Halloween -- kids trick or treating?

[golfgal]

Originally Posted by Katiana

I go back farther than that, and it was the same then. There have never been any documented candy poisonings, etc, except those perpetrated by parents on their own kids.

I'm pretty sure parents tell kids that so they can take out the "poisoned" candy AKA, the parent's favorite candy, before the kids eat it

[Lacerta]

Originally Posted by golfgal

30 years ago we were told not to talk to strangers or take candy from strangers too--and even longer ago than that.

We never just stayed in our neighborhood and our parents stopped taking us around in about 1st grade...we had a BLAST and never saw a razor blade in any candy. I think the issue these days is people tend to believe what they read on the internet and are overly paranoid about something that has about a .00000008% chance of happening...

Yes, but 30 years ago, it was much less likely that your neighbors WERE strangers. You were trick or treating from people you knew personally. At least that's how it was for me. As a small child, we trick or treated from people we knew. Not just the parents knew them, but the whole family did. When we knocked on the door, the parents giving out the candy would pretend not to recognize us, because we were in costume, and that was part of the fun, but they knew every one of our names. Very different from how MOST people let their kids trick or treat today. The last year I lived at home with my parents on Halloween, we had over 1000 trick or treaters and I think I knew about 10 of them.

And I agree with Katiana on your second point. Razorblades in candy is an urban myth, with no documented cases. That doesn't change my opinion about Halloween as a whole though. My concern isn't that people will get poison candy. It isn't even that kids will get kidnapped on Halloween, which is only a small concern with so many kids and parents out and about. It is that small kids might be too young to understand, and think it is ok to talk to strangers any time.

I'm also opposed to most holidays anyway because they've all been so commercialized. It isn't about the experience anymore, but rather about how much money retailers can get everyone to spend. Therefore, another reason I like trunk or treat events is because it is voluntary. Every parent there has agreed that they are willing to go out and buy truckloads of candy to give out. As opposed to kids randomly knocking on every door in sight, and expecting candy to be offered.

[nana053]

Originally Posted by Lacerta

Therefore, another reason I like trunk or treat events is because it is voluntary. Every parent there has agreed that they are willing to go out and buy truckloads of candy to give out. As opposed to kids randomly knocking on every door in sight, and expecting candy to be offered.

I wonder where you live that the kids are knocking on every door in sight. In our neighborhood, the parents who are giving out candy leave their lights on and those that do not want to participate leave their porch lights off.

Of course, most of our neighbors are not strangers to us either. We don't know everyone because the area has lots of people moving in and out, but we know many of the neighbors and those are the houses our kids go to. We also seem to have lots of neighbors who dress up (my dh dressed up as Santa since he has a white beard).