Last night, about 70 kids came trick-or-treating to my house. I witnessed a phenomenon I haven’t seen since my childhood in Buffalo - large groups of costume-less kids, most carrying just plastic grocery bags for their booty of candy. Many were absolutely terrified of my dogs, while the costumed kids from the neighborhood weren’t.
I’ve been told that kids from the inner city go out to the suburbs to trick-or-treat. My neighborhood isn’t far from lower-income neighborhoods in Cleveland proper. Why trick-or-treat three or four miles from home, though? Is there trick-or-treating in lower-income urban neighborhoods?
If I lived in the ghetto and had the means to go to a better neighborhood to trick-or-treat, I definitely would- it would be safer, the candy would probably be better, etc. But I would at least wear a costume.
Yeah, I got this semi-regularly when I lived closer to a famous dividing road next to Detroit. At first I felt kind of like I was being taken advantage of, but then I felt sorry for these kids and they ended up getting more than the neighborhood kids. As is, to go to a restaurant, they’ve got to leave their city. To get groceries, they’ve got to leave their city. Shoes… clothes… shopping… anything that’s not a corner liquor and cigarette store means they must leave the city limits. There’s no way I’m going to begrudge the little guys a little bit of candy.
There is trick or treating in the lower income neighborhoods of Cleveland / East Cleveland, but it’s generally pretty sparse pickings and the candy will likely be the crappy cheap kind. You’re much more likely to have a better experience taking your kids 4-5 miles into the suburbs. It’s an income thing, safety isn’t really a big factor.
No excuse not to wear a costume though. Even the poorest kid can take an old sheet and cut a couple of eye holes in it, IMO. At least that’s what I did when I was a poor kid in Glenville back in the day.
Heck, I grew up in Cleveland (the city proper, though not exactly the “inner city”), and we (my sister and I) usually went out to Lakewood for our trick-or-treating, since the haul was better there (but we did have friends who lived there, so we could use their house as a base). We did wear costumes, though.
Exactly my thoughts. At first I wasn’t really alright with it, but then I eventually realized that if a couple cents worth of candy makes a kid happy, then what the heck.
We had no TorTers this year and for several past.
My son, who live about a mile away had fewer than in the past.
Seems to be many planned/organized subsitutes than ever before.
Some folks think the possiblility of the kids being abused by pedophiles was the reason.