To think shots for parents while kids trick or treat is bad?

I think this is a bit of a cultural thing too… Halloween is celebrated equally but differently in the US at different stages of life.

kids- Trick or Treating
Teens- haunted houses/attractions/school dances
Young Adults- bars and costumes
Middle Age- Trick or treating (with cocktails) or Halloween parties

So it’s not just a kids holiday.

I’m not sure i’d trust a shot from a random person.

I don't really see anything wrong with it, I'm picturing themed mini cocktails rather than neat shots of vodka though

Can you please send me the map? 😉

The thing is I think if you can't turn down a drink while walking your children on halloween then when can you turn down a drink? Some people struggle with overeating so all the sweets given out is a huge trigger. Maybe we should bin the whole tradition..

Plenty of times to have a few drinks without lots of young kids in tow in the dark and high on sugar 🤷‍♀️ still think it’s a bad idea.

I think the trick is to not get plastered. Lot’s of parents having a cocktail/beer/shot in my neighborhood this weekend during TorT and no random children found on the doorstep in the morning. There was a FB post that someone left a folding chair at the after party though… and a stuffed bear was found in a candy bucket.

All the neighborhood kids managed to make it home with their parents.

I don’t drink so perhaps I’m seeing it a certain way but here goes - I think it’s an odd and slightly stupid thing to do.

Been on various trick or treats with group of kids when they were younger and invariably one might dawdle behind the group or spend a while leaving a certain house. We were always at a safe distance to see all of this. Had me or any of my other parent friends been plastered after several shots along the way we may have missed this and lost a child along the way or not been quick to react had something gone wrong.
Bad and unnecessary idea. Yanbu.

Now I'm imagining people refusing to drink in pubs because they don't know the barman

There are a lot of stupid people out, both on foot and in cars. In my PILs village last year there were a lot of near misses. I saw 3 in the 20 odd minutes I was out walking from MILs friends houses.
It surely isn't that irregular for excited kids to be darting about, parents not always hot on their heels and people in a rush, in the dark in halloween.
And in reply to your comment about needing to be a pretty shit driver to do damage on Halloween, a lot of people don't seem to give a flying fuck about anyone else or anything getting in their way. I'm judgemental of them too, but that's half of why I don't think alcohol on Halloween night whilst out with kids is a good idea.

I came across this a couple of years ago where I live (also the US). Honestly I took the 'shot' lol. It was a sealed mini plastic bottle of fireball whiskey so no need to worry about what was in it. I wasn't drunk and stumbling around afterwards and everything was fine. Some parents were walking around with a beer or wine in a tumbler. Halloween is a big deal here and a big party night. Once they aren't obnoxiously drunk who cares?

You'd have to be a pretty shit driver to be driving fast enough to cause harm in a halloween neighbourhood

Last year one of our neighbours had bottles of beer for the parents walking round with the kids. We all thought it was a great idea!

Oh and a lot of festive shots are pre mixed with something else and are sippable vs throwing back a Jack Daniels or Tequila.

And what is Halloween if not the classiest of holidays?

My neighborhood does it. There is also a kids party after TorT hours and an adult party. My neighborhood had TorT on Saturday night. And a lot of people sat in the driveway with a fire pit… candy for the kids and drinks for the adults. It’s a great time! If parents get cold they warm themselves by the fire pit and catch up with their kids a few houses down. Shots are easy and relatively inexpensive to hand out in bulk vs a glass of wine or a spiked warm drink.

Traffic isn’t a big issue… I think I saw 2 cars driving through the neighborhood during the evening.

The taking mystery liquids made me laugh… I know it’s a very un-MN concept but I live in a very friendly neighborhood. During the summer we have “TGIF’ where people can sign up to ‘host’ the neighborhood for a couple of hours. Everyone stops by, brings a beer or a soft drink, brings a snack to share, a chair, and hangs out in the driveway to chat for a couple of hours. I guess I generally trust my neighbors not to poison me 🤣

And you I am afraid, sound like a snob.

Some places it is summer during Halloween, and mulled wine would most certainly not be on offer.

And not all shots are pure tequila or hard tack.

Sounds very tacky!

I mean, at this time of year it's traditional to enjoy say, cider with a sausage roll or hot-dog, or maybe mulled wine...I can get on board with those.

But shots...in my experience it's only people who want to get drunk who drink those - they're not very enjoyable in themselves.

Sounds great fun

In the neighborhood where I live in the US trick-or-treating is like a block party. We don't hand out shots but people do have things like hard cider for the parents. And there's also food. A close friend of mine has something similar in her neighborhood and they actually club together and hire a taco truck.

I wouldn't have an issue with mulled wine at a Christmas event.

What's the difference?

It sounds fun

We do it all the time. Nothing odd about it.

But I do not live in the UK, so that might be why.

I should say we do it in the neighbourhood, so everyone sort of knows everyone.

Not everyone takes or supplies alcohol, and there is never any pressure to do so. We call it the adults treats. I don't drink much at all, but will have one or two on the night.

I do not see the harm or the outcry really.

We go on to have a street do after the kids walk about, so it is just more of a social thing tbh. It is probably the one time a chuck of neighbours really have the chance to get together.

It depends on where u live surely

I don’t know - I think in the US it’s a much bigger thing than here so it’s seen as like a party and a big event. I‘m sure parents are perfectly capable of either saying no or having a couple and being perfectly fine to supervise children.

Most people only trick or treat for an hour or so.