I have a question. It is about trick-or-treating etiquette if it can be called that.
Do you give the teenagers candy that show up at your door without a costume? And should you make them say "Trick-or-treat"?
The last several years we have had teenagers just show up, hold out their bag and walk away. This year I'm tempted to just say "Well it sure was nice to bring that candy by for me. How did you know?" as I'm reaching in their bag for the chocolate candy bar.
I'm also tempted to go the the religious supply store and get a pamphlet and some holy cards, stable them together and pass those out. Actually that is a really good idea! I might just do that!
What do you all do in this situation?
11 comments:
If you knock on my door Halloween night, you get candy. I think the teenagers are a bit embarrassed to be trick or treating. Maybe not quite ready to cut the tie to childhood. Since I know most of the kids who show up. I usually say, "Cool costume Derek, you dressed up as a teenager." :-) Nice and pleasant. Under the cell phones and Ipods they are still kids.
I'd probably just give them candy. You could always give them something baby-ish like a candy necklace if you're trying to send a "too old for trick-or-treating" message...
Everybody gets a treat here. I suppose its still some clean fun for them. There isn't anything else in this town for them. They are all pretty decent, even the kids who are a bit rough around the edges. ANd we have quite a few kids that show, young and old, with no costume with a pillow case for a bag. We probably get on average 100 kids that each get a fairly healthy ziploc bag full of assorted stuff--chips, juice boxes, and the usual. I might spend a little more, but I figure its cheap insurance against getting TP's or egged. :)
The funniest was a very tall, lanky teenage boy who I had to admit looked better in a prom dress than I did. The sweetest are the little tykes that are children of the seasonal farm workers.
What about tooth brushes? It's what we're giving out in my office on Wednesday when kids from who knows where come in the middle of the work day to trick or treat. Bri
It's been a while since I have had anyone show up at my door--no light on, house pretty dark. But I'd just share some candy with them and wish them Happy Halloween. It's certainly an evening to be friendly, rather than scary. My two cents worth. I guess what used to bother me was than the just barely teenagers showed up about an hour after the big flow had stopped. There were years when I just left a bowl of candies on the porch for kids to take, if they came up to the door.
Happy Halloween to all!
Interesting question. I can't wait to see what Trick or Treating is like in my new neighborhood. I hear from teh neighbors that lots of kids come by on Halloween and hope I have enough candy for everyone. I think I've got enough for 150 kids, but what if there are a lot more? One neighbor also told me that many of the kids aren't even from our neighborhood, that kids come by the carloads to our neighborhood so that their kids have a safe place to go Trick or Treating. So I really have no idea how many people will show up at my door.
We get carloads. But there are no kids in the neighborhood, and that takes the joy out.
I would make them say Trick or Treat. But I am an ass.
Most teenagers who come by are really sweet, so I gladly give them candy. But if one or two look rude, do you want to risk being "tricked"?...I try to take it lightly and make them laugh - like playfully offering them also a small can of playdough or whatever other small treat I have for the little ones.
Marta
Reporting in. . . . 90 kids for a rather windy, semi-wet night, two St. Bernards, and teen dressed in very good makeup carrying a bloody looking pick ax -- probably imitating some movie character or maybe it runs in the family.
It's not so much that they don't say "Trick or Treat", it's the lack of "Thank You" that gets my goat. My Aunt Caroline used to call teenagers Big Fat Cows when they rang her doorbell, and then she would proceed to yell at them, telling them they were too old, and to leave the candy for the children. Then she would wonder why her windows were waxed the next day!
we lived in a place a few years ago where we had about 500 visitors a night. In preparation, we bought boxes of "freezies" and froze them. Then we sat at the end of the driveway with the neighbours and a pair of scissors, handing them out - cutting off the tops if they were as parched as usual - they really appreciated it. Toward the end of the night, some teenagers arrived and we were all out. I had just baked cookies and offered them those instead. They were the most delighted teenagers I've seen in a long time.
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