October 31, Halloween, falls on Sunday this year. Are you taking kids door to door, or giving out candy, on that day? Or another? Does your community have a policy about this?
Multiple choice–check all that apply to you.
Here is a slightly better link.
The idea of moving Halloween when it falls on a Sunday is a new one to me. Right out of left field. As if the people banning Harry Potter books suddenly became a significant portion, even a majority of the relatively sane corner of the world I occupy…
I don’t view Halloween as a religious holiday, except as some Wiccan or neo-Pagan revival of Samhain, which while I will recognize as legit is also not exactly a mainstream observation. If one’s religion - say, some kind of conservative Christian denomination that frowns on Halloween’s pagan overtones in general, and especially on a Sunday in particular - then hey, go ahead and do some costume party type celebration on an alternate day within your church group or religious community, who cares? Though if some kid knocked on my door in a costume and asked for candy on Saturday 10/30 he’d get a pretty odd look from me (though if I had the candy ready, also some candy).
But I don’t quite see how the “Livingston Parish” (which sounds like a church organization) can levy fines and such for doing Halloween on its traditional day. That sounds very odd and basically equivalent to imposing a religious stricture, albeit a negative one, on the community at large.
They’re in Louisiana, where “parish” is the equivalent of “county.”
The idea is not limited to Louisiana, though.
I don’t have a child but when I was a kid, we did it on Halloween itself, even when Halloween was on a weekday.
Halloween is October 31. That is when you go trick-or-treating. End of story.
What? I’ve never heard of trick-or-treating on any day but Oct 31.
I’ll be helping to scare kids on the 31st, because the town my best friend’s family lives in always does it on the 31st like God intended.
For a while, it wasn’t an issue. But eventually our church began throwing it’s own Halloween party on the closest Sunday. So when Halloween falls directly on it, we would go to that instead of trick-or-treating.
I could never imagine actually doing it on another night, though. A party, maybe. But Trick or Treat only works if everyone knows what day its on, and can be ready for it. You show up on the wrong day, and you won’t get anything.
I hate moving holidays around to the nearest Friday or Monday. Columbus Day is on October 12, Independence Day is July 4, and Christmas is December 25. If we hand out candy at all this year (some years, we don’t), then it will be on October 31, which IS Halloween. On November 1, we will not have the porch and yard lights on.
I reluctantly make an exception for Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, Easter, and the like because they have been designated as days of the week, not dates.
Personally, I’d like to go to a 12 month year, each month consisting of 30 days (so we’d have five weeks of six days each) with 5 or 6 days that are not associated with a weekday. This isn’t going to happen in the near future, though, because a great many people consider a seven day week to be holy.
Wait… they didn’t want people trick or treating and being all spooky-like on a Sunday because it’s a sacred day. So they moved it to All Saints’ Day instead? Heh.
Here’s another place–Flint, Michigan–that’s “moved” trick-or-treating, this time to Saturday instead of Monday. This one talks about Sunday night being a “school night,” but of course most Halloweens are that.
Popular thing to do in Utah, going on the previous Saturday instead of Sunday. It sucked because no one could agree on it, so many houses would be dark on both days. My dad even made it a point to answer the door on Saturdays saying “Today’s not Halloween, come back tomorrow and I’ll have candy”.
Seconded.
There will be candy available here on 10/31 for the kids, if any show up before or after all they get is me yelling " GET OFF MY LAWN"
Sounds like candy at your house might be bear traps.
We don’t really have trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood, so I’ll be bringing candy to the hospital I work at for the pediatrics inpatient unit to distribute to the kids who are stuck in the hospital. That’s going to be done on Friday just because there’ll be enough staff on a weekday to take time to do that.
Regular trick-or-treating should be done on October 31, always, whether rain, shine, snow, or Sunday.
Halloween is October 31st. That is when you Trick-or-Treat. Moving it is stupid and people who want to move it to avoid having it observed on a Sunday are jackasses.
Jackasses, total jackasses.
Personally, I am inclined to follow the example set by EvilTOJ’s father- answering the door with “today’s not Halloween”. However, this punishes the children who do not deserve to be punished because their parents are jackasses.
Total jackasses.
I would have candy available on the off-day. I would open the door and give out candy to trick-or-treaters. I would give out the same candy I would give out on any other Halloween.
On October 31st, I would give out AWESOME CANDY!!!
I would give out candy so incredibly awesome that the kids would not only talk about it at school during the following week, but would hold dear the candy memory as one of the greatest experiences of all their trick-or-treating years. Everyone in the community would hear tales of the amazing awesome candy that was given out at bienville’s house on Halloween (the real Halloween).
Again, the children whose parents had to be jackasses, total jackasses, are not being punished. They’re getting the same candy I would normally give out on any other Halloween. This is not about punishing one group of children, it is about rewarding the other group of children.
The children do not deserve to be punished just because their parents are jackasses, total jackasses.
However, the parents who are jackasses, total jackasses, do deserve to be punished. Thus, AWESOME CANDY on October 31st. The Legend of the Awesome Candy that will be told amongst children for years to come will highlight to these unfortunate children that their parents are jackasses, total jackasses.
No amount of justification or religious witnessing will redeem the parents in their child’s eyes. They would be faced with the harsh truth that their children now hate them. They will never again have any hope that they may be seen by their child as being anything other than jackasses, total jackasses.
Samhain knows nothing about your newfangled calendar! The fabric between the living and the dead knows nothing about your HOA or parish. 
I am aware of the significance of All Saint’s Day for Catholics. My brother’s birthday is on November 1st. He went through 12 years of Catholic School never once having to go to school on his birthday. Asshole.
These communities that don’t want to observe Halloween on Sunday, I’m guessing that these communities are not Catholic but a few of the varying Protestant flavors of Christianity.
GQ type question inserted into the IMHO Thread:
How significant is All Saint’s Day to the various Protestant denominations?
Asking as someone who really just doesn’t know and is curious.