To think driving to roads where there's good trick or treating is a bit wrong

[sahknowme]

We live in an area that puts a lot of effort into trick or treating (assumingly for the "local" kids). There's recently been a thread on a forum asking for streets/routes that are good to drive to for their kids to trick or treat, and our street has been mentioned.

AIBU to think this is a bit wrong/grabby, and we are doing it for our local area - not for randoms to drive from all over town?!

We live in a rural area, no foothpaths, long driveways and laneways to houses, dark, unsafe to walk about etc, plus only maybe 1 or 2 neighbours with kids - who are always out on Halloween night with friends.
So a couple of years I drove my kids to a couple of relations houses and to specific friends houses, was not much fun and nothing like walking up and down the street knocking on random doors.
Last year we went to local estate thats full of families, knocked on maybe 6 doors that had lights and decorations and kids were delighted with their handful of goodies. I don't see that as grabby and we're doing it again tonight.
However if I lived in that housing estate, I would probably turn off all the lights and hide in the dark as the idea of answering the door 100 times to random kids shouting at me is not my idea of fun! And that's fine by the way, plenty of people leave their lights off and don't decorate and they are left alone.

I'm the one who posted earlier about living in the middle of nowhere with an 8 yr DS who was sad that he'd never been trick or treating. I've never done it either as it wasn't a thing in my day.
Luckily, I bumped into a mum from school earlier today and she invited us to join the crowd in her village. My DS was so excited when I told him we were going out ToT later and meeting up with a couple of his friends from school.
It's half term here this week so no issue with being out late.

For fuck's sake, just be nice

Oh the irony of the above. Maybe you could start seeing it from the perspective of others and being nice yourself?

Itsmeagain what sensible balance in your post that pretty much sums it up really. Yes it's fun for the kids, its mean not to take part but it also drives me spare. Anyway the hammering has started..... And no I haven't lit my pumpkins yet fwiw so I'll be off. In 2 hours it will all be over for another year

we livein a smallish village population 500ish.People tend to live here because they want to live in a community, so go all out at Halloween and have lots of fun - even ghost tours in their houses and gardens.It bugs me that the chavs from the nearest towm come flooding in.It's rude like gatecrashing

Just come back to the thread after a day at work definitely not pumpkin carving Am so happy to hear guising still exists!

I have been confused since about 2001 by the whole English people calling turnips swedes and vice versa thing, on a separate note...

The smell of drilled/carved turnips is lovely!

perma I take it you are just deliberately being a GF. If not, that's horribly put.

You emphatically cannot gatecrash a village.

I've just had my first batch . Gave them loads of sweets. One was my NDN. The other three may well be her friends from -chavvy-- Luton. I care not. They were polite and said thank you.

chavvy was meant to be scored out. Oopsy.

We live in a slow area but we do our own neighbourhood. Our neighbours make up special bags of candy for my kids. It is special this way. There are obviously tons of reasons kids might not be able to do their own neighbourhood. Don't let the few greedy ones wreck it for everybody!! Keep back candy for the local kids you don't want to miss if you are worried you will run out.

Waiting for this thread to appear in the Daily Fail....

Well we’re off to trick or treating now, not our immediate area as no one does it round here. But 5 mins walk to the area where everyone joins in and it’s fun.

I wonder, do we count as ‘grabby chavs’ gatecrashing for ‘the rich pickings’, or do we slip through the net as DS goes to the same school as the kids in the mansions?

Humm :(

We always drive to ToT as no one does it here.
We're not able to go this year so I've made a ridiculous amount of effort to draw people to the house - so many lights and decorations you can see it from space - and we've still only had one knock at the door. The kids are devastated and I feel terrible.
We've got 4 bags of sweets left and everyone is disappointed and cross.
Next year we will go back to being the chavs who blow in to exploit the free sweets.

We've run out of sweets already :( have brought the pumpkin in, turned off the lights.
Five bags of 20 lollies and packets of sweets, only took one each, so we've had 100 kids already.
Feel bad, but not sure what else to do?

We live in a ‘naice’ village and have noticed A LOT of cars coming in from the city, I’m mainly annoyed that they are using up the stash on Maoams I was hoping to munch on myself tonight the more the merrier I say

Haven't had anyone here. Am breaking open the sweets!

Also at the classism on this thread. Sorry that ‘chav’ children are ruining your idyllic middle class loveliness. I hear chaviness is contagious 😱

I have had 8 different groups in half an hour so far, lots of large groups 7 or more, I would say the majority do not live on our estate. I spent £8 on sweets and will run out soon.

Well. I hope you and yours have a great time. I don't know any of the children who've come to our house, as we recently moved here and our kids are too old to go guising. Who knows, maybe your kids were at our house? It's been lovely for us old farts to join in.

When I was a kid Trick or Treating really wasn’t the norm, as it is now. Not where I lived anyway. But there was an estate in town where lots of American families lived and it was so fantastic at Halloween because the entire estate made a huge effort with the houses all decorated, and so many kids running around Trick or Treating. So we would dress up and go there on Halloween as there really wasn’t anywhere else like it in our town.

I still remember how much fun it was and I really don’t think the people on the estate minded us coming to visit for one night a year.

We didn’t do it to be grabby; we did it because it was so much fun.

I’m actually pissed off now. Just had 3 big teenagers at the door not dressed up and a desultory trick or treat they could hardly even say.

Bah humbug

Surely if you only go to houses that are decorated then you know it’s a guaranteed treat isn’t it? Where’s the fun in that?
No one comes to our house any more because I don’t have time to decorate and have to make do with a candle in the window so now I’m left with a load of sweets I’ll have to eat myself. Also some officious mum on our estate has organised a list of houses that will accept ToT so a big group just goes to those. BORING.

At what point is it still okay? 100 kids? 200? 500? 50000?

Given it was mentioned on a forum with 2000 members, it could have gone out to 5000 kids and their mates. Nothing about class either - it's mostly going to be middle class parents on that forum. In fact the first cars I saw driving up were mercs and Audis.

We live in a very quiet cul-de-sac. Every house but ours is occupied by elderly people who don't encourage trick or treaters. The area I'm from isn't deprived or 'wrong side of the tracks' in any way at all - it's just quiet. I drove DD somewhere livelier to go guising so the poor souls wasn't traipsing about with an empty bucket in the dark. Don't see an issue with it to be honest and I would have been really upset if she had been turned away because she wasn't local. Halloween is for everyone and if you choose to take part and answer the door to guisers you shouldn't discriminate based on postcode!

Wow. We used to live on a prime trick or treat road now we’re in a much quieter area - we’ve broadened our patch!! I’ve never heard the likes of necklace cards etc. Very odd. It’s a few flipping sweets

We’ve run out of sweets already had bags and bags.

So many kids this year more than double, just like every says when they are gone they are gone.

*sacry8 - me too!

I have loads of sweets left. She says through a mouthful of fruitella.