What happened to the trick or treaters?

by Kristin Darguzas (Subscribe to Kristin Darguzas's posts) Nov 1st 2006 7:00AM

I picked up a half-hearted pack of Caramilk bars on the weekend, an ode to the children who would probably not show up at our house on Halloween night.

We live in an inner city neighborhood, so I guess it's understandable that we don't get many trick or treaters. It's mostly retired couples and young professionals in this area, there are a few toddlers Nolan's age, but that's it. We carved our pathetic pumpkin (I didn't post pictures yesterday because...well, it's that bad, folks) and set it up hopefully on the front porch.

I gave out a total of 8 caramel bars, to two trick or treaters.

I thought perhaps it was just our area of the city, but I've spoken to a few of my girlfriends in the suburbs last night and they had the same experience - small trickles of kids and bowls of leftover Cadbury. Now, perhaps I am remembering my childhood with rose-coloured glasses, but I am quite sure we had hundreds of kids at our door in the eighties. I remember ducks and ghosts and clowns stumbling up and down the rainy streets with sagging pillowcases full of wrapped caramel and mini bars.

Where are all the Trick or Treaters? Are they in the mall? Or just in other neighborhoods?

Comments (27)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Kimberly 11-01-2006 @ 10:03AM

I had about 120 kids at my place. Maybe it's just where you live that trick or treating just isn't what it used to be.

Anna 11-01-2006 @ 7:42AM

They're in malls, fire stations, police stations--places where it's safer nowadays. We got 3 trick or treaters, to whom I told, "Take all you want" when I opened the door with the candy bowl.

Granted, our front light was broken, but we placed lights around the windows to show we were giving candy. But looking outside, I think I saw no more than 10 kids. We live behind a major route, but it's a very family-settled area. I was surprised.

Marcia 11-01-2006 @ 7:45AM

We didn't get a single one this year! I didn't even see any outside walking the streets for that matter. I think it's because our city only allowed 2 hours for it so the kids know to go to the richest corner of town (ya know the 'more bang for your buck' type mentality).

Adrienne Backus 11-01-2006 @ 8:19AM

They were all at my parents' house.

thordora 11-01-2006 @ 8:20AM

We got about 10 kids, a friend in another part of the city 5. Our house is kinda creepy, but hers isn't. And we live near TONS of kids, so we don't get it, since I heard of nothing going on community wise for them either.

It's sad-nothing has really changed in terms of the threat level to kids (esp if the parents are along) but people seem to think there IS something to fear.

Hell, I didn't even see the usual groups of teenagers.

Weird, and sad. My kids had a fantastic time with all the cool stuff my neighbours did though! More tootsie pops for me!

Brenda 11-01-2006 @ 3:36PM

There were tonnes of trick or treaters in my neighbourhood, they just don't come down my street (for reasons that no one understands). So about halfway through the night I headed over to a friends house.

Ethel 11-01-2006 @ 8:54AM

I was asking the same thing last night. We had half as many trick or treaters and the bowl of candy is half full. I wish my dear husband had doubled the portions dumped in their cute sacks too.

And oddly enough they were very much more polite this year. Even the two 30 something gals sans children.

Shelley 11-01-2006 @ 9:17AM

Same thing at my place - last year we had 40 kids, this year 15! What's going on?

Stephanie 11-01-2006 @ 9:22AM

I was thinking the same thing! We had only a few of the neighbor kids. We live in a main part of our town and I didn't even see other kids walking around.

weigooksaram 11-01-2006 @ 6:53PM

Sounds like we're in the minority, but we had a lot of trick-or-treaters. I think it depends on the neighborhood. I live in one of those neighborhoods that does Halloween in a big way, so the kids come in from other parts of town. By the way, a lot of the stories about bad things happening to trick-or-treaters are urban legends.

ann adams 11-01-2006 @ 10:03AM

Many parents won't let their kids go door to door any more. It's a shame a few people had to spoil what should be fun for everyone.

I took the kids to a few houses on my street or drove out to the "nicer" section of town when they were younger. Not anymore. We go to the church parking lot and many kids here to the Carnival sponsored by Parks and Rec. Commuting to trick or treat? Strange.

I'm sure much of it is about safety. At least 3 of our churches plus Parks and Rec were sponsoring trunk or treat last night. We hung out with the LDS people as we've done for the last five years at least. Very safe and fun. We handed out $30 worth of candy inside of 30 minutes and had a great time. And we're not even LDS but they don't care. Nachos, homemade root beer, 50's rock music by a real d.j.? And a parade of children in their costumes.

For any who don't have something like this in your town, I highly recommend it. Turn off your porch light, fill your trunk with goodies and join the fun.

Eden 11-01-2006 @ 10:46AM

The last couple of years in our old neighborhood, my daughter was often the only trick-or-treater. The weather was even nice. We went at 6 pm on Halloween night.

This year in our new place, we joined some friends for trick or treat and there were so many kids that cars had trouble driving through. It was at 4 pm on Sunday.

I've always thought that trick-or-treat on a night other than Halloween was lame. Now I'm thinking that if that's what it takes to keep trick-or-treat going, that's what we should do. We had a blast on Sunday afternoon.

People are obviously celebrating, according to retailers. Maybe parties have usurped trick or treat as the primary way of celebrating?

Rachel Mosteller 11-01-2006 @ 10:33AM

We live in the 'burbs, in a place where you really don't need to worry about "safety" as much as in other places.

Only got a couple. But, then again, I live in a town full of extremely wealthy people (just about 1 mile away from my house is a house for sale for $7 million) so perhaps they don't waste time on the lower income neighborhoods and head to the expensive ones?

thordora 11-01-2006 @ 10:45AM

A coworker of mine lives in the "expensive" end of town and ran out of candy, and said the streets were full of vans of kids driving around.

So I think you're right Rachel. It's not safety-it's candy snobbery. :P

Eden 11-01-2006 @ 10:48AM

BTW: when we got no one, we lived in a country club neighborhood. This year we trick or treated in a blue collar neighborhood and got everything from drinks to bags of chips to full-sized candy. I think it's more about attitude and love of Halloween than about candy snobbery ;)

Thus marks the first time I have ever disagreed w/ Thordora. Has the world stopped spinning?

Laura Hamilton 11-01-2006 @ 12:13PM

It's all about commuting to trick-or-treat around here. Everyone piles in their car and heads for the neighborhoods that are known for being "Halloween hot spots".

We live in a nice suburban neighborhood and I know there are TONS of kids around here, but strangely enough, we seem to get mostly trick-or-treaters from a neighborhood of rental apartments nearby.

So our neighborhood gets trick-or-treaters from the nearby lower-income neighborhood, and our kids in turn go to a higher-income neighborhood to do THEIR trick-or-treating.

It's really odd to me. I would have never dreamed of going trick-or-treating outside our own neighborhood as a kid.

We gave out two bags of candy last night to about 50 trick-or-treaters total. By contrast, new home buyers in the "hot" trick-or-treating neighborhood are warned that they should expect 1000 kids minimum. A THOUSAND! Crazy.

Ben 11-01-2006 @ 2:07PM

This was our third Halloween in our current home, the first year we had about 50 children come to our door, last year the count was a little over 60, last night we gave out close to 70 treats. We live in a neighborhood that is slowing seeing the older people moving out and being replaced by younger families. We have always given out full size candybars, and this year we included small containers of playdough, which was a hit with both the young and older kids.

thordora 11-01-2006 @ 11:30AM

You are no longer my friend Eden. I spit on you, and crush your head. :)

Almost everyone I work with, who live in "normal" neighbourhoods had NO kids. It's bizarre. It was beautiful here.

But who cares. All the chocolate I wouldn't buy two days ago is now 60% off. I'm off on a sugar rush now.

Kimberly 11-01-2006 @ 1:15PM

Me too Thordora! Does the rational of "it's ok because it's only a mini O Henry still hold if you eat a whole bag of them?"

We actually only go to about 10 houses--I only allow The Ladies to trick-or-Treat at the homes of people I know. So we take a circuitous route to Gramma's and pick up some candy along the way. I know we got some funny looks when we passed by fully lit and decorated houses, and one person even took offense to the fact that we passed his house by, but it's the only way I'm willing to participate.

Jessica 11-01-2006 @ 12:06PM

ooooh, what a great idea Thordora--I'm gonna have to hit the candy aisle after work. Yessssss!

It was very sad to me. I loooooved Halloween as a kid (and still do). I loved trick-or-treating and really want to share this tradition with my daughter.

Last night we had only a few groups to whom we gave tons of candy. My parents neighborhood usually fills up--to the point that you can't drive down the roads b/c there are so many cars parked along the street (middle class, not ritzy). But last night they got only a couple. Very sad. HehHeh, I am going over there this weekend to steal the rest--oh yeah!

One irritating aspect to me was that one little boy told my husband: "I don't like that kind" and put it back and walked off! I was so miffed. Talk about candy snobbery!!! The point is to get all dressed up, go out and about, then come home and trade with your friends and siblings. My mother would have yanked my butt back in the house if I was that disrespectful to someone who had spent their hard earned money to give me something free!

| 1 | 2 | Most Recent | Next 20 Comments

How To Submit Photos:
If you'd like your children (any age will do!) featured on ParentDish, upload photos into the ParentDish Flickr Pool. Be sure to read our main Flickr page for more information.