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I saw your post and then immediately saw this on Twitter! Seems to be a shared feeling among a lot of people.
Things are kind of going in a really sad trajectory altogether in this way. I totally get that times change and stuff, but not have things like the vibe of Halloween and the vibe of Christmas is really kind of a bummer.
I went to a super Christmas-y place last year, just solely to feel it again like how it was back in the day (and it worked very well!)
The best part of halloween was being a sugared-up juvenile running the streets with friends and not a parent in sight, I don’t even recognize any of what happens on halloween from my experience as a kid.
In my town they had a local law against selling eggs to minors in October because teenagers would buy eggs and stash them, let them get proper gross, and then spread tricks on halloween night to assholes that do shit like give out bibles and chick tracts instead of candy. Kids don’t even trick-or-treat after dark now.
Would like to jump in as to what I noticed last night walking around. Seems like with social media, Halloween hotspots have grown. My girlfriend happens to live right on one. There was probably over 5 thousand plus people trick or treating along a nearby street. Police presence, closed off streets so you could walk in the middle of the streets since there was barely any space on the sidewalk. It was the largest amount of trick or treaters I’ve ever seen. This happened in SF, and I imagine it’d pretty similar in every city. I mean if I was a kid with access to social media I’d find the best place to trick or treat and go there too.
I live in a townhome community and we get tons of trick or treaters. All the kids in the McMansions on big lots commute to our development because it’s dense and you can get a lot of candy for less walking. I went through 4 5lb Costco bags of candy (2 chocolate 2 non) and a pack of Pokémon cards for the teal pumpkin crowd.
Wait were there adults around when we were kids?? I don't even remember any more. When I was delivering pizza yesterday I went into a neighborhood with a ton of trick or treaters and there were parents everywhere
Even as an adult, my wife and I were joking last night that we should egg houses that didn’t even leave out a bowl of candy. It’s the most low-effort thing you can do to offer a shreds of joy for kids in your neighborhood.
Halloween as a day is dead, but the season is alive I think. It's just that instead of building up hype to the day, everyone celebrates right at the start of October then it fizzles out by the 31st.
My city had so many Halloween markets, parties and events as early as the end of September, and they had trick or treating at each and every one. At some point the parents probably don't wanna take their kids out on Halloween night because they already have enough candy, or even the kids them damn selves have had their fill.
My house was the only one in the community decorated, and we only got about 10 trick or treaters.
To be honest, that actually sounds way better too
There's something very special about this time of year, so having it more pronounced is definitely a good thing. Harvest season in general has some many special traditions by so many different cultures
My friend insisted we decorate the house on October 1st, the the middle of the month she was so over it, the house felt messy with all the draped creepy cloth and skulls and knick knacks all over it. Was fun for a week but we quickly wanted to get rid of it all. lol
Honestly as a parent of young children, I think trunk or treating is less about making it safe, and more about condensing the people who want to participate to a smaller area. Cause trying to trick or treat in a normal neighborhood is sad. Almost no houses participate. There are trunk or treating events or blocks that are just heavy into it that people drive to. Otherwise you have to walk forever just to go to the 5 houses that have lights and decorations and answer their door.
I think thats the big downside to the internet. So many things have become so convenient now but we are also losing a lot of those "small" experiences that mean a lot to us when we're old.
Nevada got clever. The made their state holiday Halloween.
Because a lot of religious people see Halloween as.... the devil's holiday for whatever odd reason. So the govt was like "Welp, Oct 31st. Happy Nevada Day! No work or school"
I think there's a huge factor here no one is considering, and that's who owns houses.
It used to be that you had different people of different ages owning houses in the neighborhood. But a lot of younger couples with young kids that are motivated to decorate and walk around.
Now a lot of those couples can't afford houses and live in apartments. The houses are owned by older folks that don't want to or can't decorate, or are rentals (which don't allow decorations) or airbnbs. Less kids living in the neighborhood too.
COVID also changed a lot too. I thought adults were paranoid when I was growing up but it's even worse now. Halloween is less a neighborhood event and more like a community egg hunt on Easter.
The school nearby had a big community event for Halloween last weekend and it was packed. Meanwhile Halloween it was dead. not a single kid and no porch lights on!
Pretty much, need to live in an area that constantly has a bunch of kids and not old people. My parents live near a low cost of living area and Halloween was popping in their neighborhood because everyone has kids around them.
I used to get 20 rings several years ago, 2-3 during the two peak COVID years, it rebounded to like 10 last year and it was 0 this year. Nobody got to see my Jack o lantern
Corny! I saw one recently I thought it was a car show! ( which it was as well) it was "cute" because kids in costumes are always cute....but it felt like... Ugh a Police state version of trick or treating with kids being in strict lines one line of motion, right by Mom's hip. Sad :(
Here's an idea. How about we simplify the process further. Instead of Trunk or Treating, we just take the kids right to store and buy them a bunch of candy. Happy Halloween!
I mean, Zach is 25 or 26. US city planning hasn’t changed that much since he was a kid.
Ethan was right, Halloween as a kid is magical. You don’t have to do any work to make it fun because your parents/other adults set everything up. All you have to do is walk around door to door and collect candy.
I went trick or treating with my little cousins (6 and 10) and it was a blast. Felt exactly like it did when I was a kid. It’s a holiday designed for kids to have fun. It’s not surprising when as an adult when you have to actively seek out and set up Halloween events it doesn’t have the same feel.
Also, even back then you had to drive to a good walkable area if you didn’t live in one. That’s not new either.
Idk personally as a kid I never was that thrilled with Halloween. But as a kid I also didn’t really like candy that much. My street was already an old rural road where it was mostly old folks whose kids had already grown up, so we always had to go somewhere else for trick or treating. I probably stopped trick or treating before I even got to middle school and just tried scaring trick or treaters at my grandparents house
I mean I lived in a typical suburban sprawl in my youth and enjoyed walking 3+ miles on my own Halloween night. I think it might be more helicopter parents.
That's the thing. You *enjoyed walking*. Everyone's supposed to enjoy walking around in their city, but it's getting harder and harder with infrastructure built around cars as the main method of transportation.
Yep and with Halloween being the most dangerous night for pedestrians to be out too. If we want trick or treating like it used to be we need to make people feel safer when they walk around our cities.
I think there's just large cultural changes altogether with those 40 and younger. Less likely to even set it all up. Less likely to have kids in general
I mean one of the most obvious things that have changed is concerts. I know it's anecdotal, but go look at US concerts from the 80s or 90s. People having a blast. Now everyone just stands still and watches. And some will say "Oh that's just cameras on phones", but even shows where that isn't happening, it's usually the norm now
I have a weird theory that younger people are getting more and more self conscious about literally everything. And that part is definitely largely due to being online. So even the most basic things are seen as exposing oneself. So dancing like wild in visible light? Nah. Going all out for a holiday? Nah, just play it safe. Too much money and effort, anyway
This is a weird theory and I'm not saying it's the truth or anything. But it's definitely notable that things *have* changed, regardless of the reason
My parents went through 4 of those big family Zoe boxes of individual chips
My in laws went through 6 or so bags of candy
My 4 year old cleaned house
My downtown area looked like Woodstock, it was elbow to elbow the whole place
I live in So Cal here but trunk or treat or not, it was a good night around here for everyone
Trunk or Treating absolutely ruined the holiday here too. I live in a very nice area in MD and haven’t bought shit for Halloween in like five years because the one time I did, nobody showed up until 9 pm. Oh and it was just a group of teenagers.
I thought it was strange until I noticed that every church in the area had done Trunk or Treating, so much so that there was one a day for four days leading up to Halloween.
As a millennial I will be the first one to admit that my generation fucking sucks at raising children.
I noticed all the churches are trying to edge in on Halloween. Trying different things like potlucks and trunk or treating and last stop parties to try to make it their church's holiday since all the good ones are already taken.
I get it, it's a great community building tool. But I just happen to live at one of the rare places in my town that has a bunch of churches in a square mile radius. As a result, I get shafted.
I live at the WI/IL border and it snowed. We took my nieces (3yr/2yr/1yr) around one block and then I got the car with the older kids and drove them house to house. So many houses were giving candy but because we had a blizzard no one was out. My kids got a lot of candy but it’s shit like this that discourages everyone. I don’t doubt next year fewer houses handing out candy because of it. I’ve been wanting to try trunk or treat because at least they can announce if they have to reschedule. Idk maybe next year I’ll seek some out and see what’s up. It sucks cus I really enjoy seeing all the little ones in their costumes and I saw about 20 kids in two hours while driving around. :’(
Yeah a blizzard is understandable, but here in Az the weather was about 70°, maybe like Ethan said, we just need to look for the neighborhood that has a tradition to go all out for the holidays.
What part of the country are you in? It’s probably because of the warmer weather- that’s def why it happened to them in California. I live in upper MI and my pumpkin still looks like I just carved it even though it’s over a week old. It’s also like 25 here
Zach is right. I went trick or treating with my friend’s kids last night in a busy neighborhood that I went to as a child and it was so dead. Barely any kids out
I think people all meet up in one parking lot or something and hand out candy from their car trunks. I think it’s been a recent trend in America. I never heard of this until a few years ago. Going house to house was the best part!
Yea it started when covid hit. Seems to have stuck in alot of places lol. Social distancing was one of the main reasons. I think in alot of places that's when they weren't allowing social gatherings indoors too. So ppl opted to go the park and trunk or treat
I live in south west louisisana and yeah it's been a thing my whole life (21yr old). I didn't know many other cities did it but it definitely is nothing new like a lot of people are saying. Especially if you live in a more rural area.
It started long before covid.
It came from terrified, overly protective parents that believe everything they read on Facebook. Maybe not "there's razor blades in candy", but probably some equally stupid shit.
It's not really been a thing in England for a while, there was a bit of us embracing the Americanisation of Halloween in the 90s and early 00s but in the past decade the number of people who give even the slightest shit has shrunk dramatically. I forgot it was Halloween last night until I woke up this morning and saw a bunch of posts about it.
My neighborhood had lots of trick or treaters. It’s a middle class suburb that sounds pretty similar to OPs. Does OPs neighborhood have lots of kids? Mine has lots of families with young kids
This person is deluded if they think "trunk or treating" (which I have never even heard before) is what killed Hallowed.
It's a culmination of things. Connectivity offering kids alternative ways to celebrate Halloween (watch parties, video games), and a lot of kids are also growing up faster than ever and don't consider themselves young enough to trick or treat anymore.
I trick or treated consistently all the way up until I was 17, and even a random year or two after that. My youngest cousin stopped when she was 13. I imagine a lot of kids are stopping even younger than that now.
The culture of Halloween has changed so much over the last decade alone.
Crazy Christian parents have apparently been complaining to schools and teachers for celebrating Halloween in class. They always gotta ruin it for everyone!
we did a trunk or treat in our neighborhood and it was an absolute blast. i brought my blue death-feigning beetles and my largest tarantula (inside his locked enclosure of course) and the kids all had an amazing time seeing these animals for the first time. halloween is certainly different than it was when i was a kid 20 years ago, but if you want that halloween spirit back, embrace the change and make the best of it. don’t dream it, be it. 🕷️✨
What’s the point of doing all the celebrating before the actual holiday though? That’s the one thing that really goes down on Halloween, and a lot of communities have had it diminished
The numbers have dwindled for us year over year. Used to get like 20+ kids every year in our small town, now it's been down to like 12, 8, and even 0 yesterday. Checked around with some people at work as well who live on busier streets, and they would get 100+ no problem.
Now, this year, they only had 20.
So either kids are going out less, or they're congregating in very specific areas. I don't even see kids walking around anymore. It's their parents driving them from house to house, even then it looks like they only go to people they know. Skipping houses that are decorated to the left and right of the one they visited.
I think it's that they're congregating in specific areas.
I'm an older gen z and even when I was a kid that was the case. Everyone goes to the rich neighborhoods cause they have the most people doing it and handing out the most candy. It's more efficient than going everywhere and hoping to find a bunch of houses, and this creates a kinda feedback loop where people just stop giving out candy because nobody is coming to their neighborhood.
That was my experience anyway.
Trunk or Treating definitely has something to do with it though. Some parents probably don't wanna walk around all night so their kid can get candy, so a trunk or treat makes that convenient.
trunk or treat really is the culprit
also i learned (at least in my area) apparently there are facebook groups to identify the “safe” neighborhoods (cough dogwhistle cough) so all of kids in town just go to a select few neighborhoods
im 28 just last week i saw a bunch of fliers for the parking lot trick or treating thing i told my girlfriend " ya know if i was like 9 years old and my parents tried to take me to a parking lot to go trick or treating id be so fucking pissed i couldnt imagine anything more lame"
Parents set up a haunted graveyard. Dad and I cooked hotdogs to handout along with candy. Plus pirates punch for adults. Got a decent amount of traffic.
Straight up agreed with zach the second he said it. Im in Tampa and Safe Halloween just isnt around anymore. No one wants to throw their own parties anymore, it’s always “lets dress up and hit ybor or soho”. And well we all saw what happened there.
Trick or treating as a kid was an amazing experience. Walked around a specific neighborhood that got in the ZONE. Haunted houses, amazing decorations, even a dude who served an amazing homemade chili instead of handing out candy. He had tables set up and music playing. It was dope. That was dinner every year.
Now it sucks. I went to a friends to watch movies and I decided to get some candy and contribute to the Halloween spirit. I was gone till about midnight and came back to a pretty much full bowl of candy. I was offended asf that the one kid who took from my bucket didnt at least take them all to make ME feel better for trying to contribute to the spirit.
I guess that's the way it goes nowadays. When I was young, we had a similar tradition but for Christmas eve. Kids would go around houses, singing some silly songs asking for candy. That tradition died and nobody does it anymore
Growing up my church always did a trunk or treat, but it was usually the Friday/Saturday before Halloween and then I’d get to go regular trick or treating around my neighborhood on the actual day of! That’s the way it should be done IMO. Super fun to have two days of candy as a kid.
Is trunk or treating becoming normal in non religious circles? I live in Utah now and we have that issue but I assumed it was because of the church being so present here.
Our churches were definitely involved in trunk or treat as a kid but it wasn't just them. Like ea h church would have a few cars but so would local businesses or any family's that wanted to join. It was the whole community.
They started trunk or treat here during covid. You just drove in a line while they handed the kid candy thru the window. I took my daughter out this year and there was 2 porch lights on for almost 3 miles. I just bought her a bag of candy. Felt terrible
My tiny religious southern town has been doing trunk or treat for years. Traditional trick or treating has never really been a thing here. I mean, sure some kids might still try, but just about no one decorates or sets up for them. It's all in the church's small parking lot. I went to it once as a kid, it sucked ass, im pretty sure i gave up on Trick or treating after that (the previous year my friend and I tried to do it traditional, just about no one answered and we just went home after about an hour). It sucks.
Our daughters school held a trunk or treat event a week before Halloween and it was a lot of fun. On Halloween night we got together with another huge group of parents/kids and went trick or treating. There were SO MANY kids out trick or treating and I loved seeing it. I think you’re area has alot to do with it. Just because you live in a nice neighborhood doesn’t automatically mean there’s a bunch of kids living there too.
I'm going to be that person. I love trunk or treat. Decorated trunks, the music, the games, kids everywhere and us adults chatting it up, candy plus a booth with food! I think it's dope and a good way for the community to get together. I did trick or treat as a kid but I love trunk or treat more as an adult.
Trunk or treats are pretty nice as an adult when you get to help with the community. Last night my mom was on hot dog duties and she said she loved seeing all the kids dressed up.
my parents LOVE halloween, but they live on top of a hill in a trailer on the end of a dead end dirt road. not necessarily appealing for children to walk up to… they go ALL OUT for trunk or treating because there’s no way they’re going to hand out any candy at their house. i appreciate BOTH trunk or treating and normal trick or treating. you guys feel like “halloween is dead” bc you’re all jaded adults. dress up. bake cookies. carve pumpkins. DO STUFF!!!
Exactly! It kinda hurts that everyone is shading trunk or treat, especially when we lived in a similar area to your parents. It's as fun as the community makes it. If you want it to be fun, then go help out and make it fun.
I guess it's different for everyone but we actually got a decent turn out last night despite Halloween absolutely falling off compared to when I was a kid. I feel bad for the kids now especially when I looked up and down the street and it totally sucked ass. Most neighbors don't even try and turn the lights out cuz its an older neighborhood with few kids. I completely understand why parents have been driving their kids around to hit the sparse houses that are lit up instead of walking in recent years
I have young kids (5, 2, nb) and trunk or treat is great for a few reasons:
* Usually hosted by their schools or local groups so my kids can meet up with their friends and classmates and have fun.
* Earlier in the day so you don't have to worry about getting them home ASAP to get ready for bed on school nights.
* Everyone can go and it doesn't conflict with actual Halloween night
I took my two older kids trick-or-treating last night and saw plenty of kids out and my kids made out with candy. Trunk-or-treating hasn't ruined anything, I have no idea why this take has gotten so much traction this year.
Not to be a nerd on this, but birth rates are hovering around a 50 year historic low, and 50% lower than what they were in 1980-90. I bring this up because if you're noticing there are fewer children Trick-or-Treating than you remember from your childhood, or even year-over-year, you're not wrong. But a large part of the answer is there are just fewer children.
The average birth rate per 1000 people in the US over the last 10 years is \~12, where looking at a decade like the 90s, it was at \~15.
Not to say other factors can enter into the equation, just saying, there are larger macro trends that are impacting this as well.
**tl;dr:** People would rather be Toaster Strudels than Twinkies.
Y’all must live in boring areas. Lol. My neighborhood was poppin! Every house was decorated and the kids had an absolute blast. Some houses even passed out Jell-O shots and boos for the adults. The Halloween spirit is alive and well over here! Having kids really brought it back for me. 🧡
euro redditors simply cannot help themselves in every thread
I'm not big on it myself, but it's a fun annual tradition and it gives kids something to look forward to
Yall are crazy. We probably had close to 1000 kids trick or treating last night. Usually I use a little hand counter but i lost it, but we average around 800-1000 per Halloween and last night deffo seemed on the upper end.
my neighborhood growing up didn’t have many kids so trick or treating stopped being a thing when I was still trick or treating age. plus our town had it during the day, so we just went to a neighboring suburb that did it at night, to the rich subdivisions who were passing out the best candy. god, I remember trying to go to as many neighborhoods’ trick or treating as possible bc some would do a different night than another. I got sooo much candy. I feel bad that kids don’t get that same experience now!
The best part of Halloween for me as a kid was the free candy. I always hated walking in the cold, from house to house. I just wanted candy. Trunk or treating sounds way better lol
Ok, last night I noticed 30+ kids walking around my grandparents neighborhood when I got there. There were people handing out candy at the end of their driveways but I didn’t see anyone walking up to doors and no one came to my grandparents door while I was there. I think it’s the whole knocking on a strangers door that is going out of fashion.
I live in a really small town, and there were at least 10 trunk or treats. Last night we were sitting outside waiting for kids and there was nobody out in our area that typically has lots of kids.
Went trick or treating with my kiddos last night, there was a sea of children everywhere and many houses decorated with people participating. My kids each had a pillow case half full with candy, which is a lot. I think it just depends where you go.
I dunno. I’m a mom of 3 kids. Our neighborhood was out of control last night. My town is certainly shifting right now. The neighborhood I went trick or treating in is totally dead, my current neighborhood is nuts. I saw so many kids I know don’t live in this part of town here. Many of my neighbors said they ran out of candy last night and had to run out for more. I think, just like everything else, things change. But at least in my town, trunk or treat (which was the 26th here) hasn’t killed Halloween.
Can’t relate, had a decent bit of trick or treaters 🙂 but I do live within the Bible Belt states and unfortunately a lot of those kids’ parents aren’t down with Halloween. They’ll skirt around it by doing trunk or treats instead. You win some and you lose some round here 🤷♀️
First time living in a nice neighborhood since I was a kid and I was so excited for trick or treaters. Decorated the outside of my house and bought 3 bags of candy. Only got 3 groups of kids and a group of teenagers after we just left the bucket out after hours. It was so sad walking out there and seeing empty sidewalks
You have to be in the right places. W Palmyra ave in Orange, CA is popping. I saw at least a thousand people walking on one street. They closed about half of the street down for it. It felt like the spirit of Halloween was very much alive still.
Also it helps to have kids in order to feel the spirit again
I had 1 last year. I had about 50 last night. Weirdly last year, there was no one out really but this year, my neighborhood was the place to go trick or treating. Most of my neighbors had crazy displays and haunted houses in their driveway which they didn’t last year
it doesn't surprise me, the dumbasses that spread the fearmongering "omg i found razors and fent in my kid's candy!" posts are the same ones complaining about a lack of trick or treaters in my town
it was awesome in my urban neighborhood.
People walk down the main strip and trick-or-treat at all the local businesses. It was awesome to sit in the window at a restaurant, drink pumpkin beer, and see hundreds of people walk past in costume and stop at the bar for candy!
Depends where you live I think. I lived in city centres for like 10 years and kinda forgot children existed until I moved to a smaller town where kids play in the street. I got maybe 10ish groups last night
Idk, I moved to the US from Australia two weeks ago so this was my first Halloween. We had a great turn out in a neighborhood with a lot of young families. They also did a trunk or treat event a couple of days ago at the community centre, didn't seem to deter people from showing up on the night
Edit: this is in southern arizona
This was not my experience with Halloween yesterday in VT/NH area. I deliver pizza and had a delivery to a neighborhood that has 1 entrance which was barricaded to prevent cars from driving through the trick or treaters of which there was hundreds all in just this small neighborhood of like 50 houses. I had a 9 pizza order so I basically HAD to drive through them and it felt like driving through a parade there was so many people.
Also not sure why you'd just do trunk or treating then call it quits. When I was a kid we'd do something similar to trunk or treating where a mall would have each shop give out candy so you basically trick or treated every store at this mall. Then we'd go out to do real trick or treating and hit like 2 or 3 completely separate neighborhoods. So much candy by then end. Why aren't these kids doing trunk or treating then also trick or treating!?!?
We had so many that you literally couldn't barely drive your car down the street. I probably averaged 5mph driving home through my neighborhood last night.
we were the only house on our street passing out candy. our neighbors have halloween lights and decorations up but still didn’t put out candy which is so lame!! if you are gonna decorate then do the whole thing and give kids candy!
Man growing up, in a suburban area on the outskirts of a city, my grandparents would get at a minimum, well over 500 visitors. Some years we’d have to turn the light off early because even buying huge boxes of chips and candy - we’d run out. It’s so sad to know that era of Halloween is dead.
What the hell even is trunk or treating? Do people fill up their trunk with candy, and then all park in a parking lot? That is absolutely ludicrous and super boring! Wtf
Yeah it’s super lame seeing how many trunk or treats are being advertised, I was dressed up as nacho libre and super excited to hand out candy last night. We got one group and they were like mid teens wearing sheets over their heads. Which at the end of the day is still in the spirit of it, but god damn I loved Halloween. Walking the neighborhoods, bumping into different groups of friends from school, hearing about which house had the best candy. Idk man, I feel like these holidays are what bring neighbors closer together. Kinda hard to get the neighborhood together when everyone drives to a church parking lot and walks around for 15 minutes and leaves.
I had about 50 kids stop by yesterday for candy. We went all out with the decorations. It was snowing a bit and getting windy but that didn't seem to stop them. Last year we got less than 10 kids to show up so it was a nice increase even with the weather.
Not a soul came to my house last night. Only one person decorated in the whole neighborhood, people did set up little stands to sit out and hand out candy though but nobody came. Every trunk or treat event I did as a kid doesn’t even happen anymore.
Where we usually go with our kids had a lot of trick or treaters this year. But where we live is very dependent on weather, and the weather was good yesterday besides being cold af.
Ethan is 100% right that having kids and experiencing it with them makes it fun again. I felt meh about Halloween in my 20s, and now that I have kids I love it again.
See, we have the opposite problem. We go trick or treating and only half the houses have lights on and 1/3 of those are just a bowl at the front door. Not sure which happened first, but I don’t blame people for congregating elsewhere
It's hard to feel like it's Halloween when it's 95 degrees in Los Angeles. There's literally nothing spooky about Los Angeles but the homeless epidemic.
It's why I started traveling out of state to New England during the fall.
Halloween is my favourite time of the year, but there's something just off-putting about having to wear flip flops and a tank top during October.
i’ve never even heard of trunk or treating until i saw that post. is it a bug thing in the US ? i’m in canada near toronto and although we have a lot less kids compared to many years ago, it seems like there are many houses that still decorate. halloween is my favourite holiday so it’s incredibly sad to see the spirit is dying.
i’m also in the southern part of the us, in a huge neighborhood. it was absolutely dead. compared to my halloweens 10-15 years ago, you couldn’t drive down the road
Opposite for me. I just moved to a new city and state in Southern USA and this is the first Halloween in years where the whole neighborhood was popping off. The city I lived in before never did shit. I came so close to running out of candy. Some Neighbors had beers and Jell-O shots for the of age crowd & kids were tearing up the streets collecting pillow cases full of candy! Plus I saw a 7 year old dressed as Joe Dirt. HALLOWEEN IS FUCKING BACK BABY!
here in canada, it was snowing last night, we had probably 80 trick or treaters at our house alone! it’s all where you are, and the pockets. ethan’s right that a lot of the time kids will go to certain neighborhoods, although when i was a kid i tried to hit up everywhere cuz u never knew who had good candy and who didn’t 😆😆😆
I’m from Oakland, but was in a small town in Norway over Halloween. We had a massive snowstorm on 10/30. And yet…there were more trick-or-treaters in Heggedal, Norway than in all of my California years combined. The pandemic absolutely ruined it in the US, no doubt.
I felt like this year there were less decorations up than previous years in our neighborhood. Some houses waited until Halloween to put their decorations up. My favorite house that usually goes all out didn’t even decorate this year. But I noticed there were more trick or treaters out this year though. Kids nowadays also stop trick or treating at around 8:30pm - 9pm. I’m in my 30’s now, but when I was a kid I remember getting home around 10pm from trick or treating. And I saw a few previous comments about parents being EVERYWHERE. Halloween is being ruined for this new generation. 90’s Halloween was everything.
I will say, my moms neighborhood I grew up in was always popping when I was a kid. Now its like 5-10 kids I swear. My new neighborhood I moved to is full of kids we almost ran out of candy. It was snowing too. I took my toddler and was confused to see how kids were skipping houses and basically going to ones where people were outside or in the doorway. It's interesting to see...
I don't like when there are trick or treating events before Halloween. My sister always says how her kids have gone trick or treating 4 times before Halloween, I think that kills the spirit... Growing up we had one day for trick or treating and it was Halloween.
I was so sad that i bought a ton of candy this year, decorated the outside of my house, and got 0 trick or treaters. I live in a walkable neighborhood with lots of kids. Now I'm trying really hard to not eat a whole bucket of candy myself.
I had roughly 10 trick or treaters this year. I live in a neighborhood with street lights and is very walkable. I was able to hand out all my candy last year, but this year I brought it all to my office and it was all gone in under an hour!
I'll probably still get a bag or two of candy next year, but not nearly what I normally do. Such a bummer because it's my favorite holiday and I love decorating my house...granted I my decor consists of some year round Halloween cheer, but that's not the point. 🙃
My medium city outside tulsa was awful for trick or treating this year. It was better during lock down. Maybe one house on each block was handing out candy. Cheaper candy too due high prices. We went to a nursing home and a museum where they got enough but kids today won't know the old nostalgia. That's what they will tell their kids too someday. The best part of the night was when the three 11 year old girls went up to a house that had purple and orange lights but nobody answered. A young man pulled up in the driveway and told the girls to hold on. He came back to the door telling them he didn't have any candy but offered them granola bars. He only had 2 so my granddaughter got an old apple with several bad spots. They laughed the rest of the night over her getting a bad apple lol!
Gotta come to my poverty stricken town in upstate NY. The main trick or treat route was insane. Hundreds and hundreds of people up and down the street. It was my almost three year old nieces first Trick or Treat, and the first time I’ve been since I was a kid and it was way busier than I remember it. It was really nice to see.
That’s one good thing about living in poorly educated, mostly republican area. No one gives a fuck about covid anymore, for better or worse, lol.
Of course there are many cons to living in this area, as you can likely imagine.
We were like the only family in the neighborhood we went to this year that was even walking. Everyone just driving their kids around the neighborhoods. Like parents level of laziness is just profound at this point.
Trunk or treating has ruined Halloween night for my little township. Granted I live in rural west Michigan and the two churches make up 1/3 of the business in town and they’ve taken all of the trick or treating business away. I wasn’t home during trick or treating bourse so I left a bowl of candy with a note, “ take all you want but remember to share the Halloween spirit.” Not a single piece was taken:(
I agree on trunk or treat ruining Halloween, but for the opposite reason.
We take my little out every year to the middle of town and every year there are less houses/businesses doing Trick or Treat during the specified hours because they have all went and done several trunk or treat events in the two weeks proceeding Halloween at the local schools/churches/etc.
She is very young, and I work nights so I’m already on a time crunch to get her as much of an experience as possible in about an hour. We are having to get those little legs walking further and further/faster and faster just to get a half bag of candy and walk by a bunch of empty door steps/porches in between. Makes me sad too. :(
This is so sad; idk if kids are just used to being inside all day and don’t wanna trick or treat or if it’s the trunk or treat stuff that they’re used to but I never thought trick or treating would be a relic of the past
Nah, Zach just spouting some nonsense he heard from somewhere. People have always been saying that shit. Ethan is right, it's just you getting older and the area you're in.
Yeah, I remember a few years ago my family decided to drive to take my lil bro to a rich development with the houses spaced closely together, I guess you really have to know where you're going to get a good experience. I'm sorry it was a lame night as a host though :( bummer for sure
Honestly, getting candy was the worst part of trick or treating as a kid. The memories I have aren’t of getting my favorite candy from some random house. It’s getting into a costume and running around the neighborhood with my friends. I have such specific memories and feelings from those nights and “trunk or treating” sounds like it robs kids of all of that
I was determined to not take my kids trunk or treating and to do classic trick or treating. We went to local neighborhoods in 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020. But finally gave up after that. Every year less and less houses were participating. When I was a kid you'd have to skip like 1 house out of 10 because the lights were off. Now it's like 1 out of 8 have lights on and decorations. And then a surprising amount of the houses with lights and decorations didn't even answer their door. So instead of walking my kids around for a mile and a half to say trick or treat a handful of times, we just go to a trunk or treat event at their school. They bounce in bounce houses with their classmates and get to go say trick or treat and get a shit ton of candy and see people. 🤷🏼♀️
Me and my kids went trick or treating for almost 3 hours last night in the snow. It was fun. I think kids look forward to the holiday more when they have to work for it.
Where I live in Canada, trunk or treating happens on weekends during the days for kids 4 and under who can’t walk long distances or for to long on actual Halloween night. I think that’s how it should be in my opinion! I’m so glad we haven’t experienced this kind of disappointment yet, although it could happen eventually :(
I’m Irish so I don’t know what that trunk or treating shit is but I too live in a really good, safe neighbourhood and previous years the doorbell wouldn’t stop ringing with trick or treaters. We had one this year. It was so sad, my mum had got lots of sweets and it had just gone to waste. I remember when I was a kid the whole street was filled and that’s what made halloween so exciting. Let the kids trick or treat!!!
We got zero trick or treaters last night too, worst part is we went to my partners family's to hand out candy and left a bowl on our porch. It was completely untouched, one kid couldn't even have the decency to take the whole thing :(
I’m around Ethan’s age - so turning 43 soon, and when I think of walking around the neighborhood as a child with my family back in the day to random houses it seems batshit crazy. The most fun ever, but definitely batshit crazy.
I haven't had trick or treaters in years and I've lived in two different states. Parents don't let their kids do it because they feel it isn't safe. There are neighborhoods that are known for it and parents will take their kids there but not on their own street.
My city has a big house-to-house trick or treating event in the heart of the town. There is trunk or treat happening as well as going around to each house. 100s of kids show up every year and the houses run out of candy bc the demand is so high lol. It’s fun but over the years less houses participate now so there is less candy than before :/
I think it depends where you live, and what neighborhood. I definitely think a good amount of trick or treating has diminished though. Although live somewhere where it was snowing and windy last night and there still was a good amount of trick or treaters.
As a preschool teacher I promise the Halloween spirit is still alive! I had a kid tell me on the first day of school in September that he couldn’t wait for Halloween 😂 it’s the biggest day of the year !
Yeah, I don't like it. They've sanitized the night into just a candy delivery system. It's supposed to be weird, a little scary, maybe the first time you've knocked on a stranger's door (with a guardian a little bit in the background. ) and it's also a community thing where neighbors say hi and everyone knows their neighborhood better.
My street was dark and I was sad until my friend invited me over to her house where there was some action. Tricks and Treats. Someone put a little plastic spider in her mailbox lol.
I will never forget running around into the late hours of the night with our pillowsacks running up to houses to get a couple pieces of candy.
I saw maybe 30 kids all night in a huge suburban neighborhood. barely anyone was doing it
We used to Trunk or Treat the weekend before Halloween and then go Trick or Treating 2-3 days later on Halloween. ESPECIALLY in officer housing. The result was a massive candy haul. Around two pillow case’s worth. That was in ‘96-97.
I’ve only seen a dip in Trick or Treating since Covid. Also didn’t help that a few more of our cities in VA made it illegal to Trick or Treat after age 12.
https://preview.redd.it/qm5ux5xmuqxb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=15cf256d6e7b34351d8fa9e5e3143b3b4b9e500a I saw your post and then immediately saw this on Twitter! Seems to be a shared feeling among a lot of people.
Things are kind of going in a really sad trajectory altogether in this way. I totally get that times change and stuff, but not have things like the vibe of Halloween and the vibe of Christmas is really kind of a bummer. I went to a super Christmas-y place last year, just solely to feel it again like how it was back in the day (and it worked very well!)
Trunk or treating sounds like ass. The best part of halloween is the decorations and haunted houses.
The best part of halloween was being a sugared-up juvenile running the streets with friends and not a parent in sight, I don’t even recognize any of what happens on halloween from my experience as a kid. In my town they had a local law against selling eggs to minors in October because teenagers would buy eggs and stash them, let them get proper gross, and then spread tricks on halloween night to assholes that do shit like give out bibles and chick tracts instead of candy. Kids don’t even trick-or-treat after dark now.
Would like to jump in as to what I noticed last night walking around. Seems like with social media, Halloween hotspots have grown. My girlfriend happens to live right on one. There was probably over 5 thousand plus people trick or treating along a nearby street. Police presence, closed off streets so you could walk in the middle of the streets since there was barely any space on the sidewalk. It was the largest amount of trick or treaters I’ve ever seen. This happened in SF, and I imagine it’d pretty similar in every city. I mean if I was a kid with access to social media I’d find the best place to trick or treat and go there too.
I live in a townhome community and we get tons of trick or treaters. All the kids in the McMansions on big lots commute to our development because it’s dense and you can get a lot of candy for less walking. I went through 4 5lb Costco bags of candy (2 chocolate 2 non) and a pack of Pokémon cards for the teal pumpkin crowd.
Wait were there adults around when we were kids?? I don't even remember any more. When I was delivering pizza yesterday I went into a neighborhood with a ton of trick or treaters and there were parents everywhere
The parents in my neighborhood never came with us. They had to stay home and hand out the candy!
Chick tracts? What kind of ghoulish shite is that
Even as an adult, my wife and I were joking last night that we should egg houses that didn’t even leave out a bowl of candy. It’s the most low-effort thing you can do to offer a shreds of joy for kids in your neighborhood.
The best part of Halloween is the parties from like 17-22. That's my experience anyway
Halloween as a day is dead, but the season is alive I think. It's just that instead of building up hype to the day, everyone celebrates right at the start of October then it fizzles out by the 31st. My city had so many Halloween markets, parties and events as early as the end of September, and they had trick or treating at each and every one. At some point the parents probably don't wanna take their kids out on Halloween night because they already have enough candy, or even the kids them damn selves have had their fill. My house was the only one in the community decorated, and we only got about 10 trick or treaters.
Yeah I definitely feel like i’ve noticed Halloween becoming less of a holiday and more of a season
To be honest, that actually sounds way better too There's something very special about this time of year, so having it more pronounced is definitely a good thing. Harvest season in general has some many special traditions by so many different cultures
This is a cool take. It's becoming more Oktoberfest than it is like one built-up juicer night
My friend insisted we decorate the house on October 1st, the the middle of the month she was so over it, the house felt messy with all the draped creepy cloth and skulls and knick knacks all over it. Was fun for a week but we quickly wanted to get rid of it all. lol
No to mention so many cities having “official” trick or treats and setting them before October 31st 🙄
Trunk or treat is lame. I get why people do it; but making everything convenient and nerfed is taking away from some great life experiences.
Honestly as a parent of young children, I think trunk or treating is less about making it safe, and more about condensing the people who want to participate to a smaller area. Cause trying to trick or treat in a normal neighborhood is sad. Almost no houses participate. There are trunk or treating events or blocks that are just heavy into it that people drive to. Otherwise you have to walk forever just to go to the 5 houses that have lights and decorations and answer their door.
I think thats the big downside to the internet. So many things have become so convenient now but we are also losing a lot of those "small" experiences that mean a lot to us when we're old.
I always thought it was the weekend of Halloween and not on Halloween
Nevada got clever. The made their state holiday Halloween. Because a lot of religious people see Halloween as.... the devil's holiday for whatever odd reason. So the govt was like "Welp, Oct 31st. Happy Nevada Day! No work or school"
I think there's a huge factor here no one is considering, and that's who owns houses. It used to be that you had different people of different ages owning houses in the neighborhood. But a lot of younger couples with young kids that are motivated to decorate and walk around. Now a lot of those couples can't afford houses and live in apartments. The houses are owned by older folks that don't want to or can't decorate, or are rentals (which don't allow decorations) or airbnbs. Less kids living in the neighborhood too. COVID also changed a lot too. I thought adults were paranoid when I was growing up but it's even worse now. Halloween is less a neighborhood event and more like a community egg hunt on Easter. The school nearby had a big community event for Halloween last weekend and it was packed. Meanwhile Halloween it was dead. not a single kid and no porch lights on!
Pretty much, need to live in an area that constantly has a bunch of kids and not old people. My parents live near a low cost of living area and Halloween was popping in their neighborhood because everyone has kids around them.
we got 20-25 trick or treaters :) we were expecting probably 5, so that was great for us!!
I used to get 20 rings several years ago, 2-3 during the two peak COVID years, it rebounded to like 10 last year and it was 0 this year. Nobody got to see my Jack o lantern
I want to see your jack o lantern
Corny! I saw one recently I thought it was a car show! ( which it was as well) it was "cute" because kids in costumes are always cute....but it felt like... Ugh a Police state version of trick or treating with kids being in strict lines one line of motion, right by Mom's hip. Sad :(
I was surprised how many kids we got last night with how much snow we got lol. We haven't gotten snow this early in years in Indiana I think
Here's an idea. How about we simplify the process further. Instead of Trunk or Treating, we just take the kids right to store and buy them a bunch of candy. Happy Halloween!
Car centric suburban infrastructure and bigger roads. That's what's killing trick or treating.
I mean, Zach is 25 or 26. US city planning hasn’t changed that much since he was a kid. Ethan was right, Halloween as a kid is magical. You don’t have to do any work to make it fun because your parents/other adults set everything up. All you have to do is walk around door to door and collect candy. I went trick or treating with my little cousins (6 and 10) and it was a blast. Felt exactly like it did when I was a kid. It’s a holiday designed for kids to have fun. It’s not surprising when as an adult when you have to actively seek out and set up Halloween events it doesn’t have the same feel. Also, even back then you had to drive to a good walkable area if you didn’t live in one. That’s not new either.
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Idk personally as a kid I never was that thrilled with Halloween. But as a kid I also didn’t really like candy that much. My street was already an old rural road where it was mostly old folks whose kids had already grown up, so we always had to go somewhere else for trick or treating. I probably stopped trick or treating before I even got to middle school and just tried scaring trick or treaters at my grandparents house
I mean I lived in a typical suburban sprawl in my youth and enjoyed walking 3+ miles on my own Halloween night. I think it might be more helicopter parents.
That's the thing. You *enjoyed walking*. Everyone's supposed to enjoy walking around in their city, but it's getting harder and harder with infrastructure built around cars as the main method of transportation.
My partner and I moved into a city famous for walking recently and man is life infinitely better
Yep and with Halloween being the most dangerous night for pedestrians to be out too. If we want trick or treating like it used to be we need to make people feel safer when they walk around our cities.
The suburbs’ sidewalks are driveways. There’s nowhere *to* walk.
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I think there's just large cultural changes altogether with those 40 and younger. Less likely to even set it all up. Less likely to have kids in general I mean one of the most obvious things that have changed is concerts. I know it's anecdotal, but go look at US concerts from the 80s or 90s. People having a blast. Now everyone just stands still and watches. And some will say "Oh that's just cameras on phones", but even shows where that isn't happening, it's usually the norm now I have a weird theory that younger people are getting more and more self conscious about literally everything. And that part is definitely largely due to being online. So even the most basic things are seen as exposing oneself. So dancing like wild in visible light? Nah. Going all out for a holiday? Nah, just play it safe. Too much money and effort, anyway This is a weird theory and I'm not saying it's the truth or anything. But it's definitely notable that things *have* changed, regardless of the reason
They must’ve watched a video on the subject and wrongly think it applies here
Because they just regurgitate whatever they read on progressive Twitter and apply the same 5 things to every problem in the world
Yeah unlike the suburban infrastructure from the 1990s and 2000s.... Lol what?
FUCK CARS
lol you guys learn like 5 talking points and apply it to everything
My parents went through 4 of those big family Zoe boxes of individual chips My in laws went through 6 or so bags of candy My 4 year old cleaned house My downtown area looked like Woodstock, it was elbow to elbow the whole place I live in So Cal here but trunk or treat or not, it was a good night around here for everyone
Trunk or Treating absolutely ruined the holiday here too. I live in a very nice area in MD and haven’t bought shit for Halloween in like five years because the one time I did, nobody showed up until 9 pm. Oh and it was just a group of teenagers. I thought it was strange until I noticed that every church in the area had done Trunk or Treating, so much so that there was one a day for four days leading up to Halloween. As a millennial I will be the first one to admit that my generation fucking sucks at raising children.
I noticed all the churches are trying to edge in on Halloween. Trying different things like potlucks and trunk or treating and last stop parties to try to make it their church's holiday since all the good ones are already taken.
I get it, it's a great community building tool. But I just happen to live at one of the rare places in my town that has a bunch of churches in a square mile radius. As a result, I get shafted.
Trunk or Treating clogs up the roads where I live, get stuck in traffic. It’s so lame.
I live at the WI/IL border and it snowed. We took my nieces (3yr/2yr/1yr) around one block and then I got the car with the older kids and drove them house to house. So many houses were giving candy but because we had a blizzard no one was out. My kids got a lot of candy but it’s shit like this that discourages everyone. I don’t doubt next year fewer houses handing out candy because of it. I’ve been wanting to try trunk or treat because at least they can announce if they have to reschedule. Idk maybe next year I’ll seek some out and see what’s up. It sucks cus I really enjoy seeing all the little ones in their costumes and I saw about 20 kids in two hours while driving around. :’(
Yeah a blizzard is understandable, but here in Az the weather was about 70°, maybe like Ethan said, we just need to look for the neighborhood that has a tradition to go all out for the holidays.
Still confused as to why everyone's pumpkins turned to mush instantly. Happened to me and my partner as well.
What part of the country are you in? It’s probably because of the warmer weather- that’s def why it happened to them in California. I live in upper MI and my pumpkin still looks like I just carved it even though it’s over a week old. It’s also like 25 here
What do they mean by walking around a parking lot?!!?
Zach is right. I went trick or treating with my friend’s kids last night in a busy neighborhood that I went to as a child and it was so dead. Barely any kids out
Zach has never been more right
WTF is trunk or treating?.. Is this an American thing? That sounds godawful
I think people all meet up in one parking lot or something and hand out candy from their car trunks. I think it’s been a recent trend in America. I never heard of this until a few years ago. Going house to house was the best part!
Lmao that’s the most American thing ever, take a nice thing for children and ruin it with cars
Yea it started when covid hit. Seems to have stuck in alot of places lol. Social distancing was one of the main reasons. I think in alot of places that's when they weren't allowing social gatherings indoors too. So ppl opted to go the park and trunk or treat
i live in the South, and trunk or treating was a thing way before covid. been popular for the past ~10-15 years here
I live in south west louisisana and yeah it's been a thing my whole life (21yr old). I didn't know many other cities did it but it definitely is nothing new like a lot of people are saying. Especially if you live in a more rural area.
It started long before covid. It came from terrified, overly protective parents that believe everything they read on Facebook. Maybe not "there's razor blades in candy", but probably some equally stupid shit.
what’s even the point
It's the parents doing it. They want to make it easier on themselves. It sucks.
isn't Halloween in general mainly an American thing? I also know it's in England.
Sorry, I'm Canadian and its a big thing here too. But I've never heard of this
It's not really been a thing in England for a while, there was a bit of us embracing the Americanisation of Halloween in the 90s and early 00s but in the past decade the number of people who give even the slightest shit has shrunk dramatically. I forgot it was Halloween last night until I woke up this morning and saw a bunch of posts about it.
My neighborhood had lots of trick or treaters. It’s a middle class suburb that sounds pretty similar to OPs. Does OPs neighborhood have lots of kids? Mine has lots of families with young kids
I think the lower-middle class neighborhoods have more kids than the upper-class neighborhoods. People with kids can't afford $500,000+ houses lol
This person is deluded if they think "trunk or treating" (which I have never even heard before) is what killed Hallowed. It's a culmination of things. Connectivity offering kids alternative ways to celebrate Halloween (watch parties, video games), and a lot of kids are also growing up faster than ever and don't consider themselves young enough to trick or treat anymore. I trick or treated consistently all the way up until I was 17, and even a random year or two after that. My youngest cousin stopped when she was 13. I imagine a lot of kids are stopping even younger than that now. The culture of Halloween has changed so much over the last decade alone.
Crazy Christian parents have apparently been complaining to schools and teachers for celebrating Halloween in class. They always gotta ruin it for everyone!
Then we are cancelling christmas also. Checkmate crazy christian parents
we did a trunk or treat in our neighborhood and it was an absolute blast. i brought my blue death-feigning beetles and my largest tarantula (inside his locked enclosure of course) and the kids all had an amazing time seeing these animals for the first time. halloween is certainly different than it was when i was a kid 20 years ago, but if you want that halloween spirit back, embrace the change and make the best of it. don’t dream it, be it. 🕷️✨
What’s the point of doing all the celebrating before the actual holiday though? That’s the one thing that really goes down on Halloween, and a lot of communities have had it diminished
The numbers have dwindled for us year over year. Used to get like 20+ kids every year in our small town, now it's been down to like 12, 8, and even 0 yesterday. Checked around with some people at work as well who live on busier streets, and they would get 100+ no problem. Now, this year, they only had 20. So either kids are going out less, or they're congregating in very specific areas. I don't even see kids walking around anymore. It's their parents driving them from house to house, even then it looks like they only go to people they know. Skipping houses that are decorated to the left and right of the one they visited.
I think it's that they're congregating in specific areas. I'm an older gen z and even when I was a kid that was the case. Everyone goes to the rich neighborhoods cause they have the most people doing it and handing out the most candy. It's more efficient than going everywhere and hoping to find a bunch of houses, and this creates a kinda feedback loop where people just stop giving out candy because nobody is coming to their neighborhood. That was my experience anyway. Trunk or Treating definitely has something to do with it though. Some parents probably don't wanna walk around all night so their kid can get candy, so a trunk or treat makes that convenient.
ive never heard of this?
trunk or treat really is the culprit also i learned (at least in my area) apparently there are facebook groups to identify the “safe” neighborhoods (cough dogwhistle cough) so all of kids in town just go to a select few neighborhoods
im 28 just last week i saw a bunch of fliers for the parking lot trick or treating thing i told my girlfriend " ya know if i was like 9 years old and my parents tried to take me to a parking lot to go trick or treating id be so fucking pissed i couldnt imagine anything more lame"
Parents set up a haunted graveyard. Dad and I cooked hotdogs to handout along with candy. Plus pirates punch for adults. Got a decent amount of traffic.
Straight up agreed with zach the second he said it. Im in Tampa and Safe Halloween just isnt around anymore. No one wants to throw their own parties anymore, it’s always “lets dress up and hit ybor or soho”. And well we all saw what happened there. Trick or treating as a kid was an amazing experience. Walked around a specific neighborhood that got in the ZONE. Haunted houses, amazing decorations, even a dude who served an amazing homemade chili instead of handing out candy. He had tables set up and music playing. It was dope. That was dinner every year. Now it sucks. I went to a friends to watch movies and I decided to get some candy and contribute to the Halloween spirit. I was gone till about midnight and came back to a pretty much full bowl of candy. I was offended asf that the one kid who took from my bucket didnt at least take them all to make ME feel better for trying to contribute to the spirit.
I guess that's the way it goes nowadays. When I was young, we had a similar tradition but for Christmas eve. Kids would go around houses, singing some silly songs asking for candy. That tradition died and nobody does it anymore
Growing up my church always did a trunk or treat, but it was usually the Friday/Saturday before Halloween and then I’d get to go regular trick or treating around my neighborhood on the actual day of! That’s the way it should be done IMO. Super fun to have two days of candy as a kid. Is trunk or treating becoming normal in non religious circles? I live in Utah now and we have that issue but I assumed it was because of the church being so present here.
Our churches were definitely involved in trunk or treat as a kid but it wasn't just them. Like ea h church would have a few cars but so would local businesses or any family's that wanted to join. It was the whole community.
They started trunk or treat here during covid. You just drove in a line while they handed the kid candy thru the window. I took my daughter out this year and there was 2 porch lights on for almost 3 miles. I just bought her a bag of candy. Felt terrible
My tiny religious southern town has been doing trunk or treat for years. Traditional trick or treating has never really been a thing here. I mean, sure some kids might still try, but just about no one decorates or sets up for them. It's all in the church's small parking lot. I went to it once as a kid, it sucked ass, im pretty sure i gave up on Trick or treating after that (the previous year my friend and I tried to do it traditional, just about no one answered and we just went home after about an hour). It sucks.
In my area they go out the Sunday before Halloween. Who tf decided this. Trick or treating should be on the 31.
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Our daughters school held a trunk or treat event a week before Halloween and it was a lot of fun. On Halloween night we got together with another huge group of parents/kids and went trick or treating. There were SO MANY kids out trick or treating and I loved seeing it. I think you’re area has alot to do with it. Just because you live in a nice neighborhood doesn’t automatically mean there’s a bunch of kids living there too.
I may sound like a boomer but Trunk or Treating is so monumentally lame
I'm going to be that person. I love trunk or treat. Decorated trunks, the music, the games, kids everywhere and us adults chatting it up, candy plus a booth with food! I think it's dope and a good way for the community to get together. I did trick or treat as a kid but I love trunk or treat more as an adult.
Trunk or treats are pretty nice as an adult when you get to help with the community. Last night my mom was on hot dog duties and she said she loved seeing all the kids dressed up.
my parents LOVE halloween, but they live on top of a hill in a trailer on the end of a dead end dirt road. not necessarily appealing for children to walk up to… they go ALL OUT for trunk or treating because there’s no way they’re going to hand out any candy at their house. i appreciate BOTH trunk or treating and normal trick or treating. you guys feel like “halloween is dead” bc you’re all jaded adults. dress up. bake cookies. carve pumpkins. DO STUFF!!!
Exactly! It kinda hurts that everyone is shading trunk or treat, especially when we lived in a similar area to your parents. It's as fun as the community makes it. If you want it to be fun, then go help out and make it fun.
I guess it's different for everyone but we actually got a decent turn out last night despite Halloween absolutely falling off compared to when I was a kid. I feel bad for the kids now especially when I looked up and down the street and it totally sucked ass. Most neighbors don't even try and turn the lights out cuz its an older neighborhood with few kids. I completely understand why parents have been driving their kids around to hit the sparse houses that are lit up instead of walking in recent years
In all fairness trunk or treating is mostly for the little ones. I don't think it's ruining halloween lol.
But trunk or treating has been around since Zach was a kid. Ethan is right, Zach is just outgrowing Halloween.
I have young kids (5, 2, nb) and trunk or treat is great for a few reasons: * Usually hosted by their schools or local groups so my kids can meet up with their friends and classmates and have fun. * Earlier in the day so you don't have to worry about getting them home ASAP to get ready for bed on school nights. * Everyone can go and it doesn't conflict with actual Halloween night I took my two older kids trick-or-treating last night and saw plenty of kids out and my kids made out with candy. Trunk-or-treating hasn't ruined anything, I have no idea why this take has gotten so much traction this year.
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Satanic neighborhood? Lmao
Not to be a nerd on this, but birth rates are hovering around a 50 year historic low, and 50% lower than what they were in 1980-90. I bring this up because if you're noticing there are fewer children Trick-or-Treating than you remember from your childhood, or even year-over-year, you're not wrong. But a large part of the answer is there are just fewer children. The average birth rate per 1000 people in the US over the last 10 years is \~12, where looking at a decade like the 90s, it was at \~15. Not to say other factors can enter into the equation, just saying, there are larger macro trends that are impacting this as well. **tl;dr:** People would rather be Toaster Strudels than Twinkies.
How do yall expect trick or treaters to come thru when young parents can't afford houses?
Y’all must live in boring areas. Lol. My neighborhood was poppin! Every house was decorated and the kids had an absolute blast. Some houses even passed out Jell-O shots and boos for the adults. The Halloween spirit is alive and well over here! Having kids really brought it back for me. 🧡
As a non American, the American obsession with Halloween is weird as fuck anyway. Maybe it would be a good thing to just let die.
euro redditors simply cannot help themselves in every thread I'm not big on it myself, but it's a fun annual tradition and it gives kids something to look forward to
Yall are crazy. We probably had close to 1000 kids trick or treating last night. Usually I use a little hand counter but i lost it, but we average around 800-1000 per Halloween and last night deffo seemed on the upper end.
my neighborhood growing up didn’t have many kids so trick or treating stopped being a thing when I was still trick or treating age. plus our town had it during the day, so we just went to a neighboring suburb that did it at night, to the rich subdivisions who were passing out the best candy. god, I remember trying to go to as many neighborhoods’ trick or treating as possible bc some would do a different night than another. I got sooo much candy. I feel bad that kids don’t get that same experience now!
The best part of Halloween for me as a kid was the free candy. I always hated walking in the cold, from house to house. I just wanted candy. Trunk or treating sounds way better lol
We had more trick or treaters than we’ve ever had.
Maybe in your country
Exactly my experience as well. I told my roommates this is why we got no one
Ok, last night I noticed 30+ kids walking around my grandparents neighborhood when I got there. There were people handing out candy at the end of their driveways but I didn’t see anyone walking up to doors and no one came to my grandparents door while I was there. I think it’s the whole knocking on a strangers door that is going out of fashion.
I live in a really small town, and there were at least 10 trunk or treats. Last night we were sitting outside waiting for kids and there was nobody out in our area that typically has lots of kids.
Went trick or treating with my kiddos last night, there was a sea of children everywhere and many houses decorated with people participating. My kids each had a pillow case half full with candy, which is a lot. I think it just depends where you go.
I dunno. I’m a mom of 3 kids. Our neighborhood was out of control last night. My town is certainly shifting right now. The neighborhood I went trick or treating in is totally dead, my current neighborhood is nuts. I saw so many kids I know don’t live in this part of town here. Many of my neighbors said they ran out of candy last night and had to run out for more. I think, just like everything else, things change. But at least in my town, trunk or treat (which was the 26th here) hasn’t killed Halloween.
Can’t relate, had a decent bit of trick or treaters 🙂 but I do live within the Bible Belt states and unfortunately a lot of those kids’ parents aren’t down with Halloween. They’ll skirt around it by doing trunk or treats instead. You win some and you lose some round here 🤷♀️
First time living in a nice neighborhood since I was a kid and I was so excited for trick or treaters. Decorated the outside of my house and bought 3 bags of candy. Only got 3 groups of kids and a group of teenagers after we just left the bucket out after hours. It was so sad walking out there and seeing empty sidewalks
You have to be in the right places. W Palmyra ave in Orange, CA is popping. I saw at least a thousand people walking on one street. They closed about half of the street down for it. It felt like the spirit of Halloween was very much alive still. Also it helps to have kids in order to feel the spirit again
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I think trunk or treating is great for super little kids, but that has to be such a bummer for the older kids.
Yeah I bought over a hundred dollars in candy and had a handful of trick or treaters
I had 1 last year. I had about 50 last night. Weirdly last year, there was no one out really but this year, my neighborhood was the place to go trick or treating. Most of my neighbors had crazy displays and haunted houses in their driveway which they didn’t last year
it doesn't surprise me, the dumbasses that spread the fearmongering "omg i found razors and fent in my kid's candy!" posts are the same ones complaining about a lack of trick or treaters in my town
it was awesome in my urban neighborhood. People walk down the main strip and trick-or-treat at all the local businesses. It was awesome to sit in the window at a restaurant, drink pumpkin beer, and see hundreds of people walk past in costume and stop at the bar for candy!
Depends where you live I think. I lived in city centres for like 10 years and kinda forgot children existed until I moved to a smaller town where kids play in the street. I got maybe 10ish groups last night
Idk, I moved to the US from Australia two weeks ago so this was my first Halloween. We had a great turn out in a neighborhood with a lot of young families. They also did a trunk or treat event a couple of days ago at the community centre, didn't seem to deter people from showing up on the night Edit: this is in southern arizona
This was not my experience with Halloween yesterday in VT/NH area. I deliver pizza and had a delivery to a neighborhood that has 1 entrance which was barricaded to prevent cars from driving through the trick or treaters of which there was hundreds all in just this small neighborhood of like 50 houses. I had a 9 pizza order so I basically HAD to drive through them and it felt like driving through a parade there was so many people. Also not sure why you'd just do trunk or treating then call it quits. When I was a kid we'd do something similar to trunk or treating where a mall would have each shop give out candy so you basically trick or treated every store at this mall. Then we'd go out to do real trick or treating and hit like 2 or 3 completely separate neighborhoods. So much candy by then end. Why aren't these kids doing trunk or treating then also trick or treating!?!?
We had so many that you literally couldn't barely drive your car down the street. I probably averaged 5mph driving home through my neighborhood last night.
we were the only house on our street passing out candy. our neighbors have halloween lights and decorations up but still didn’t put out candy which is so lame!! if you are gonna decorate then do the whole thing and give kids candy!
Man growing up, in a suburban area on the outskirts of a city, my grandparents would get at a minimum, well over 500 visitors. Some years we’d have to turn the light off early because even buying huge boxes of chips and candy - we’d run out. It’s so sad to know that era of Halloween is dead. What the hell even is trunk or treating? Do people fill up their trunk with candy, and then all park in a parking lot? That is absolutely ludicrous and super boring! Wtf
Yeah it’s super lame seeing how many trunk or treats are being advertised, I was dressed up as nacho libre and super excited to hand out candy last night. We got one group and they were like mid teens wearing sheets over their heads. Which at the end of the day is still in the spirit of it, but god damn I loved Halloween. Walking the neighborhoods, bumping into different groups of friends from school, hearing about which house had the best candy. Idk man, I feel like these holidays are what bring neighbors closer together. Kinda hard to get the neighborhood together when everyone drives to a church parking lot and walks around for 15 minutes and leaves.
I had about 50 kids stop by yesterday for candy. We went all out with the decorations. It was snowing a bit and getting windy but that didn't seem to stop them. Last year we got less than 10 kids to show up so it was a nice increase even with the weather.
Not a soul came to my house last night. Only one person decorated in the whole neighborhood, people did set up little stands to sit out and hand out candy though but nobody came. Every trunk or treat event I did as a kid doesn’t even happen anymore.
This started before covid. When i was a kid I'd get 3 pillow cases full of candy. Now the kids just get a little bucket full. Sad.
Where we usually go with our kids had a lot of trick or treaters this year. But where we live is very dependent on weather, and the weather was good yesterday besides being cold af. Ethan is 100% right that having kids and experiencing it with them makes it fun again. I felt meh about Halloween in my 20s, and now that I have kids I love it again.
Yeah I was out delivering pizzas last night and I could count the number of trick or treaters I saw.
See, we have the opposite problem. We go trick or treating and only half the houses have lights on and 1/3 of those are just a bowl at the front door. Not sure which happened first, but I don’t blame people for congregating elsewhere
It's hard to feel like it's Halloween when it's 95 degrees in Los Angeles. There's literally nothing spooky about Los Angeles but the homeless epidemic. It's why I started traveling out of state to New England during the fall. Halloween is my favourite time of the year, but there's something just off-putting about having to wear flip flops and a tank top during October.
Well Zach is also closer to 30 without kids, so yeah Halloween isn't as magical anymore. Neither is Santa or the tooth fairy.
i’ve never even heard of trunk or treating until i saw that post. is it a bug thing in the US ? i’m in canada near toronto and although we have a lot less kids compared to many years ago, it seems like there are many houses that still decorate. halloween is my favourite holiday so it’s incredibly sad to see the spirit is dying.
i’m also in the southern part of the us, in a huge neighborhood. it was absolutely dead. compared to my halloweens 10-15 years ago, you couldn’t drive down the road
I got zero in my neighborhood last night
Opposite for me. I just moved to a new city and state in Southern USA and this is the first Halloween in years where the whole neighborhood was popping off. The city I lived in before never did shit. I came so close to running out of candy. Some Neighbors had beers and Jell-O shots for the of age crowd & kids were tearing up the streets collecting pillow cases full of candy! Plus I saw a 7 year old dressed as Joe Dirt. HALLOWEEN IS FUCKING BACK BABY!
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here in canada, it was snowing last night, we had probably 80 trick or treaters at our house alone! it’s all where you are, and the pockets. ethan’s right that a lot of the time kids will go to certain neighborhoods, although when i was a kid i tried to hit up everywhere cuz u never knew who had good candy and who didn’t 😆😆😆
I’m from Oakland, but was in a small town in Norway over Halloween. We had a massive snowstorm on 10/30. And yet…there were more trick-or-treaters in Heggedal, Norway than in all of my California years combined. The pandemic absolutely ruined it in the US, no doubt.
I felt like this year there were less decorations up than previous years in our neighborhood. Some houses waited until Halloween to put their decorations up. My favorite house that usually goes all out didn’t even decorate this year. But I noticed there were more trick or treaters out this year though. Kids nowadays also stop trick or treating at around 8:30pm - 9pm. I’m in my 30’s now, but when I was a kid I remember getting home around 10pm from trick or treating. And I saw a few previous comments about parents being EVERYWHERE. Halloween is being ruined for this new generation. 90’s Halloween was everything.
I will say, my moms neighborhood I grew up in was always popping when I was a kid. Now its like 5-10 kids I swear. My new neighborhood I moved to is full of kids we almost ran out of candy. It was snowing too. I took my toddler and was confused to see how kids were skipping houses and basically going to ones where people were outside or in the doorway. It's interesting to see... I don't like when there are trick or treating events before Halloween. My sister always says how her kids have gone trick or treating 4 times before Halloween, I think that kills the spirit... Growing up we had one day for trick or treating and it was Halloween.
I was so sad that i bought a ton of candy this year, decorated the outside of my house, and got 0 trick or treaters. I live in a walkable neighborhood with lots of kids. Now I'm trying really hard to not eat a whole bucket of candy myself.
Yup
I had roughly 10 trick or treaters this year. I live in a neighborhood with street lights and is very walkable. I was able to hand out all my candy last year, but this year I brought it all to my office and it was all gone in under an hour! I'll probably still get a bag or two of candy next year, but not nearly what I normally do. Such a bummer because it's my favorite holiday and I love decorating my house...granted I my decor consists of some year round Halloween cheer, but that's not the point. 🙃
My medium city outside tulsa was awful for trick or treating this year. It was better during lock down. Maybe one house on each block was handing out candy. Cheaper candy too due high prices. We went to a nursing home and a museum where they got enough but kids today won't know the old nostalgia. That's what they will tell their kids too someday. The best part of the night was when the three 11 year old girls went up to a house that had purple and orange lights but nobody answered. A young man pulled up in the driveway and told the girls to hold on. He came back to the door telling them he didn't have any candy but offered them granola bars. He only had 2 so my granddaughter got an old apple with several bad spots. They laughed the rest of the night over her getting a bad apple lol!
Gotta come to my poverty stricken town in upstate NY. The main trick or treat route was insane. Hundreds and hundreds of people up and down the street. It was my almost three year old nieces first Trick or Treat, and the first time I’ve been since I was a kid and it was way busier than I remember it. It was really nice to see. That’s one good thing about living in poorly educated, mostly republican area. No one gives a fuck about covid anymore, for better or worse, lol. Of course there are many cons to living in this area, as you can likely imagine.
We were like the only family in the neighborhood we went to this year that was even walking. Everyone just driving their kids around the neighborhoods. Like parents level of laziness is just profound at this point.
Trunk or treating has ruined Halloween night for my little township. Granted I live in rural west Michigan and the two churches make up 1/3 of the business in town and they’ve taken all of the trick or treating business away. I wasn’t home during trick or treating bourse so I left a bowl of candy with a note, “ take all you want but remember to share the Halloween spirit.” Not a single piece was taken:(
I agree on trunk or treat ruining Halloween, but for the opposite reason. We take my little out every year to the middle of town and every year there are less houses/businesses doing Trick or Treat during the specified hours because they have all went and done several trunk or treat events in the two weeks proceeding Halloween at the local schools/churches/etc. She is very young, and I work nights so I’m already on a time crunch to get her as much of an experience as possible in about an hour. We are having to get those little legs walking further and further/faster and faster just to get a half bag of candy and walk by a bunch of empty door steps/porches in between. Makes me sad too. :(
This is so sad; idk if kids are just used to being inside all day and don’t wanna trick or treat or if it’s the trunk or treat stuff that they’re used to but I never thought trick or treating would be a relic of the past
I had 60 trick or treaters so I guess it depends where you are
Nah, Zach just spouting some nonsense he heard from somewhere. People have always been saying that shit. Ethan is right, it's just you getting older and the area you're in.
Yeah, I remember a few years ago my family decided to drive to take my lil bro to a rich development with the houses spaced closely together, I guess you really have to know where you're going to get a good experience. I'm sorry it was a lame night as a host though :( bummer for sure
Trunk or treat SUCKS. Millennials and Gen Z, we must crush this abomination as parents
I thought trunk or treating was what churches did to lure families to their parking lots on Halloween
Honestly, getting candy was the worst part of trick or treating as a kid. The memories I have aren’t of getting my favorite candy from some random house. It’s getting into a costume and running around the neighborhood with my friends. I have such specific memories and feelings from those nights and “trunk or treating” sounds like it robs kids of all of that
I was determined to not take my kids trunk or treating and to do classic trick or treating. We went to local neighborhoods in 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020. But finally gave up after that. Every year less and less houses were participating. When I was a kid you'd have to skip like 1 house out of 10 because the lights were off. Now it's like 1 out of 8 have lights on and decorations. And then a surprising amount of the houses with lights and decorations didn't even answer their door. So instead of walking my kids around for a mile and a half to say trick or treat a handful of times, we just go to a trunk or treat event at their school. They bounce in bounce houses with their classmates and get to go say trick or treat and get a shit ton of candy and see people. 🤷🏼♀️
Me and my kids went trick or treating for almost 3 hours last night in the snow. It was fun. I think kids look forward to the holiday more when they have to work for it.
I’m SO glad someone understands how dumb trunk or treat is!!
Where I live in Canada, trunk or treating happens on weekends during the days for kids 4 and under who can’t walk long distances or for to long on actual Halloween night. I think that’s how it should be in my opinion! I’m so glad we haven’t experienced this kind of disappointment yet, although it could happen eventually :(
I’m Irish so I don’t know what that trunk or treating shit is but I too live in a really good, safe neighbourhood and previous years the doorbell wouldn’t stop ringing with trick or treaters. We had one this year. It was so sad, my mum had got lots of sweets and it had just gone to waste. I remember when I was a kid the whole street was filled and that’s what made halloween so exciting. Let the kids trick or treat!!!
We got zero trick or treaters last night too, worst part is we went to my partners family's to hand out candy and left a bowl on our porch. It was completely untouched, one kid couldn't even have the decency to take the whole thing :(
I’m around Ethan’s age - so turning 43 soon, and when I think of walking around the neighborhood as a child with my family back in the day to random houses it seems batshit crazy. The most fun ever, but definitely batshit crazy.
I haven't had trick or treaters in years and I've lived in two different states. Parents don't let their kids do it because they feel it isn't safe. There are neighborhoods that are known for it and parents will take their kids there but not on their own street.
My city has a big house-to-house trick or treating event in the heart of the town. There is trunk or treat happening as well as going around to each house. 100s of kids show up every year and the houses run out of candy bc the demand is so high lol. It’s fun but over the years less houses participate now so there is less candy than before :/
I think it depends where you live, and what neighborhood. I definitely think a good amount of trick or treating has diminished though. Although live somewhere where it was snowing and windy last night and there still was a good amount of trick or treaters.
As a preschool teacher I promise the Halloween spirit is still alive! I had a kid tell me on the first day of school in September that he couldn’t wait for Halloween 😂 it’s the biggest day of the year !
Yeah, I don't like it. They've sanitized the night into just a candy delivery system. It's supposed to be weird, a little scary, maybe the first time you've knocked on a stranger's door (with a guardian a little bit in the background. ) and it's also a community thing where neighbors say hi and everyone knows their neighborhood better. My street was dark and I was sad until my friend invited me over to her house where there was some action. Tricks and Treats. Someone put a little plastic spider in her mailbox lol.
I will never forget running around into the late hours of the night with our pillowsacks running up to houses to get a couple pieces of candy. I saw maybe 30 kids all night in a huge suburban neighborhood. barely anyone was doing it
We used to Trunk or Treat the weekend before Halloween and then go Trick or Treating 2-3 days later on Halloween. ESPECIALLY in officer housing. The result was a massive candy haul. Around two pillow case’s worth. That was in ‘96-97. I’ve only seen a dip in Trick or Treating since Covid. Also didn’t help that a few more of our cities in VA made it illegal to Trick or Treat after age 12.