Halloween...WTF?

[brywool]

So my wife dresses up each year on Halloween to hand out candy. Our house is decked out in Grim Reapers, Scarecrows, Skeletons and a fog machine.
Parents are avoiding our house and telling their kids "ooh, that's too scary".


WHAT THE FU** HAS HAPPENED TO HALLOWEEN?????
Disappointing.

[LtVanish]

Not to mention with Daylight savings times still in effect, and even stricter hours, trick or treating is over when it gets dark out. Everyone is afraid of everything now. I can't even get a hold of anyone that makes delicious whole made popcorn balls anymore, they are just to dangerous to eat I guess.

[Ehwmatt]

Dude... same at my parents house and it seems this is a trend this year all over after I've gone online tonight. My parents told me they had maybe 10 kids (as opposed to many dozens in years past). Tonight was about 50, not windy, and not riany - in other words, about as nice as Halloween gets in Cleveland. Not to mention it's on a weekend day.

For some reason, trick or treat used to be from 6-9. Now, all of a sudden, it's 6-7:30. At first, I thought the lack of trick or treaters might be reflective of the lack of young families in Cleveland today... but it seems this isn't confined to Cleveland. I've seen FaceBook statuses etc. about it from all over the place tonight.

Is it a reflection of our healthier culture/the movement against obesity? A worry about dangerous stuff happening on Halloween? Parents too busy to take their kids out? The result of people who want to gut every American tradition? Or what?

[Don]

Kids aren't allowed to eat junk anymore and any home made treats or fruits that aren't factory sealed get tossed automatically. 6 to 7 does seem to be the new bewitching hour.
I think this tradition is actually from the Celtics festivals of the 16th century and found it's way to this side of the Atlantic with the Scottish and Irish immigrants.

[brywool]

Completely SUCKS. I think next year we'll just boycott.

[Rockindeano]

Parents too busy to take their kids out? The result of people who want to gut every American tradition? Or what?

Well there was a World Series game and a NFL game on right at Trick or Treat time. Maybe the good people of Cleveland proper were busy studying their ballots? LOL, the movement to a healthier style of living made me laugh. If anything, parents will be trolling with their kids in order to thieve half the fucking candy for themselves. We are a sickening fat country dude.

[brywool]

Parents too busy to take their kids out? The result of people who want to gut every American tradition? Or what?

Well there was a World Series game and a NFL game on right at Trick or Treat time.

Plenty of Moms that don't care for baseball... Seriously, nobody's doing it anymore... sucks.

[Enigma869]

Halloween has always seemed odd to me. Even when I was a little boy, I could never quite wrap my head around the whole "Trick or Treat" thing. You spend your entire life with your parents telling you that you're not to interact with strangers and certainly never take candy from strangers. Then, October 31st rolls around, and it's time to forget all of those life lessons. Very odd. Bring on Thanksgiving!

[Don]

A lot of Halloween parties around here this evening (I'm talking for the kids, not the adult parties that happen earlier in the week). Times have changed, knocking on people's doors isn't the in thing to do anymore, just like Mischief night. You try TP'ing someone's house now and you might get your head blown off.

[steveo777]

A lot of Halloween parties around here this evening (I'm talking for the kids, not the adult parties that happen earlier in the week). Times have changed, knocking on people's doors isn't the in thing to do anymore, just like Mischief night. You try TP'ing someone's house now and you might get your head blown off.

When I was a kid we TP'd all the lame fucks who turned off their lights and pretended they weren't home on Halloween. We could see the glows from these idiot's TVs.

[Angel]

Our community-and many in the area-have started doing "Trunk or Treats" where everyone meets in a school or church parking lot and the kids go from trunk to trunk instead of door to door. I MUCH prefer this method-it takes about 30 minutes to get it all done and over with. We usually have very few trickers to treat after the trunk or treat-but I treated over 200 trickers at the trunk or treat!

Maybe some of your communities are doing something similar and that cuts down on the door to door traffic.

[SherriBerry]

The decline of Halloween might be limited to a big city problem - we had 72 kids tonight between 5:30 to just after 8:30 and met our new neighbours. Just down the block we had a few houses that went all out with decorating which looked great. I can't imagine anyone's decorations being too scary, so I think some parents are taking overprotectiveness to ridiculous levels. Considering the amount of junk kids eat year round, including what they serve in school cafeterias, I don't think it's just about collecting free candy. In this economy I'm surprised more people aren't Trick or Treating.

[Frontiers65]

Well I had no trick or treaters this year...last year I had 4. I think most kids go to the mall to trick r treat nowdays.

[bluejeangirl76]

Well I had no trick or treaters this year...last year I had 4. I think most kids go to the mall to trick or treat nowdays.

I made the mistake of going to the mall yesterday - and yep, that's where they all were!!

[StevePerryHair]

We don't have designated times in our area of Florida. Kids start as it gets dark, and finish when people start turning their lights off. Here, that was about 7-9pm last night. We had more trick or treaters this year than the last couple years. People are just so paranoid anymore though. They choose churches, city events, shopping areas and parties over going out door to door. We've stayed traditional. People act as if there are thousands of documented cases of kids being poisoned or killed by halloween candy when in reality there arent. Its sad to me how society has lost so much trust. They got a ton of freaking candy though. I think people dump it in their bags so they don't have it left over!

[brywool]

I dunno, to me it's just sad. Trick or treating in a mall... a mall??? wow. what fun. The stores probably give them 10% coupons....

[YoungJRNY]

My Halloween trick or treat was the complete opposite. I'm a HUGE Halloween spirit guy. I go balls out with decorations, parties and what not. By far one of the most fun times of the year for me and a perfect "get read" moment for Thanksgiving.

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit. I dressed up as the Crow and just say there like a Manichean and my dad had a Michael Myers mask. I love kids, but those little shits would not step foot near us some even cried to come up the steps. Mission accomplished, loved it.

[bluejeangirl76]

I dunno, to me it's just sad. Trick or treating in a mall... a mall??? wow. what fun. The stores probably give them 10% coupons....

Most of the stores seemed not to be participating anyway. And the ones that were defintely lost business... you'd see a bunch of people with a pile of kids wander in looking for candy, and the people browsing and potentially buying would leave. I know that I walked out of a few stores because of that. Just way too crowded.

[bluejeangirl76]

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit.

You gave out diapers? Weird.

[StevePerryHair]

I dunno, to me it's just sad. Trick or treating in a mall... a mall??? wow. what fun. The stores probably give them 10% coupons....

It's sad to me too. I hate when tradition changes. My daughter was a SWAT person. My husband is a cop, so I guess it appealed to her. The guns they sell now are bright orange. Wouldn't want someone to think my 11 year old is packing real heat she could get shot I think things have gotten just too protective for our kids to an unhealthy degree. They will grow up with no coping skills afraid of everything the way things are. God forbid some catastrophic event happens and we have to rely on these neighbors we're all so afraid of. I blame the media. They instill sensationalized fear on us daily about everything we would never imagine. Make an isolated event look like it's an epidemic. It's sickening to me.

[Michigan Girl]

I haven't noticed a decline, but my sub has the Train of Terror ...no wimps allowed!!
They're serious about this too, they won't let me be a character because my laugh is too
recognizable ...I'm a dry the tears and pass out the candy, girl!!

Last night was a bit of a bummer because of the games!!

[Enigma869]

You gave out diapers? Weird.

Funny, I was thinking the same thing. What the fuck are "Huggies"? I mean...I know what they are, because my 4 year old used to take dumps in them, but I'm not seeing the Halloween correlation

[brywool]

My Halloween trick or treat was the complete opposite. I'm a HUGE Halloween spirit guy. I go balls out with decorations, parties and what not. By far one of the most fun times of the year for me and a perfect "get read" moment for Thanksgiving.

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit. I dressed up as the Crow and just say there like a Manichean and my dad had a Michael Myers mask. I love kids, but those little shits would not step foot near us some even cried to come up the steps. Mission accomplished, loved it.

that's awesome. It's such a fun deal for kids.

[YoungJRNY]

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit.

You gave out diapers? Weird.

Haha, got a buncha comedians in this joint Hugs, Huggies, whatever the lingo is. The box said HUGGIES and I've always called them huggies!

[Michigan Girl]

I've never heard of these ^^^^^ I thought you were handing out HUGS, real live
wrap your arms around little scared children, huggies ... I'm thinking awwwww!! ...but, nevermind!!

[YoungJRNY]

I've never heard of these ^^^^^ I thought you were handing out HUGS, real live
wrap your arms around little scared children, huggies ... I'm thinking awwwww!! ...but, nevermind!!

Hahahha, really?! Wow, that's pretty funny to me seeing people's reactions to hugs They are pretty popular around these parts and always thought they were a worldwide product. I guess not.

[bluejeangirl76]

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit.

You gave out diapers? Weird.

Haha, got a buncha comedians in this joint Hugs, Huggies, whatever the lingo is. The box said HUGGIES and I've always called them huggies!

Omg! They still make those?!?!? I haven't seen those since I was a little'un and my mom put them in my lunches for school! I never knew what the name was... I just called them "barrel juices".

[Everett]

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit.

You gave out diapers? Weird.

Haha, got a buncha comedians in this joint Hugs, Huggies, whatever the lingo is. The box said HUGGIES and I've always called them huggies!

Hugs rule

[Jonny B]

I thought they were called Teeni drinks? Did they change the name?

My bro had 450+ kids this year. No problems with Halloween around here.

[Melissa]

My Halloween trick or treat was the complete opposite. I'm a HUGE Halloween spirit guy. I go balls out with decorations, parties and what not. By far one of the most fun times of the year for me and a perfect "get read" moment for Thanksgiving.

I had tons and tons of trick or treaters. Passed out over 200 huggies and they were STILL coming after 8:30. Huggies are always a hit. I dressed up as the Crow and just say there like a Manichean and my dad had a Michael Myers mask. I love kids, but those little shits would not step foot near us some even cried to come up the steps. Mission accomplished, loved it.

Give out Pampers next year, they're awesome!