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Seeking advice on whether to skip Halloween trick or treating, children have haunted house on Halloween night, should we skip trick or treat or do both
For the first time in a long time, the kids might not Trick or Treat this year. Their school has a yearly event (haunted house, etc) but it's always the day before or something... so they always do both.
This year the school thing is ON Halloween so they have to choose between doing that or Trick or Treating. I'm thinking the school thing might be a better use of time (more to do), and after all, every year I noticed they have to walk farther and farther to get any candy since more and more people have their lights out and don't participate... but gosh, it feels crazy to think of "skipping" Trick or Treating!?
Any die hard Trick-or-Treaters skip it ever? Were your kids happy either way?
Awwww, I am so sorry to hear this! My kids and I LOVE Halloween...my hubby even closes his office early so he canmake it home and take them out.
We have never skipped...didn't even skip Halloween when I was childless.
I remember how it was when I was a kid.. .of course probably with some mildly rose tinted glasses. But yeah, almost every house was ready with the light on, and we would only go 2 streets one way, and 2 streets the other, and I'd come home with a TON of candy. These days it's a serious workout just to find houses with the light on.
I just wonder if the kids would miss it and regret it afterwards. One year we tried the mall thing.. and my son hated it. Another year we tried some zoo thing, and that was a total flop too. The school event is pretty good though. I guess we'll see how it goes. My teenage son has to work, as does my partner (that evening)... just takes some of the fun out of it!
This will be the baby's first halloween, and we are really up for it! The past several years, however have been nothing much - as the boys are older and going in opposite directions. They stopped going out dressed up around 7th grade, then began having friends over at their dad's. This year we begin a new tradition, with all of us meeting at their dad's house, all of our kids dressed up (two new babies and the older grandchildren), and a potluck supper.
There are around 200 kids (seriously) which come by his house, and it is so much fun to see them all. We are lucky to get one or two.
It's always been something we look forward to - just alot of fun! I believe this will be something that will always be a must of some sorts for us.
I remember how it was when I was a kid.. .of course probably with some mildly rose tinted glasses. But yeah, almost every house was ready with the light on, and we would only go 2 streets one way, and 2 streets the other, and I'd come home with a TON of candy. These days it's a serious workout just to find houses with the light on.
I just wonder if the kids would miss it and regret it afterwards. One year we tried the mall thing.. and my son hated it. Another year we tried some zoo thing, and that was a total flop too. The school event is pretty good though. I guess we'll see how it goes. My teenage son has to work, as does my partner (that evening)... just takes some of the fun out of it!
You've got to take your little one trick or treating...they only have so many years to do it...he will be grown before you know it...make the best of it!!
My oldest is 3 and she's really excited. I didn't take her last year, but she loved seeing all of the kids come by our house. This year, we're going to a friend's house for a little toddler party and round of trick or treating. My husband volunteered to stay home and man the door. We have lots of children in our neighborhood and I wouldn't want to be one of those dark houses. In years past, if I couldn't be home, I'd leave huge buckets of candy out and hope the kids didn't get too greedy.
Anyway, I trick or treated until I was about 13. Then, I resumed it just once when I was 18, because I was escorting a friend's younger brother. I figured I didn't look 18, so I might as well share in some of the loot.
It's a big deal in our house. Our son is now 15 so he probably won't go out, but stay home to hand out candy. His birthday is the 29th, my hubby's is Halloween. We do it big and hope to get around 350 kids come by this year
For the first time in a long time, the kids might not Trick or Treat this year. Their school has a yearly event (haunted house, etc) but it's always the day before or something... so they always do both.
This year the school thing is ON Halloween so they have to choose between doing that or Trick or Treating. I'm thinking the school thing might be a better use of time (more to do), and after all, every year I noticed they have to walk farther and farther to get any candy since more and more people have their lights out and don't participate... but gosh, it feels crazy to think of "skipping" Trick or Treating!?
Any die hard Trick-or-Treaters skip it ever? Were your kids happy either way?
Last year was a trick or treating disaster.
We ended up at my mother's house, and were supposed to leave early enough to trick or treat in my area. Since we had my inlaws with us, we got stuck there visiting. i decided to take my kids out for a little while there. It was awful. After 2 houses, we tossed the kids in the car and drove them around. The houses were spaced so far apart it was ridiculous (the neighborhood has gone down hill since I was a kid) Anyway, after about 15 minutes we gave up, got back to my mothers house, told my inlaws we had to go NOW, gave them sandwiches to eat in the car and headed home, about 25 minutes away. I was soooooo mad at the poor planning (my inlaws, while american citizens, are not FROM here and just don't see what the big deal is). I ended up making my husband stop in a decent looking neighborhood on the way home, because I knew that by the time we got to where we lived noone would be giving out candy anymore. We stopped for about 1/2 hour, let the kids trick or treat some more, then went home.
What a disaster. I was so anxious and just plain irritated at my husband and his parents. It's like I felt like it was my kids God given right to trick or treat and none of our pi$$ poor planning was going to ruin it for them. i told my husband we were the only people to move out of a crappy area to live in a nice area, just to go back to the crappy area to trick or treat!I still don't know how the hell that happened.
Did the kids care? Not sure. Frankly they may have been satisfied with the first round of lousy trick or treating. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, my daughter had fallen asleep and didn't trick or treat in the second neighborhood.
Frankly, I don't even know what we'll do this year as we live on a very busy route where we'd be killed trying to trick or treat. Can't go to mom's, so I have no idea where I;m going to take them this year. There is an area where all the kids go trick or treating in this town, and they seem to have it all organized (last year I saw signs not to bring the cars into the neighborhood, just park down the hill and walk) but I feel bad becuase we don't even live in that neighborhood. Maybe I'll take them around to all my aunts and uncles houses. That would probably be enough.
I will never skip trick or treating as long as I have small children. I never missed it as a kid, and I want my kids to have the same thrill.
I was at Disney once and I'll never do that again either. 85 degree weather on Halloween was just too WIERD, plus it seemed like noone in Orlando or Kissimmee was celebrating Halloween. Like the holiday hardly existed down there. It felt very odd and I didn't like it. I felt screwed out of Halloween that year.
I once tried to skip the 4th of July fireworks as we just moved to a new city at the time and my husband was working. But just as it started to get dark, I started feeling excited and so I threw my son in the car and we took off to watch them.
We ended up at my mother's house, and were supposed to leave early enough to trick or treat in my area. Since we had my inlaws with us, we got stuck there visiting. i decided to take my kids out for a little while there. It was awful. After 2 houses, we tossed the kids in the car and drove them around. The houses were spaced so far apart it was ridiculous (the neighborhood has gone down hill since I was a kid) Anyway, after about 15 minutes we gave up, got back to my mothers house, told my inlaws we had to go NOW, gave them sandwiches to eat in the car and headed home, about 25 minutes away. I was soooooo mad at the poor planning (my inlaws, while american citizens, are not FROM here and just don't see what the big deal is). I ended up making my husband stop in a decent looking neighborhood on the way home, because I knew that by the time we got to where we lived noone would be giving out candy anymore. We stopped for about 1/2 hour, let the kids trick or treat some more, then went home.
What a disaster. I was so anxious and just plain irritated at my husband and his parents. It's like I felt like it was my kids God given right to trick or treat and none of our pi$$ poor planning was going to ruin it for them. i told my husband we were the only people to move out of a crappy area to live in a nice area, just to go back to the crappy area to trick or treat!I still don't know how the hell that happened.
Did the kids care? Not sure. Frankly they may have been satisfied with the first round of lousy trick or treating. As a matter of fact, come to think of it, my daughter had fallen asleep and didn't trick or treat in the second neighborhood.
Frankly, I don't even know what we'll do this year as we live on a very busy route where we'd be killed trying to trick or treat. Can't go to mom's, so I have no idea where I;m going to take them this year. There is an area where all the kids go trick or treating in this town, and they seem to have it all organized (last year I saw signs not to bring the cars into the neighborhood, just park down the hill and walk) but I feel bad becuase we don't even live in that neighborhood. Maybe I'll take them around to all my aunts and uncles houses. That would probably be enough.
I will never skip trick or treating as long as I have small children. I never missed it as a kid, and I want my kids to have the same thrill.
I was at Disney once and I'll never do that again either. 85 degree weather on Halloween was just too WIERD, plus it seemed like noone in Orlando or Kissimmee was celebrating Halloween. Like the holiday hardly existed down there. It felt very odd and I didn't like it. I felt screwed out of Halloween that year.
I once tried to skip the 4th of July fireworks as we just moved to a new city at the time and my husband was working. But just as it started to get dark, I started feeling excited and so I threw my son in the car and we took off to watch them.
Thanks for sharing that.. it sounds like it was awful and our experience last year was similarly crappy.
Now I do have to say that living in a "poor" neighborhood, I HAVE noticed more houses participating than when I lived in more affluent neighborhoods, and when you DO find a house with the light on they are generous with the loot . People here (in this neighborhood I mean) seem to get more excited about Halloween and they decorate their houses like you wouldn't believe, but still, when it comes to the actual night there are many houses with the lights out.
Maybe because there are a lot of single parents, and no one to stay home and pass out candy?
We have houses close together but the effect is the same when only every fourth house has lights on. Last year we planned on walking a certain number of streets then heading to a local fast food place that's within walking distance, to get drinks, then walking back to hit another certain number of streets... but by the time we got to the place to get drinks the kids candy bags were still close to empty and they wanted to go another way to try and find more participating houses.
Long story short by the time we got home their candy bags were still pretty pathetic but they were exhausted, especially the youngest. In retrospect I should've just brought the van.
Either way, I probably don't have the heart to skip it. Maybe I'll just take them to the school event for a little bit, then we can Trick or Treat in the neighborhood around the school (their school is a charter school nowhere near our house)... hmmm.
It's true that there aren't many years left. The middle child is 11, the youngest 5, the older one 16 and he's still kind of sad about being "done" with it all. Halloween is awesome and one of my favorite holidays, just sometimes stressful for the parents!
This will be the baby's first halloween, and we are really up for it! The past several years, however have been nothing much - as the boys are older and going in opposite directions. They stopped going out dressed up around 7th grade, then began having friends over at their dad's. This year we begin a new tradition, with all of us meeting at their dad's house, all of our kids dressed up (two new babies and the older grandchildren), and a potluck supper.
There are around 200 kids (seriously) which come by his house, and it is so much fun to see them all. We are lucky to get one or two.
It's always been something we look forward to - just alot of fun! I believe this will be something that will always be a must of some sorts for us.
Awww, first Halloweens! I get kind of weepy thinking of their first Halloween costumes and how tiny and cute they were! The first was 7 months old and I dressed him as a cat, using black sweats and cat ears and eyeliner whiskers. The second was just about six weeks old and he wore one of those onesie "pea in a pod" costumes while his brother (then 6) was Batman. DD was 10 months and a bumblebee.
So cute, and it seems so long ago now!
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But yeah, almost every house was ready with the light on, and we would only go 2 streets one way, and 2 streets the other, and I'd come home with a TON of candy. These days it's a serious workout just to find houses with the light on.
My teenage son has to work, as does my partner (that evening)... just takes some of the fun out of it!
