am i an a-hole for not buying candy for trick-or-treaters?

Same for the Angolas!, but my question is do I buy candy and put it on a bowl on the porch? The problem I see with that is the first kid will probably clean the bowl out.

 

Oz, Why worry if you bought candy for kids that may not make it upstairs? Fewer kids making the climb means more candy for you.

And Angola, I have seen people that put candy on the porch when not at home and the kids have been pretty good about it. Each may take more than you would have given them, but they generally don't clean it out.

Mrs. Legume and I always have a great time when the little kids come to the door. Most of the time they are so excited they sorta forget why they are there and then they get all excited again when you give them the candy, so we like Halloween at our place. Our only problem in the last few years has been living in a neighborhood that people drive their kids to to trick or treat so we get a lot of kids we have never seen before.

It's also my birthday...so I have always enjoyed Halloween. Presents...presents...presents ;D

 

LJB - why do you hate America?

Seriously, as a dad who'll be out with three kiddos getting candy for me themselves, if you don't want to give out candy, turn off your porch light, close the door, maybe even tape a sign on the door that says, "No candy. Sorry."

Otherwise, buy a couple bags and have some fun with it. Cripes, it's only two hours with a bunch of interuptions.

 

I'm not buying candy. The last 6 years I've lived in my condo I've had a grand total of zero trick-or-treaters. I don't see that trend changing. Odd thing my boss did with the desk schedule for Halloween night -- I'm the only guy on the desk without kids and I get the night off.

 

my wife and i bought a pumpkin yesterday and carved it. we don't have any kids. we'll get about five groups of kids - most of whom won't even speak enough english to respond when i ask them what the fuck they are - but we'll have some candy on hand. i loved trick or treating as a kid even though i always had a crappy costume my mom bought for me at the supermarket.

 

Exactly. Turn on the TV, watch some NBA, and eat hand out the candy.

 

LOL...is this a parody? I was sure it was until I saw your second post in this thread. Now I'm not so sure.

 

My family lived in a nice, new subdivision when we were growing up. Everyone on the street used to do the Halloween thing... and we were probably one of the houses kids looked forward to going to...scary, neat displays and lots of good candy.

Being in that subdivision though, we started seeing not only the neighbourhood kids, but van loads of kids from elsewhere, who nobody knew, often coming in with bagloads of candy already and costumes that really didn't take much effort. My parents got sick of all the people trying to "hit" our area, so now they don't even stay home or they turn the lights off. Many neighbours did likewise, particularly since it is an older community now.

Though I think people without kids should celebrate Halloween, I can now see that sometimes there are good reasons to not be involved, or to limit the candy and say enough's enough.

 

Don't hate on us just because we lived out in the country where each house was a mile apart. Bussing to the primo subdivisions was all we had.

 

Childless guy in my office took a vacation day to hand out candy with his wife. He lives in a nice area of a crappy town so kids come in by the load. He'll probably go through 10 bags of candy in two hours.

I used to live on the same street and got burnt out of Halloween. I got tired of the same 17-year-old kids coming twice a night demanding "gimme candy" for both themselves and their babes in arms, then leaving without saying thank you.

The teens are way too old for and the infants in arms can't eat it.

So maybe this makes me old and grouchy, but the whole entitlement routine of the driven-in kids just pretty much turned me off. Yes, I partook as a child, but I always said please and thank you, and grew out of it by puberty.

 

So essentially, you've got a pussy dog and you're deathly afraid to tell the wife to put the fucking thing in the bedroom for two hours while you give candy out?

 

I have a philosophical problem with teaching kids how to be extortionists. "Trick or treat," after all, is a threat. "I'm gonna trick you -- egg your house, prob'ly, or set something on fire -- unless you treat me. So play it smart, see. Gimme some o' them candy bars, and I'll leave you alone."

Fortunately, most of the kids don't see it that way. To most, it's just a night to show off their costumes to the neighbors and get goodies in return.