# What do kids in Manhattan do on Halloween? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 23, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883 "2009-10-23T17:53:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/1 "2009-10-23T17:53:56Z")
We live in a pretty built-up part of L.A. There are a lot of blocks around us that consist entirely of multistory condos and apartments. However, there’s still a core of single-family houses where you can trick-or-treat. But what do kids in Manhattan do? Is there no trick-or-treating there? ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/2 "2009-10-23T18:04:34Z")
Presumably they could trick-or-treat within their apartment building. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/3 "2009-10-23T18:09:43Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > We live in a pretty built-up part of L.A. There are a lot of blocks around us that consist entirely of multistory condos and apartments. However, there’s still a core of single-family houses where you can trick-or-treat. > > But what do kids in Manhattan do? Is there no trick-or-treating there? There are a lot of houses in Manhattan. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/4 "2009-10-23T18:15:01Z")
Our daughter had a kid’s book entitled something like _My Neighbor is a Witch_, about a kid who believes his New Age-y Manhattan apartment building neighbor is a witch. It shows him going from apartment to apartment, as **ruadh** says. the book is a hoot. All of the neighbor’s actions are explicable in non-supernatural (and non-wiccan0 ways, but you never know. And the other neighbors aren’t really prepared for trick-or-treaters, so the kid gets canapes from one set of partiers. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/5 "2009-10-23T18:36:14Z")
If you live in a ghetto, Manhattan, or less-than-desirable area (including apartment complexes and buildings sometimes), you take the kids to a neighborhood nearby. My decent middle-class 'hood in S.W. Philadelphia was 50% neighborhood kids and 50% nearby West Philly kids on Halloween, because their 'hood just wasn’t good to be around on Halloween. It was normal, and no one objected unless the kids weren’t dressed, as they would object if any kid wasn’t dressed. So, if you live in a lame area of a city like Manhattan, or Philly, you take your gig someplace else. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/6 "2009-10-23T18:38:21Z")
When I lived in NY, I saw kids go from business to business on Halloween. Diners and the like would have a dish of candy out for this purpose. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/7 "2009-10-23T22:14:27Z")
i was always envious of my school friends that lived in big apt. buildings. they could wear what ever costume they wanted and not be bundled up. the big apt. buildings usually have the kids go door to door, floor to floor. some are very organized about it having set hours, or parties in the lobby. i’m in philly and a lot of the neighbourhoods have a weekend day set aside so they know the kids are from the 'hood and not bused in. any businesses open during the planned times will have candy as well. the neighbourhood organization will either set out fliers or emails stating the day and times for the trick or treat activities. some streets will block off traffic and have block parties that weekend. i thought that kids in rural areas get the short end of the trick or treat stick. cities have many more candy getting opportunities. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/8 "2009-10-23T22:17:14Z")
Shoot each other and smoke crack like on any normal night, I imagine. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Righteous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Dr.Righteous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Righteous)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/9 "2009-10-23T23:01:15Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > When I lived in NY, I saw kids go from business to business on Halloween. Diners and the like would have a dish of candy out for this purpose. This. The Manhattan liquor store I work in has lots of candy for kids… in the afternoon and early evening parents bring their kids all dressed up, and as the evening progresses we see adults dressed up on their way to a party. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/10 "2009-10-23T23:15:57Z")
The last time I went trick-or-treating in Manhattan - or at all - was in 1980 (I was the cutest little Boba Fett you’ve ever seen). We were living in Washington Square village, a huge housing complex near NYU, and I remember my Mom had a list of apartments we could visit - I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something the building management set up. We stopped by several dozen doors out of the thousands of apartments in the complex, then dropped off our spoils at home and went to see the parade. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2009, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/11 "2009-10-23T23:19:39Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > …the big apt. buildings usually have the kids go door to door, floor to floor. some are very organized about it having set hours, or parties in the lobby… When I lived in Philly the apartment managment would set aside an evening for trick-or-treating (not limited to kids who lived in the building) and pass out signs for the tenants to put on their doors if they wanted trick-or-treaters to stop by. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/12 "2009-10-24T00:41:04Z")
NPR had a first-person story a few years ago about a woman from Africa, I think it was, a very recent immigrant who’d just moved to NYC and knew nothing about American Halloween customs. One night her husband, who’d been in the country longer, left for work. She became more and more frightened as a succession of midgets in strange costumes and scary masks rang her doorbell and knocked on her apartment door for hours; it wasn’t until her husband returned late that night that she finally understood, to her great relief, what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/13 "2009-10-24T01:58:31Z")
Heheh. When I was in Cameroon, I carved a jack’o’lantern and left it outside my door as a bit of cultural exchange. When my neighbor asked about it, I explained about how Halloween was seen as a day when spirits walked around, so we had all these things to deter them. My neighbor looked very solemn. Then he thanked me very seriously. He said he was kind of shocked- he didn’t even know it was such a dangerous night- and that now that he knew he’d make sure to take precautions about the spirits and ghosts. I think most of my block stayed in that night, now that they’d been warned about the spiritual danger zones that only foreigners know! ---
**Author:** ![notfrommensa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/f14d63/32.png) [@notfrommensa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/notfrommensa)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/14 "2009-10-24T03:29:16Z")
(Not Manhattan, but close). I went trick or treating in Staten Island back in the late 60’s when my family was visiting some friends. I was living in a DC suburb at the time. Most of the “treats” were money, a nickel or dime per household. I couldn’t have been more than 8 yrs old at the time as I was born in 1961 and I know it was before my family moved to Vermont in 1970. It is actually the earliest Halloween that I can remember. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/15 "2009-10-24T03:34:56Z")
After trick-or-treat, bundle up the kiddies and take them to the parade in the Village. But do not drive, unless you like gridlock. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2009, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-kids-in-manhattan-do-on-halloween/514883/16 "2009-10-24T13:21:38Z")
> [@rocking\_chair](#): > > the big apt. buildings usually have the kids go door to door, floor to floor. some are very organized about it having set hours, or parties in the lobby. That’s pretty much what we do. A day or 2 before the big day the building puts up a sign-up sheet and people put a time when kids can come by. Kids get together in packs like they usually do, pile into elevators and go from floor to floor. If it’s nice out we’ll walk around the neighborhood a little bit. The local park and school have halloween parties.