To Trick or Treat- or not?

Rosebean · October 2014

Give me your thoughts. Since DS is our oldest, and not quite 2, I am wondering if it's worth taking him trick or treating this year. If he went, it would only be once around the block, but I am seriously considering waiting until next year to take him out. I just don't think he'll get the significance of it and I highly doubt he'll bring it up in his 20's and say "remember when I was little and you didn't take me out trick or treating?" That and we would end up with a bunch of candy that he won't even get.

tamarar5 · October 2014

I'm not. And DD1 is 7. Its always cold, and out "approved" tot time is so early most people are at work. Besides, there's no one in our block who leaves the lights on.

I'm just doing a party with friends then locking out door on the actual night.

Meggiemuggins · October 2014

We're taking DS trick or treating at my parents'. they live on a quiet cul-de-sac; it's the house in which I grew up, so their neighbours who remember me from when I was little like to see him. There are only about 8 houses, which is plenty.

djm31012 · October 2014

Our neighborhood goes crazy for Halloween. I'm dressing DS up and will likely pull him in his car or wagon around the block to see everyone then it's home to open the door for trick or treaters and let him see all the costumes and give out candy . He will have no idea what's going on and doesn't eat candy obviously so I don't see a point in having him ring peoples doorbells. I would rather let him look at all the kids and dress him just for fun!

nlp1990 · October 2014

We are going to my parents neighborhood where I grew up and just going to the neighbors that I grew up next to. And on Wednesday that week we will go to a Halloween baby bash at our local breastfeeding support group.

tamarar5 · October 2014

@DC2London‌ Could you still go to the same couple houses you have done in the past, but give those neighbors Jack & Rhys safe treats for them to hand out? This way, Jack (who might care more) still gets the sense of doing something like all his friends.

tamarar5 · October 2014

DC2London said:

tamarar5 said:

@DC2London‌ Could you still go to the same couple houses you have done in the past, but give those neighbors Jack & Rhys safe treats for them to hand out? This way, Jack (who might care more) still gets the sense of doing something like all his friends.

That's another option since we know several of our neighbors fairly well.

Jack specifically requested not to go ToT this year. Last year the costumes and the decorations really frightened him. And our town has a house decorating contest so some of our neighbors really go all out. It is actually kind of terrifying lol

Well, that changes everything, lol! I get it, though. My MIL has one of those dancing skeletons that she ours out for Halloween (it's electric asks motion sense, so it moved when people come close — but it has an off switch) and she stores it in the closet of the bedroom we stay in at her house. DD1 is so afraid of it STILL that she had to cover it with a giant Christmas present bag.

wifeofadam · October 2014

You can always let your LO dress up and then hand out treats to the people in your neighborhood. My kids have always had fun passing out the treats and seeing all of the costumes that come to our door.

kleigh926 · October 2014

We're dressing the kids up and taking them to my IL's and my parent's houses just so family can see them (and so DH and I can get candy.... haha). My IL's usually walk around their neighborhood just to see what's going on and be part of the experience I guess, so maybe we'll take DD up to a couple houses with them.

wifeofadam · October 2014

DC2London said:

I'm struggling with Halloween now bc my kids can't eat candy due to food allergies. I am thinking of, next year, trying to set up a trunk-or-treat in my area for food allergy kids and require that all treats be non-food.

That would be awesome!

We are lucky to have both of our families in the town in which we love (edit = I meant live, but we love it, too

). What we do is dress the kids up (on a different day than ToT so traffic isn't as crazy) and take them to all of the family members' houses. Family know what treats are safe for DS1 to have. It gives me kids the chance to do the whole ring the doorbell and ask for a treat thing, but they end up with bags full of mommy-approved treats instead of stuff that will kill my son.

ericalee27 · October 2014

We always do a trunk or treat that a local mommy group sponsors, and then we will take both boys out trick or treating. We go for about 45 min - hour, whatever the youngest can handle before bedtime.

Puck1182 · October 2014

wifeofadam said:
You can always let your LO dress up and then hand out treats to the people in your neighborhood. My kids have always had fun passing out the treats and seeing all of the costumes that come to our door.

I think this is what we will be doing this year, unless DD's older cousins end up going trick or treating in MIL and FIL's neighborhood (one neighborhood over from us) that night. Last year I had to work on Halloween, but DH and DD dressed up as Batman and Robin to hand out treats and she had fun putting candy in the trick or treaters' bags.

draeray · October 2014

Since I have an 8 year old and DS, we are going to go. The 8 year old is going to be Spiderman, DS#2 is going to be the Hulk, Daddy is going to be Batman and I am going to be Robin. DS#2 won't get most of his candy because it all goes to Mommy and Daddy!

singingsea · October 2014

We're trick or treating but just around the cul de sac. He doesn't need a butt ton of candy. I think he'll enjoy all the other kids out and about. That and even though we have lived in our house for three years I feel like I really don't know our neighbors. Figured this would be a good social venutre for the fam

ally2011 · October 2014

We get 150 trick or treaters so our house is like a carnival for awhile. I suspect that will be entertainment enough, but one of us will probably take her to our next door neighbors on either side and the ones on either side of them (so 4 houses total) if we are feeling up to it. She will get to dress as Elmo and help hand out treats and she will love that plenty so I don't feel bad if she doesn't actually go out.

ally2011 · October 2014

wifeofadam said:

DC2London said:

I'm struggling with Halloween now bc my kids can't eat candy due to food allergies. I am thinking of, next year, trying to set up a trunk-or-treat in my area for food allergy kids and require that all treats be non-food.

That would be awesome!

We are lucky to have both of our families in the town in which we love (edit = I meant live, but we love it, too ). What we do is dress the kids up (on a different day than ToT so traffic isn't as crazy) and take them to all of the family members' houses. Family know what treats are safe for DS1 to have. It gives me kids the chance to do the whole ring the doorbell and ask for a treat thing, but they end up with bags full of mommy-approved treats instead of stuff that will kill my son.

Have ya'll seen this: https://www.foodallergy.org/teal-pumpkin-project

holly321 · October 2014

We took dd at this age, and she had a lot of fun.

Ds loves candy and shrieks every time he sees Reese's wrappers, so hopefully he doesn't try and take too much. Fyi. I don't over candy him in general.

I am not sure how much candy he is allergic to, but he most likely won't notice or care when it goes missing I know a lot of people in this area are doing teal pumpkins, as we plan too.

lbonga1 · October 2014

We live in an apartment, and although we haven't been in this one for Halloween yet, from my experience kids don't trick-or-treat in apartment complexes around here. So I think we're going to dress up the kids and go to a pumpkin patch and do some of the activities they'll have at the mall.

mediaperuana · October 2014

we are not. JJ still has some stranger anxiety, and i don't imagine wandering around strange houses in the dark will help things. i expect we'll stop by a nearby friend's house to get pics of all the kids in their costumes, and then he'll "help" DH hand out candy.
i completely forgot to take him to a Mommy and Me Halloween thing today; i hope i can remember to take him to Spooky Tots next Wednesday! that way he can see all the costumes and get a little candy if he wants, but it won't be dark and scary.

SummerLove21 · October 2014

We might hit a couple of neighbor houses, but that is it. We live in a neighborhood that is mostly older people (although it is starting to attract more young families), so most people don't leave their lights on and people with kids go other places to ToT. It makes me sad; I love ToTing.

Want a personalized experience?

To Trick or Treat- or not?

Re: To Trick or Treat- or not?

Choose Another Board

Search Boards