[Blessings2You]

We used to have a handful of little goblins show up, spread out from 5-8 o'clock. Now it's hard to get up and down the stairs, and it makes us both anxious, so we hide. All the kids that used to come all grew up anyway.

Times have changed.

[kicker]

They have (the years). In NJ with my own two little ones, a compact neighbor hood full of young ones, you never sat down between doorbell rings. Then we moved to Maryland, 4 houses up a long hilly driveway. In 9 years I've had 2 trick or treaters,
Two brave (or greedy) souls who walked up the lonesome drive. As young kids my two went to more crowded, candy profitable neighborhoods. At 17 my two are off to parties. We buy candy, I've had a couple candy bars already. We have candy "in case" but no one comes. We used to buy cider and cider donuts for us in Jersey, here nothing. I like Halloween, I miss it. I decorated anyway. DD made a bloody diorama for forensic class. Today we worked on a be in (with own heads ) JibJab Monster Mash card. We do Halloween in a new way. I'll be lonely when kids go to college.

[Blessings2You]

I think this year I'm going to dress up as a fat old lady in pajamas. Oh wait.

[DizzyLizzy]

Since we have a ton of kids that come by every year to see our large halloween display we put in our kitchen window, I will suck it up enjoy a couple of hours of people ringing my doorbell and try to remember that this really is for the kids. The young ones are so fun, and they get so excited and proud of their costumes and it is so cool to hear their reactions when they see our 'goulish display' for the first time. (BTW.....Anoka, the Halloween Capital of the World is just a few blocks away, so we always have a high number of trick or treaters each year, and I know that people will drive up this way just to be a part of all the activities in the hopes hopes of scoring "Big time" on candy!

[Dejibo]

we had ONE! actually he is the first one in 3 years to show up. We live way out on the lake in the middle of a dead end street, in the abandoned section of town for the winter. not many folks brave enough to head out here.

btw, he was clint eastwood from the high plains drifter. Had the poncho, the hat, and a scruffy beard drwan on him, with a cigar. Very cute 7 or 8 year old blonde boy. My husband gave him an enormous hand full of candies. I always buy a small bag just in case.

[ewizabeth]

We got about 50-60 I think. The number shrinks a bit each year. Many of the kids in the neighborhood grew up. We used to get about 150 or more at the peak.

I love the wee little ones dressed up so cutely.

[hulagrl]

I went over to my folks house because they're aren't any kids on my street. They live in a golf community so the parents take the kids around on golf carts(it's a huge neighborhood). It's cute and the kids get to go in groups on decorated golf carts, one man was pulling kids on a flat bed truck. I left there around 8:45 and the golf carts were still out and about. I had my dog with me and now she's passed out on the bed, I guess the trick or treaters wore her out!

[Erin524]

Our street is right on the edge of a big subdivision full of kids. (more kids in this area than I ever saw at the last two houses I lived at) and they hardly ever come down to our street. Our neighborhood was in development for the first few years we were here, but now all the houses are finished. Only problem is, there's a bunch of old people down here who dont like kids. So they dont turn on their lights.

The last few years, we've been getting kids whose parents have been bringing them from a lower income part of town so they can trick-or-treat out here in a safer area. I really like those kids. You can always tell who they are (not by color or costumes) They're always the more polite kids. They're the ones who patiently wait for you to hand them the candy, they dont grab it away, they dont try to break down your door to get it....and they always say thank you. (probably because their mom's are standing behind them) That's the other thing...they've always got a parent with them.

The neighborhood kids seem to all roam in feral packs. Most of them look like they didnt even bother to get a costume, they just grabbed their pillowcases. They're also destructive little things. I used to do decorations outside in the yard, until I caught the neighborhood kids vandalizing my decorations, or stealing them.

and when I say the neighborhood kids are feral packs, they sure do act like it. I miss my dog at Halloween. When you have 30 teenage kids show up at your door, and they're pushing each other down to get to the door for some candy, it's a bit scary...when I had my 100lbs scary-looking-didnt-need-a-cheesy-costume-dog standing next to me, I didnt feel scared that I was going to get trampled in my own house because of a slavering mob of children wanted our Snicker's bars. Maybe I can borrow a dog from someone next Halloween??

This year was the first year I didnt make a big deal about Halloween. No costume...other than my glow-in-the-dark eyeball necklace. We went out to dinner during the busiest time of trick-or-treating. When we got home, I didnt even put the candy in a bowl...I just left it in the bag and put it on a chair by the door. I also had the bright idea to lock the glass door this year, so I didnt have to stop kids from just walking into my house. (why do kids think this is allowed?)

One thing I noticed driving home. Kids in our neighborhood dont seem to have had it drilled in them that they're not supposed to run out in front of cars. They didnt have flashlights...a ton of them were not wearing anything reflective. (we had to do all that back in the 70s when we had ginormous, heavy flashlights) I also saw some kids vandalizing someone's ornaments.

I ended up turning and going thru the grocery store/mall parking lot that's the long way around to get to my house, just so I wouldnt squish some kid wearing black running into the street from behind a car. (people in our subdivision have huge driveways, but never seem to use them)

I only almost ran down 5 kids. (all in one group) Last year, I came even closer to squishing a couple of kids. (and got yelled at by the parents...who hadnt taught their kids the proper way to cross a street.) At least this year and last year, I was driving about 10mph so I could stop quicker...saw a bunch of cars speeding thru our neighborhood this year...50mph at least...surprised there wasnt a kid impaled in their windshields.

[braingonebad]

Kind of bitter sweet for me. I used to have half an attic of halloween deco, but sold a lot at the yard sale and gave the rest to ds, who just bought his first house. The few things I kept are in storage.

But I did get to take dgd around. She was Snow White. So cute. She practiced saying Trick or Treat for hours before we went out, and said it loud and clear at every door - not a shy one, this girl. And said Thank you, Happy Halloween! too.

She does this thing where she reassures herself "That's NOT scary. Not scary, right Granny?" And it usually works. Great coping mechanism for a 3 yr old.

At one house, we had to creep between the legs of a GIANT spider to get her treat!





You know, there were tons of kids going around. We used to get a few - then, there wasn't anyone but us giving out candy o our block.

Now everyone on our block gives out candy and not one kid came. It's like they found out I'm sick and thy think they're gonna catch it.

[Becca44]

We were ready for far more kids than actually came by....I think when it was all said and done there were only about 35. :-/
Any parents who were out walking with their little trick-or-treaters got a small plastic glass of wine (white or red) if they chose and the kids got the big candy bars. Hopefully the world will get out and we'll have more guests next year.

And I carved 12 pumpkins for cryin' out loud.... LOL