

(Mostly wondering about people who live in a neighborhood with lots of ToTers.  Obviously this doesn’t apply if there’s only a handful.  Our neighborhood gets in the 300 range, generally, sometimes more or less, so it can be fairly intense and chaotic.)

 

Edited October 26, 2020 by Spryte

[Loowit]

4 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Question for those of you who normally don’t participate in ToT (or who throw in the towel early):

Do you find that turning off your porch light is enough to prevent lots of doorbell rings?  Or do all visible indoor  lights need to be out?

 

Years ago, DH & I didn't participate in handing out treats.  We didn't really start until the oldest two were 2 & 4 years old.

In the apartments we lived in they had a bunch of signs you could pick up one to put on your door if you were participating and that worked well.

In our first two houses, just having the porch light off was enough, but there weren't a lot of kids in the neighborhoods.

In our current house when we are done we turn off the porch lights, and that seems to mostly work.  We had a couple come after that but we just ignored it.  Our biggest problem is people starting before it is dark(ish) so they aren't paying attention to porch lights.  I was not used to kids coming to the door at 4 in the afternoon.  I am sure that is probably normal in other areas, but here trick or treating has been an after dark activity.

I would hope this year people are going to be more careful to pay attention to the porch lights, but who knows.

[Sherry in OH]

43 minutes ago, Spryte said:

Question for those of you who normally don’t participate in ToT (or who throw in the towel early):

Do you find that turning off your porch light is enough to prevent lots of doorbell rings?  Or do all visible indoor lights need to be out?

(Mostly wondering about people who live in a neighborhood with lots of ToTers.  Obviously this doesn’t apply if there’s only a handful.  Our neighborhood gets in the 300 range, generally, sometimes more or less, so it can be fairly intense and chaotic.)

 

We do not currently live in an area with high volume TOT, but when we did, porch light out worked as long as front rooms of house were dark.   So either curtains/blinds closed in street-facing windows or no lights (including TV glow).   Putting a sign on the door saying "sorry, out of candy," also helped.  (We did participate, but our neighborhood would be mobbed and several years we were out of treats within the first hour.)

Parents traveling with TOTing children usually direct them to houses with porch lights on, but some TOTers think visible light=people home=treats.