What do you think of giving out magazines for Hallowe’en instead of candy?
Aries28’s thread about book fairies got me thinking: We have lots of science, computer, and art magazines hanging around the house. My employer tosses piles of great technology magazines every month.
Why not give out Discover instead of Snickers to the kids? You’d want to make sure the subject matter is “clean”, and that you remove the address label.
I don’t know about second hand magazines. But I’ve given out small Archie comics the last couple of Halloweens. I ordered them from Previews from my local specialty shop for about $2.00/bundle of 20. This year, in addition to the Archie comics, I ordered a bundle of Spiderman “ashcans” too.
I think the kids prefer candy though and these are given out in addition to sweets. We have very few trick-or-treaters anymore so I always have a lot of books left over.
Why would the kids want the magazines? If you gave them out instead of candy, I’m willing to bet you’d have shreded paper all over your lawn come Nov. 1st. It’s trick o’ treating, not a collection for a rummage sale…
“Let’s go to 117 Maple Street. They’re giving out old Playboys!”
It is a good idea in theory, but you best just give those old magazines to a thrift shop, library, local school art/collage class, hospital, or just recycle them, because you’ll get a lot of parents rolling their eyes, or, as elfkin477 said, shredded mags all over your yard. After all, if you have a ton of unwanted mags, what do you think these parents have? The last thing a parent of trick-or-treat age kids wants is more clutter.
As Adam Sandler said on SNL once, “Give me the candy!!!”
To hell with magazines. Why not Jack Chick tracts? Or, if you live in a conservative area, a brochure for the Atheists of America?
After a few years of that, the word will get around, and not only will the kids probably consciously avoid your house, their parents might even order them to do so!
[sub]Lizard, who thinks cutesy traditions like Trick-or-Treating should be shit-canned.[/sub]
When I was a kid out trick-or-treating, I would have been severely pissed off if someone gave me a copy of Discover instead of candy.
Especially since I already had a subscription.
Okay, so maybe that’s a dumb idea.
One year we had too many Star Wars pens and pencils (bargain bin at CVS?), so we offered those to the kids in addition to candy. They seemed to like it. They got to choose either a pen or a pencil. Could that work with reading material?
“Here’s a candy bar, kid. Would you care for a National Geographic too?”
I’m already the crazy cat lady in the neighborhood.
I think my kids would really like it, but then, we’re kind of reading junkies. Even my youngest, who can’t read yet, would be thrilled to have a magazine all his own.
I think the comics idea is a good one too - your subject line had me thinking of kid’s magazines. Who knows, maybe you could start some kid on a reading habit?
But I live in a creepy neighborhood, and just leave for the night; I take my own kids down to their Dad’s.
Julie
What went over well last year was I had a surplus of lemons from the tree in our yard, and when I gave the kids their candy I said “and here’s a lemon so mom can have a cocktail later tonight.” We live in an area where the moms take the kids out so they all had a good laugh at that. I also dress like Austin Powers every year (because my everyday clothes look like that) so I guess I’m the “swingin” Halloween house. One year I gave out “free fry” coupons from Burger King in addition to candy and those went over pretty big too.
I always thought it would be great to give the coolest candy in the neighborhood. I remember when I was a kid there was a house that gave out the full-sized Hostess snack cake packages (like 2 or 3 cupcakes/Twinkees, etc.) or full-sized boxes of Cracker Jacks. I think this year since we usually have just 10-20 kids I might give out those jumbo-sized Hershey bars. I remember when I was a kid we’d talk about the “Cracker Jack” people for days, lol…it takes so little to make kids insanely happy.
When I was a kid me and my friends would ride our bikes for miles trick or treating. Filling a full size pillow case at least half full was the only reason to think about heading for home. One year a house on our route was giving out little pocket bibles. The next morning there were little bibles tossed about for at least 5 houses in each direction. I think I still have mine in a box out in the garage.