Treats for the tricksters

This past Saturday was Trick or Treat in my little town. We have roughly about 2000 residents in town, maybe double if you add the township. But on a good Trick or Treat day we get about 600 trick or treaters. Since the weather was bad we only had about 400 to 500, but we were prepared for a better year as the earlier forecast was for clear and warmish. So we now have extra candy to last until next year (at the different jobs, people love candy, and especially at the hospital, it'll go fast).

However, many people think I'm joking or exaggerating when I talk about having traffic jams on our little road, and about how the local communities bus the kids in. They also think I'm kidding when I say we easily get 600 trick or treaters.

Whelp, here's some photos of what 4pm to 6pm is like on trick or treat night.



Now it isn't always like this. There are times when the street is relatively calm. Then we get inundated with the mobs. It's sometimes hard to keep up with giving the candy out at those times. Also, and I understand this is hard for the little kids, parents it helps if you show the kids how to untangle their bags. I normally give 2 to 3 pieces each (this year was a handful each). If the kid's bag doesn't open well, not all the candy can get in. Also if the kid just puts out their hand they can't hold as much as I can (and that's somewhat annoying).

This year we had a record number of people who wanted pictures in our yard. We decorate with a lot of things. The favorite is our 6' pumpkin, but there were a good number of people who wanted pictures in our graveyard. I trotted out the joke about kids not saying "trick or treat", but the child looked horrified (she was admiring our glowing skull on a stake and I made the joke). I apologized and said it was just a bad joke. And I appreciate that some kids don't or can't say "Trick or treat". I give everyone candy, but I do like to hear "trick or treat" first. Although one little girl just walked away. I tried to call her back, told her I would give her candy anyway (I was prepared to give her two handfuls), but she kept on going.

This year we had more teenagers (like 13 to 19) than previous years. Some of the parents also had bags (yes, I give them candy too). There were no obvious Amish this year (we had a few last year). And there was one woman who was late 30s early 40s and I'm not sure she was with the group of kids she came with. But I gave her candy as well. I used to be stingier with the older kids, the parents carrying toddlers who aren't on solid food yet, or the adults. Some friends online helped me get over that. So if you come begging on the trick or treat night, I'll give you candy no matter how old or if you have a costume or not.