Spin off - how much candy do you give out?

[pomtzu]

And you didn't have a dog with you? I usually hand the treats to people who have dogs with them. I get treats like Milkbone because they have the indent of the name in the treat and people typically recognize what they are so there's no confusing people who are picky about what treats they'll allow their dogs to have (I know milkbone is not the greatest but its trick or treating).

Nope, no dog. Just some hateful individual who was too cheap to buy candy, or maybe just didn't like kids.

[aTailOf2Kitties]

I have found that the number of trick-or-treaters is inversely proportional to the amount of candy I buy. So I end up buying a bunch of candy that I like because I'm likely to be the only one eating it

[Twisterdog]

I live in a tiny town, 220 people. Every kid in town goes to every house, every year. We all know each other here. The adults have as much fun gabbing with their neighbors as the kids do trick-or-treating. Some people make homemade treats for the kids ... really. One little old lady makes cupcakes every year, with the all the kids' names on them.

So I probably get 100 kids a year, and I give them each a huge handful or two. I buy tons of candy, and everyone else does, too.

As it should be, IMO.

[Pinot's Mom]

We live in a medium sized development, BUT, our driveway is a private road with four houses and it's a pretty good pitch downhill. It gets pretty dark down there for kids, I think, and we don't get a huge number. The neighborhood has a party at the playground/park area and then the kids go from there, but it's supposed to be over by 7:45 I think (we have no children).

My husband usually buys about 4 bags of candy bars; we generally go through most of that. He sits out front with his monster feet and hands on, with a big metal bowl of candy; I feel bad for him when we get basically no kids - he really looks forward to it!

[Taz_Zoee]

My dogs also go nuts when people come to the door. But we still hand out candy. We usually only get 10 or less trick-or-treaters. We have three kids and one baby in the court, but others come from around. The court is rather dark so they are discouraged from coming in. Which is too bad because our house is always decorated all spooky for Halloween. But we also have an adult Halloween Party, so that is fun!

[K9karen]

When we first moved here in the early 70's, we had a lot of kids. There's an elementary school on the corner, so maybe that was why. As the years went by, we got less kids. Our block are single homes and a longer space for the kids to walk between houses. A block or 2 away, there are attached homes and smaller homes so the kids don't have to go far to get to another house. I used to T or T with my niece when she was a kid and I even went to the other blocks, where the adults hung out outside and talked and drank beer. Tons of kids. Chased by a gorilla and monsters! The last 10 years, I got 4-6 kids.
I always gave out regular sized candy bars, knowing I'd wind up with more than half left over. I hated Halloween because it drove Cody nuts and we had to lock him in a room for hours. Logan barks but wants to participate and meet everyone.

This year, mainly because I haven't called an electrician yet to rewire my porch light, we're going to the grandkids house and walking with them and taking turns giving out goodies. .

[cassiesmom]

Has anyone ever heard of a trunk-or-treat? One of the churches I pass on the way to work is having one this year. I had never heard of it, so I looked it up on about.com.

Holding a Trunk-or-Treat Halloween activity is a great way to keep Halloween safe. What is a Trunk-or-Treat? It's when several families get together at the church building, park their cars in the parking lot, open up the trunks of their cars, and kids come around to each car to Trunk-or-Treat instead of going house to house to Trick-or-Treat.

Let people know the estimated number of children that will be there so they can know how much candy to bring.
If Halloween is on a Sunday you can hold the Trunk-or-Treat activity on Saturday the 30th.
Those who don't have trunks (or cars) can also hand out candy by standing in-between the cars.
People can even decorate their cars!