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Well maybe not dying, but declining in popularity.
The thing that got me thinking about this is the amount of kids I saw out there going door to door mooching candy from strangers, or rather lack thereof last year. Time was, when I was a kid many moons ago, the streets would be filled with kids in costumes going door to door and I was in the thick of it. Especially in the more affluent areas because the "treats were better with jumbo candy bars and cans of pop". And not just for me but for other people I know. A few days after Halloween last year, I talked to one of my friends and asked her how busy they were. They said MAYBE 11, and that was pushing it in an extremely well to do area. I remember us being roommates and we would run through 150 bars without breaking a sweat. And also I remember a husband and wife that had these drums and have 15 kids all to themselves and they'd march up and down the street. But the magic is gone, and I'm wondering where in the Sam Hill it went. The reason I am wondering about this is seeing younger family members having offspring like bunny rabbits and it just weirds me out that something like this is, in my eyes, on a downward spiral.
I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that candy is expensive. Like, $50-100 expensive. Unless you live in an area where just one or two bags worth will suffice, the decision is an easy one for a lot of households - there's a ton of other things they need to be spending their money on.
When I first moved into my suburban, single-family-house neighborhood 15 years ago, we would get almost 100 kids coming through on Halloween. But it's been steadily declining, and last year I think we barely cracked 50. However, this seems to be more a function of the young kids in my neighborhood growing up and outgrowing the trick-or-treating years, without being replaced (as much) by new, younger kids moving in.
In the nearby townhouse community, the streets are thronged with young kids. There are simply more of them, in that community.
It is completely dependent on your neighborhood. Where I live, there are many young families and therefore crowds of trick-or-treaters. Five miles away, my in-laws get hardly any. They live in an older, quieter, more upscale neighborhood with lots of retirees whose kids are all grown up.
There is nothing sadder than a dad with two tiny kids in costumes making their way down an otherwise deserted street where three-fourths of the houses are dark. Most older kids who do happen to live on such a street, get their parents to drive them to a different neighborhood where there are more kids, therefore more houses participating, and they can get together with their friends and go around together.
In some areas, fearmongering (Poisoned candy! Lurking pedophiles! Pagan rites!) has led to less trick-or-treating because many anxious parents would rather take their children to the local church Harvest Festival, always conveniently held on Halloween, or to the Halloween afternoon candy-handout event at the nearest mall. It's not nearly as much fun as actual trick-or-treating, but the kids get a lot of candy and the parents have persuaded them that that's all that matters.
If you live in a nice area anywhere close to the hood - look out, you'll run out of candy quick. Mobs and mobs of kids from other neighborhoods. It's crazy.
The area I live in is basically on the suburban/rural fringe. The main road into town has several subdivisions along it, but they're farther apart than they'd be in typical suburban development, and there are a couple of farms in the area as well. I typically get about 20 to 25 groups of children every Halloween. Typically they're accompanied by their parents, either on foot, or by car from other subdivisions nearby. I'd say that's a decent amount, given the somewhat lower population density of the area.
My how times have changed. When I was a kid we went out with the older kids/cousins and we walked the neighborhood and earned that candy. When my kids were little, I walked with them and taught them how to engage in small talk and say thank you. Nowadays when I hand out candy, the kids are dang near grown and scream 'trick or treat' at you and are running off to the next house before you get the candy into their bag. The parent is rolling up in suv's creeping from door to door and the 'costumes' aren't very creative or marginal at best.
I almost don't want to hand out candy because......Why? Candy used to be a big deal but people eat crap all the time there's nothing special about it and I still don't know most of the people in my neighborhood. So I guess it is becoming obsolete not even including the fear-mongering aspects of interacting with strangers.
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