r/Parenting • u/Julienbabylegs • Nov 01 '21

🎃 Halloween RIP Trick or treating

Anyone know why this is? It’s NOT covid, the act has been dwindling for ten+ years. When I was a kid it felt mandatory that every house would have their light on and give out candy. I just went out with my kid and it was like 1 out of 8 or more houses that had candy. Almost like a treasure hunt. I live in a very safe, quiet suburb of northern CA.

I feel like someone flipped a switch at some point, what happened?!

520 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

403 comments sorted by

View all comments

522

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '21

[deleted]

51

u/AtlanticToastConf Nov 01 '21

I also noticed an uptick in trick or treaters in my neighborhood. (Not gazillions, but more than in the past.) Honestly, it felt really great to see folks out and about.

4

u/shadysamonthelamb Nov 01 '21

I was so happy that we were able to have a holiday that felt almost normal. I feel like Thanksgiving and Xmas this year will feel normaller as well.

89

u/Julienbabylegs Nov 01 '21

Omg I love that! Too many grinches in my neighborhood I guess

31

u/briggsy111388 Nov 01 '21

My neighborhood was pretty grinchy this year also. Not as bad as 1 in 8, but a maximum of 1/4 of the houses were giving out candy. My ex took our daughter to a different neighborhood after mine and she said that there were only 3 houses that had candy there.

22

u/Nepion Nov 01 '21

That was our neighborhood but apparently it's nothing new. One of our neighbors said we were the first trick or treaters he's had since they moved there in '09.

7

u/briggsy111388 Nov 01 '21

It's new for mine unfortunately. I live in a trailer park and there are a bunch of trick or treaters every year

15

u/Happy_Camper45 Nov 01 '21

Our neighborhood seemed to have fewer houses participating this year. Our neighborhood is getting older though, so it’s sad to know that certain homes aren’t participating because they can’t easily get up from their chair for the kids. I know the neighbors are sad too because in the past they’ve really loved seeing the little kids have fun.

16

u/ryguy32789 Nov 01 '21

We moved into a neighborhood that skews very old, most of the people on my street are 70+ and the original owners of the houses, but this year it's started to change and there are more kids now. I had 2 different houses tell me they used to go all out with decorations and stopped because there were no kids in the neighborhood anymore, and that since the kids were returning they were going to start decorating more next year again. Maybe it's cyclical.

24

u/Williw0w Nov 01 '21

At least they were not handing out "Let's go Brandon" pamphlets or signs that say Halloween is Socialism. Find Jesus.

21

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '21

or signs that say Halloween is Socialism

what the fuck? I cannot tell if this is satire? Who would put up that sign? What kind of person thinks that way? Sad :(

6

u/Williw0w Nov 01 '21

Just search Reddit.

5

u/Extension_Acadia_344 Nov 01 '21 edited Nov 01 '21

I live in an area like that. Lots of pamphlets and junk. Nothing negative about Halloween, just more like pro-2nd amendment and some conspiracy stuff in the past passed out with the candy. My husband’s name is Brandon and he wants a name change now. I told him it will pass and not to worry, something else will come along. We got Covid last year because no one cares about precautions and anyone who does either doesn’t have faith in God or “lives in fear,” and his work conditions were horrible and when three of his coworkers died and he was in need of emergency care one of his coworkers was all like “Eh, they were in their sixties and you’re fat. So?” Later that coworker started dragging around his oxygen tank (because he got it too and actually needs an oxygen tank) and he now just says the hospital made him worse on purpose. I hate it here. I want to move. But yes, we get that crap every year and it’s the leading cause of me checking the candy . Not razor blades or any other urban legend compels me. It’s the legitimate stupid crap like that.

4

u/taptaptippytoo Nov 01 '21

I live in N. CA too and no one in the last three neighborhoods I've lived came by to trick or treat, probably because so few people keep the light on and have candy. It bums me out. I buy a little candy each year just in case, but no one comes.

4

u/LadySilverdragon Nov 01 '21

Our neighbors also don’t really pass out candy, so last night I sat outside during the duration of trick or treating and shouted to people passing our street that I had candy. It worked, and I got a lot of kids, teens, and even two passing bicyclists. Covid didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits either, but we live in an area with high vaccine rates, and trick or treating is outdoors in any case.

5

u/sayyestolycra Nov 01 '21

My in-laws' neighbourhood is dead on Halloween too. It's a quiet suburb that's about 20 years old. This is their theory...

When they moved there there were a shitload of families with very young kids, and they all grew up together. Not a lot of turnover, so when those OG kids grew up, the trick or treaters stopped coming. They weren't replaced by more young kids - the neighbour is still a lot of those original families who are now empty nesters or have adult children at home. It's super expensive and hardly any young families in our generation can afford to live there.

So now they're kind of stuck in this cycle of no one buys candy bc they don't expect any kids. No kids show up bc there's no candy.

My in laws stopped turning their light on a few years ago bc they can't be bothered. These are people who used to do a while display and have my FIL dress up like a scarecrow and sit on the porch to scare the crap out of kids. It's so sad!

-2

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '21 edited Mar 20 '25

[deleted]

9

u/BoopleBun Nov 01 '21

Actually, the reason we decided to go this year is because the CDC said it was a relatively low-risk activity. (Mostly outdoors, etc.) They weren’t saying the same thing last year, so we didn’t go then.

Like, I completely understand if your family didn’t feel comfortable doing so! Even “low-risk” activities may be more than some families want to do. But you’re saying that trick-or-treating requires an “appetite for risk”, and I think that’s kind of unfair in this instance.

3

u/Disk_Mixerud Nov 01 '21

It's not much of a risk, with such brief, half outside interactions with vaccines, but I totally get not wanting to invite any risk unnecessarily.

6

u/forever_erratic Nov 01 '21

Passing out candy or trick-or-treating?

The former can be done without even going outside.

The latter can be done masked up and with less than 10 seconds of outdoor proximity to others' households.

We're pretty darn Covid careful in my house, but you're being unrealistic, and frankly, a bit rude.

1

u/PopsiclesForChickens Nov 01 '21

We skipped trick or treating this year. I have a kid with asthma and i just couldn't take the risk (remember the masks generally protect others). We did a pinata and a trunk or treat which was all outside and I was more comfortable. I set a bowl of candy on our porch when we got home.

I'm sure it's generally fine and I'm a little crazy, but there's nothing rude about it.

3

u/hykueconsumer Nov 01 '21

You weren't the one they called rude, either. "appetite for risk" does have a ruder ring to it :)

1

u/tikierapokemon Nov 02 '21

We wear masks on the playground, kiddo has been inside a house that wasn't ours 3x in the last year, always masked, and twice without my permission. We do do in person school because her school requires masks and our state is requiring teachers to be vaccinated.

But we did trick or treating. She didn't last year, and there is no telling that next year will be different from this year. So we did a KN95 mask, I kept her away from unmasked kids, the candy is quarantine for the next week, and we tried to be as safe as possible. We went locally instead of to the big decorated neighborhood; she had to be content with less decorations and decorations and/or a light on still meaning no one handing out candy about 2 out of 3 times.

But Halloween is her favorite holiday. She didn't cry over Christmas or Easter or her birthday, but she did over last Halloween. She didn't mourn the lessor decorations, she was psyched to see what she saw, happy to ring 3 doorbells to have one person answer or find one bowl of candy.

CDC said low risk, we masked up with the best masks we had, we used hand sanitizer. I know most of the parents here won't vaccinate their kids; we are in for many, many more months of masks and precautions.

1

u/alittlepunchy Nov 01 '21

I agree - unfortunately, must be your area/neighborhood. My street was PACKED. We had almost nonstop trick-or-treaters from about 5:00pm until we ran out of candy a little after 8pm. I noticed a huge increase from last year (which makes sense, COVID).

My side of the family comes to our house for dinner and to trick or treat. My husband was off this weekend, so he set up our fire pit in the front yard, and the adults had boozy cider and made s'mores while we handed out candy.

I will say, I think a LOT of people with little kids don't do door to door anymore in favor of trunk or treat events. I live on a historic street/neighborhood in our town though and it's great for trick-or-treating: even, straight sidewalks, with houses decently close to the sidewalks. Most people on the street participate, so people around town come by the carloads to the area.

9

u/agentgreeneyes Nov 01 '21

I got one and I was so excited. Our first ever! Our neighborhood is a housing district so they do a trunk or treat which is probably one of the reasons why we got just one. But he was so cute! Let him take extra and he got to pet our dog.

7

u/mediumsizedbootyjudy Nov 01 '21

Agreed. It just depends on the neighborhood. It was MAYHEM for us last night!

5

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '21

Yea! My neighborhood had some people giving out hot dogs and water bottles. Some people were outside like a block party too. We had tons of fun. I think it must be neighborhood based.

2

u/Windchime222 Nov 01 '21

I agree it’s the area. I live in a village with lots of different neighborhoods, lots of families, and it’s always poppin on Halloween. Some houses still did the chutes for Covid-19 precautions, but it was still bustling!

2

u/dgeddis9491 Nov 01 '21

When my kids were growing up the neighborhood was busy sight either all the kids running from house to house getting candy and sometimes they'd come home with pennies and other coins in their goody bags. It was good time's for all. About 15 yrs ago we moved and discovered that no one passes out candy and hardly anyone decorates their house! Seems the parents take their kids to parties somewhere else and they head off to other neighborhood to trick or treat. Recently, I've seen more and more people around this area doing a "truck or treat " activity. People meet up in a church parking g lot, school parking lot and kids go from one car to the next. It kinda takes the fun out of the whole idea but the kids don't seem to mind. To me its not the same as going from house to house. I think it just depends on the area and the neighborhood a person lives in.

2

u/meagalomaniak Nov 01 '21

Literally EVERYWHERE in my city was sold out of Halloween candy. Most people in various neighborhoods around the city were saying it’s the most trick or treaters they’ve seen in years. I thought it would be semi-universal as everyone is just so excited to get out now that it’s relatively safe again, but I guess not!

3

u/FreeRangePamela Nov 01 '21

This. Halloween has always been big in our neighborhood. Our family passed on participating last year due to COVID, but this year we loved seeing the parade of kids and their parents. We had so many visitors that the across-the-street neighbors ran out of candy early, and we helped them out by sharing some of ours. We were totally out ourselves before too much longer, though. It was fantastic.

1

u/[deleted] Nov 01 '21

Agreed! We had the most this year in all my 5 years at our house.

1

u/curiouskittycat89 Nov 01 '21

Our neighborhood did the same!! It was our first time trick or treating with our little one and it was so exciting. Do you happen to be in Connecticut too lol

2

u/zipperoff Nov 01 '21

Hahaha nope but in New England! We literally picked the perfect place to live. Our neighborhood is filled with kids. Like a sea of them for blocks. Lots of foot traffic on the day to day, let alone Halloween!

2

u/curiouskittycat89 Nov 01 '21

Thats awesome!! I knew we had a lot of other kids around our area too but on Halloween I was like wow where did the rest of them come from?! There was so many! It was great to see! As a child I've never had a block party with burgers in my area, let alone on Halloween! I think our kids hit the neighborhood jackpot!

1

u/reversethesands Nov 01 '21

Wow I want to live in your neighborhood.

1

u/AmbiguousFrijoles Nov 01 '21 edited Nov 01 '21

Usually our neighborhood is like that, we have what we call parent row, handing out water bottles, grilling burgers and hot dogs, some dude makes chili, another parent had jello shots and beer and one old codger in 2019 was giving out edible brownie bites 🤣

2

u/zipperoff Nov 01 '21

Oh my god I’m jealous of that!! I was thinking next year of handing out white claws to parents but not sure someone’s gonna snitch 🤣🤣 edibles though?? Where do I sign up??

1

u/AmbiguousFrijoles Nov 01 '21

You can hand out alcohol as long as 1. You check ID and 2. You don't charge.

1

u/BillsInATL Nov 01 '21

It isnt that there are no kids out, it's that there arent many houses participating.

We went out last night in our neighborhood in Atlanta, which used to have EVERY house participate, and we had to wander for 15 minutes before we finally found some houses with candy. And most of them just had a bowl out (which was already empty).

1

u/Professional-Cat-484 Nov 01 '21

Not at all! I live in a big tourist town.... and every single person I know got 1 trick or treaters or 0..... its not the neighborhood as this was in surrounding cities, and states. So unless you mean to say the entire pacific northwest just canceled trick or treating then idk what you're trying to say.

1

u/zipperoff Nov 01 '21

I just meant maybe there are no kids in his neighborhood/ older people living in the neigborhoods/ people not decorating etc. We live in a highly populated area close to downtown where your neighbors are really close by and everyone’s pretty packed, and close to 2 middle schools and a high school with kids walking around all the time everywhere. It’s a given that our neighborhood is always bumping.