As I use to say “Kids going door-to-door begging for sugar. I can’t tell you how many of my principles that violates.”
In my town, the merchants on our main street voluntarily give out candy, so the rest of the town is pretty much spared this insane practice. I notice some people going down to the main street to hand out candy to the passing children, but the door-to-door practice seems to have stopped.
Praise God!
Fortunately the principle of children having some fun in has not been eliminated in my neck of the woods.
Last night my ten year old daughter, wearing her homemade (prize-winning) SpongeBob costume, went to my mother-in-law’s neighborhood to help hand out candy to well over 100 trick or treaters.
That neighborhood, one of the busier ones in town on Halloween night, is filled with strolling families visiting friends, relatives, neighbors and (eek!) strangers. There are decorated yards and even a couple of “haunted garages” with children lined up outside for a chance to go in and visit. One accepts donations that go to a local charity.
My mother, as somewhat disappointed that the children in her neighborhood are outgrowing trick or treating age so she only had 15 or 20 children stop by.
Trick or treating is alive and well here, thank goodness.
I can’t tell you haw many of mine it affirms.
In my neighborhood, it happens not at all. But I live in a large apartment complex in a college neighborhood.
In my last neighborhood we got it all the time. Kids wouldn’t ring doorbells, but they’d approach multi-family houses where adults stood on the porches. One year we got 97 kids.
I made a haunted garage one year. One kid that went through it (now he’s my SIL’s brother) asked what that “thing” in the corner was. It was my dad.
Shamefully, more than half the houses on our street were not handing our candy. When I was a kid the ratio was usually about seven to one. If the Grinches don’t want to hand out a few ten-cent candies I guess that’s their right, but they’re missing out on a lot of fun.
Personally, I think it’s a wonderful holiday. My kid loves it. It’s not really about the candy - most of which she won’t eat anyway - but just the fun of showing off her costume and the thrill of going around and seeing the decorations.
Having said that, she had the line of the year (she’s five, and articulate enough to come up with an accidental howler almost every day.)
She arrived at one doorstep at the same time as several other kids. The lady opened the door, expressed delight, and asked what were “were.”
One little boy said, “I’m a tiger!”
A little girl said, “I’m a witch!”
My daughter said, “I’m here for the treats!”
Halloween is my FAVORITE holiday! Luckily my neighborhood is alive and well with Trick-or-Treaters!
We do the whole “haunted house” thing, complete with live monsters jumping out at the kids. Last night we handed out between 400-450 treats in three hours (yes, I typed that right - over 400).
We don’t seem to have as many trick-or-treaters as we have kids in the neighborhood. I only got 3 of the “regulars” that I see on their bikes every day come to my door last night. I suspect older kids go to their friends’ houses in the bigger developments - which is what we did when I was a kid and I lived in this neighborhood.
Only got 15 ToTers last night. But, their buckets were quite full so it would appear that everyone in the neighborhood is at least giving out candy, even if no one comes.
Sadly, we have very few trick-or-treaters. Last night we had three groups totaling seven small children; two of these groups I know live within a couple of houses of us. I believe we are likely affected by living on a pretty main street (although we do have the sidewalk on our side) and directly across from a fairly good-sized subdivision of “McMansion”-type homes. That neighborhood likely attracts a fair number of trick-or-treaters, especially since I am confident it contains a significant number of children.
Our neighborhood gets hordes of trick-or-treaters, and hooray for that.
It’s alive, though it seems like I never get as many trick-or-treaters as I should. I guess that’s the penalty for living in a middle-class neighborhood right next door to a neighborhood of McMansions; everybody assumes the rich people will give out better candy.
We got 11 trick-or-treaters last night.
I live in an apartment building in New York City and there aren’t really that many kids in my building (some but not huge numbers), and I’ve never had trick or treaters…so I don’t think I’m all that representative. Though I know some kids go out to the suburbs from the city to trick or treat. I know there was a Halloween parade held for the kids near my building so I think there is still some Halloween spirit.
I love the trick-or-treaters but it seems like it’s feast or famine. One year I got so many that I literally just sat outside since it was a constant stream of kids, and I had to send out a family member for more candy – twice! We had several hundred kids in two hours. There were literally lines of kids waiting for candy most of the time. The previous year (in the same house!) it was a little cold and we got like 10 kids total. Figuring out enough candy to buy is a serious problem. I don’t mind a little left over to take to work, but seriously.
I live near some apartments which have a lot of kids in them - nice area with good schools, and they are the cheapest places to live around here, so they attract single parents like wildfire. I did get a little irritated at adults begging for candy though with their infants, or even alone because their “kid is sick at home”.
We didn’t get many last night either 
even though the porch light was on and we had a jack o’lantern all lit up. Most of 'em carpool to the rich-people neighborhoods. But we got at least a few groups.
Man, I don’t even like kids all that much and I still get into the whole trick-or-treating thing. OP sounds like kind of a grinch, which makes the username all the more ironic.
I started with a 195 piece bag of laffy-taffy and gave each kid two pieces. At the end of the night I had 3 pieces left. 96 kids this year. It helps when all your neighbors participate too.
I didn’t get many trick or treaters, so each kid got a big handful of Twix and Crunch bars.
I gave out candy at brunch yesterday to the staff and any guest that wanted some. Adults like treats too.
I gave out all of the leftover chocolate on the train on my way to work today and it was a great ride.
I love giving out candy.
Next year, I’ll be thinking of the OP as I find a way to give out even more than this year.
If last night was any indication, It’s alive and well. Of course, we have the well-earned reputation as the bestest Haunted House in the subdivision. (several, probably) We had a new record best of 182 (20% more than last year)
Submitted for proof, video eventually.
http://www.oddfiddlythings.com/wp-content/gallery/preween10/l307155.jpg
We’ve had a few dozen kids show up some years. This year we had Reeses Cups (the big ones!), Mini Snickers, and York Peppermint Patties, and nobody showed.
We gave out 80+ treats (though much of that was from an unattended bowl, so there probably were fewer actual trick-or-treaters), and the streets were covered with costumed kids.
I didn’t know it had slowed down anywhere. It’s thriving where we live. Last night I probably had 25 to 30 groups (about 75 to 100 kids) come by while my daughter and her friends were out doing the same. About 20% were from our neighborhood and easily 4 out of 5 from more disadvantaged areas that drove in, as evidenced by the procession of cars and trucks.
Course around 10:00, an hour after I was out of candy and had turned out all the lights and set the alarm, the teenagers start coming around and ringing the bell. Really?
I’d guess we had a couple of hundred come by last night. People seem to come to our neighborhood to trick-or-treat.