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The more the merrier. I have such fond memories of Halloween that I like to see others have as much fun.
We would never, ever have gone out with parents 'escorting' us. Went around in groups, and older kids were expected to look out for the younger ones. We used to scare each other silly, and that candy had to last until Christmas.
The last to disappear were Necco wafers. Ick, lol.
Oh, we loved getting Necco wafers! As Catholic kids we'd pretend like they were communion wafers. It seemed very sinful at the time.
We get kids from some really ratty apartments on the Dallas side of the city line about a mile and a half south of here.
My issues with them are these:
1.) They come late at night after the neighborhood kids have been through.
2.) Their parents drive them from house to house with the porch light on; they play loud music in their cars and are usually drinking beer. (Yes, really.)
3.) None of them speak English. They just hold their bags up and wait for me to fill them with candy. One piece per kid isn't enough.
4.) They never say "thank you." Or "Gracias." Or thank you in any other language.
To be fair, I see #3 and #4 with some of the neighborhood kids too. They rake their hands through the bowl of candy, picking as many pieces as they can fit in their little hands...and a good number of them don't say thank you...nor do their parents prompt them to.
I think Halloween etiquette is pretty simple.
1.) Say "trick or treat" when I answer the door. And be wearing a costume.
2.) Take one piece of candy per kid. If I have an assortment, it's OK to ask for a specific kind. But one is all you get.
3.) Say "thank you." Or even "Gracias."
4.) Don't throw candy wrappers on my lawn.
I'm glad to read the responses here; I moved to a neighborhood that is about 60% retirees, so didn't expect many kids last night, but there were hordes, mostly polite, from other neighborhoods. I'm just glad I had bought the big bag of candy from Costci. I'm also glad not to be in my old neighborhood, where the kids started trick or treating at about 3:30. Never understood that; it was a very safe area, and it was so annoying to be bothered all afternoon while raking leaves or cooking dinner.
Even better, the parents who showed up and claimed their kids were "sleeping" or some other such nonsense. "Sorry, I only give candy to kids that actually come to the door".
Seriously?? Wow... Are these the 'special snowflake' parents? Their kids are so great they should get candy without doing anything at all!
Nothing drives me more crazy when people ring the doorbell when the lights are out! We turn the lights out when we are out of candy and still people ring the bell.
Our new neighborhood we only had four door knocks! There were a ton of kids, but they went deeper in the neighborhood. Missed seeing the cuteness!
Kids coming from other neighborhoods is nothing new, they been doing that forever around here.
When I was a kid, I lived in the country, so I had to go into town to trick or treat. I'm glad no one denied me because I did not live in their neighborhood. Otherwise, I would not have been able to participate at all.
I wish we got trick or treaters. I wouldn't mind if they come from a bad neighborhood. Why can't the poor little kids have a nice day to? They are just kids for goodness sake!
I was surprised to hear people getting so upset with kids from other neighborhoods trick or treating at their house.
Where we lived in New Jersey we would have car loads of kids coming to trick or treat in a safe neighborhood. They were all polite and had fun!
Just curious how you all feel about it!
Recently some of the subdivisions in my area have "private trick or treating" set on a different day/afternoon or time than the city wide trick or treating. They apply for a block party permit and are able to block off the area with saw horses and it is technically open to just neighborhood children. I'm told that it is great fun for everyone.
I believe that this started after there were huge problems with massive amounts of trick or treaters coming from other areas of the city. According to some of my friends there would not just be a few extra cars of children, but numerous cars, large vans and even an occasional school bus filled with children and teens.
Several of my friends, in those neighborhoods, said that they often had 600 to 800 children & teens come to their house (when there probably were less than 30 children who lived within a couple of blocks). My friends said that there was also many problems with vandalism.
So, whether you agree or disagree with children going to other areas to trick or treat may depend on if you get the children from your neighborhood plus a few extra cars or vans or if you end up with 20 or 25 times the number of children in your neighborhood?
On a more solemn note, have you heard of the three 13-year-old girls, trick-or-treating in Santa Ana, CA last night, who were struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver?
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Wow... Are these the 'special snowflake' parents? Their kids are so great they should get candy without doing anything at all!
I wouldn't mind if they come from a bad neighborhood. Why can't the poor little kids have a nice day to? They are just kids for goodness sake!
