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[Random Painted HIghway]

We carpet bag over to a friends community as we live in midtown houston with relatively few children and houses to hit. I have no problems with kids getting any candy, but I do think it would annoy me to just see a van drive up, kids get out, get candy, get back in and move on. They need to be walking around a bit rather than using cars to maximize their haul.

Halloween is a time where kids aren't a race or ses, they are all in costumes, so why be so uptight about it.

 

[stormplyr]

People drive up to my neighborhood to trick or treat also, but I don't think it bothers anyone.

 

[Ingueferroque]

I grew up in a rich area, and there were always kids who clearly weren't from around there trick or treating en masse, so this kind of thing has been happening for a long time. I don't live in a rich area now by any means, but I still get kids being brought in who don't seem to be from around my part of town. IE - I live in a predominantly white area. I don't mind giving candy though. Whatever their parents reasoning for coming here - be it better or more candy or just a safer area - I'll give them candy. We usually give away king sized bars too..

Uhhhhhhhh

Aren't you generous!

 

[B!TCH]

B!TCH i think you need to take it easy. Not everyone is fond with giving shit to other people, and especially towards totally unknown people who hoard like locust just because they think they'll get better candy.

really its not about the candy. This happened in my neighborhood growing up literally cars and truck loads of kids piling out. its like really?

Yeah here's the thing though, you don't have to give out candy. At all. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to.

 

[Makonero]

Yeah here's the thing though, you don't have to give out candy. At all. You don't have to do anything if you don't want to.

Yep. You could always, I dunno, leave? Go somewhere else for Halloween? Lots of options. No one is literally making you buy candy and give it to kids at gunpoint.

 

[zomaha]

my buddies and i would do this back in the day when we were kids, but there wasn't that many of us. These days it's almost like a tourist attraction with cars of kids being dropped off

 

[mreddie]

Hell, I think everyone who used to trick or treat in our neighborhood obviously moved to do it in these neighborhoods. I live near a college and no one told me kids rarely trick or treat here so I guess I'll just watch movies this year.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Oh man I loved trick or treating with my more privileged friends because they lived in the nicer neighborhoods. The only disadvantage to trick or treating in those neighborhoods was the fact that the houses were farther apart ( because they were larger and had longer walkways to their front door). But it was worth it for the occasional full size bar.

Town home neighborhoods may be only middle-class, but you can hit up 2-3 times as many houses as you can in the rich neighborhoods. 3 fun size bars = a full size so its all relative.

 

[theignoramus]

Hahaha, that first letter is filled with racial undertones. Dont fucking participate in Halloween if you dont want to give candy to kids in costume.
Give the local kids candy the night before or something.

 

[ElectricKaibutsu]

She doesn't care about the candy or the price. Shes all "How dare these plebs cross the bay, jump the hedges and gates and enter our kingdom!" "We cannot stand for this!"

Yeah, I don't like that. I'd give candy to every kid in a costume until I ran out of candy. I don't know about teenage parents with their babies though... if that's a real thing that happens.

I don't mind kids from other neighborhoods as much as I mind kids that are 15 years old and still trick or treating.

 

[Archer]

The 1% can hire some private security and keep the riff raff out. Or, turn off their lights and not be active.

 

[BeatResetsTheWorld]

That's my experience. A lot of people from apartments do it. Mainly I think because apartment dwellers are single, hate kids and don't give out candy.
Sometimes you'll see a minivan pull up with what seems like 70-80 kids. That's when you panic, because there's no way you prepared for that many kids. My solution for a while was to reach into my empty bowl, pretend to put something in the bag, while grabbing a few candies from the kid's bag. You can get through the night doing that. It's not the greatest feeling, but it works.

That's some diabolical ass shit right there. It's brilliant, but wow

 

[speculawyer]

"Kids from poorer neighborhoods keep coming to trick-or-treat in mine. Do I have to give them candy"

What an asshole!

They should be joyful at the chance to make those kids' day.

 

[terrisus]

Aside from the money concerns, a legitimate reason behind this is wanting to give candy to kids that you actually know and see regularly, as opposed to kids that you see just once a year.

I mean, obviously there are all sorts of issues behind why one regularly sees certain people and doesn't see others, but, you know, it is something.


*Yes, obviously you're not expected to know everyone who comes to your door/whose door you go to. But, if you have people being driven in from completely separate areas, obviously you aren't going to know them/they aren't going to know you at all.

 

[Catdaddy]

We live adjacent to a wealthy subdivision. During Halloween there are a ton of cars that drop kids off at that subdivision, and while our subdivision is nice as well but the homes are probably half the value, we get the overflow. Our first year there, we were out of candy probably about an hour in because there weren’t that many kids in the neighborhood and every year seems like more and more kids and always ran out which is good I guess.

We ended up stopping trick or treating once my daughter outgrew it and now either go over to friends or out the movies, just so the lights are out in the house and we don’t become a target for egging or any of that crap.

 

[joeyjoejoeshabadoo]

Get it all the time where I live. We are generally cool with it, but when we run out we run out. I'm not going back out to get more candy because a ton of kids come in.

I'm off mixed opinion on this idea. The woman in the OP goes fucking off the rails, and that annoys me. That being said I'd like to do tricker or treat for my community. If you have to come so far as the next county over like 45 mins away then I'm kinda like ehhhh.

I also hate it when they haul in like 50 kids together. It's one thing if it's a couple of kids being brought over by their parents, but it sucks when some dude has a trailer bed full of like 50 kids that all go up to a house at once. Feels like they are abusing my good will of not giving a shit and always giving out candy every year to kids.

It also makes it more a hassle because you get a ton more motor traffic on the roads to watch out for vs just kids and their parents walking around the neighboor they are from. So you have a lot more to have to watch out for with so much motor traffic safety wise.

PS: GAF probably gonna hate me, but whatevs.

Nah, I'm with you. I used to live in Westchester that bordered Inglewood and Culver City, in Los Angeles. We would get tons of people from those areas. Traffic would be a nightmare and they would not only take up street parking but also blocked people's driveways. That many cars and pedestrians is just dangerous. They also left a mess. Candy wrappers, drink cups, and other garbage would be everywhere.

As far as trick or treating, it might have just been Disneyland at that point. Instead of knocking on the door or ringing the bell people would just line up on my walk and I just stood on the porch handing out candy that way.

It kind of bothered me. It's not the handing out candy that bothered me it was the feeling like I was being taken advantage of. I'm not a rich person, by any means, and the neighborhood I lived in wasn't a rich neighborhood especially when compared to some of the actual rich neighborhoods in LA. Even the surrounding areas are not that less well off than mine, so why were we targeted? I would buy more and more candy every year but it just wasn't enough. I'd would much rather just have the neighborhood kids trick or treating.

 

[J-Rod]

Kids from shitty neighborhoods going to the richer ones was always a thing when I was growing up. These days though where I live nobody even trick or treats anymore out of paranoia. Helicopter parents put together an event in the park, school, ymca, church, or some other venue and have a fake trick or treat night. Kids go around the track or whatever to each booth for candy then go home. I haven't had a single trick or treater come to my house in 5 years.

 

[Fritz]

Europe in a nutshell.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Kids from shitty neighborhoods going to the richer ones was always a thing when I was growing up. These days though where I live nobody even trick or treats anymore out of paranoia. Helicopter parents put together an event in the park, school, ymca, church, or some other venue and have a fake trick or treat night. Kids go around the track or whatever to each booth for candy then go home. I haven't had a single trick or treater come to my house in 5 years.

Sounds depressing.

In elementary school, my friends and I would make a round in our apt complex, then cross the street to hit another apt complex, and further down the road, work the homes.

Man, good times.

 

[Cagey]

Kids from shitty neighborhoods going to the richer ones was always a thing when I was growing up. These days though where I live nobody even trick or treats anymore out of paranoia. Helicopter parents put together an event in the park, school, ymca, church, or some other venue and have a fake trick or treat night. Kids go around the track or whatever to each booth for candy then go home. I haven't had a single trick or treater come to my house in 5 years.

Need to protect the kids from all those poisoned candies and razor blades shoved into apples that never happen.

 

[SillyEskimo]

That article describes my neighborhood and to a "T". We just give everyone candy. We do have special treat bags prepared for neighborhood kids that we know.

Edit: We have hundreds of tricker treaters. We spend hundreds of dollars on candy every year.

 

[joe2187]

My old neighborhood was bumping, used to have two pillow cases filled with candy every halloween and our neighborhood was just a bunch of working class blacks/latinos. Everybody lived in craftsmen homes so they would do their best to make haunted houses out of some of them, and on one occasion had an entire street closed off for a block party everybody gave candy like it was flowing water. It was the best.

Then the white people started moving in, and they rarely gave candy. As the years passed and more people moved out, more asians and whites dominating the area our house and two others were the only on the block making an effort to give out candy to the kids. It was sad, I would walk down the street in my old neighborhood and would barely see ten kids in costumes on halloween.

 

[flyinpiranha]

We live in a decent neighborhood but we take the kid closer to his school (which isn't in our neighborhood) so he can be with his friends (he's 9).

I get where the lady is coming from but she presents herself pretty shitty and the basic 1% mindset peaks through.

It's OK as long as it isn't abused, people showing their kids a better time is fine. It's when it becomes a "get as much shit as you can as fast as you can from these fuckers" type of situation that is uncalled for, that's just abusing the system. Same people are the ones fighting others over a $25 MP3 player on Black Friday while stepping on the same kid you took with you trick or treating a month earlier. Some people just suck.

 

[IAmRandom31]

I charge an extra king size Twix tax anytime I go into a rich neighborhood to trick or treat

 

[pdog128]

For those of you that refuse candy (to teenagers, adults, out-of-neighborhood kids, whatever), which exactly is the protocol for that? Do you answer the door but politely tell them "no?" Or do you refuse to answer the door at all?

I'd be afraid that if I refused a gang of teenagers candy, they'd egg my house or something.

Spoiler

Which I guess is kinda the point of trick-or-treating in the first place?

 

[Nabbis]

Europe in a nutshell.

Yeah, except there's no trick or treat in Finland.

Well, there's something similar on Easter but that's confined to small rural areas.

 

[Lulubop]

I grew up in the PJs, and we used to go to Stuyvesant town some years to do our trick or treating. Pretty good hauls. I feel like no one really does the door to door trick or treating any more.

 

[ThatCrazyGuy]

I always thought this was an apartment dwellers going to neighborhoods with actual homes thing.

I've lived in apartment for the most part, and there is nobody giving out candy. It's all single people mostly, or the apartment is locked down and you need to be buzzed in or whatever.

We would just go to the nearest neighborhood with homes. Most people were into it.

When I actually get a house, I am going to be into it and give out tons of candy. Make kids happy man!

 

[OrangeYouGlad]

I'll never understand people like that. I can't wait to finally buy a house because you get nobody when you live in an apartment. It makes me sad that I'll be at a work conference for Halloween this year and I love seeing how happy kids get when you let them take what they want.

 

[Jarnet87]

Need to protect the kids from all those poisoned candies and razor blades shoved into apples that never happen.

There was a story on one of the morning news shows that was talking about people making candy look a likes with marijuana, and to be wary of people handing it out. Who the hell is gonna hand out marijuana candy to kids.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

These kids come from neighborhoods that aren't particularly safe to trick-or-treat in. My girlfriend and I live in a wealthier part of our town and I think it's delightful when these kids from less affluent neighborhoods come up to our portch and get really excited when we hand them full-size candy bars and sodas.

It's a fucking holiday. Take in some happiness from the excitement other people, you joyless fuck.

 

[FairyD]

If I could I would buy a candy store and give out free candy every Halloween.

Shit I would buy a dump truck and fill it candy riding around in neighbourhoods just throwing candy out by the handful

 

[Fritz]

Yeah, except there's no trick or treat in Finland.

Well, there's something similar on Easter but that's confined to small rural areas.

That is not exactly what I ment.

 

[Deified Data]

If you don't want to pass out candy, turn your front light off and don't answer the door. Problem solved. Halloween isn't compulsory. I'm not sure why they're so picky about who they pass candy to.

 

[RoadDogg]

These kids come from neighborhoods that aren't particularly safe to trick-or-treat in. My girlfriend and I live in a wealthier part of our town and I think it's delightful when these kids from less affluent neighborhoods come up to our portch and get really excited when we hand them full-size candy bars and sodas.

It's a fucking holiday. Take in some happiness from the excitement other people, you joyless fuck.

I don't mean to point you out specifically (even though I am by quoting you), but how many kids do you guys that give you full sized bars get? I think it would be great to hand out great stuff and make the kids happy, but when there are over 300 kids it is absurd to even consider. I can't drop $150+ on candy, my cut off is $20-$30. So either I am only giving good candy to 30 kids or giving shit candy to 300 kids.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

I don't mean to point you out specifically (even though I am by quoting you), but how many kids do you guys that give you full sized bars get? I think it would be great to hand out great stuff and make the kids happy, but when there are over 300 kids it is absurd to even consider. I can't drop $150+ on candy, my cut off is $20-$30. So either I am only giving good candy to 30 kids or giving shit candy to 300 kids.

Usually about ~200 or so. We typically go to Sam's Club and buy those fundraiser starter kits with some 30% off coupons that get sent out every so often. All in all, it's about...$80-$85?

Spoiler

We do run out from time to time, which causes me to run to Family Dollar and buy the smaller snack versions, but we try to compensate by giving out 3 per kid.

 

[Buddha Beam]

I don't mean to point you out specifically (even though I am by quoting you), but how many kids do you guys that give you full sized bars get? I think it would be great to hand out great stuff and make the kids happy, but when there are over 300 kids it is absurd to even consider. I can't drop $150+ on candy, my cut off is $20-$30. So either I am only giving good candy to 30 kids or giving shit candy to 300 kids.

We usually buy one or two boxes of King size bars either off Amazon or at BJs. Then a bag of maybe 100 or so little fun size bars mixed in. Once the big ones run out, they're out.

The funny thing is that a lot of the kids, especially the younger ones, won't take them anyways. A lot of them look at it with a look on their face like, "Oh, I'm not allowed to take that... "

We get maybe 100 kids. It's been dropping off more and more every year though, I've noticed.

 

[Necromanti]

I lived in a compound with doctor's families, and we still ended up going to other compounds and neighborhoods because it was fun to see the different decorations and get different candy. (Some areas had a higher concentration of Americans, but they weren't the only participants. It was kind of cool to see Arabs, Europeans, Indians, Pakistanis, etc. all partaking in and enjoying Halloween.)

I don't see why anyone would have a problem with giving candy to anyone as long as they're in costume and respectful. If they're vandalizing your property, call the police. (Being affluent doesn't preclude you from being a vandal or a menace.)

 

[Kevtones]

Those greedy poor kids even share our roads and books! Thank god for private jets and tablets!

 

[Valhelm]

The people who wrote those letters are scummy, but I don't have much sympathy for people who trick-or-treat by car.

 

[stufte]

My only rules for giving candy on Halloween are:

1. No adults.
2. If you are a teenager asking for candy, you better be dressed up.

Everyone else gets candy!

 

[Hale-XF11]

I can understand wanting to trick or treat somewhere else, especially if you live somewhere rural where trick or treating isn't a thing or houses are too far spread out.

 

[.GqueB.]

Gotta say... had no idea this was a thing, Lol.

I've never been trick or treating personally but only because I don't live in a neighborhood that was particularly good for that.

 

[RetroMG]

I am really glad the response was, "Yes, stop being a cheapstake and go buy more candy."

Seriously, you're going to complain about doing something nice for impoverished children? Man.

 

[Tek]

I live in the ghetto...some what I suppose. I never see kids. First year moving there I bought a bunch of candy and no one showed. I ended up eating most of the candy and then in May I was diagnosed with diabetes

But seriously, I'm taking my 9 year old to a nicer neighborhood. Its not really a question of being safe, I feel like my neighborhood is safe, but no one really hands out candy.

 

[gutter_trash]

Don't be a Scrooge on Halloween, give out your candy. Kids are kids

 

[Madness]

I've noticed a lot of nicer neighborhoods have now started to block cul-de-sacs with signs sayinf "block celebration", park elsewhere. Don't know how legal they are, but I think it's to dissuade the people who drive around in vans with like 6-8 kids going to every major neighborhood.

No one near me really celebrates Halloween much anymore. Lot of the white people have moved elsewhere, newer immigrants aren't really as festive. Every year, the number of kids is declining. I'm probably one of the few that still has pumpkins and decorations and lights up.

As for Op, I think as long as kids are coming and they are dressed, what's the issue? Keep giving candy till it runs out. For kids this is one of the best times of the year. I remember growing up, there was one house that wouldn't give candy to non-white kids. I never really understood why a few of us weren't given anything, or if it seemed too obvious, only got those powdery rocket candies while others got Doritos and snickers etc. Don't get how people can be petty to kids.

 

[hydragonwarrior]

Lol maybe the 1% elite that think this way should reserve a Halloween day just for themselves - maybe 1st of November?

 

[Starwolf_UK]

Hahaha, that first letter is filled with racial undertones. Dont fucking participate in Halloween if you dont want to give candy to kids in costume.
Give the local kids candy the night before or something.

What happens when it doesn't work like that? From the OP:

... Only the little kids would be in costume, and EVERYBODY expected candy, even the parents. ...

 

[TangerineCloud]

That's my experience. A lot of people from apartments do it. Mainly I think because apartment dwellers are single, hate kids and don't give out candy.
Sometimes you'll see a minivan pull up with what seems like 70-80 kids. That's when you panic, because there's no way you prepared for that many kids. My solution for a while was to reach into my empty bowl, pretend to put something in the bag, while grabbing a few candies from the kid's bag. You can get through the night doing that. It's not the greatest feeling, but it works.

Hahaha, holy shit. Though I gotta know, did anyone ever call you out on this?