To think that trick or treating should be confined to your own street or friends/family

[Moonnstars]

Showing my age here, but I remember when I was younger firstly trick or treating wasn't really a thing, but even when it started to become popular it was only your friends and family you called in on. I remember visiting my grandparents and their neighbours (who had been prepared so had sweets in) and then doing the same with my friends family.
Now it seems that people are asking where is the best street to visit, and I even saw today on social media someone saying they are on holiday in the area and where is best to go, happy to drive around to find the best places!

I have my own children who will be out, but we stick to our own street. I also have sweets in to give out, but am I being unreasonable in thinking I shouldn't have to have enough in to supply people coming over from different places and that it should just be people you know or at least living in the same street you hand stuff out to.

Also I do acknowledge some people go all out and advertise their address and want people to visit - however these are often for charity and as for a donation.

YABU - stop being so tight and buy more sweets

YANBU - it is getting out of hand, people should only go to people they know/stay local

We once lived rurally where there were fields all about. Drove to the nearest estate and the first house we got to said ‘I don’t think I know you’ to my eldest. My son just looked at me. I said ‘your decorations are great’ and she humphed at me. My kids actually didn’t want to keep going but we did and had a great night. Less rural now snd there’s only four of us that even open doors. I find it awful- it’s a kids’ night, let them knock!!!

Where my brother lives, kids have been knocking on his door for the last week. They have huge gangs walking round knocking on everyone’s doors, some even asking for money. Tonight parents will be dropping off their kids by car. It’s not a deprived area, it’s people’s entitlement.

No I completely get it. I love doing stuff for Halloween (not in a position to tonight but next year...!) and it does feel quite ?exploitative? or like people are taking advantage of it when you and your neighbours all make an effort.

Its not noticeable when it's a few friends of friends or family members invited from the next town over, but when people start making trips specifically it can get out of hand very quickly, and it's a shame because, like your street, people quickly get fed up of being taken advantage of and their own children missing out, so they stop.

See I don't mind giving to teenagers if they are polite about it. Also even though they might be a teenager, they might have learning difficulties/be younger than what they appear (sorry brain isn't wording this well). I know a family on my street where the eldest is a teen, but is non verbal and is developmentally delayed. They might come across as a rude teen, but knowing the family (and why it is handy going to neighbours) I wouldn't be expecting this teen to say thank you and know their parents will be close by and likely to say thanks instead.

We are off to walk 15 minutes to the nice big rich houses. They do nice decorations and really good for it. Why shouldn't we?

I just buy some sweets, give them out on a first come first served basis and when they are gone that is it! Enjoy seeing the costumes

I’m generally opposed to it. We spend all year teaching our children not to take sweets off strangers yet for Halloween night it’s okay? The children have always trick or treated because their dad agreed with it but I don’t.

Why not? What difference does it make? It's going to be 2 extra kids getting sweets and if you hadn't seen those posts, you'd jsut assume they were local kids.

The general rule is you only go to houses with Halloween decorations. If the curtains are closed and lights are low/off, you don't bother them. So if you're the sort of household that's happy for kids to come and trick or treat, then why would you have a stick up your arse about where they came from?

What difference does it make if the children are from 'your' street or not?

people are so weird and strange about perfectly normal holiday celebrations.

but then again this is MN and most people have a panic attack if their phone rings.

Yep, first come, first served basis here too! I don't mind doing it although I don't go all out for decorations apart from a pumpkin so kids know we are doing trick or treaters. I just turn the porch light off and bring the pumpkin in once they are all gone. Don't give out any full size chocolate bars either, just little Haribo packs. I don't have much money tbh but a couple of packs of Harbios have only set me back about £4 this year so I don't mind. I live in quite a deprived area and quite enjoy seeing children doing anything other than hanging around in gangs and getting into trouble!

Edit because I didn't reply to the actual question. I don't mind where they come from but my street has around 150 houses so I probably wouldn't know if they are from my street or not anyway!

@Chesticles · Today 12:57

I think the point is, if you buy in say a bag of 20 fun size haribo bags or something, to give to your neighbors kids, who you talk to through the fence etc. And by 6.30 all the sweets are gone to other kids that have come round what do you do? Stop answering the door? which means the neighbors kids are disappointed? Keep some back for the neighbors?

Well, 20 fun size bags of haribos isn't going to go far anywhere is it? It will only stretch to 20 children! I buy 2 tubs of Halloween sweets/goodies from Aldi, and Morrisons, (£4 to £5 each,) and a couple of packs too as a top-up. It does me for about 100 children. Only costs about £13 in total, and I always have some left... Not worth joining in if you're only covering 20 children!

And it's fairly common knowledge that trick or treaters don't knock on a door unless it has a lit pumpkin in the window. So if you're joining in and you DO run out, just blow out the candle in the pumpkin!

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I buy as many sweets as I'm happy to give out. If our next door neighbour's kids haven't come when we're down to our last couple of treats I pull in the pumpkin and take the sweets around a little later when they get home.

I have three tiers of sweets - haribo, cadbury's and home made cupcakes and gingerbread bats. Haribo get given out first because I don't like them, Cadbury's next in the hopes there's some left over for me to pinch, and the homemade stuff is for the kids we know well who are used to a personalised treat each year.

On an individual basis it makes no difference.

The problem is when your street gets known as "good" one to go to which creates an inordinate number of visitors, meaning roads get clogged, sweets run out in about 20 mins, and those who have put the effort in to making the street "good" are the ones whose families miss out.

There's a balance. If it's just a handful more, it's not a problem. With social media however it's rarely just a handful.

Unfortantly some children knock on all doors. Including old people's

I agree, we buy sweets for neighbours (in the widest meanings) and friends.

Parents who drive around to go to the "best places" are just entitled CF ruining it for everybody else, but nothing we can do!

It's so pathetic really, it's only a few sweets, how can anyone be so grabby, but they do anything when it's "free". 😂

I’ve only ever taken my kids out in the neighbourhoods we’ve lived in. I don’t like people asking where is the best street/neighbourhood to trick or treat, mainly because there’s always loads of kids out, crisscrossing the streets excitedly, it’s dark and adding more people and potentially loads more cars (only on street parking available round here) and it honestly seems like an accident waiting to happen.

We live on a very quiet street with few houses, mostly elderly people who don't do pumpkins or have sweets in. There are other streets in our town where a lot of people go all out with decorations and sweets. It gets busy but it's a fun place to go because there's a real buzz seeing other people's costumes as well as the house decorations etc. Just because my kids live in a,quiet street why should they miss out on the fun? Even if I went crazy decorating our own house there would still be no atmosphere on our street because it would be the only one so we go where it's fun.

its not that deep.

also I don’t teach my children not to take sweets off strangers all year round?

if a child is in trouble how would they ask for help if they’re so terrified of strangers? Makes no sense to me.

obviously you tell your kids not to go off with strangers and also check with family blablabla. I don’t think trick or treating one night of the year takes away from that.

Pumpkin out, knock. Lights off and no response to first knock, go away. It used to be older teenagers round here, fortunately they’ve stopped the last few years.

When my DCs were little, we used to take them trick or treating around the block - ie very local - and only knocked where we saw a pumpkin. However, not all children have such a privilege and have to go a little further afield to enjoy the same game. I do a pumpkin and get some Quality Street in for the kids now that mine are older. You cannot police who comes to your door so whoever knocks gets first dibs.

I think I have a different view because I work in a school and some of the 14/15 year olds, who tell me they are going trick or treating can be intimidating.

I am in London and “good streets to go trick or treating” is definitely a thing. It’s not a problem but it does get a bit much. When my dd was younger she loved having kids coming to the door for sweets and we used to make quite a bit of effort with decorations.

We stopped now - not just because dd is older but because we would get huge groups of kids and parents banging on the door and pushing etc and it no longer felt like fun!

We usually get very few kids - or even none!🙁 now. But I always put a medium sized pumpkin in the window, lit up, and have sweets ready. Whatever happens, though, the pumpkin will be made into a Thai style soup tomorrow- onion, garlic, chilli, ginger and coconut milk - delish!

Trick or treating in the Gdcs’ area is Big with a capital B though - they absolutely love it, and the outside of the house is awash with bloody great spiders, etc.

I demand photo id with proof of age and address before they get a sweet at my house!

I’m 57 and it wasn’t a thing when I was young. We had heard of it but it was only in America and too dangerous as people put razor blades in the sweets! It seemed to take off here in the 1980’s