For years now, I’ve been watching most of the trick-or-treaters go to the house on one side of me, take one look at my house and walk right past it, and then go to the house on the other side.
I had no clue why. Maybe they were scared of my house or thought I’d give cheap candy (my house is a bit of a fixer-upper)? I completed my “curb appeal” projects; didn’t help.
Maybe they thought nobody was home? I not only have the porch light on, but also have the living room TV on, clearly visible through the (open!) front window, and it makes no difference.
Maybe they think I’m not participating (despite the clear signal of the porch light and jack-o’-lantern)? I put up a bunch of Halloween decorations this year, and it still didn’t help!
Well, I finally found out the reason, after hearing one kid scouting ahead yelling to tell his friends to skip my house: “there’s no bowl on the porch!”
…You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Yep, unlike my neighbors, who had apparently just left unattended bowls of candy on their porches, I was actually sitting there inside the house, with the bowl of candy, waiting for kids to knock or ring the doorbell before I opened the door and handed it out. You know, like how trick-or-treating is supposed to work.
This is ridiculous. Kids these days are skipping viable houses with candy because they can’t be bothered to actually knock on the damn door and say “trick or treat” to the person who answers? Residents are expected to be too lazy to answer the door, and just put out the candy without even receiving the traditional threat first? With no actual interaction with the neighbors for the kids to show off their costumes, what’s even the point‽
I finally stuck a sign on the door saying “yes, you have to knock or ring for candy!” and that helped, but even then, some kids are still skipping my house because they apparently can’t be bothered to read the sign.
My guess is, the kids aren’t supposed to knock and interact with strangers anymore cause their parents are scared.
Some places, trick or treating has been replaced with a group of parents driving to a parking lot and their kids going from truck to truck.The latter has been popular in rural areas too for years, because the alternative is driving your kids from house to house. I would have made it to like 5 houses a year max if I’d tried to walk as a kid (and probably got run over, lol).
I just got back from taking one of my kids trick or treating with his friends. It was great. My wife and I got to walk and chat with the other parents while all of our kids knocked on doors and shouted “trick or treat!”. Lots of friendly, generous, nice people. And lots of shouted reminders from us for the kids to not walk on people’s front lawns, to say thank you, to be careful crossing the quiet roads. There were so many other kids out too. It was pretty crazy, but in a good way. About half of the houses were giving out candy in some way or other, with only about a quarter having an un-monitored bowl.
Then on the way home we drove past a church that was having a ‘trunk or treat’ in their parking lot. That just looked sad. There was no excitement for going up to the really cool houses that were decked out in amazing props and decorations. There was no need to hone analytical skills to determine which houses were giving out candy and which ones probably weren’t. Just going very short distances from one car to the next getting candy. My kid asked why they do that. I said it’s probably because they are a closed community who don’t really want to associate with ‘outsiders’. Give me the conventional experience over that all day every day!
Leave a bowl out with a sign that says “if the bowl is empty, please knock.” You don’t even have to fill the bowl with anything.
Classic “bait and switch” tactic. Guess OP isn’t an used car’s seller.
hey look buddy I’ve got some amazing advice for OP over here but I had another OP call me 10 minutes ago asking for the exact same advice so I’m gonna need you to make a decision right away.
even trick or treating isnt the same anymore with these gen alphas
They go for the unattended bowls so they can just take it all for themselves. I dressed up as a decoration scarecrow one or two years after I was too old to trick or treat myself and held a bowl of candy in my lap out on the porch. Every kid that attempted to take the entire bowl, got a scare as I stood up and shouted scary things like “TAKE THE BOWL, I TAKE YOUR SOUL!”
I live at the end of a cul de sac with a bunch of killjoys who never give out candy, so kids wouldn’t visit my house.
So I take my bucket of candy and go walking around and deliver it to the kids. Plus this means everybody sees my costume.
Give out the best candy possible to the few who come by. The rumor of the amazing trove will spread. But then “run out” early so that some of them will miss out and learn the lesson for next year
You get between 5-730 in a lot of neighborhoods to do trick or treating. It’s a school night. I’m not spending a cumulative extra 30 minutes of my time watching my kid stand by the door so your old ass can slide off the couch and mosey over to the door and slowly talk to my kids individually about their costumes. And by some weird extension try to make small talk with me or a parent.
If your lonely, go to a bar. I’m trying to run these street with my kids and make some real candy profit.
Just put the fries in the bag, dude.
EDIT : Downvote me all you want. You’re the ones sitting inside instead of putting out a table in your driveway like every other house next to you. Social holidays evolve naturally and this is one of those times. Trunk or treating and drive way exhibitions is the new Halloween.
If your lonely, go to a bar. I’m trying to run these street with my kids and make some real candy profit.
If you just want a bunch of candy, go to Walmart.
Okay. Or…my kids are walking around with a gaggle of neighbors and we are all socializing. And then we have to go “that one guys house” where we sit and watch as he wastes 10 minutes while we’re 2 miles deep into a neighborhood. And kids have finite energy.
Ohhhh nOOO ten minutes???
Just drop your poor kid off with one of his friends and stay home yourself, you sound like you ruin everyone’s good time all the time.
I took my kids trick or treating and didn’t observe anything like what you’re describing. Pretty sure you made this up. Congrats on the internet points though!
“I’ve never seen it therefore it must not have happened”. I can’t imagine how you’re a parent while thinking human experience revolves around you.
Lol OK bud. 👍
The entirety of the OP is extending their experience of an hour or two in their own home (which is probably untrue) into:
Kids these days
Residents are expected
It’s the children who are wrong
Why would you automatically doubt this? You are aware there are other places outside where you live, and different things happen there, right?
From the OP:
Kids these days
Residents are expected
It’s the children who are wrong
Upon re-reading, the whole thing sounds like satire.
