About out of area trick or treaters

[Daisypod]

First let me say I love Halloween and always stock up for trick or treaters.
Our area really goes for it with lots of houses decorated and the streets become really busy for the evening. It's lovely to go out with the kids and seeing the community out and it is done as much for the social aspect as it is the goodies.
But it is now getting quite a reputation for it and last year many people ran out of sweets by 6pm. People are coming from miles away because it is such a good place to come to. I am already seeing on local Facebook pages about people discussing the fact they will be heading to our area.
So Aibu to say it is a bit unfair for so many people to be coming from other areas to get the goodies and leaving some of the local kids without?
If you want to experience it put the effort in in your own areas and create the same spirit there.

[Zebraaa]

Do you really think people come from miles away for sweets?! 😂

[PumpkinP]

I think yabu. I think a lot of areas don’t really do Halloween. In my area you can be walking for ages before you see any pumpkins, and since you’re only meant to knock on ones with pumpkins it can be a long walk around here before finding any. I don’t leave my local area personally though.

[Beamur]

I live in a village that gets a lot of Halloween tourism! I don't mind really, it makes for a more lively atmosphere and the kids enjoy it. Costs a small fortune in sweets though!

[MustardScreams]

Just buy more sweets? Are you really griping about one night a year where kids would otherwise miss out if they didn’t come trick or treating in your area?

[Daisypod]

@Zebraaa yes I know of people who come from up to 3 miles away! It isn't just for sweets though, the houses get very decorated with light shows and fog etc so it is more the experience.

Fair enough @PumpkinP but why don't people get together with other locals to make their area better for it

[GettingABitDesperateNow]

I agree OP

I've you're organising groups on Facebook to travel to someone elses area surely you can just do some initiative in your own area. It's like crashing someone elses street party or something, just feels a bit against the spirit the event

[BrokenWing]

It does happen, we have it at the other end of our estate. There are a couple of streets where the houses all get done up and cars full of children do come from elsewhere in town.

[puppyconfetti]

I know of people who come from up to 3 miles away! It isn't just for sweets though, the houses get very decorated with light shows and fog etc so it is more the experience.

Surely that's something to be proud of, not gripe about?

[PumpkinP]

Well you can’t force people to take part can you? My neighbours are mostly elderly and not very friendly so I can’t see them doing it. Last year it was about 10 mins walk between houses with pumpkins where I live and my 4 year old was getting tired walking. As I said I wouldn’t leave the area so doesn’t apply to me but I can see why people would want their children to have a better experience.

[ImportantWater]

We have that as well - not our road but a street a few roads up. People definitely come from elsewhere to trick or treat there, and they definitely run out of sweets early, so it is a thing. It's a bit unfair on the local children.

[IfIShouldFallFromGraceWithGod]

Local sweets for local children, not for the riff raff down the road
Miserable fuckers

[ClaudiaWankleman]

But surely the reason that you are putting such a big effort in, is so that lots of people will see it, and you'll get some collective recognition for putting on such a good show?

Having to give out lots of sweets is 1) something that you could reasonably expect to do if you were putting on a big show, and 2) a form of recognition for how good your display is.

YABU!

[EmeraldShamrock]

I do see their point if there is not much in their area, this area is good for treats, DD has a friend whose DM brings them to other estates after, her 4 DC end up with a few bags each.
There are two sides, some are miserable greedy feckers.
This particular parent never gives treats at Halloween she is busy collecting from 4pm to 8pm.

[ScotsinOz]

This really annoys me. Our area goes all out with loads of houses decorated and has a few haunted houses/experiences set up every year too. This is great for the local children and I love doing up my house and my parents house, and we take it in turns going round the neighbours tricking or treating with the kids. You see loads of friends/neighbours and it’s great fun......except now it’s not. Our area now has a reputation as the place to go, but this means we get people driving at least 30 mins to the area as “this place has better lollies” (yes, I’ve been seriously told this 🤨. They are also not coming from rural places - they’re coming from well populated suburbs). It also means instead of giving away 200 - 300 chocolates/lollies, I gave away over a thousand in 2017 in under 2 hours and a lot of local children missed out because parents from other areas were driving their kids around. Because of this we didn’t decorate/hand out lollies in 2018 (put a sign up saying away tonight - be back 2019), but I’m not sure if we’ll join in again this year (though the children have already asked my husband to get the Halloween boxes from the garage). A local businessman also had to stop holding his Halloween experience in the park as he was out of lollies within 30 mins (he had 2000). It’s just going crazy.

It’s supposed to be local kids going around their local area having a bit of fun, but it’s now turned into how many sweets can you get. I know some people will say “Oh, but our area doesn’t do it”, but if your in a populated area/village/estate maybe try to get it started in your community (if you’re rural I realise it’s impossible).

Glad I got that out!

[user1474894224]

I agree. It's already started on FB.... 'where's the best area to go?' 'where can I take my kids' and I get shouted down of I say - where you live. Just arrange with 3 or 4 other mums to go to each others and job done. It's got really grabby and not about community anymore. Makes me want to stop. Although we'll actually decorate a little more this year as the kids want to!

[Jjou]

Hmm, I can see both sides of this. Our area is the same - lots of decorated houses, lots of sweets, which is lovely. But the last couple of years there are loads of people coming in from different areas, and the whole neighbourhood is clogged with cars and traffic which makes it hard for everyone to walk around!

[ODFOx]

We have lots from the surrounding villages to our area for the same reasons. I love it !
The streets are packed and there's a great atmosphere. We all know that lots 'come in' and I don't think many mind. It all adds to the fun.

[HavelockVetinari]

YABU I think - I always do a huge display, decorating the garden and house with loads of props and about a dozen pumpkins. Kids come by car to trick or treat at my house, it's not for the sweets, it's for the experience! I consider it a compliment.

[Thesearmsofmine]

I don’t take mine trick or treating but if I did I would have to take them elsewhere because where I live nobody celebrates Halloween due to religious reasons.

[ScotsinOz]

And for the posters saying “it’s only a few sweets”, it was just over 1000 in 2017 and my husband is not keen on spending $200.00 on chocolates/lollies (neither am I). In 2015 we gave away about 300 chocolates, in 2016 that more than doubled to just under 800 and then increased to just over 1000 in 2017 and that was only because we ran out in 2 hours and had to put a sign up saying so. We skipped 2018, so I can only only imagine that I’ll need at least 1500 treats for two hours. Now Woolworths has 18 pack Milkyways on sale for $2.30 bag (cheapest option I’ve found so far). This means I’ll need to buy 84 bags to cover 1500 bars which is $193.20. So no, it’s not “only a few sweets”.

[MustardScreams]

@ScotsinOz so spend the amount of money you want to and then stop answering the door.

Life doesn’t have to be so dramatic you’re spending hundreds of dollars on sweets and the getting pissed off about it.

[PumpkinP]

“Just arrange with other mums” not all of us have friends or family we can visit! I don’t have any friends and family don’t live local either, I can’t believe people begrudge giving kids a couple of sweets.

[Celebelly]

Dis you really have 1000 kids coming to the door?! If they are all just taking one lolly, surely there can't be that many! We get loads of kids round here as it's a family estate, but everyone just takes one sweet and last year when we had excess I had to really persuade the kids it was OK to take more than one!

[Daisypod]

Ok so a bit of a split. I suppose reflecting on it a few years ago it was a community event where the parents would be able to chat, kids walking around together etc but last year there were traffic jams on usually quite roads as so many people were driving to the area blocking it up. I didn't feel comfortable not being with my kids at all times and crossing the road was bloody awful. And as people have said above there were literally cars full of kids coming.
I do feel for the families from areas that don't do it but the postings I have seen on social media tend to be from very affluent areas who could easily get together and do the same thing.

[UndertheCedartree]

Perhaps families come from less well off areas where they and their neighbours can't afford all the decorations and sweets. They are just trying to give their children a nice Halloween. Personally I wouldn't begrudge a few extra bags of sweets to make some children happy. I think that would be a really nice thing to do.