So, this Halloween I’ll be at home, handing out the treats. This year, as I’ve done for many years, I bought full-size candy bars (Snickers and Twix this year), to parcel out, one per costumed kiddo. I do this because, when I was a kid, I remember that the house that gave out the full-sized candy bars was The Most Awesome House In The Neighborhood. And I want to be That Cool Guy, the one who gives out the full-sized bars.
This, however, seems to irritate my wife to a degree I find really confusing. She says, “That’s like $60 worth of candy!” (no, it’s more like $25) And she says that bars that big will give the kids major sugar highs. But it looks to me like if you gave just three of the miniatures to each kid , you’re actually giving them as much more candy than they’d get in one full-sized bar (and three miniatures, deceptively, looks stingier than one big bar). This year, she was so incensed that I’d bought the full-sized bars again that she told me that she will be buying the candy next year. Frankly, I doubt it’s about the kids; I think she just doesn’t want me having access to the full-sized bars.
Which leads me to the questions: do you all remember getting the same “woohoo” that I did when you got a full-sized candy bar as a kid out trick-or-treating? Am I a horrible person for giving out full-sized candy bars? And, what sort of treats are you handing out this year?
I am handing out rolls of Smarties. I like Smarties, they are by far my favorite treat, and while they have lots of sugar, they are still less fattening than chocolate.
Smarties Calories - 100. No fat. 25 g sugar.
Snickers calories - 273. 14g fat. Plus sodium. Sugars - 28 g.
I don’t need to be the coolest in the neighborhood, I just don’t want to be the house that gives nothing or that gives pennies. But in the last few years I see these little tubs come to my door and it kind of depresses me…every kid is fat.
So this is my small way of helping. Besides, when all is said and done I can also eat the Smarties without feeling too guilty and I will eat them since I like them so.
I have about 5 lbs. of assorted candies (tootsie rolls, dots, smarties, “fun-sized” candy bars, etc.) for the small kids. For the big kids, I have four cases of 20 oz. Minute-Made Orangeade at the ready.
Can’t say that I remember *ever * getting a full-sized candy bar when I was a kid. As a matter of fact, I keenly remember having a selection of *individual sticks * of gum from the lady across the street. We got to pick just one.
That’s why I’m totally with you on giving out full-sized candy bars. Not only does that make us super cool, we also get to keep what we don’t give out. Since there aren’t many kids in my neighborhood, that’s a pretty good prospect for me.
Gah, around here, you really would need (at least) $60.00 worth of candy to give out full-sized bars. But I do remember when I was a kid, there was always one house that did it.
There’s a house around here that does it, too. Said house is owned by the foulest-mouthed motherfucker in the neighborhood, who sits on her porch, yelling about how she has a $50-fucking-thousand dollar house in a $10-fucking-thousand dollar neighborhood, while throwing her cigarette butts out onto the pavement, and threatening to kick the ass of anyone who crosses her.
Each candy bar comes carefully wrapped in a Chick tract. And man, if you can’t appreciate the irony in that, you just aren’t trying hard enough!
I also give out stuff I don’t like, so I avoid the temptation to snarf, but I like Tootsie Rolls and Mary Janes*.
I’m giving out Dum-Dums this year - those itty-bitty, oddly-flavored lolly pops.
I can’t wait till my son comes home. I hope he gets some good stuff. He likes the sugary-sweet candy like SweetTarts and Nerds and isn’t big on chocolate. I’ve called dibs on all the 3 Musketeers bars.
Sadly, I can’t have any stuff like that right now, as I have braces. I should be getting them off in December. My first stop after they come off will be the 7-11 across the street from the orthodontist’s office for a king-size Tootsie Roll. I *loooove Tootsie Rolls.
I’ll be giving out skull lollipops, mostly because I already had a large bowl of them hanging out in my kitchen.
I’d buy good stuff but if past years here serve as any indicator, our neighborhood kids go elsewhere for Halloween. I had precisely ZERO kids trick-or-treat at our place** for the past two years and I don’t want to stare down a giant box of candy bars for the next two weeks.
**This may be an indication that I am, in fact, the crazy lady who no one will trick-or-treat from.
I’m dressing up as a pirate today and heading down to the store I work at, and handing out candy to the kids and parents there. We live below an actual house now, so most kids won’t realise there is another door to come to for treats tonight. So, in my big bag o’ booty, I have:
Candy Corn Taffy
Haribo Gummi Bears
A couple pounds of Hershey’s miniatures
Small bags of potato chips
And when I was a kid, the coolest house on the block gave out full sized candy bars, big bags of chips, AND cans of soda! And I, too, one day want to be that house on the block. But since I’m handing the treats out, and we have hundreds of customers, some with very young children, I opted for the small stuff. Just lots and lots and *lots * of it.
Snack size peanut M&Ms, and snack size Peanut Butter Cups and other assorted candies. I only disperse to the little kids wearing costumes and they don’t need full size candy bars. The bigger kids don’t even dress up anymore in my neighborhood so it’s lights out at 8:00 pm.
I know I went trick-or-treating at least once as a kid, but I have only a few fuzzy memories … glow sticks, warnings about razors in apples, etc. (I’m 35, FWIW). I don’t remember any of my costumes or anything. But, like Smooth Jack, I don’t remember ever getting a full-size candy bar.
Not at all! My rationale for giving out little ones is that I figure if I were a kid, I’d be wanting to eat a little bit of everything – so the minis help prevent piles of half-eaten candy bars.
I bought 2 bags of mini Twix, Snickers, Milky Way (regular and Midnight), and 3 Musketeers bars. I just had a group of kids come to the door, and I think that might be it for my neighborhood tonight … which can only mean one thing: LEFTOVERS!
I am only 20, so I remember getting a lot of candy, but never full candy bars. I am so jealous about kids who did get those!
I don’t think so at all. That is actually pretty awesome. I wish I would’ve thought of it, but around here, it would’ve been rough…(see next question)
Well, I had the little Frooties (tootsie roll like things) and I had three bags I bought in bulk…500 per bag. I started out giving a few to each kid, but by the end of the first 30 minutes, I was almost through a whole bag. I am now out with 15 minutes left, and I even set the “no costume/no candy” rule, along with a few others (1 month old kids don’t need candy, and I don’t need to get candy for people who are 16 or older…end of story)
I bought variety bags with Dots, Milk Duds, Tootsie Rolls, Whoppers, and KitKats. A couple of kids have commented about the nice selection. I’ve got 1/2 hour more to go (Trick-or-Treat is 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. here) and have had over 30 kids. Not too bad, considering the weather is pretty ugly.
I think we had a neighbor or two who gave out full-sized candy bars when I was a kid, but it’s been a long time. I just hated the people who gave out off-brand stuff that no one liked. So I’ve always tried to get a nice variety of good stuff. Only thing I didn’t find that I usually give out is Twizzlers.
Leftovers go to work… I’ll eat some of them there, but most will be devoured by everyone else.
I have $28 worth of Hershey brand minis sitting in my plastic cauldron and we have had 7 TOTers so far. It is 8:00 pm and am not sure we will get any more.
My kids have returned and have completed categorizing and counting their haul for math class.
DD had 78 pieces and DS has 82 pieces. They each have 3 standard size chocolate bars and 1 king size bar each.
The interesting candy in this year’s haul is “body parts”. DS could complete a Mr. Potato head if he had the potato.
He categorized 3 items as “regular food”–pretzels in a bat bag, animal crackers, and raisins.
