We actually had no trick-or-treaters at all this year. No worries on our end.
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As expected, no trick or treaters here. Bottom of the steep hill, dead end street, large lots. Thatās the downside of privacy. 
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60 degrees and beautiful night here in the Bay Area. We never expect many as we are on a hillā¦and kids tend to go on the flat streets below us. Neighbors down there get upwards of 1,000 kids. Standing on our deck, sounds like a party atmosphere below. .
This year, I got 6 large candy bars. The youngest two in our cul de sac (6th graders) came early with a friend. Their older siblings (8th & 10th grades) came after dark. I asked why they didnāt come with their siblings. āwe needed to charge our phonesāā¦ LOLā¦kids. So a total of 5 kidsā¦so H and I split the last bar and shut the lights off.
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We have never gotten any so I donāt buy candy. My husband went to the hardware store and picked three pieces from the bowl at the register. We split the tiny pack of m and mās.
Son-in-law sent a few pictures of grandson dressed as a tiger going up to a few houses. They drove to a nearby neighborhood that has sidewalks. They went early and it was obvious from the photos it was the preschool hour. Next year he will likely understand what candy is.
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You always have great recipes for every occasion!
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Phew! For a minute there I was picturing you in need of an ambulance, @abasket.
Lovely weather tonight in the old neighborhood, but probably half as many kids as last year. Toward the end of the evening, we started putting fistfuls of candy into each sack to ensure no leftovers. Some of those trick-or-treaters got a nice haul from our group.
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Every year, there are a LOT of comments on NextDoor and FB about TOTing stopping at 8 p.m. and that it is only for ages 12-and-under.
There was a reason that my area doesnāt want teens TOTing. The mischief (and now danger ā ready availability of guns and the traffic safety issue) are the main reasons, I suppose. Very good reasons!
We all had a very different TOTing experience when we were growing up ā no age limit (although my parents didnāt let us once we were in high school) and no curfew. We roamed for miles with our friends filling up our pillowcases. And yes, it was fun!
But we also didnāt have Trunk or Treats or Halloween parties, parades, etc. that are ubiquitous nowadays. Itās a different time now.
You are not the only one whoās stepped out of TOT!
For a number of years, I didnāt enjoy doing it anymore, and I remember being annoyed at the lack of manners for many kids. They would just look at me and mumble something, and then not say thank-you afterwards. More and more, H was the one who would get up and go to the door, as he definitely seemed to enjoy it more than I did. And then 2020 came, and TOTing was discouraged. Iām not sure if we did it in 2021, but I know we didnāt bother last year. Not this year, either (and at this point, we wonāt be doing it again).
H would have liked to keep doing it, but when the candy-buying was left up to him, it never happened. Plus, even he is not liking having to get up in the middle of a TV program to answer the door anymore.
We handed out candy for a number of years after our youngest aged out of TOTing (12-and-under here). We did our time and our part!
I think the same. I spent 10 years after my youngest stopped TOT and had no enjoyment. Iām the one who did it for 2 hours straight. Iām just over it. We had maybe 10 knocks on the door and some were banging.
Even though your lights were off and drapes closed?
A light on in the FR.
I meant your porch lights. How incredibly rude ā they refuse to recognize the universal meaning of no porch lights on = not participating in TOT!
We had our porch lights off, but the inside lights would still be visible. No one knocked.
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My sister and I have mutually decided that we will NOT become the people we disliked on Halloween when we were kids/our kids were young. We loved trick or treating and so did our kids and were always thankful for the people who gave us/our kids candy. We would have hated ātrunk or treatā as half of the fun is running around after dark.
I welcome everyone and have not had any trouble, I now live in a major city and no issues with Halloween. I just give out candy and a smile.
YMMV
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A few final thoughts. For the most part, people were VERY good this year. Everyone seemed patient with the crowds and stood in line to wait their turn at our candy bucket, maybe because H was so good with them. Most people dressed up at least somewhat. I didnāt have any un-costumed parents with no children asking for candy for their āsick baby at home.ā Maybe they just sent sick kids, lol. I did notice only one with a gross runny nose, but no coughing. Thatās pretty good even compared to the pre-covid days.
People were very gracious when we ran out of candy - though this is typical. I remarked to H that we could have easily handed out 10 more pounds, probably 20. I already spend over $100 for candy, and thatās enough IMOā¦ but I had a good time and would consider doing a little more next year, if the weather appears to be decent.
Butā¦ one one big head scratcher. In our area/city, there are plenty of vacant houses and houses that donāt participate. If you participate, the porch lights are on. In our neighborhood, you have to sit outside because there are just that many people. You wouldnāt get the door closed before the next batch comes all night long. And people seem to be respectful of that and donāt go up to houses without people outside. Plenty of houses around us are vacant, so I watch this all the timeā¦
So, after we ran out, H and I turned off the light at the street/sidewalk, our porch light, brought in Alexa, turned off the lights shining on Pumpkin man, as well as all lights inside the houseā¦ and we went out to dinner at Firehouse Subs. While we were there, I got a motion detector Ring alert. H asked me to check to make sure nobody was trying to steal pumpkin head man. I look and itās a woman with a 6-7ish y.o. kid hanging back on our porch. She doesnāt ring our doorbell. Instead she kneels down and opens porch kittyās box. Itās a paper box with the front cut out and a blanket inside. Itās obvious itās a cat box, especially since thereās a tray with a cat food bowl and water in front of it. What in the world was she doing or thinking? Did she really think our dark house had candy stashed there? But then this morning, I was hoping she wasnāt trying to steal our catā¦
H handed out candy while I was working upstairs. We usually buy the big bags of candy from Costco, but H picked up a couple of largish bags at Walmart when he was out the other day. Kept a tally like he normally does - we topped out around 115 kids this year. Thankfully, he had 120 pieces of candy - he had to remind some kids to take just one 
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Yes! If not for Facebook, most wouldnāt even know about it, woke up to comments complaining that the street has taken over Halloween and making residents sad because they only got a handful of kids (the candy count on the popular street was 1600+ this year, I gave out about $50 worth in my trickle down street).
We had a big rush of kids for a couple of hours so I asked DH to get more candy - which must have signaled to the universe to send only a few more kids as the extra candy never got opened. Oh well, H says he will bring it to the office. D24 dressed up for school with her friends as Strawberry Shortcake and friends, and D20 seemed to be enjoying her last Halloweekend of college (maybe too much 
), but I miss little kids on Halloween.
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I love giving out candy and reminiscing about the days of ToTing with my kids. Love seeing the kids in their costumes and chatting a bit and donāt notice what they say. My DH is annoyed if they donāt say Trick or Treat but I donāt really care.
Here ToTing is usually from 4 to dark (6:30ish). I thought we had a fair number of kids but well less than 100. Even some of the neighbor kids didnāt come and likely went to their friendās homes.
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I love Halloween and trick or treaters. Donāt care if the ākidsā are five or twenty-five. Iām glad some families drive from other neighborhoods to trick or treat in my neighborhood. I find that if I am polite and cheerful to the kids, they are polite, cheerful, and playful to me. I enjoy trying to get the kids who are doing it even though they might be a bit too old to crack a smile.
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Same here. If getting candy gives them some happiness, I donāt care what age they are. We sure can use a bit more (almond) joy these days.
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