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I used to live in a 'destination neighborhood'. I try to consider that there are lots of people who live in places not conducive to trick or treating, and I don't begrudge a child the experience. Halloween is the ultimate act of community.
But follow the 'rules': Don't be a teenager at my door with no costume. Don't be an adult of any kind asking for candy. Don't bring your baby to my door with a bag, then hold out your own bag as if I am to feed you also (Because I know full well that infant isn't going to be the one eating that bag of candy, or at least I hope not!)
And when I turn off my pumpkin light and other Halloween lights, don't ring my doorbell. Some of us have to get up at 6am. I leave my porch light on to discourage vandals.
If I were in an apartment, I might consider looking for apartments that put out a lit pumpkin and ringing their doorbells before I head out to another neighborhood. It is always so disappointing to be ready for kids who don't show up! And it builds community. You might meet a neighbor you'd really like!
Sorry for those I may have offended, but my reply was nothing about exclusivity. The OP question was "which neighborhoods are good for trick or treating", and my response was simply that it's not cool (IMO) to seek out where the biggest take can be found, and go there. That would have absolutely NOTHING to do with community if you are trucking your kids in to a place where you have nothing in common, and don't know the people. (I'm not bashing the OP, just defending my response.)
Perhaps a more useful reply (from me) might have been that there are a LOT of public places to take your kid, if you want them to not miss out. In past years, when we didn't have an invite, and our daughter was of prime trick or treating age, we took her to events like one of the following:
-All the malls have trick or treating.
-Many churches do it too.
-Several other "public" places are advertised, many with really good agenda of things to do. (One year we took our daughter to a local place for special needs kids, which served as a trick or treat place, an awareness raiser, and a fund raiser.)
-or as I mentioned, drove her around to family, which I realize is not helpful in this case...
I guess my comment also comes back to listening to co-workers who litterally spend $100's on candy, and are run out before their kids friends can even get there. I would not turn away a kid either, (I would either hand out candy until I was out, or would not be home if I didn't want to participate. I've done both in years past.) but I could foresee being just a bit dissappointed when I invest more than an entire week of food budget in candy, and the kids in my own community, my child's friends who play with her in our house, got turned away. (I do feel like the suggestion to take your kids to a neighborhood nearest to your complex was a good one.)
It was a fair comment, and is NOT about exclusivity.
We live out in the "country" and our neighborhood only consists of several houses....not at all close together. We have a friend who lives in a larger subdivision, and many of his neighbors go "all out" with decorations. Lots of people out walking around....neighbors out socializing, etc. We know a handful of his neighbors. And this is where we take our kids on Halloween. We even bring candy for our friend to hand out. Do I feel like we are poaching? The thought has crossed my mind. But it is for the kids. This is the first time in my life that I have lived in a rural location that doesn't get many trick or treaters. I used to live in the city limits, off Falls of Neuse Rd. We'd have hundreds of kids every Halloween. We had 5x as many trick or treaters as we had kids in our neighborhood....most of which we knew. You'd see cars and vans pull up and unload. And we gave them all candy....because even then I knew not everyone lived in a decent neighborhood or in the city.
But I too would draw the line at giving un-costumed teenagers candy. By 8:00 or 8:30 the lights went out and the doors locked. By that time it was mostly big kids out trying to score candy.
We have a friend who lives in a larger subdivision, and many of his neighbors go "all out" with decorations. Lots of people out walking around....neighbors out socializing, etc. We know a handful of his neighbors. And this is where we take our kids on Halloween. We even bring candy for our friend to hand out. Do I feel like we are poaching?
This is not poaching. This, IMO is totally acceptable. But a far cry from asking on a public forum "where are the good trick or treating neighborhoods" and going there with no other connection.
Not to belabor the point, but this is EXACTLY the distinction I was trying to make. Reps to you.
Same here. However, the key words being kid and costume. If you are as tall as I am and not wearing a costume, you get nothing.....I will not answer the door.
Well, Mike, there is your answer!!! No candy! No beverage! They won't even open the door!!!
I'm just wondering how people in the "destination neighborhoods" must feel about this?
I appreciate you saying something here. I live in a large neighborhood and we get a lot of outside kids. I don't want to sound like Scrooge but we have to buy a LOT of candy and a lot of my neighbors are tired of subsidizing the carloads of kids that get dumped out here every Halloween.
As someone said, there are public events at shopping centers and churches where candy is given out. At the very least, have your child go trick or treating with a friend who lives in a good trick or treat neighborhood. We have invited several friends over in the past to go with our kids because we knew they lived in neighborhoods or apartments not conducive to candy-giving.
But IMO it is a bit rude to take your kid to a large neighborhood you have no connection with just to score some candy. Part of Halloween fun is going around with your friends and reconnecting with your neighbors that you don't see frequently.
People bus kids into our neighborhood. Can't say I'm crazy about all these strangers staring in my front door, but I do like kids, and don't discriminate when it comes to candy. Unfortunately we have to shut our porch light off early because my daughter goes to bed around 8:30, so I just hope people don't take it personally and egg my house or something like that!
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Awesome.
