Casual Conversation

We often only get a couple trick-or-treaters every year, and this year was no different, except we left the front door open all night, which means we heard and saw kids walking past our house.

I'm one of the few groups that came to our porch, I heard one girl whisper to her friends, "that's the creepy house"

So, I guess our house is the haunted house of the neighborhood. I'd be ok with that if we actually had any ghosts.

We've been here for over 140 years, and I've never seen a single ghost.

It's always neighborhood dependent. We live in a kid-heavy town but trick-or-treating just sort of naturally condenses into certain streets/neighborhoods, and the town even shuts down Main Street for it. So the kids on your street might go to other neighborhoods to team up with friends, etc.

The only way to know is to ask neighbors who have been there for a while what the vibe is usually like on your street.

Our kid is 2 so tonight was his first time trick-or-treating. Our street always has some houses with candy but we went to a different neighborhood to go with friends. One of the houses we went to said they weren't prepared because in 20 years they've never had anyone come! They were excited to see people, though.

This thread is sad.

As a kid, my parents(read: mostly my mom) would see 400-500 kids over the night. Was really fun, you'd see everyone out having a great time.

In my last place it was mostly childless renters in the neighborhood but we'd still get a good ~100.

I can sense the disappointment, I'm sorry to hear that.

I noticed in my neighborhood, all the kids and parents went trick or treating last Friday. Why, I have no idea, kind of fucking dumb. It's getting dark at 6PM, there should be no problem that Halloween is on a week night.

I live in a small town where the local businesses on the two main cross streets hand out candy as well as have trunk-or-treats in the parking lots. Hardly any kids go around the neighborhoods anymore. It's a bummer

We used to prepare for Halloween when we first moved to this house. Gave up after we only got 2-3 kids a year. No one seems to go house to house anymore, they all get funneled to the sanctioned downtown street party or the school parking lot event. Now Halloween is just about the only night of the year we turn the porch light off, just in case those 2-3 kids come by on accident.

Damn, we recently got a house too. And I bought two large bags of candy.

In the beginning, I didn't think a lot was gonna come. So dm the first few groups I gave a handful of candy to.

More avd more showed up, and I eventually ran out. Had to tell a bunch of kids we were out, but I couldn't take it anymore and ran to the store to get two more bags.

Handing tid batch out with a bit more care, but it didn't matter, we eventually ran out of this too.

This is a very walkable neighborhood though

Next year I need more....

Spooky ghost and spider

I’m usually the pass-out-candy parent, but my kids wanted to split up this year so I got to experience exactly why my street gets only a handful every year (and barely any this year). Four blocks down is practically a street-long block party. At least 50% of the houses are not just active but decked out. We saw cars dropping kids off, and we saw a family from school that doesn’t live in our neighborhood. I get it but I’m kinda sad my mostly-retiree street doesn’t see any action.

It all depends on the average age of families and density of family dwellings in your area. My neighborhood had scads of kids. We handed out a ton of candy. It was almost non stop trick or treaters for two hours.

Just happens in some places. Your neighbors or previous occupants may have been inactive or terrible treat givers.

My neighborhood has gotten worse over my tenure here. Three houses (including me) in a two block stretch that hand out candy.

We didn't get any visits either, second year this has happened. I'm definitely cutting back how much candy I buy next year. I think parents are preferring trunk n treat or whatever controlled halloween exchanges are going on these days. Aww well, guess I'll just have to eat all this myself.

Awww I'm sorry it sucks to be prepared and get no one. We're in a big trick or treating neighborhood but on a side street and last year we only got like 5 visitors. This year we just took candy over to our neighbor on the more popular street and didn't hand any out at our house. One street over from our house and the entire sidewalk and street was mobbed with under-10's. I think it's highly neighborhood- and street-dependent.

Ask your neighbors where the good trick or treating spot is. It may be far away from you and people are just driving there instead of sticking around the neighborhood. Or it's possible if you're in a less walkable area that people might do more "trunk or treat" instead where they coordinate and go to a parking lot to do trick or treating.

Reach out to friends who have kids and tell them to come by on Halloween for free candy. Also be sure to decorate your house.

Also if you’re in Nextdoor.app you can add yourself to a list of houses handing out candy.

I’ve had two trick or treaters come by my house in 15 years. One year I got the king sized bars and I was going to try to build a reputation. But no one came by.

It was noticeably quieter this year in my neighborhood. I blame the election and the unseasonably warm weather.

First year after we moved in, we decorated, bought candy, the whole nine yards. No one came. Next year we bought a smaller bag of candy, and ate it all ourselves. Left a bowl of candy out about 6 or 7 years later, after more kids started appearing on the street. Still not a one.

There's a bunch of kids on the street, and a few people do put up some nice decorations, but we found out that everyone either does this trunk or treat thing at the church at the front of the community, or goes downtown, where they block off the streets and all the big houses decorate and have movies in their yard and stuff.

First time in a house this year as well and we had only one group of kids knock so far. We didn’t really prepare though and only have one bag of candies so I hope that was it lol. We already prepared a sign saying we ran out in case it does happen later.

Yeesh that sucks. Least you have coffey snaks for days to come. I move to my place like 6--7 years ago and I'd be lucky to get through a small box of chocolate. Each year it picked up to the point where this year I had 2 full size bars left from the 50 I started with.

Does seem to be less and less. Small town, we have a certain neighborhood area that everyone goes and everywhere is neglected. I'm sorry no one came. When I was a kid there was a ridiculous amount of kids. Just got less and less. By the time we moved from that house there was maybe 1 kid. Parents used to put out Halloween stuff and they just stopped. Idk it's definitely sad

There's always swarms of kids trick or treating a couple blocks from here (NYC). The houses usually have decorations up, and one of them usually goes really hard with music and stuff.

It probably helps that it's a very walkable neighborhood.

We did the same the first couple of years and barely any kids came, even though we're a block away from an elementary school. OTOH, we're halfway up a hilly area and most of the neighbors are long time residents or retirees. No kids on the block. We just stopped trying.

There's this one street 5min away where they get a city permit and block both ends of the block so it's safe for kids to walk in the street. Most of the houses decorate and put out candies. It gets SWARMED! We started taking our own kids there.

Maybe there's a street like that near you and the kids and their parents just go there.

I saw people in my apartment complex getting their kids ready to go out earlier while walking my dogs; not one of them seemed to do any rounds within the complex though.

There's a rich neighborhood about a block away. I wonder if they all just go there, looking for the full sized candy bars. 🤔

Haven't had anyone come trick or treating to my door since COVID. It's weird as hell and I'm about to stop buying candy. For them, anyway.

Surprisingly busy this time actually, last year I could count the number on one hand this year we hardly could sit down before the door went off again for a couple hours

I think parents are telling their kids to only go to houses that have decorations up now.

Yeah, here too

We moved to this apartment quite some years ago. The first two years we absolutely weren't expecting anyone, because in our country/city it's quite unusual for children to go 'trick or treat'-ing

At least in the second year I managed to have some things and just gave all the sweets away we had fire ourselves.

This year, I was really looking forward to it.
TV said Halloween costumes were sold 3 times more than last years and I prepared with a nice mix of sweets.

Absolutely no one showed up...

Ok, were in a housing complex with many assistants and usually kids go to houses and not flats.
Still, was a bit of a bummer

Well, at least I've got some sweets now...

Tons of families out in North Beach, SF tonight! Was really cute

That's a bummer but at least you made that one cowboy's night!!

My first year at my current place I went to work in costume with full face makeup (Jack Nicholson's Joker). I came home a little after dark and waited with my bowl for about an hour and a half; but at that point the makeup was getting itchy and I was done with it. Got in the shower and within maybe 3 minutes the doorbell rang! Then it rang again a couple minutes later while I was still in there! Nobody has come by for candy since then and it's been several years.

This year, we had the most kids we've had in years. I think the weather helped; a couple years ago we even had a few inches of snow on the ground while it's been unseasonably warm this year.

By the way, I would have been over the moon to get jerky sticks for Halloween as a kid. Love that shit. Maybe I'm weird, but I didn't even really like chocolate much until I got older.

The FB group for my local area shared a map marked with houses that were giving out candy. It was through some website I think, you could mark your house and even if you had decorations. Your neighborhood might have something similar, you could be on a bad road for walk-bys.

None of the parents I know take their kids trick-or-treating in their own neighborhood. They coordinate with other parents and know where the festivities are centralized and houses are close together. I also had no visitors last night but I never do...wide lots and no sidewalks, the kids go elsewhere.

I could never imagine give anything for free. I don't have the money. I only did that thing once when I was a child.

I'm too old for trick-or-treating and was never really into it as it's not my culture, but I'm on the receiving end of trick-or-treaters every year. I don't know if they're what one would consider a tough crowd or what, but they really, really haven't liked what I handed out. One year it was fruit and I guess that's a no. Last year it was cotton candy and I got complaints because it took up peoples' Halloween bags to carry cotton candy around. This year I gave out candy canes and they complained again, this time because they thought I was adding to the feuds surrounding premature Christmas products.

After trick-or-treating was all done, I also stepped outside to sort through the trash and discovered someone threw up on the side of my home. Was it a kid who ate one candy too many? Was it an adult who was drunk on cider? Was it an animal who tried to get involved in the holiday too but got carried away? Who knows. I just know I have something to clean up before sunrise.

I originally cosplayed as Stephanie Dola for the day, but it rained for the first half of the day and I got soaked, so I cosplayed as Yoko Littner (another anime character) in a way that was as presentable as possible without looking out of character. At one point I put some warm clothes on over the cosplay because it was cold but didn't take off my cosplay, knowing people might still recognize the character underneath a green sweater and a jean shirt and jeans. A young autistic boy came by and recognized the character I was and noticed I was wearing clothes over it and asked if he could take a picture of me and him without the clothes, but he asked it in a way that made his family and peers, who didn't recognize the character and/or may not have known it was a cosplay at all, think he was being "inappropriate" thinking he was just asking me to get undressed, and it would be an understatement to say I can tell he felt bad when he was scolded in front of everyone, but I didn't know how to step in without it backfiring. I still feel bad for him and I'm hoping he shows up again somewhere so I can grant his request.