Ridiculous Trick or Treat Times

[Ariel]

My hometown community recently posted the official Trick or Treat times...get ready for this:

Oct 31st. 5:30-6:30pm.

One hour, on a work day.

I find this so ridiculous. First of all, one hour is so inadequate. If you're 4 years old and tucker out pretty quick, sure, one hour is enough time. Not to mention this will be in solid daylight hours. Half the fun of Halloween for me was walking around (with adult supervision) in the twilight.

The part that really pisses me off, as the child of a single working mom, is that most parents will not be home form work by 5:30 unless they make special provisions. My mom worked a 9-5, but almost never made it home before 5:45. If these had been the times when I was little I would have maybe gotten 30 minutes of Trick or Treating.

There's been some local blowback online, but the official line is that "This is a day and age where people snatch children off the street and people put razor blades in apples"

This is a small town in the middle of no where. This is the kind of place where you don't lock your doors and you leave your keys in the ignition over night.

[GeoBQn]

I think trick or treating has been on the decline for some years. My parents see fewer and fewer every year. I don't know whether it is because the neighborhood is becoming less affordable for families with children, or if parents are overly concerned about the kids going out at night. Now lots of places are offering "trunk or treat" in the parking lot, or doing it in an indoor shopping center (which, when I was a kid, was an absolute last resort in case of bad weather.)

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Every year on Facebook I see people posting about weird times and days for TOT. A lot of them don't go ON Halloween which I find to be odd. I live in a big city so that's all weird to me.

[RosyDaisy]

Wow....even Tiny Town doesn't have anything that restrictive. Many years ago all the kids wanted to go out to the country because "country folks" gave you more candy. I remember years ago Mama would make these goodie bags full of candy, and my great-aunt made popcorn balls and candy and caramel apples. Ah, the good old days......

[Conuly]

Is that even enforceable?

As far as kids getting snatched goes, it's no more common than it ever was (and if you're concerned, go with your kid!).

Regarding apples, who the fuck gives out apples???

[Arete]

In my innocent, predator, crime, and divorce free youth :P , some people actually did pass out apples. Then the razor blade in the apple story (which turned out to be a hoax) started going around like wildfire in the 70s, thus ending a minority tradition of some people passing out apples and pears as "treats" on Halloween. Everybody then went to prepackaged candy so no one would worry about tampering, though you were advised to look for pinholes in case anyone wanted to inject some good grade heroin in a Kitkat. :roll: This guy needs to fast forward 40 years.

What is wrong with people? Most kids I see are accompanied by an adult or high school age sibling/sitter out for a share of the candy during herding duty. Yeah, some of them are out after dark, but they are accompanied, so what is the big friggin' deal? God save us all from control freaks on town councils.

[Mama Mia]

Wow. Why is your town telling people when to trick or treat in the first place? And being out at night is half the fun !

[SpeakNow]

I lived in an apartment building during my trick or treating years. Our building gave people signs to put on their doors that said what hours they would take trick or treaters (I.e. 4:30-7:30). Maybe your neighborhood could try that instead.

[Ariel]

After further investigation, I think this is a money issue with the city. They like to put a heavy police out during trick or treat times and it looks like they only want to do that for an hour because of $$$$

[laura oz]

Last year I decorated like Martha on crack, bought candy, did the whole shebang & not one single trick or treater showed up at our new home in AR. Turns out, this is such a small town that the kids don't trick or treat, they trunk or treat at their churches. I'm still going to decorate this year because 1) it makes my kids happy and 2) we're hosting a big pig picking on Halloween. But I think I'll take it a little easier this year. I still can't believe they don't freaking trick or treat here. :roll:

[Feberin]

I would assume most people will ignore the suggested times and go whenever.

[mockingbird]

I just moved last year and haven't gotten the info from this year yet but from what I remember last year (I didn't pass out candy) we partnered up with a few nearby towns and split up by times/dates. I think it was two towns had trick or treat on each day for Oct. 29/30/31. I'm sure this was for police reasons. But at least it was more than an hour even if you didn't actually get to go on Halloween!

The only times we didn't have official trick-or-treat growing up was when Halloween was on a Sunday or a Thursday - they'd move it a day forward or back so people didn't have to worry about staying up. The public schools always had a "fall festival" but it wasn't a substitute for trick-or-treating. It was just like a mini, indoor-themed carnival to raise money for the PTA.

I used to stay out the whole time trick-or-treating. Going to all the houses, meeting friends, etc... an hour wouldn't have cut it ;) ETA: And yes our parents went with us when we were younger or going really far down the street.

[bionicmlle]

I TOT'd in the age of razor blade and needle fear. I remember every year, after done with neighborhood rounds, we'd take the candy in to the local po-dunk hospital to get an xray to make sure there was no tampering. My mom threw out anything home-made, even from people we knew, "because there probably is cat hair in those!"

I love Halloween and love seeing the kids come by in their costumes. The porch light/pumpkin candle Lights Off works well to keep them from ringing bell when we are done with Halloween (or out of candy). If my town had those wierd rules, I'd take my kids to a local church or YMCA which seem to have big candy-giving events around here.

[mockingbird]

I TOT'd in the age of razor blade and needle fear. I remember every year, after done with neighborhood rounds, we'd take the candy in to the local po-dunk hospital to get an xray to make sure there was no tampering. My mom threw out anything home-made, even from people we knew, "because there probably is cat hair in those!"

Haha, we were not that extreme, but my mom did have us lay everything out and check for anything that was partially unwrapped. And now she makes fun of me for not eating unwrapped candy... :lol:

[laura oz]

Haha, we were not that extreme, but my mom did have us lay everything out and check for anything that was partially unwrapped. And now she makes fun of me for not eating unwrapped candy... :lol:

Our local hospital would X ray candy. The 80's :lol:

[ADoyle90815]

Haha, we were not that extreme, but my mom did have us lay everything out and check for anything that was partially unwrapped. And now she makes fun of me for not eating unwrapped candy... :lol:

That was also true for me when I TOT'd in the 80's, my parents had us lay everything out and any wrapper that was torn, meant that the piece of candy went in the trash. Local hospitals did Xray candy, but my parents never went to that extreme. Now, in my neighborhood, you have to bring in all pumpkins after 9pm because they'll end up smashed in the street because of teenagers. Most kids in my area still TOT, as it's still more popular than church sponsored trunk or treat events.

[Khan]

My city sent out notices last week. Our TOT time is the Saturday before Halloween from noon to 3pm. Wtf?

No actual night "adventures" just walking around in broad daylight hoping folks aren't out running errands.

I grew up in the panic of razor blades and poisoned candy, too. My mother flipped her shit if anything wasn't prepackaged and perfectly sealed. No delicious homemade popcorn balls for us. No caramel or candy apples. Thank goodness she threw out the nasty packets of raisins, though. Protecting kids is destroying their fun, their sense of adventure. Working up the nerve to approach that awesomely decorated scary as shit house was good for us. It also earned us full sized Hershey bars from the Elvira garbed homeowner.

Have there been any documented cases of razor blades in apples and poisoned Halloween candy? I must break out my Google fu.

[GeoBQn]

Poisoned candy, no. Sharp objects in candy, yes. Rumors have been around since the late 1960's, but the fear really skyrocketed after the Tylenol poisonings in 1982.

snopes.com/horrors/poison/halloween.asp

snopes.com/horrors/mayhem/needles.asp

[Rescinded and Mended]

I live on a street with a number of fundie-lites, and they have actually gone out and handed out Bible tracts on Halloween in an attempt to "save souls."

My neighborhood alternates between a few trick-or-treaters every year and huge bunches of them, often because of what's going on in the media at the time. During the year of the 9/11 attacks, we didn't get a single one. On the other hand, rain doesn't stop trick-or-treating in my neighborhood.

If our city attempted to restrict Halloween only to certain hours, I'm not sure anyone in my neighborhood would pay attention, despite the best efforts of the fundie-lites and the 'trunk or treat' parties at churches.

Our only real problem is that our Halloween decorations have been destroyed in the past. My husband likes to decorate big for Halloween, which includes the really cute inflatables that you can get at the home decor stores. We've had a large inflatable pumpkin get slashed with a knife, and bulbs shattered in some of our electric displays. At this point, my husband won't put anything on the lawn until Halloween night (where he can watch the yard from our doorway) so that he doesn't have to worry about it getting trashed. :(

[julie paradox]

The only times we didn't have official trick-or-treat growing up was when Halloween was on a Sunday or a Thursday - they'd move it a day forward or back so people didn't have to worry about staying up.

Take pity on an ignorant foreigner? Why Thursday?

- Actually, come to think of it, why Sunday? I'd initially thought it was something religious, but the "staying up" seems to negate that.

[tralala]

We're noticing more and more that younger kids will go out to the mall to do their trick or treating now a days. We live in Canada and Halloween weather is either gorgeous or freeze your toes off cold. Planning to go to the mall means less chances of tuckering out due to being cold, plus, everyone can see your costume if it's not hidden under your ski jacket.

Older kids will tough it out because frankly, the candy is better going door to door.

[smittykins]

I TOTed in the '70s, back in the days of boxed plastic costumes with masks you could barely see or breathe through( :cry: ) and full-sized candy bars( :D ). I lived in a large trailer park just outside Syracuse, so we were able to rake in a good-size haul in relative safety; it seemed that a kid got hit by a car on Halloween almost every year, so that was the big issue then instead of tainted candy.

[OddlyAmused]

That makes me sad-I appear to be on the later end of people being allowed to TOT outside and at night. I TOTed in the 90s/early 00s, and my brother and I would cover much of the neighborhood, accompanied by a parent or grandparent. That's the fun of it! We went through the candy afterward and never found a problem. We haven't had very many TOTers in my parents' neighborhood in the last few years. I think this is a combination of the fact that there just aren't that many young kids in the area and that parents are becoming more paranoid.

[Mama Mia]

This is depressing. In my area we do still have lots of trick or treaters, at night ! Kids tend to swarm the suburban neighborhoods and mobile home parks because those are the easiest to walk in. Lots of actual candy and school age kids running wild while the little ones are with their parents, and tends to last until at least 9

There has always been the mall trick or treat thing, but its mostly used as a pass through on the way to a neighborhood or if its raining.

I had never even heard of restricted times for it until this thread. And my city gets grief for being extremely nanny state.

[Mecca]

Oh, hell fire. I wish "officials" would stop screwing around with Halloween and just let people celebrate on the actual day however they wish. 5:30-6:30? That is absurd for many reasons.

I love Halloween. It is my favorite holiday. We do an elaborate yard display, even decorate the inside of the house, dress up on the actual night and give out treat bags. A few years back I had a church show up at our house when my husband and I were at work and vandalize our yard with those stupid tracts. They even put a bible in my Grim Reaper's hand. They also showed up on Halloween night at the end of our street to witness to everyone about the evilness of Halloween.

Look, if people do not want to celebrate Halloween, fine, but I wish the people against it would just shut up already and stop trying to tell others that do celebrate Halloween what they should or should not do on that day.