to give cakes instead of sweets?

[CharlotteCollins]

They're homemade, too.

I didn't want to buy in specially, and I don't have sweets in the house. So I made cupcakes and decorated with bone sprinkles or spiderweb-style icing.

The children are going to hate me, aren't they?

We only knock on houses that are obviously participating - decorations, pumpkins, trick or treat signs etc.

I don't think there is any obligation to eat whatever you're given! Accept gracefully and say thank you, but not to eat it.

I'm not talking about the sweets, just home made baked offerings, and that includes toffee apples that are homemade.

Why take the risk when it comes to tampering? They are not going to go short of candy just because you throw out the home made stuff. DD4 got enough to last her until January.

And why put the kibosh on an evening of great fun with their friends just because you are unwilling to go through a bag and throw out some items when they get home? They throw some out themselves (especially the hot cinnamon flavoured ones, and the atomic fireballs are not to everyone's taste).

I would get scolded unmercifully if I showed up at the emergency room with a sick child who had eaten a homemade Halloween treat someone had given hm or her while trick or treating. It is that much of a given in the US that you neither give nor eat things that are homemade.

Just my own personal observation wrt waste, having seen the result of toffee apple fundraiser sales in the DCs' school - the toffee gets eaten and the apples underneath get thrown away most of the time.

Well, next year I'll be telling all the ungrateful little blighters to sod off, and never to darken my doors again. I've suddenly decided, thanks to this thread, that I've got better things to do with my time after all, than make tasty treats for other people's begging brats. Never again

I'm sure no one will mind Evan

Even a a child in Dublin the rule was if the front door light is off then don't knock. Same goes for the modern era..

That's not the point, though Math. This is about people taking their children to knock on participating doors, asking for things, being given things, then refusing to eat them. What is the point in knocking and asking in the first place, if you are just going to throw the things in the bin (because they might not meet your 'exacting' requirements)??? Bloody rude, IMO

Would you prefer people reject your offerings at the door Evan?

You seem very invested in kids you don't know eating your food, especially as you aren't going to be witnessing it.

Actually, Holli we know most of the children (not all, but most) who knock on the door, (as mentioned above) so your last comment comes across as rather weird, if I may say. Are you trying to insinuate something? I sincerely hope not, as I may have to take that further if it is the case!

You do seem to be missing the point, somewhat.

If I was determined to poison children for no apparent reason I would inject wrapped chocolate bars.

I think I'd inject haribo things if I were to try poisoning children. I suspect they hide the injection site better.

Or flumps.

cogito

If you know the children Evans then why are you talking about "other people's begging brats"

Well, naturally, because any child who is not mine is someone else's. Do you speak an entirely different language where you live? Any child who knocks on our door is not mine!?!?!?

Just to be clear - I am quite happy for children to come to our house on Hallowe'en. What has annoyed me is your uppity point of view, that your precious children are only permitted to eat wrapped, supposedly sterile sweets. You have entirely missed the point that Hallowe'en is about community. As others have said, if someone wanted to poison something to be eaten by a child, they are unlikely to choose a homemade cake, as that would be traceable. It is such an utterly bizarre notion.

Do you live in the US, by the way? (sorry, had to ask).

I haven't suggested anything is poisoned.

I can see you are very angry about this, but I'm afraid I really don't feel an obligation to feed my children homemade or unwrapped food if I don't know where it's come from.

"Why take the risk when it comes to tampering"? Because there is no risk. It literally has never happened.

If you don't want your kids eating any homemade or unwrapped offerings, don't accept them. Taking things people have spent time and money on just to throw in the bin, for the warped reasoning you have, is appalling. Unbelievely rude in fact. And wasteful.

To be honest I think it would be ruder to reject someone's offerings on the doorstep!

I'm afraid I really don't feel an obligation to feed my children homemade or unwrapped food if I don't know where it's come from.

Yet you've just allowed your child to knock on that person's door and ask for something
So . . . . . you kind of know where it's come from???

But who knows how skanky their kitchen is...

To be honest I think it would be ruder to reject someone's offerings on the doorstep

To be honest, if you are so very picky, it would be more polite to not knock on anyone's door at all. Make your own witchy fingers and marshmallow ghosts, and stop pestering your neighbours.

No, you think your way they don't know how rude you are, which is not the same thing at all.

But who knows how skanky their kitchen is...

SO DON'T KNOCK ON THEIR FLIPPING DOOR, THEN!!!!!!!!!!!

I give sweets every year and have done since way before having DC. I would never give out anything homemade or unwrapped. I wouldn't expect it to be eaten. I am the daughter of a teacher who always graciously accepted any edible homemade gifts then binned them once they got home.

I won't let kids eat home made, purely because people's view on hygiene when cooking is quite diverse. I don't know anyone who does home made at Halloween though.

Fortunately, none of my neighbours handed out anything homemade

I did weed out a few loose unwrapped sweets though.

I also don't eat edible gifts from children at work

I wonder why so many schools and fetes have cake stalls, if all these homemade treats are so potentially dangerous and have been made in skanky, unhygienic kitchens? None of the kitchens are checked by the Food Hygiene people. I'm surprised we haven't all died from some form of food poisoning.