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.

If/when we run out of sweets I just put the light out in the pumpkins and put a note on the door to say I've run out. Then ignore the door if people keep knocking.

I'd be buying bags of wrapped boiled sweets, lemon sherbets etc which have 30+ sweets for less than 50p a pack and giving them individually if there were that many people coming! And I'd set my budget (which would probably be about £10, and then when they run out so be it! Nobody is obliged to give out big chocolate bars or hand out endless amounts.

Personally, we decorate the house a little (pumpkin etc) and get some sweets in and happily hand them out to anyone who has made the effort to come knocking. We don't ID them first to check that they're locals! When we run out of sweets, we take the pumpkins back in, and no more people call.

It's probably because it's safe and lots of people join in. I know the kids from less well off areas used to come to my village because there were loads of people out and less aggressive dogs/ grumpy people.

But more sweets

Buy*

Wow. This is such a bitter, nasty way of thinking. NIMBYism, but about kids.

I was going to say just buy more sweets but that sounds insane!

Do others feel the same? Can you propose wristbands for local residents only next year or something?

Wristbands for Halloween! I’ve heard it all now

Anyone who rejects my kid for the lack of a wristband or being local is getting 'tricked' by me, and will regret being such bitches.

We have the same in our area.it got so bad that I can't even take my children to go trick or treating on our road.its too busy,big groups of kids in front of every house,everyone pushing.its not fun for local kids anymore

OK @ScotsinOz experience sounds insane actually, my village only got maybe 100 extra kids. 2000 lollies? Jesus

We don’t have trick or treaters in our area.

I have been out in the neighbouring bigger village (lots of roads with electronic gated houses who keep their gates firmly shut) and there is nothing going on.

It seems to only occur on the estates of houses that were built about 20 years ago or the new builds.

Outside of that there is nothing.
Saying to get together with your own community to organise trick or treating.

If it is anything like my neighbourhood I don’t know my neighbours.

We don’t talk apart from if the postman has dropped a parcel off at a neighbouring house.

FWIW my neighbourhood is far scarier at night than anything you can go out and buy to decorate your house.

Single track unlit unpavemented road that is made darker because the trees on either side of the road have grown so their branches meet and produce a dark tunnel and houses set right back from the road.

I kind of feel the same OP, last year I made up over 60 bags of sweets last year and they were all gone in 20 mins. I know that kids come from neighbouring towns and that's ok, I used to live in an area that did nothing for halloween so I understand bringing your kids somewhere more fun. The amount of sweets I gave out didn't really bother me, it was the fact that 10-12 kids would knock on the door at once and the last group I had to turn away some of them because I had nothing left to give them! It felt like I was a sweetie machine rather than it being a fun halloween and I felt bad towards the kids that I could give nothing to but I gave to their friends.

Think I'll go for around 75 this year...

We used to have this where I used to live ! It's a bit cheeky tbh yeah

Yes over a thousand children - one per child as I drop it into their bucket/bag so that I will have enough to give out (but I didn’t, I ran out in 2 hours). I’m annoyed because I feel the fun side is gone and it’s all about how many sweets you can collect. My children love the dressing up and walking around with friends (with my husband, me or my parents - we take it in turns) and stopping at each other’s houses, the haunted houses, the balloon house, the witches coven and even the dentists house to get toothpaste - it’s a lovely event and experience - and sweets are second to this (as they know my husband will basically scoff the lot). I understand this is why people are coming, but as someone else said above, the roads are jammed with cars and crazy driving with people coming from other areas making it less safe and more stressful. I also feel awful when kids I know are local get there too late (often as parents are working) and I’ve got nothing left. Maybe I just need to accept it and buy way more than I think and just forget how much I’ve spent on Milkyways.

I used to get involved and would put carved pumpkins out and everything, but it got a bit ridiculous. I loved having the younger kids round in their fancy dress but it got so it was older teens (and I mean at the 17/18/19 end of the scale) turning up and just grabbing large handfuls of sweets having made hardly any effort at all to dress up. It was literally just a sweet grab for them. What put me off completely was the year I'd popped out briefly to take my own DDs to trick or treat their grandparents and got home 10 minutes later to find the pumpkins battered and upended on the bonnet of my husbands car. I'd spent ages carving the pumpkins, and when you have a DH that is a bit anal about having even a bit of dirt on his car, I wasn't going to risk that ever happening again, so now I just don't bother. No pumpkins, lights off, don't answer the door. The few ruin it for the deserving many unfortunately.

jingscrivvens No wonder they're coming on mass to your door if you're making up bags. Keep the sweets as individuals, start off small and judge as the night goes on if you've enough left to be more generous. You sound very kind

Our area is a hotspot too, although most people must embrace it and buy extra sweets. It is ridiculous when you get over 200 kids come to your door - one of my neighbours actually counted last year. We are a bit out of the way so it’s not so bad for us but we still get a constant stream from around 5-8 and I just have to sit by the door as I don’t get much of a break.

Or arrange with neighbours who feel the same to stagger your opening hours, so you do 4-5, next does 5-6, next does 7-8, so somebody is there for the later kids? Though if the area already has a reputation for running out early I guess it just compounds the problem of everybody crowding in early

I’m still confused by Halloween full stop as it was never a thing when I was growing up; instead it was dismissed as an American thing. (Ducks for cover)

the houses get very decorated with light shows and fog etc

Really? I’d come and have a drive by gawp at that myself if I was passing. (Not allowed the sweets, sadly, plus I’m 46 .)

Seriously, big OTT productions are going to draw a crowd. You could all go back to pumpkin lanterns and pipe cleaner spiders if you want to keep things more exclusive.

Oh god I was only speaking about this to DH yesterday, we live in the countryside and I have had many a Halloween party here for kids and their pals, but the kids just don't want to come, even my own, they beg to be left go into the village to the local housing estates as they meet all their school friends and get to walk around, they say they hate living in the country side for Halloween, so I have brought them into the local housing estates, but what I do is I bring about 50 quids worth of trick or treat sweets and hand it out as I am going around ,and if we knock on any doors and the owners little kids come out to give the sweets, I always give them a little baggie of sweets each too as a thank you, so for us its not to get as much sweets as possible, we are purely doing it for the sake of the kids wanting to get in on the atmosphere, I have to admit, I am somewhat mortified as I know the parents know I don't live in their estate but I hope that they realise I am only doing it as a last resort and try off set with handing out my own treats to the kids passing etc. It is enjoyable for the kids but I get the whole greed thing, I have seen parents zip around in cars with kids of 14 just wanting to get a massive bag of sweets, oh and when my kids bags are full that's it, they aren't allowed to knock on any more doors.

I was super excited last year because we'd just moved to DH's hometown and finally lived in a house. For the past 15 years, I'd lived in an inner city flat and never had a trick or treater as it was all working professionals.

I picked DD up from PIL's after work (they'd had loads of trick or treaters) and rushed home, got ready... and sat there all night without a single knock at the door. It's mostly pensioners where I live so I guess it's not a trick or treating hotspot. I ended up eating all the sweets myself

This year I'm going to my PILs. So yes, I can see why you're annoyed but I can also see why people travel. Better to do that than have disappointed DC.

There would be enough sweets if children today weren't so greedy. DP and I took his daughter trick or treating a few years ago. DP was handed a pile of carrier bags to put in his pocket. Every time her bucket was full it would be emptied into the bag and off she'd go again. Three hours later there were enough sweets to last a year. I told DP that I thought she should have returned home and been grateful once her first bucket was full, to leave some sweets for the other kids and to protect her teeth. DP said why shouldn't she get all that she can?

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

They do. For the first couple of years when we moved here it was horrendous. Non stop banging on the door, some actually found the doorbell too, there were crowds of them in the road. Just when you thought it was safe there was another bus load arriving. Had never seen it before as there wasn't that kind of greed anywhere else I had lived.

I put the lights off, and hid. They still kept coming.

Mentioned it to the neighbour afterwards and was told they bussed them in.

I put a sign on the door and they still came. Uncontrolled grabby children and the parents too. I was hiding inside again with the windows covered every year.

I thought from time to time how nice it would have been to join in but having seen and heard the havoc I never did. Seemed to have calmed down recently and I think it is organised online now. I am in an area with a fair number of schools which is also considered good pickings for anything.

Provincialbelle Agree. Never even heard of it other than in the historic sense.

I have moved around and you only tend to find it celebrated to some degree on housing estates and we have never lived on a housing estate.

My children have never been trick or treating.