Yet we complain that our children grow up too fast…
Josh around with them and give them some candy, ferchrissakes.
Answer the door dressed as Jimmy Saville
If they’re wearing costumes they get candy. I don’t care how old they are.
Halloween candy rules at the House of Munch:
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If you want candy, you have to say “Trick or treat” or “Happy Halloween!”. Special exceptions will be made if you’re in character, and that character can’t talk (I had a teenage Michael Myers, who pointed at his throat and shrugged his shoulders - that gets a pass).
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No costume, no candy. If you’re too cool for a costume, you’re too cool for candy.
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Small children get bonus candy.
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Minimal costume gets minimal candy.
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You walk through my garden, you get minimal candy.
Which is more expensive:
- A couple pieces of candy.
- New tires to replace the ones that got slashed by teens you “stuck it to.”
ToT is one of those things where you either have to accept the bad with the good or just opt out of it entirely, IMO.
When I give out candy, I always grab a piece of candy and a “Kick or Treat” card for my Taekwondo school and put it directly in their bag. When I have non-costumed teens show up (and I did last night), I do that, but I palm the candy and just drop the card.
You might try giving them “Get Our Of Hell Free” cards and palming the candy.,
I really like dancing option. At this age, the kids KNOW they’re too old for trick or treat, but there really aren’t any other options for them usually. So it’s usually just being goofy and feeling out of place.
Making them dance let’s them know that 1. Some adults still have a sense of humour and 2. Actually gives them something to do or remember on Halloween, so it wasn’t a TOTAL loser ‘yeah, we just went around and scored candycorns’. “This one guy made us dance Gangnum, lol!!!”.
I like the idea of gold foil-wrapped bouillon cubes. They’d look enough like a wrapped piece of candy during the split second they’d have to see them as you dropped them into the teens’ bags, so they’d only figure out later that they had some non-candy stuff. By then, they’d probably have no clue who gave it to them.
I had 4 high school neighbor kids show up and the three girls were in costume but the boy wasn’t. I gave the girls candy and then looked at him. He said “I don’t have a costume or a bag.” So I slowly moved the candy bowl away saying, “That’s okay, I don’t have any candy.” He laughed and I gave him some candy. I mean is going trick or treating really the worst thing these kids could be doing?
I was on Metro last night with an exceedingly hulking teenager - the fellow had a scrap of paper pinned to the front of his shirt, reading “BITCH, I’M ME!!!” If he showed up, I think I’d rather just give him candy instead of pressing the point.
No costume, no candy. Period. I try to gauge my candy handing out so that by the time the teens without costumes show up (usually after the littler kids) I am out of candy anyway.
However, some of the best costumes I saw last night were out of the over 12 set.
Jeez, I’m exhausted just reading about all the holiday policing that people do. All I need is a chirpy voice saying trick or treat and they get candy. It’s one day a year.
I was actually pretty surprised at how few teenagers without a costume showed up. I’m in an extremely Halloween friendly neighborhood, and people come in from surrounding areas. Lots of great costumes. Even the teenagers made a pretty solid effort.
I wish I’d seen this thread last night. I had teenage boys who smelled of cigarette smoke who showed up at my door.
Ask them how old they are, 9? 10?
Take their picture and tell them you’re posting it on Facebook in the Lame Costumes group. If your house gets trashed, hey you have their pictures.
Attack them with a paintball gun like I saw in a movie last night.
I
Not that you’d make the same mistake, but my last year trick or treating, one mean old man said that to my sister and I. He also said we should be ashamed and was going to call the cops if he saw us go to any more houses. I was eleven and sis was nine. Not exactly consolation that he must have thought we were older because we were rather tall for our age.
These days I jokingly ask their age and give em a piece of candy anyway. No feelings hurt and a low yield will likely dampen their enthusiasm if they’re just in it for free candy, not ToT spirit.
Yup. I tend to be a cynical misanthrope, but even teenagers without costumes wouldn’t bother me. The teens show up after all the little kids have made the rounds, so I’m just giving them candy that is going to sit around my house otherwise.
Besides, me giving out candy is at least half about letting them see my kickass costume, so the more the merrier! 
In my old neighborhood, we had a LOT of big groups of teens in no costumes show up, and almost no little kids. Apparently the little kids went to the Trunk or Treat event at the church, which was two lots down from my house.
New house? I think we got a couple of teens, by themselves, but in costume. I don’t think any ToTers showed up without a costume. For the very smallest ones who were accompanied by Mom or Dad, usually the parent was costumed, too. We’ve been here a couple of years, and we had the same experience last year as well.
We did have a candy thief, though. When I was making up goodie bags, I dropped an orange Tootsie Pop, and one of our orange kitties pounced on it and ran away with it. He dearly loves to play with sticks, and he also likes to play fetch. When he took the pop to my husband, my husband gave him a drinking straw in exchange, which is just as much fun for the cat.
Last night I had a girl who looked like she was 15-16* dressed in a tight black costume with cat ears show up alone at my door and ask for candy. Her father was standing in the street glowering up at me. I think I was happier with the lazy no-costumers since they didn’t manage to make me irrationally feel both skeevy and threatened at the same time just for opening my front door.
*By looks anyway. For all I know she was eight and has been eating a lot of estrogen-injected beef products
Heh, my cousin is 12 and looks like she’s 17. You just never know! I don’t think she wanted to do trick or treat, but my uncle made her.