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.

It's guising in Scotland and certainly isn't American!

1000 kids in two hours would mean a constant stream of more than 8 kids per minute It seems unlikely tbh, but if you say so!

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.

It's Scottish, not American.

In Britain and Ireland, the tradition of going house to house collecting food at Halloween goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as had the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween. In 19th century Britain and Ireland there are many accounts of people going house to house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed.[1] The Scottish Halloween custom of "guising" – children disguised in costume going from house to house for food or money;[2] – is first recorded in North America in 1911 in Ontario, Canada.[3] In North America, trick-or-treating has been a Halloween tradition since the 1920s. While going house to house in costume has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the custom of saying "trick or treat" has only recently become common

Here, it's expected that everyone does a turn or has a piece - a song, joke, dance - before getting their sweeties!

So unless you grew up in the 1500s...

I have this dilema for the last couple of years. Our estate has lots of decorations and many houses participating, which is lovely for community and fun for the kids. In 2015 I gave away around 50 pre prepared good bags. Since then it has steadily grown with more and more people from other areas of the town coming to our estate as 'its the place to go you get loads of sweeties' its even started last year on facebook people asking and saying to to xxxx its got loads of stuff. Which in some ways is nice but last year I gave away 120 bags and ran out at 7pm. Which meant when my neighbours kids came I had nothing left to give them. I love Halloween and love giving to kids, but I'm beginning to feel ripped off and a bit of a mug.
Not sure what I'll do this year. I can hardly ask for their address before opening the door. I could shut up alltogether and not do it, but that's a shame for the neighbours kids who have given to my kids for years. First world problem I know

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

Agreed.
Perhaps, OP, some areas cannot afford to put on huge Halloween displays ? Besides, something like that WILL attract the young from other areas, what did you expect ?

@Celebelly I am not kidding you - I know because we had 1010 sweets/chocolates/bags of crisps and put a sign up from 5pm to 7:30pm (not thinking we would run out) and I was finished just on 7pm. It was ridiculous, which is why I am so clearly annoyed with the whole thing. I wasn’t standing handing to the odd child here and there, it was a constant stream of large groups, and would say “line up”, that’s how crazy it was and why we didn’t decorate/hand out in 2018.

I am working with our local council for next year's Halloween. We're in a historical town (Australia) and it's getting hit more each year. So I'm getting a community grant to organise a trick or treat trail...basically the local shops will be provided with sweets to give away for a certain time period...say two hours...then after that, there will be a costume parade and prizes given and that's that.

Might add some activities if there's budget for it....some spooky stories or something.

It keeps it simple and stops the householders from being bothered too much. I'm aware older kids might still head out for door knocking and that's fine but the younger contingent will be taken home after the costume parade and stories I assume.

Can someone link me the official Halloween boundaries map? I'd hate to stray out of our designated area.

Where do you live?? We got no one last year and don't expect to get anyone this year again.

If you run out, then you run out. Just turn the light off and don't answer.

I give out a mix of sweets and glo bracelets (£1/20) and it’s usually the bracelets that go 1st, cheaper way to do it and it means they can be seen in the dark

We have relatives in Celebration in Orlando, and they would feel your pain as they have coaches coming to T&T in the town - madness!

I am in the UK and on the grinch side - have no issue with giving sweets out to local kids, but am not going to put a bloody pumpkin out to invite all passers to interrupt us and set the dogs off every 10 minutes, so normally end up with no T&Ters at all (and just give the bags of sweets to the neighbours' kids/family afterwards).

I've never seen any trick or treaters around where I live. I do not see the joy in celebrating Halloween though I get it can be fun for children - but so can lots of other things. Mine never did it but - nobody did, much. It seems horrible to me.

ScotsinOz it's not mandatory to give out sweets, though? So you don't need to spend anything if you don't want to.
It sounds like you may be in the USA, though, which is definitely more OTT about Halloween than the UK is.

I can understand why they do it tbh. Many areas are filled with the Halloween equivalent of the Grinch. Most people don’t answer the door and switch off the lights so there’s not much point in trick or treating.

Your area sounds wonderful and spirited, I can understand why parents would want to go there.

Trick or treating may have its origins in the 16th Century, but it's time it was laid to rest along with other amusing 16th Century pastimes such as burning witches.

I have never heard of areas in the UK going massively all out for Halloween. Are you Jonathan Ross? If so YABU, you can afford it.

I live in an area that doesn't do Halloween, I've tried to get other families involved to make our own little local route for the kids but they aren't having it. I'm luckily enough to have been invited to a neighbourhood 10 minutes stroll away where a lot of my kids' friends live though. So I guess I'm one of those who takes my kids to another neighbourhood.

That said, I'm well aware that I'm not 'giving' like the other parents are in that neighbourhood so I do as a PP do and take a bag of sweets along with me to hand out to the other trick or treaters in the street. Then I feel more like I'm contributing to the area :) it's nice, nobody seems to mind.

YANBU

I understand why , when possible, some estates close the gates to stop CF driving and intruding.

We put things for the local area, the local children, not some CF too cheap to bother and buy their own sweets. If it was just children, walking a few streets to get better pick, by all means, they are welcome.
I do object to the grabby parents who plan a trip by car with stops at the "best" houses.

Not much you can do, but people have no shame. They get a bag a free sweet and they think they've got the better of everyone. how sad do you have to be.

Reminds me of

slate.com/human-interest/2014/10/dear-prudence-on-halloween-poor-kids-come-to-trick-or-treat-in-my-neighborhood.html

Not saying you’re super wealthy like the letter writer OP, I just hadn’t realised this was a widespread thing!

@OnTopOfTheWardrobe definitely in Australia - and it’s only in the last five years or so that Halloween has got really big in our area. When we first moved to Australia over 10 years ago it was not like this (or maybe I didn’t realise as we didn’t have children).

I have never heard of areas in the UK going massively all out for Halloween. Are you Jonathan Ross? If so YABU, you can afford it.

what a childish comment

yabu. Put a pumpkin out, get trick or treaters, or don't. Get on with it.

*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.

It's Scottish, not American*

Scottish is guising

American is trick or treating

Maybe the same but we don’t call it guising hence more the American connection.

Halloween I always thought had its beginnings in witchcraft and when the dead are supposed to walk the Earth.