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disappointing turnout
How many trick-or-treaters did you all get last night?
I had a very disappointing turnout. I forgot to keep count but it was definitely fewer than 20 kids, and at least two of them were infants with parents collecting the candy. (Major side eye from me for collecting candy for a child who can't even eat it yet.)
There's a big church in Sanford that does Trunk-or-Treat, so I'm sure that's where all the kids were. DH and I actually went to it with Helen two years ago and it was an insane madhouse, and it seems to get bigger each year. Yeah, there are a lot of candy handouts in one place, but because there are so many kids, the candy they all give out is stuff like a single Jolly Rancher or small Tootsie Roll. If the kids had come to my house, they would have gotten a handful of the good stuff!
Re: disappointing turnout
We don't hand out candy and I'm not sure if we will start. Our neighborhood was soooo dark when I got home (around 7). I'm not sure if it was like that the whole time or not.
I did take Taylor out last night and she had fun walking around carrying her bucket. She didn't get much, and we only did a street and a half before she got cranky (because she was hungry). It was fun but will be nicer next year when she can walk longer.
I've never lived anywhere where I've had Trick or Treaters...except the one apartment I lived in once in Portland we got a couple, but that was it.
I'm sorry, Halloween seems so lame nowadays. I understand why people want to do Trunk or Treat things or going to the mall, or go out even before it gets dark especially with young kids...but it just seems like when I was a kid going out after dark and having a ton of kids and people around was part of the fun! We didn't go out until 7 and got home around 9:30 or so. The older teenagers were always out "bombing" (shaving cream, eggs, etc) especially towards the end of the night. They always left the little kids alone but it was scary (in a fun way) to be a little kid and have so much chaos going on around you and have people dressed up etc. Seems like Halloween nowadays is so much more controlled and sheltered for kids. Like I said, I can understand it from a parent's point of view, but also kind of disappointed that my kid probably won't have the same Halloween experience that I did when I was a kid.
We got 5-7 doorbell rings and probably 10-14 kids? It was an average year. We missed a few groups I suspect because we were out with James. We are also in a tough spot- across from a school, down the street from a nursing home, on a main drag, around a lot of other houses that don't participate. I always try to go all out on the front yard to draw people in- lots of pumpkins and webs and gravestones.
DH never understands just how lit up the house has to be to get people to come, especially since our front porch light is on a motion sensor that we can't quite figure out how to turn to steady on. He understood a little better after going out this year- it's hard to judge who is open for business and who isn't.
I don't wonder if people are less inclined to give out candy nowadays since it seems like manners and creative costumes (or sometimes even ANY costume) are hard to come by. James is certainly young, so any signs of life are usually given a lot of weight at his age, but people seemed genuinely thrilled and refreshed to have a child that was in a nice, homemade costume AND said thank you (with a little prompting of course) and was nice. Maybe all the lame costumes and candy grabbers have turned some people off.
I also think that when we were young, you went in your neighborhood exclusively because those are the neighbors you've known forever and wanted to show off to. Now it's a lot harder to know the people around you in general, working hours are so different so people aren't always home at the right time/aware of trick or treating, and overly busy parents might be more inclined to either go to an event (trunk or treat, etc) or go to a known "good" neighborhood because it's easier/more efficient. It's more about the candy score than the excitement of getting dressed up and seeing your neighbors. I dunno, maybe I'm the cynic.
I will say I hope in a few years James can go out with some friends or a sibling. It was fun for him by himself, but I think he would have had even more fun with a partner.
I have to say that I was wicked impressed by the number of thank yous that I got. Working in elementary school, I am one to really push using manners and praising when I hear them. I would say that only 1 or 2 kids didn't say thank you and most parents weren't there to prompt them either (we have a long steep driveway so they waited at the end). I also got some "Have a nice night" and "Happy Halloween!". Though I do agree that the costumes were a bit drab, but when its that cold out, I wouldn't really want to put the effort into a costume that had to be worn over/under a jacket either.
Helen went out early and just went around our own neighborhood, so she was at home by 6:30. She was so excited to help hand out the candy to trick-or-treaters that came by after she was at home. I think she had more fun passing out candy to the other kids than trick-or-treating herself! Maybe next year you can make James your candy passer-outer.
We definitely got fewer trick or treaters this year, maybe half as many as previous years. We've always run out of candy, and this year I had almost a whole bag left. I'd say we used to get 200 trick or treaters, and we probably had less than a hundred this year. I do think all of the town/business trick-or-treat things are probably taking away from the neighborhood treating.
Marcus did some t-o-t'ing in Freeport with daycare in the afternoon (which was a disaster), and then we just did a few houses around our house which was fun. I'm with Andrea, I think all the business-treating things are kind of lame, although I get why people do it, and probably not what we'll do with Marcus. We have a great little neighborhood for trick or treating though, so it's nice to see our neighbors out and show Marcus off to them.
I was pretty happy with our turnout. I mean, I wish we'd had more kids because we have too much candy left over, but last year, I worked, so I have no idea what went on in our neighborhood. I did get two really scary teenagers at work, though and decided never again to work Halloween night alone. Before we moved, we lived in a garden apartment complex and didn't see a trick-or-treater in the 5.5 years we were there...it was sad.
Speaking of manners, while most kids were sweet, I had one little guy tell me he didn't want Skittles because he doesn't eat them and then grabbed for a Snickers! I gave everyone 2-3 pieces, depending on what I grabbed, but there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of Skittles in the mix, so I tried to include one for each kid. Shortly after, a kid knocked over one of my mums (to which I pleaded with them to not worry and just leave it!) and he told me I shouldn't keep them on my stoop! I thanked him for the decorating advice.