How much candy?

We live on a small military post and weren't expecting many trick-or-treaters, but we love being "the GOOD house!" So we buy full size bars (from BJ's, it's like Costco) and a big bag of smaller stuff. We told the kids they could take one full size bar and "a bunch" of the little stuff. When we say that, most kids just pick out one or two of the little things to go along with their big candy. 2 older boys did actually limit to 2 handfuls each, but otherwise I just let the kids take what they wanted. I didn't want leftovers! :)

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I got a mixed bag, so I gave out three of the stuff I didn't like to the first group of kids - then cut back to two of the good stuff after that.

Unfortunately we ended up with less than 15 kids - down from about 45 last year - so I have way too much candy. Turns out our local malls were asking stores to give out candy and a lot of folks took them up on it.

I understand it's a safety thing, but that's not real trick-or-treating! (I was in retail and partcipated in the program ten years ago and thought the same thing then!)

Next year we will probably find a gathering more focused on kids having a great time than giving out candy again.

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We weren't living in this house last year and so weren't sure how many trick-or-treaters to expect. We played it a little conservative and said two pieces each and we ended up with quite a few left-overs.

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I gave 2 or three pieces to each kid, but clearly I did not give out enough. I am stuck with a largish bowl of mixed candy that I will now be tempted to eat. This is in addition to my own kid's trick or treating stash.

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What I used to do, and will start doing again, is make goody bags with several pieces of cheap candy and one or two pieces of good candy. The scraps go to kids who just aren't that polite.

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We usually just hold out the bowl and let the kids pick for themselves how much they want. It often ends up being now more than a piece or two. There are occasionally kids who grab more, but most do not. At the end of the night we typically have only a little leftover, if any.

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I get two types, the cheap stuff and the good stuff. Parents, babies, and kids who demand "I get to pick!" get one of the cheap stuff, all others get one of the good stuff and one of the cheap stuff. If you are really good and really cute you get three of my choosing. Next year I'm getting candy corn for the parents that are peering around the door to check out my house and demanding candy for their crawler.

And even with purchasing three bags of candy, it was all gone by 8pm.

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We don't get a lot of people (only two last night, which was boring) so I make them take like 10 pieces each! At least!

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We usually like to be the house that give out the "good stuff". Some years we buy full-sized chocolate bars and give one to each kid, or sometimes a mix of things...this year we had some full-sized bars, some "fun size" bars, and some packs of Skittles, as well. I give two or three of the fun sized candies to each kid, at least.

This year we had a HUGE decrease in kids (only 6, down from about 20 last year), and I'm not sure why. Unfortunately, the first 4 came together at the very beginning of the evening, so I wasn't as generous as I might have been if I'd known turn-out would be so small. As it is we have TONS of candy left-over...although of course my kids don't mind.

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This is only our third year of giving out candy (we lived in an apartment before), and we still don't get many trick or treaters (maybe 20 kids total?). But it was the first year I'd experienced the "I want to pick!" kids, and man, there were a lot of them! I usually drop 2-3 into each kid's bag, but I confess I was kind of annoyed by the multitude of demanding "What do you have? Let me pick my own!" kids and I only let them take one piece each. What's up with this? Am I alone in thinking that's kind of rude?

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Sometimes lots of kids, at this house very few, but I generally give treats the same way. I eat most of my favorites when I get home from the store, then give them to the first cute kids that come. I give the cheaper candy I'm less tempted to eat to the rest- three pieces each (unless Tootsie Roll minis are in there, and it takes 3 of them to equal one). Then when the good stuff is almost gone and I panic that I might not get any leftovers I like, I pull some goodies aside and everyone else gets the cheap stuff from then on. See? There is a science to this!

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okay I take care of my niece and nephew during the week and been DVRing Martha for fun crafts to do for Halloween. We made lunch bags to look like ghosts and mummies and stamped other bags with skeletons and such--- then I filled them up. Now the past few years only been maybe 20 kids total. So I did bags for little ones that included play doh (or a toy hummer), fruit roll ups (mini foot), twizzlers(3), teddy grahams (2 fun size bags), gold fish (2 bags) and a jolly rancher creepy pop. Then for those a little older (but maybe just middle school) I replaced the teddy/gold fish with sour patch twists and star bursts. I had gotten a package of gel pens and tied four in a bow. Then I did get some 3 musketeers and junior mints for the older kids -- their bags also had the creepy pop, star bursts and sour patch twists.

So by 8:20 i had only about 10 kids, so those last 3 door bell rings I threw in extra.
Kind of sucked, my nephew and I worked on pumpkins and not many had a chance to see them
plus got a whole bag left of 3 musketeers. I guess I'll save um for my cousins at thanksgiving. Though I've got a creepy pop in my mouth now-- those are good

Maybe I did too much- but I hopin' it gets more to come next year


btw-- the hummers I got for free and the play doh me and my niece and nephew will play with the extra

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We had only one trick or treater this year. She was probably about three years old, and totally adorable, but her dad stood in our yard and had her walk to the door by herself. She rang the bell, and when I answered, she stood there- no smile, no "hi", no "trick or treat", and began reaching up into my bowl, which at that point was at my midlevel, where she could barely reach it. She reached in three times before I pulled the bowl back, and then she just turned around and walked away- no "bye", no "thank you", no smile, nothing...
I tried to wave at dad out in the yard, but he just looked away.

Now I know that etiquette is not necessarily the forte of the three year old set, but maybe dad could have at least said "thanks" on her behalf or have prompted her to say something, anything... even just some sort of acknowledgement that walking up so a stranger's door and getting free candy was at least nice, maybe even fun.
I don't know. Maybe I just don't get trick or treating anymore, but I probably would have given her handfuls if she hadn't been plunging her hand into the bowl over and over again without so much as a smile, like it was some horrible, menial job task that she'd been assigned. And I get that giving candy at Halloween is not done in order to get worshipful thanks from the neighborhood children, but I still somehow expect to have acknowledgement that there is a human being attached to that bowl of candy...

God, I sound like such an old fogey...

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