# Halloween special pitting **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 31, 2015, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297 "2015-10-31T23:37:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/21 "2015-11-01T04:35:16Z")
The little kids in costume are lots of fun, and very polite. Some quite shy, some glad to tell you about their costume. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > The only thing that tees me off a little is teenagers who go trick or treating and who can’t be arsed to put on a costume. They usually come later, when the candy has nearly run out, anyway. For teenagers with no costume, I just give them a condom. They got something, and maybe it might actually help with the overpopulation problem. One kid said “Only one? I’m 17, I can use 3 of these in one night.” I laughed, told him I didn’t believe it, but gave him 2 more anyway. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/22 "2015-11-01T05:29:52Z")
I don’t have the kids pick out their own candy because they take too long poking and choosing. I don’t care if the parents drive the kids over. They probably live too far to safely walk, esp in costume. Even the teens - this way the parents know they’re not out marauding, or being targeted by police, or running into some other trouble. I’ll usually ask if they want to take some candy to the parents. I get the giant bag of candy from Costco and throw away what’s left over anyway, so it’s not like it’s a hardship to give them candy; isn’t that the whole point of trick-or-treating? The older unaccompanied teens not in costume, well, they get candy grudgingly. At least it helps me get rid of the rest of the Hot Tamales and Sour Patch candy that the littlest kids don’'t get. Best costumes this year: the kid in the leprechaun costume who handed an oversized gold-foil chocolate coin from his pot o’ gold to _me_, Sneak Boy (black cape and eye mask), the Princess of Seattle, and a kid in a lab coat doing a Jerry Lewis impersonation from The Nutty Professor. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/23 "2015-11-01T05:32:16Z")
> [@t-bonham@scc.net](#): > > …For teenagers with no costume, I just give them a condom. > They got something, and maybe it might actually help with the overpopulation problem. > One kid said “Only one? I’m 17, I can use 3 of these in one night.” I laughed, told him I didn’t believe it, but gave him 2 more anyway. Omg, what a GREAT idea! Next year, Planned Parenthood, here I come! ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/24 "2015-11-01T15:09:05Z")
> [@flatlined](#): > > I love Halloween. I happily give candy to anyone who shows up at our door. > > I wanna pit our neighbor the dentist. She gave everyone little tubes of toothpaste. Do I need to post in detail how the recipients of her largess responded? (hint: kids did enjoy stomping the tubes to watch the toothpaste squirt out.) Bart: Flanders gave us toothpaste! Lisa: _MINI_-toothpaste! Plus, BAD kids get **Mary Janes**. ---
**Author:** ![GrumpyBunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bc8723/32.png) [@GrumpyBunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrumpyBunny)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/25 "2015-11-01T15:24:46Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I’ve honestly never seen this. A few who halfass it (lazy makeup, and that’s it), but always make at least a token effort. > > This year the handful of teens we got were great…some impressive prosthetic makeup on a couple of zombies, and a sugar skull (one of two we got - the other was a younger kid) were the ones that stand out to me. A tween boy showed up in a robe with a cowl and a glittery plague mask. Best of the night, IMO, because I’m a geek that way. Loved it! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/26 "2015-11-01T16:13:27Z")
There aren’t any kids in our neighborhood anymore. I’d have no problem if people started shipping their kids from other neighborhoods, we have to have candy on hand just in case someone shows up anyway. It’s Halloween, it’s supposed to be a special night for kids, and the obnoxious sub-human teenagers\* without a costume wouldn’t be a problem as long as they show up later and aren’t spoiling it for the kids. \*All teenagers are obnoxious and sub-human, putting a costume on them doesn’t change that. ---
**Author:** ![Memnon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Memnon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Memnon)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/27 "2015-11-01T16:15:03Z")
I just give them parma violets. They don’t tend to come back. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/28 "2015-11-01T16:25:39Z")
My favorite young teen had a red shirt, khakis, and a pizza delivery bag. I told him “nice delivery uniform”, and he flashes a DiGiorno box - “it’s not delivery, it’s DiGiorno”. He got extra. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/29 "2015-11-01T16:35:12Z")
I _love_ when parents bring in kids from other neighborhoods, because they usually seem to be from poorer or rural areas where trick-or-treating is either dangerous or impractical. One year, my parents’ homeowner’s association got in touch with a church in the projects and arranged to have those kids come up to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. I love trick-or-treating, and think every kid deserves to spend November 1st stuffing themselves with candy. > [@Finagle](#): > > My only Halloween complaint is that I never have any idea how many kids will be coming by. So I overstock on candy. Tonight I had maybe five or six families come by. If I’d known that was gonna be it, I would have stuffed the little moppets’ bags full of M&M’s and KitKats. So now the folks at work are going to be eating leftover Halloween candy until sometime in the new year. That’s a feature, not a bug. > [@OldOlds](#): > > It’s fine around here too. My wife gets a little sad because we’re on a cul de sac at the far edge of anything, so our street mostly gets ignored (around the corner it’s vast numbers). The kids are nice and the parents friendly. The teenagers usually wait till after about 8 to come around, and I don’t mind letting them have candy as long as the younguns are all done. > > Due to the low volume, we give out full-sized. ::makes mental note to put on costume and go to **OldOlds** ’ house next year:: ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/30 "2015-11-01T17:07:32Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > That’s a feature, not a bug. Meh, none of us really need the infusion of junk food. And I seem to have lost my taste for (cheap) chocolate candy sometime in the last couple of decades. Most years, the candy stays in the bowl for a few months until I get tired of looking at it and throw it out. (You really can’t call it willpower when it’s just lack of interest.) ---
**Author:** ![2gigch1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/2gigch1/32/3313_2.png) [@2gigch1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2gigch1)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/31 "2015-11-01T17:46:45Z")
I used to live in a area that was mostly rural (Jefferson, MD); we had few trick or treaters visit our house so everyone tended to give away BIG candy for the effort. There was one neighborhood in town that was the defacto destination for everyone looking for ‘The Halloween Experience’. Probably 70% of the neighborhood went all out making a great display; the streets were clogged with pedestrians (we’d all park outside the community and walk in). Always made it a point to yell “Nice Job” and “Thanks!” to everyone who helped make my kid’s early years a little more special. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/32 "2015-11-01T17:57:32Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > That little kid you pushed out of the way? He gets 3 pieces too. No, you can’t have 4. Most people give you one piece of candy… you know it, and I know it, you little shit. > > I really son’t need you throwing a candy bar back at me because you “don’t like” those. FUCK YOU. > > I especially enjoy watching you sit in your car while your pre-teen bastard is walking away from my front door, and hearing you yell from the car “whaja get? Bring me one!” YOW! :eek: I’ve been fortunate enough never to live in a neighborhood like that. My Halloween was low-key but fun: I set up my grill by the front steps with firewood and lit it as dusk was setting. I then sat next to it in a lawn chair and handed out candy\* to the trick-or-treaters. It was cold enough after dark that several actually stopped to warm themselves by the fire! 😃 \*P.S. I always spring for the good stuff: name-brand chocolate candy bars. IMHO, sweet tarts, individual caramels, hard candy, bubble gun, etc. is for cheapskates. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/33 "2015-11-01T18:01:54Z")
I gotta say that Portland trick or treaters are almost always unfailingly polite. They always say ‘thank you’. The only time there was even a small wrinkle was one year when we misguidedly bought Clif Bars and one teenager said “Oh. . .Clif Bars” in a voice that clearly indicated how disappointing that was. In the past, when we’ve run out of candy, latecomers have even said “Oh, that’s okay, we’ll see you next year and thank you anyway.” :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/34 "2015-11-01T18:18:43Z")
That reminds me - I have to go buy some reduced-price candy. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/35 "2015-11-01T18:24:25Z")
> [@Stink Fish Pot](#): > > 1. Adults. DON’T drop off your ill-mannered, in-bread spawn in my neighborhood because you live in a shit hole. And why do they need candy when they are encased in bread? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/36 "2015-11-01T18:27:07Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > And why do they need candy when they are encased in bread? Maybe they’d appreciate… I dunno, Fig Newtons? ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/37 "2015-11-01T20:03:02Z")
> [@Kamino\_Neko](#): > > I’ve honestly never seen this. A few who halfass it (lazy makeup, and that’s it), but always make at least a token effort. I’ve seen this. They’re rude little shits. My friend and I were given a few pieces of candy once when we took her little brother around, but we didn’t ask for it. I used to be one of those kids who went to a bigger neighborhood, because I liked to go trick or treating with my cousins. My aunt and uncle like the extra help from my parents. That all right with you, **Stink Fish Pot**? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/38 "2015-11-01T21:20:07Z")
I don’t care who shows up or from where. I love hearing the kids rejoice. A little red ninja (my husband thinks he was Shredder) capered down our driveway to his mommy singing out, “Starburst! Yay! And they’re pink! Pink!” After that, it’s fine with me if a teen shows up with a pillow case and an old shirt on. I just wish I’d known that fewer kids were coming by this year than last. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/39 "2015-11-01T21:44:08Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > latecomers have even said “Oh, that’s okay, we’ll see you next year and thank you anyway.” :eek: Of course, as Portlanders you know they have no intention of actually showing up 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297/40 "2015-11-01T21:46:31Z")
We had a few customers and then turned off the lights and hit the neighbors with our own kids. After we came back home we set up chairs and have out more candy. My kindergartener is super shy so we gave her the bowl and she did really well handing out candy. She was still pretty quiet but it was good. I mean DAMN HALLOWEEN, GRUBBY KIDS TAKING CANDY! WHEN I WAS A KID WE GOT ROCKS, AND WE WERE THANKFUL! AND YOU HAD TO DO A TRICK TO GET THE TREAT, USUALLY PLOWING A FIELD OR DELIVERING A CALF. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/halloween-special-pitting/736297.md?page=3)