Halloween? (Portland, Beaverton, Hillsboro: apartment, houses, neighborhoods)

[turquoise1]

Hi. Do people trick or treat in this town? If so, do they mostly just knock on the doors of people they know, or are any houses with decorations fair game?
Happy Halloween.

[Minervah]

There was only one trick-or-treater tonight around 7:00 pm so it's still early. He didn't get to my apartment though because I forgot to turn on my porch light. I heard a noise and saw a little dog on my doorstep. As I looked up I saw a teenager size guy dressed in a costume on the walk outside my complex walking away and the dog ran to him. So far that was it.

That's more than I have seen in about five years. We used to have tons of kids in my neighborhood trick-or-treating.

[christiner81]

in our neighborhood last year it was a dud. not a lot of families there. If the light is on, it's fair game, IMO. this year (in Forest grove) it was awesome. They had TOTing in the downtown shop area from 4-6 and then after that the neighborhood kids are out in full force.

[Sherwoody]

We go where there are more kids wandering around so we can see all cute costumes.....

Which happens to be the more affluent areas with the best candy.

[wanderbygrace]

Originally Posted by Sherwoody

We go where there are more kids wandering around so we can see all cute costumes.....

Which happens to be the more affluent areas with the best candy.

Well, that would explain why I had 220 kids last night. Newer allotment, tightly packed, safe sidewalks & lots of lighting = tons of kids. I ran out with about 15 minutes to spare, and that was after purchasing 12 bags of M&M's, Reese's, Hershey's, etc. Jeesh....guess I'll need to up my Halloween candy budget to $50 next year...lol.

[psulions2007]

I saw two whole trick or treaters last night in my complex in Hillsboro. I saw more couples wondering around with bags of candy because they weren't getting any trick or treaters. My friend in Beaverton had 25-30 kids stop by.

[Rob Allen]

We had several dozen trick-or-treaters in the south Aloha/Cooper Mountain area.

[Deezus]

I was at my girlfriend's parents house in Irvington last night... Usually in the past, she said they'd have many more trick-or-treaters, but this year most of the lights except for their own home were dark on their side of the block. I was there for about three hours from 5-8 pm, probably only saw a dozen trick-or-treaters stop at thier house(which they said was really low compared to usual). And they were all teenagers except for a few younger kids.

[pdxMIKEpdx]

Was at my daughters house in Woodstock last night.
The stores along Woodstock Blvd get some kind of thing going and it starts at the library.
They had three crossing guards (at intervals) set up so people could cross the street safely.
Tons and tons of little kids and their parents along Woodstock starting about 5pm.

At my daughters house, it started about 6pm and continued until 730pm, when all of a sudden it just went quiet.
We counted about 50 trick or treaters.

I grew up in Woodstock/Sellwood/Westmoreland, and when we were kids it we always bugged our parents to take us to Eastmoreland.
That was where all the rich people lived and we always expected and received huge candy bars and a lot of candy.
Residents would go all out with the Halloween decorations and it was a fun and festive atmosphere.

The last time I participated in that scene (taking grandkids to trick or treat, not me personally) was a couple years ago, and it seemed like it was really starting to get out of hand and it was obvious the residents were getting sick and tired of the crowds.
People were starting to show up from all over Portland because of the neighborhoods reputation, and it began to change from a fun neighborhood thing to something else.
The little kids were OK, but the teenagers would show up about 8pm or so, and some not very fun things were starting to happen.

I was going to go down there last night and check it out, but never made it.

[EnricoV]

Yeah, I think it just depends on the neighborhood. The suburbs get more, especially if it's a "friendly" neighborhood. And, like was said, if the houses are closer together, etc. That's always been true, though. When I was a child, I grew up on a road where the few houses were on about acre lots. The only trick-or-treaters we ever got at the house were the very few who lived in the immediate area. Yet, two streets over, the houses were close together, and the kids were crawling all over the place. As an adult, I moved into the inner east side, and have never had a trick-or-treater. Ever.

And today, you have to factor in the safety issues. If people don't know their neighbors, they're not likely to go house to house. They'll go to organized public events, private parties, or with friends in "friendlier" neighborhoods.