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.
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
King size candy bars, give out 2 to each. Everyone always loved that guy
Buying boxes of full-sized candy isn’t even that much more expensive than the fun-sized, and the psychological impact is immediate and dramatic. Every year I hear kids go “Woah, big candy bars!”
You’re tripping if you think the pricing is close.
It’s a little more expensive, but not dramatically so
Are you an idiot? You’re showing a picture per ounce. Do you know how Halloween works? You aren’t handing out candy by the ounce. You can buY a 300 piece Hershey Halloween candy bag for $25. Each kid can take 3 and you have enough for about 100 kids. How many regular size candy bars are you going to get for $25? Here’s a hint- it’s a lot less than 100.
Guys, we found the dunce that failed 3rd grade math. They figured out how to use a computer, finally.
The point of this entire thread is to solve the problem/attract trick or treaters. Not giving out bullshit size bars is a solid way to do that. And the number of those who visit OPs house are low anyway, so it doesn’t fucking matter that ‘bigger means less quantity, das tooped herpaderp’.
OP is trying to make kids enjoy the event, and the bean counter over here is like ‘we could save money by providing a shittier, smaller product, but more of it - though less overall compared to the standard, shh, nobody will know that - where is my promotion, boss?’.
To be both incompetent and a smug jerk is impressive though, that’s a skill that will get you places. Not pleasant places, but places.
My response was strictly to the guy above me trying to say giving out full size bars doesn’t cost much more. Learn to read the thread order.
Or give the option of a nice potato.
My kid got a potato this year! I was so proud.
I once got a pear
I got a rock.
When people have moved to leaving candy out, perhaps kids thought that not having them out means you’re not participating. Also, when many houses have left them out, for efficiency, it makes sense to only go to those houses.
I’m glad to hear that the sign helped. Shows that some kids aren’t just about getting as much candy as possible but also having a bit of fun.
We sit on the porch and pass it out.
This year we offered candy or pickle. We went through a gallon jar of pickles!
The pickle thing is weird. I also would be concerned about contamination.
Do you at least make them say “trick or treat”
A few years back, I handed out candy for friends while they took their kids around the neighborhood, and a group of kids jokingly asked for potatoes. I obliged and grabbed them each a potato from the pantry.
When my friends came back, the potato house was apparently the talk of the kids in the neighborhood.
WTF really? My parents were super anal about anything not prepackaged.
Mine were too. And my wife is usually skeptical of strange baked goods, but a pickle straight out the jar with tongs and tissue paper can’t get much safer!
But what if someone hid a Bat’leth inside one of them?
(The reference, in case anybody missed it: https://lemmy.world/post/21493783)
Yeah, I hear that’s a thing now. People these days.
That wouldn’t be very warrior like, but let’s ignore that. If a klingon wanted you dead, then i think something hidden in the pickle jar is the least of your concerns
Kirkland pickles
I took my kids out, one is almost 3 and the other is just over a year. So few houses in our neighborhood had ANY appearance of anyone home, let alone participating that it took nearly two hours to get about 15 houses. In a pretty standard suburb. At least two houses that were heavily decorated had nobody home and no bowl out. Two also had colorful lights but when we knocks on the door they looked confused when there were two toddlers yelling at them. One just shut the door in our face and the other sort of stood there for a minute with his mouth agape and finally said “I don’t have anything”. I mentioned to that guy that he MIGHT want to turn his lights off or there would be kids all night, but walking past at the end of our evening, all his lights were on still.
I left a bowl on my porch and had two small groups of respectful kids each take a couple pieces each (video doorbells have changed the game a little).
I mentioned to that guy that he MIGHT want to turn his lights off or there would be kids all night, but walking past at the end of our evening, all his lights were on still.
I think this is definitely part of it. When I was a kid, lights == giving out candy. Now, tonight, I had multiple trick-or-treaters almost go by my house before they noticed I was sitting outside with a bowl, despite the lights and decorations.
Reading the responses in this thread, I’m kinda starting to think we need to bring the “trick” half of the tradition back so some of these neighbors get a clue.
When I was a kid in the early-mid 2000s, knocking on the door was always a daunting prospect - people sitting out on their porch or steps were much more approachable, and much more the norm.
Its probably a covid relic or something. Kids knock on my house when I’m not even there cause I have my own kids (and yes, I leave a bowl outside and they still knock)
That seems plausible, except that I’ve been living here since long before COVID and have been suffering a lack of trick-or-treaters the entire time.
Actually, that reminds me of another failed hypothesis: when I first moved in, the neighborhood was just starting to gentrify and was still a little rough, so at first I figured the lack of trick-or-treaters was due to the lack of families with children in the neighborhood in general. Plenty of 'em now, though.
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.
ONE bag of sprite per child
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.
It is because all you had was those weird black and orange taffies. No-one can eat those.
I had a similar situation, and even if I left out a bowl on the porch, the kids would look but keep walking. Finally figured out that some neighbors had shared a link to my Megan’s Law profile on Nextdoor.
That’s just how economy works. Anyway I always hated to interact with strangers and still do.
No candy for you!
I sit on the porch with the bowl, it’s nice to see them walking around. It’s easier for both parties, and I can dress up too.
I think it’s because fewer houses are doing it, mostly. But I don’t understand skipping very decorated houses, and honestly wouldn’t leave out a bowl of candy here.
The sitting on the porch thing is traditional here now (my mom sat inside but I’m over 50 now and since being old enough to be on the treating side have always sat out with the candy and that’s more usual as far as I can tell) Though my kids always did go up and try if a light was on outside.
Maybe they are also a little more sensible too, lol - a princess last night looked in the bowl and said, nah there’s nothing I like, happy Halloween. My kids would have taken some anyway and traded it around, but it is always too much by the time they are done.
Overall I agree, they should yell TRICK OR TREAT but am glad nobody is, like egging your house if you don’t have a treat for them.
The last time I left a bowl on my porch, literally the first group that came took all the candy and threw the bowl into my lawn. It disincentivized from doing so again.
I did this and they stole the bowl too.
Same, bowl was stolen :( at least they didn’t take the table it was on
There is never and has never been a legitimate reason for anyone to use the phrase “kids these days”.
Maybe take your irony detector to the repair shop, I think it may be faulty
Kids these days are getting shot in schools.
The houses that do leave bowls are my favorite, the kids trick or treat as normal but when there’s a bowl-house I take one extra for dad lol
I leave a bowl out, and this year I had a trash can out in case anyone needed it. At the end of the night, the only thing in it was an empty hard cider bottle. Had a laugh
Nice, trash can is a pro gamer move. We came up to a house and all the guy was giving out was bottled water. After the kids nagging about being thirsty for the first 30 minutes that guy was an MVP too - had a sit on his lawn while the three kids sat and silently quenched their thirst. 10/10 trick or treating QoL updates.
I took my kids trick or treating tonight and, in the neighborhood we go to, everyone who is handing out candy sits on their porch or driveway and it’s like a big block party. Nobody goes up to the houses with nobody outside because it’s assumed they aren’t participating. Being in rural texas, I probably wouldn’t let my kids knock on those doors, only if that’s what was the norm for the neighborhood. People be crazy out here.
