Halloween Question

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LauraMacNCheese
LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,198 Member
in Chit-Chat
I brought up this topic on my wall & am curious what the rest of MFP thinks.

Last night, as we roamed my friend's neighbor for trick-or-treating, we saw a few houses (maybe 3 or 4) that were all decked out for Halloween...some really cool decorations. However, no one was home. Our kids were naturally curious as to why someone would go to the trouble of decorating their house & then not be home to pass out candy. We adults figured the people were out & about with their munchkins doing their own trick-or-treating. But again, the kids were curious.

So my question is this: if people decorate their houses for Halloween, is it unreasonable to think that someone would remain at said house to hand out candy?
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  • spade117
    spade117 Posts: 2,466 Member
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    is it unreasonable to think that someone would remain at said house to hand out candy?

    Yes.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    I already told you my opininon. I'm just curious what others think...

    bump
  • Dub_D
    Dub_D Posts: 1,760 Member
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    I went all out with my decorations and had to leave to take my daughter trick or treating for part of the night. There was nobody left home to answer the door.

    ETA: and I was not leaving my good bowl outside to get stolen! :laugh:
  • pastryari
    pastryari Posts: 8,646 Member
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    I went all out with my decorations and had to leave to take my daughter trick or treating for part of the night. There was nobody left home to answer the door.

    ETA: and I was not leaving my good bowl outside to get stolen! :laugh:

    LOL.

    Some people are into the Halloween spirit and want to decorate their houses but may have other plans for the actual day/evening of Halloween. Ex: taking their kid(s) trick or treating.
  • lizdavis07
    lizdavis07 Posts: 766 Member
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    My landlord donated a lot of old Halloween decorations to me and my roommate, so we decorated the house just for fun.

    I turned out all my lights and did not participate in passing out candy. There aren't that many people in my neighborhood, so I doubt people even really noticed.

    If I have children, yes I would most likely hand out candy. But I don't and candy is damn expensive. I know, Halloween Grinch here. lol
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    We had neighbors for several years who did that. They were college students, so I figured they were at a party or something Halloween night.

    Some people will leave a bowl of candy on the porch under those circumstances, but some don't. It is interesting, but I can think of a lot of reasons for it. I'm sure they're celebrating somewhere!
  • know_your_worth
    know_your_worth Posts: 481 Member
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    No. Maybe they had a party the weekend before or they just wanted to decorate to get in the spirit. Maybe they didn't decorate for the TOTers, there was no one to stay home to pass out candy, they didn't feel like doing it, etc.

    I can see how decorated houses attract kids and seem welcoming so that could be misleading, but at the same time if there's no one passing out candy at a house there's no one passing out candy at a house. No big deal.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    My family used to go ALL OUT for Halloween when I was young. And the problem was that they got so swamped with Trick or Treaters that they ran out of candy early. There were times I came back from my Halloweenin' and they had to give out the candy I'd collected!

    So that could be it. They got so many earlier in the evening that they had to close up shop.
  • vim_n_vigor
    vim_n_vigor Posts: 4,089 Member
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    There could be many reasons why people decorate and don't stay at home the night of...kids of their own, working, parties, illness, death, who knows? They are in no way obligated to stay at their homes and hand out candy. Anyone who does is doing a kind thing for the children, not something they are required to do. Your kids should be very happy and thankful for the people who did give them candy and not give a second thought to the houses that didn't.
  • felice03
    felice03 Posts: 2,732 Member
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    I think it is likely that they are out with their own children or festivities.
  • WEB3
    WEB3 Posts: 121 Member
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    I put my daughter's enjoyment first over the other kids in the neighbourhood.
    We turned off all the lights, went trick or treating for an hour and came back to hand out candy after.
  • know_your_worth
    know_your_worth Posts: 481 Member
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    kids should be very happy and thankful for the people who did give them candy and not give a second thought to the houses that didn't.

    My thoughts exactly!!
    Handing out candy on Halloween is an act of kindess, not an obligation. Kind of off the topic of decorating, but I think in general a lot of people have the mindset that everyone should participate.
  • WendyTerry420
    WendyTerry420 Posts: 13,274 Member
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    I brought up this topic on my wall & am curious what the rest of MFP thinks.

    Last night, as we roamed my friend's neighbor for trick-or-treating, we saw a few houses (maybe 3 or 4) that were all decked out for Halloween...some really cool decorations. However, no one was home. Our kids were naturally curious as to why someone would go to the trouble of decorating their house & then not be home to pass out candy. We adults figured the people were out & about with their munchkins doing their own trick-or-treating. But again, the kids were curious.

    So my question is this: if people decorate their houses for Halloween, is it unreasonable to think that someone would remain at said house to hand out candy?

    My daughter ran across that last night, except they *were* home, just no passing out candy. She told them that they shouldn't decorate if they aren't going to participate.
  • LauraMacNCheese
    LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,198 Member
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    kids should be very happy and thankful for the people who did give them candy and not give a second thought to the houses that didn't.

    My thoughts exactly!!
    Handing out candy on Halloween is an act of kindess, not an obligation. Kind of off the topic of decorating, but I think in general a lot of people have the mindset that everyone should participate.

    Our kids weren't complaining & believe me, they were more than grateful for what they received (I think they each ended up with 3lbs of candy, easily). They were just curious about the decorations vs. no one home. We did explain that they were most likely out with their own kids or just felt like decorating.

    Their curiosity made me curious; so I figured I'd ask and see what other people thought. :flowerforyou:
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    She told them that they shouldn't decorate if they aren't going to participate.

    If they weren't passing out candy, why was she talking to them? If the lights are off, you don't knock.
  • LorinaLynn
    LorinaLynn Posts: 13,247 Member
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    She told them that they shouldn't decorate if they aren't going to participate.

    If they weren't passing out candy, why was she talking to them? If the lights are off, you don't knock.

    This. Big time decorating is a big time expense, in both time and money. It should be looked on as providing free entertainment and enjoyed on it's own merit. It's done by people who love the holiday... not as an attempt to draw in more grubby kids looking for a handout. :wink:

    This was our yard in 1984. My brothers - then age 17 and 22 - made all the monsters themselves. No masks. No store bought props.

    Untitled-6.jpg

    Untitled-8.jpg

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    Untitled-7.jpg

    They got HUNDREDS of kids knocking on the door. So in addition to the expense and work and worry of having the decorations, with occasional vandalism, they also had to spend a lot more money on candy. Like I said before, they ran out of candy early on and gave out MY candy, which they replaced the next day when it was half price.

    Kids should be happy the can enjoy the decorations - without having to spend the $10+ a head to go to a haunted house - and not get miffed if they don't get a Reeses' from them, too.
  • UsedToBeHusky
    UsedToBeHusky Posts: 15,229 Member
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    When I was a kid, you could knock on every door and friendly neighbors were happy to oblige with a treat or two. So many people don't give out candy anymore. NO ONE in my entire neighborhood (it's kind of small) gave out candy, but me. We went to a neighborhood where we used to live, and every three or four houses were giving out candy. We went to a trunk or treat where there were about a dozen or so people giving out candy. Then we went to a particularly large neighborhood, but only one or two houses on each street were giving out candy. The kids have to work a lot harder and travel a lot further to find people who are participating. My kids didn't want to knock on someone's door who didn't have candy. That's just socially awkward. But we do homemade costumes every year so they want to show off their costumes as much as those who choose to elaborately decorate their house. It's just disheartening because some kids really do put effort in it. Not every trick-or-treater is a "greedy, grubby" kid.
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    My son was born on Halloween 2 years ago so no one was home for that reason. You don't know why their not there so...
  • LauraMacNCheese
    LauraMacNCheese Posts: 7,198 Member
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    My son was born on Halloween 2 years ago so no one was home for that reason. You don't know why their not there so...

    Awww...Happy birthday to your little guy!!!! :flowerforyou:

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