The past couple of years, the amount of kids out on Halloween has dwindled down in my neighborhood. This year, my wife and I were at her cousin’s house and we saw maybe a couple of kids walking around. My wife blames people going to Trunk or Treat things. We both work in retail, so we see more of the public, and nobody was in costume. What was everybody’s experience with Halloween this year?

  • The_Jit@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    For my neighborhood it was the busiest I’ve ever seen it in 17 years. A lot of home made costumes, even teenagers dressing up and getting in on the action with the gaggles of little kids. A few houses even did mini haunted houses in the front yards and garages. A lot of other houses had people chilling in the driveways with a small fire going. It was in the 50s (F) so not particularly warm either… I’m in a lower to middle class area, no HOA neighborhood so people do what they want with decorating and it’s great.

  • MojoMcJojo@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    No sidewalks. And nearby gated communities with sidewalks. Those communities are richer and setup tables outside. Two houses were handing out jello shots to the adults, one had a DJ and light show. My neighborhood still has some houses that do hand outs, but without a sidewalk most people drive up to each house, get out, knock, get back in, drive down to the next house, stop, get out, etc. Parents are worried their walkers will get run over. We can’t compete with the other neighborhoods So, in my opinion, communities built to only serve cars and not pedestrians is the problem.

  • Rhynoplaz@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    There’s one area in my town a few blocks away that gets SLAMMED with trick or treaters. It’s got the highest density of nice houses. We’ll see about a dozen families as they make their way over to that neighborhood.

    Over the years, people in my neighborhood haven’t bothered to pass out candy since nobody goes through here, which makes even less people go through here, and so on.

  • PostnataleAbtreibung@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    I wondered this year. Last year 60 bags were not enough. This year i have 30 left. I think a lot kids got older and don’t do it anymore (though the biggest groups were some teenage girls admiring my decoration, i do the most fancy one in my area as i have a long path to fill).

    Unfortunately I am not sure if i will ever be able to do this again due to my health.

    • BirbSeed@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Holy crap, 30 bags? Like $100-200 dollars in candy? We bought 1 bag and didn’t even go through it, giving generously.

      • PostnataleAbtreibung@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Well, all bags were about 200€. Self filled and printed with potato print.

        One Snickers

        One Hanuta

        Four Kinder Schokolade Bons

        Four temp Tattoo stickers (with like 8-10 tattoos on it)

        One „Leckmuschel“ (licking candy in cockles form)

        Two Chuppa Chups

        One self printed stitch

        One self printed minecraft Enderman crayon cap

        Self printet pop-it fidget toy

        A stress ball

        A glow-stick

        A candy“jewlery“ (like a bracelet you can eat)

        A pack of skittles

  • NABDad@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    For years we’ve had almost no trick-or-treaters come to our house. We know there are tons in the area, but the number who actually stopped at our house kept dropping.

    Last year it was warm enough on Halloween for us to leave the front door open, and we saw tons of kids walk past our house and heard one kid say, “That’s the creepy house.”

    Which is ridiculous. There’s nothing creepy at all about our house.

    Anyway, last year I decided I should make a sign to let the kids know they could stop at our house.

    I made a post about the sign.

    Anyway, the sign worked. We had double-digit trick-or-treaters this year.

    • hungryphrog@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      4 months ago

      Creepy houses are exactly where you should go on Halloween. Damn kids only caring about candy and not the spirit of the holiday!

      • 🔰Hurling⚜️Durling🔱@lemmy.world
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        4 months ago

        Had only one kid actually say “trick or treat!” when we came to the door, the rest just looked straight a the bowl, grabbed a handful and left, of those only some said thank you while most just walked away. Never seen so many seemingly unappreciative kids like I’ve seen this year.

    • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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      4 months ago

      your house is cool af. I wish I had a house like that. I live in a bland box. sometimes I think about moving just to be in something that has some fucking character, I find this house so awkwardly laid out

  • BanMe@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Our street only has 2 houses that do it, so everyone drives right on by our block. Some of them go to parties instead, some of them are just lazy and disinterested.

    I’ve kind of shamed people into decorating for Christmas, I made my house elegantly lit with a warm white glow and theirs were dark and depressing. But Halloween, just the 2 of us for years.

    We’re in a high crime city so a lot of folks do trunk-or-treats and I get that, but, those kids are gonna be adults that have to learn to live here too. There’s something humanizing about going up to strangers doors, finding out your neighbors aren’t actually monsters or assholes, but kind people.

    • BeMoreCareful@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I rent, so you don’t get a chance to pass out candy anymore, but it was a bright spot in my childhood. I’m sad that we’ve abandoned that.

      Plus, you got to peak into all your neighbors doors and see a bit of their life and it was a positive experience for all involved.

  • count_dongulus@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Nobody seems to have mentioned this yet, but Trunk or Treat for lazy and/or helicopter parents has cannibalized door to door visits.

  • stringere@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    We usually have several groups of families in our neighborhood. Our streets were packed this year, though. First Halloween in a while that wasn’t cold or raining or both.

    Our neighborhood only has two entrance streets with a lot of connecting interior streets and cul de sacs which makes it a wee safer due to no through streets and less traffic.

    Many families set up firepits in their driveways to hand out candy, sometimes with music playing or movies projected on garage doors, one house has a popcorn machine every year. This year several houses had buckets of mini shots for parents and a lot of others smelled like some dank vape. When we drank we used to bring a wagon with wine and cups to share with neighbors. It’s a really great time.

    This year there was even an Inflatable Cupcake Castle of Doom.

    Last year there was a haunted house set up so that at the end you were watching the next group on cameras and you controlled the puppets and stuff, very Jigsaw style. That house has always had an elaborate haunted house but couldn’t do it this year.

    So…yeah, trick or treating is still alive in our neighborhood.

  • starlinguk@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Nope. Still going strong. And I’m in Germany. There were a lot of kids and teenagers around and people had an excellent time scaring the bejeebies out of each other. Standing outside and hearing the screaming was pretty funny.

  • SanguinePar@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    Edinburgh, Scotland - we had quite a lot of T/Ters (or guisers, as it’s often better known here, among older generations anyway). Maybe 10-15 groups. A lot of families round our way and we usually have a fairly busy night, so no change from normal :-)

    • MrsDoyle@sh.itjust.works
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      4 months ago

      When I lived in Edinburgh’s Old Town in the 90s I had a couple of young guisers come to the door, not trick or treating, but “a penny for the guy”*. I gave them a pound each, they were thrilled.

      *The guy is Guy Fawkes, “remember remember the fifth of November”.

  • Obinice@lemmy.world
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    4 months ago

    If anything, it’s gotten worse since this place gentrified.

    Used to be, kids weren’t allowed out after dark, this was a proper dangerous estate, we had murderers and even one or two people with actual guns!

    These days it’s all weirdly big cars trying to copy the huge American ones, custom reg plates and live laugh love signs. They can even afford a second car this lot, AND fancy security cameras!

    Gone are the days we used to get our cameras smashed so people could nick our motor.

    What’s the world coming to?

    • grue@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      My neighborhood has seen a steady increase in trick-or-treating over the last decade since the gentrifiers (including me, TBH) have started having kids.

  • mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca
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    4 months ago

    I meant to set stuff up this year but didn’t make time for it. it was windy and the second day of constant rain in a row, which might have had an effect, but my street was dead.

    we put out candy and decorations for a couple years until two thefts the same night, then my ex got so annoyed by that that she didn’t want to do it the next year. the first theft was just the usual kid taking the whole bowl, whatever. but the second was a woman driving kids house to house and sending them to steal all of the candy. fuck that bitch. it was a pretty nice car, too.

    my neighbourhood is very walkable for this kind of activity, so it is a bit surprising, but I blame this year on the weather, it truly was miserable. hopefully I find time over the winter to make decorations for next year

    also, candy prices are insane

  • LORDSMEGMA@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    No kids around. I’m in a what should be a solidly middle class neighborhood except its like 80% retired folk. Just a handful of families with kids.