# Neighborhood Halloween carnival... not sure how I feel **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 7, 2014, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661 "2014-10-07T15:59:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/41 "2014-10-08T05:56:12Z")
I grew up in the country, so I didn’t have a neighborhood. We went to a nearby village to ToT. The village I lived in as an adult got hammered by visiting kids. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of ToTers. I always liked it, but you really had to plan ahead. It took a lot of candy. But I did it because I thought it was fun, and I thought the costumes were fun, and I thought the kids were fun. You’re not obligated to participate. I wonder if we’ll have any kids come by this year. We live in a condo complex for the first time. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/42 "2014-10-08T12:43:28Z")
> [@Count\_Blucher](#): > > As for older bad kids loudly banging on doors and making you fearful? > > If it gets That Bad, report it. Right? “911? Yes, I’d like to report a crime. People have been banging on my door all night. What? Yes, I am aware of what day it is. I don’t see what that has… hello? Are you still there?” ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/43 "2014-10-08T13:47:43Z")
> [@bump](#): > > So here’s my dilemma- I don’t have a big desire to hand out free candy to non-neighborhood kids. Traveling to better neighborhoods for better Halloween handouts has been a tradition for years. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in a city with two trick-or-treat nights (Beggar’s Night on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st). It was next to a very wealthy suburb where kids traditionally trick-or-treated only on the 31st. We’d beg in the city on the 30th, and head out to the 'burbs on the 31st. When I lived in an integrated middle class suburb of Cleveland that was about a mile away from a poor black neighborhood in the city, I’d get trick-or-treaters from the city all the time. They came up to the Heights 'burbs because they were _safe_, and my neighbors welcomed them. They were almost always accompanied by adults. (One way of knowing who the city kids were - they were terrified of [my](http://i.imgur.com/63EUy.jpg) [dogs](http://i38.tinypic.com/2gy7zwy.jpg), while locals loved them.) Halloween candy is cheap. It’s one day a year. Don’t be a selfish jerk. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/44 "2014-10-08T15:17:26Z")
If someone comes to my door in costume, they get candy. If they’re not in costume, they don’t. If they’re too old to dress up, then they’re too old to get candy, and it’s their call where the line is on age. And of course they’re going to the nice neighborhood for candy: That’s just good sense. Better neighborhood, better candy. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/45 "2014-10-08T15:41:43Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > If being forced to give a piece of candy to poor kids is the biggest imposition that poverty has on your life, count your blessings. Yeah, he didn’t say anything close to this. But thanks for thinking the worst of him. OP go to the carnival as usual and then when you get home turn off the lights, close the curtains and just watch a movie or something. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/46 "2014-10-08T15:42:27Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Traveling to better neighborhoods for better Halloween handouts has been a tradition for years. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in a city with two trick-or-treat nights (Beggar’s Night on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st). It was next to a very wealthy suburb where kids traditionally trick-or-treated only on the 31st. We’d beg in the city on the 30th, and head out to the 'burbs on the 31st. I don’t think you’re going to get too many people to recognize Beggar’s Night. And even if you do, nobody does Beggar’s Night anymore and haven’t in decades. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/47 "2014-10-08T16:00:07Z")
Disclaimer: I love Hallowe’en. [ul][li]I don’t give a bat turd if you are from the neighborhood or not. Miss Manners says the etiquette of Hallowe’en is the same as for a mugging - look scared and hand over the goods.[/li][li]If you aren’t wearing a costume, you have to do a trick. Sing a song, tell a joke, whatever - you have to get into the spirit of the thing; it’s more fun for everyone that way. And those who don’t want to get into the spirit see their compatriots singing on my doorstep and decide for themselves if it is worth the effort, or not. [/li][li]When I am out of candy, shut off the lights and don’t answer the door. Hallowe’en is over, see you next year. [/ul][/li] I would rather have kids show up from out of the neighborhood than wind up with three extra pounds of Jolly Ranchers[sup]TM[/sup]. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/48 "2014-10-08T16:32:04Z")
I was another little kid who traveled to another neighborhood. This wasn’t because we were poor, but because I was an only child, and lonely, and my friend’s dad always invited me to go with his girls. His girls were several years older, and they would supervise a bunch of us. And yes, the neighborhood was very rich, but no one complained. If they didn’t want to give candy the lights were off, and we were very polite and nice, and all in costumes. I say this to tell you what wonderful memories I had of those extremely nice people giving us candy and (at least not to our faces) grudgingly at all. I had a great time, and maybe it helps you to know I’ve never forgotten those wonderful people. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/49 "2014-10-08T16:35:59Z")
> [@bump](#): > > So my neighborhood puts on an annual Halloween carnival. Everyone brings a sack of candy and a package of hot dogs, and the neighborhood association pays for the buns, tea, chips and condiments. . . . > > Of course the apartment people have got wind that the house folks have trick-or-treat candy, and in the 7 years I’ve lived in this house, I’d say that more than 90% of the trick or treaters are apartment kids coming around, and probably 60% of those are teenagers without costumes just wanting free candy and being obnoxious, loud and profane. And they come bang on your door at like 9:30, and get pissed off if you’ve run out of candy. They also roam around until about 11, generally being pests, and waking people up. The younger ones usually have their parents with them… in someone else’s neighborhood. > > So here’s my dilemma- I don’t have a big desire to hand out free candy to non-neighborhood kids. Not because they’re primarily black, but because they don’t live in my neighborhood. > > . . . Dude, it’s Halloween! “Trick-or-Treat” had real meaning in my neighborhood in the 70’s. (Upper middle class, suburban Virginia) If you didn’t have candy when we knocked your best case scenario was a smashed pumpkin. Unless you were elderly and left your lights off, then we gave you a pass. But otherwise we would probably have pulled out the spray paint, or a few rolls of TP. I always keep a few dollar store masks by the front door, and hand them out to the kids who don’t have one. I also buy full-sized candy bars, because there ought to be a few nights each year when no kid has to be hungry, and Halloween should be one of them. And yes, seeing the cute little neighbor kids is the best part of Halloween for the adult homeowners, but it’s not the only part. Feeding everyone who comes to your door with pure hospitality is also a part of it. Making “the apartment kids” feel welcome in your neighborhood is a very important part of motivating them to set their sights higher in life than what their parents were able to give them. I say, be open and welcoming, and let the teens be kids as long as they can. Adulthood will come soon enough, and be rife with more pain and deprivation than you might ever wish on them. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/50 "2014-10-08T17:06:01Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Oh, and you poor ghetto kids? Don’t expect me to foot the bill for your schools when you don’t even live in my rich suburban community. > > I can get behind not wanting to give out candy to obnoxious, costumeless teenagers. But, if you can afford to give out candy, begrudging the “apartment kids” some is just mean. It’s not necessarily racist, but it does display an “us vs. them” mentality. > [@iljitsch](#): > > What I would do: get together with all the other people in the neighborhood and decide on time, age and/or costume limits for the trick-or-treating. Print up flyers stating this policy and put them everywhere. > > Then, suck it up and pay for the candy if people come to your door at the prescribed time, aren’t too old and/or wear a costume. If not, they get nothing. These. It’s your home and your candy. Be reasonable. If teens or even adults want candy, they have to make an honest effort to actually, you know, participate in the holiday by wearing a costume. You get to judge what constitutes an honest effort at a costume. A badly made and cheesy Roman Senator costume that looks like it was made by an eight year old with no help? Good. A bath towel halfheartedly thrown over the shoulder and called a “toga”? Nope. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/51 "2014-10-08T17:21:48Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > These. It’s your home and your candy. Be reasonable. If teens or even adults want candy, they have to make an honest effort to actually, you know, participate in the holiday by wearing a costume. You get to judge what constitutes an honest effort at a costume. A badly made and cheesy Roman Senator costume that looks like it was made by an eight year old with no help? Good. A bath towel halfheartedly thrown over the shoulder and called a “toga”? Nope. I always went trick or treating with my cousin. Every year, her costume was a paper bag over her head. I always had a costume. The difference was that my mom encouraged and helped me come up with one, and her mom wanted to be left alone. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/52 "2014-10-08T17:34:57Z")
Less judgey! More lovey! If you don’t want to participate, close your door and put off the porch light. Want to support the fun fair, then do. It’s not that hard. But keep your damn ‘these children are more worthy because…’, crap to your judgey self. Most people find it in their hearts to be inclusive, without the need to judge the worthiness of children out for fun and candy on Halloween. People enjoy Halloween because it’s a chance to give candy to happy children wanting to show off their costumes. Being judgey seems horribly misplaced to me. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/53 "2014-10-08T20:23:59Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > Dude, it’s Halloween! “Trick-or-Treat” had real meaning in my neighborhood in the 70’s. (Upper middle class, suburban Virginia) If you didn’t have candy when we knocked your best case scenario was a smashed pumpkin. Unless you were elderly and left your lights off, then we gave you a pass. But otherwise we would probably have pulled out the spray paint, or a few rolls of TP. Thank goodness this shit has mostly stopped. It’s very different when you are a grown up and you have to clean up the mess some shitty teenagers made. Altho I did have a laugh one year when they shaving creamed my car…and it rained. So by morning all of the shaving cream had slowly slid off in a sad little pile. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/54 "2014-10-08T20:34:20Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Altho I did have a laugh one year when they shaving creamed my car…and it rained. So by morning all of the shaving cream had slowly slid off in a sad little pile. Did it leave your ride minty fresh?😃 ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/55 "2014-10-08T20:37:22Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Did it leave your ride minty fresh?😃 You shave with toothpaste? Left the car as smooth and soft as a baby’s bottom. Hopefully, not as smelly. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2014, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/56 "2014-10-08T20:38:21Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Did it leave your ride minty fresh?😃 Well that car was my baby, my first car ever, so I guess it grew to be a man! ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/57 "2014-10-09T00:17:41Z")
If people come to the door in costume and are reasonably polite, they get candy. I’ve taken to going to the excellent and resplendent Henri David Ball. Every time before I go, I leave a special Halloween bowl outside my door. A motion sensor activates a green hand and recording. The bowl is filled with little plastic toys, charms, and topped with some candy. As I live in an apartment building with only six units on this hall, nobody ever takes the candy. I think I’ll just put it outside on the steps this year. ---
**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:** [October 9, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/58 "2014-10-09T01:30:45Z")
> [@elmwood](#): > > Traveling to better neighborhoods for better Halloween handouts has been a tradition for years. I grew up in a lower middle class neighborhood in a city with two trick-or-treat nights (Beggar’s Night on the 30th, Halloween on the 31st). It was next to a very wealthy suburb where kids traditionally trick-or-treated only on the 31st. We’d beg in the city on the 30th, and head out to the 'burbs on the 31st. Around here, the 30th was always called “Devil’s Night”, and that was when kids would go out and vandalize everything (TP, shaving cream, and other various trick). At least that was the case when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/59 "2014-10-09T02:41:08Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Around here, the 30th was always called “Devil’s Night”, and that was when kids would go out and vandalize everything (TP, shaving cream, and other various trick). At least that was the case when I was growing up. Now I’m curious whether there’s some sociological explanation for why some areas have a tradition of vandalism and others don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Octarine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/22d042/32.png) [@Octarine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Octarine)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2014, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661/60 "2014-10-09T03:03:17Z")
> [@even\_sven](#): > > If being forced to give a piece of candy to poor kids is the biggest imposition that poverty has on your life, count your blessings. Suck up the $10 for an extra bag of candy and feel good that your giving kids who may have very few bright spots something to look forward to. This. I mean, jeez, I get the annoyance over surly teenagers, but giving candy to poor children? It seems more meaningful than giving it to wealthy kids who can probably have candy anytime they want. Whichever side of the tracks they live on, they’re all just kids trying to have fun. I don’t mean to be harsh, but your OP sounds like you’re channeling Ebenezer Scrooge. As for the traveling to the best spots thing, I thought that was a Halloween tradition. Spending each year meticulously mapping out “the route” even though the candy intake is pretty much the same wherever you go, getting everyone’s opinions on the best houses (the old lady down on the corner gives out FULL SIZE candy bars!). In my town, there’s one particular street that’s known for going nuts with holiday decorations, and it seems like everyone and their grandparents make their way there Halloween night. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/neighborhood-halloween-carnival-not-sure-how-i-feel/700661.md?page=4)