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?
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.
This is really wholesome thanks for commenting!
Lots of kids in the neighborhoods across town wherre the families now live. In the part of town where I am where it is all rental units filed with childless professionals and retirement homes for affluent snowbirds, there was no trick-or-treating. My husband grew up here and in this part of town it used to be crawling with kids in the 60’s and 70’s. Then again, that was before rich people “discovered” our city and snapped up all the affordable rentals and converted them to luxury condos.
We had maybe 3 small groups come by. Very young kids with parents. For our kids, we went to a downtown event where businesses handed out candy. I liked that it was pretty dense with costumes and a down/back loop so we got to see lots of costumes and run into other families we knew. It’s definitely changed and moved away from neighborhoods but there’s also a feedback loop. Fewer kids, fewer houses passing out candy, fewer kids. Now I have to figure out what to do with 95% of a Costco candy bag
Lots of neighborhoods just don’t have that many kids left. They’ve grown. Easily 80% of my suburban neighborhood is over 65. And they’ve been here since the 90s.
When young families can’t buy homes their trick-or-treating becomes relegated to their apartment complex or (when those complexes are sketchy) to trunk or treats.
We had a wind/rain storm. Did our block and got home soaked. Not as bumping as last year. So I don’t think it’s dead, just a bad weather year.
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.
I went walking yesterday during trick or treating to a party at a bar 2 miles away. I saw a few groups of kids, I walked through a business street area and all the restaurants and bars and stores were giving out candy to kids with their parents. Every group had a parent but they were mostly 8-14. Definitely wasn’t as busy as it was when I went as a kid 15 years ago, even though I lived in a small town. Also not a lot of houses were participating in giving out candy but I moved to a city so maybe that’s it
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
apartment
I mean compared to when I was young its come down massively. It got sorta wierd when you had parents driving down the street one house at a time and the kids get out and back in and then you had people coming from far places if your place was known for handing out good stuff. Im in a condo now so it just does not really happen as its just not as accessible as single family homes. My place is also on this busy triangle that is surrounded by busy streets with no side streets.
Trick or treating is alive and well in places where you can walk safely, and houses aren’t too far apart from each other. The problem is too many places in the US don’t fit that description.
Dunno if I agree. That’s my neighborhood and, while not completely dead, it’s just nowhere near when I was of age. It was a clear Friday night and we got maybe 30 total unique kids. I emptied the bowl on a repeat group at ~830. That was not how I remember it as a kid. I think someone else suggesting the decline in birth rate might be on to something.
Hmm maybe then, some friends in a suburb were saying their neighborhood had aged out of it. The place I went last night was hopping and had a lot of traffic. Maybe the internet has made people optimize their targets?
My neighborhood fits that description and we have tons of kids going through. About 50% of the houses were participating. Adults had parties at driveways too. Oh and it was raining. Apparently doesn’t stop anybody in Oregon.
We’re in a downtown-adjacent neighborhood of our decently-sized city and we saw plenty of kids this year (6-8 in small groups and a herd of 15 or so). Other years when we lived a bit further out, we didn’t get as many but still a few (usually 5-10).
Neighbourhood is dying, new or expecting parents do not move here any more. And old folks get really aggressive when you dare go around as a young teen, for some reason.
Definitely on a down swing. Not a lot of houses do it. Lack of kids and candy prices. Kids get transported to more expensive neighborhoods or the trunk or treat events. I haven’t done it the last few years cause of the decrease in traffic, raising cost of candy, and the increasing number of rude ass kids (teenagers) that grab everything they can without saying a word.
Maybe it’s because no one can afford to have kids or buy candy.
