Well, It's time for me to pick a bone. When I was around the trick o treatin age I remember my town, and I remember the sidwalks being filled with other mates of my neigborhood trick or treating. I can rememebr it being rampid and all kids screaming through the streets and happy as scarty as can be. Nobody dressed in panzyish costumes like cinderella or peter pan. All the kids dressed as scary as they could. Parents would attend the younglings up to a certai nage then as you got a bit older you went with a group of kids. Everybody had the scariest house in town around halloween, even the people passing out candy had some scary costumes on and some good scare tactics. When I was of Trick or Treating age I lived in Boise ID, but I eventually relocated here with my parents at age 11. I even noticed MN was the same as ID as far as halloween went.

Now that I am 23 years of age I still like to get into the scary stuff but I don't trick or treat anymore. Over the past 6 years as each Halloween has went by I have noticed a huge decline in actual turnout of Halloween. Kids dress in these weird non scary costumes and I just don't get it. Nobody even came to my door and we had it all decked out. I even live in a town of 300,000 people.

What's it like on Halloween in your towns? I bet Salem is active?

I can't believe the turnout this year. We've already had more kids at the door tonight than in the previous five years combined. I'm almost out of candy and it's only 7:40 here.

We had 12 kids. Usually we get around 200-300 kids at our door.

we had a small turnout this year because at the moment it is snowing.
that makes it 3 years in a row.
the upside is i got most of the candy, but its only snickers and M & Ms but is all good.
that is nothing compared to my haul last year, u had 3 back packs full of candy.
and it kepy me in candy all year.
but alas i was not allowed to go...
oh well.

In Leavenworth, they did Trick or Treating on Friday afternoon at the businesses downtown. This was because folks are worried about what the kids are getting in their bags, and many parents complained that Halloween fell on a religious day (Sunday) this year. They actually let some kids out of school for it.

I am sick and tired of everything becoming politically correct. Why can't they just let kids have fun?

I heard that too about the religion and halloween ordeal. It's like give me a freagin break, Maybe people are worried about poisoned candy and kidnappers now days.

Not a single kid this year and I can't say I'm surprised. Just disappointed.

Can't say I blame the parents, it's just not smart to let your kid go door to door anymore with all the freaks and wacko's about. Most of the kids go to malls, churches, parks and such where candy is safe and the environment is controlled. And the older crowd hits places like Alice Cooper's haunted house. Even in small towns like the one I grew up in, the spirit is dwindling. Our house was famous for scarring the crap out of trick or treaters. We'd have to borrow, beg and trick or treat neighbors to keep the candy flowing we were so busy.

But I think more to blame than the stories of razor blades and needles in candy is the blatant commercialization. Rather than a short intense experience retailors have drawn all the holidays out to ludicrous lengths. Television is even more craptastic than normal with absolutely no variety in programming during holidays.

I just bought a twelve pack of coke today with Santa on the box. It's disgusting. It's hard for anyone to get up any real enthusiasm for a holiday when you're constantly inundated with it for at least two months before the actual date.

they can't even put good Halloween flicks on tv anymore. I mean, they had like Halloween 4 and 5 on AMC, Talk about ghey. They need to get like Freddy and Jason movies on. Remember Pumpkinhead? hahaha

I didn't have one single kid show up this year and I got 2 huge bags of candy.
Someone take them away before I become Cornholio!

This is Phoenix... you send yer kids out alone after dark, they don't come home.

Seriously, I think most kids play it safe... too many sick bastards out there with poison, razor blades, acid and other crap to spike candy with.

Where I lived in Colorado, it was gettin' bad... so after a lot of bad press about it, my folks ended up having me go to the school parties instead of out trick-or-treating (or some other variation). I hit 12 and I figured it would be more fun to buy a couple bags of halloween candy, a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and play video games all night...

A tradition that lives on today

Quote: Originally Posted by Darksamurai This is Phoenix... you send yer kids out alone after dark, they don't come home. Seriously, I think most kids play it safe... too many sick bastards out there with poison, razor blades, acid and other crap to spike candy with. Where I lived in Colorado, it was gettin' bad... so after a lot of bad press about it, my folks ended up having me go to the school parties instead of out trick-or-treating (or some other variation). I hit 12 and I figured it would be more fun to buy a couple bags of halloween candy, a 12 pack of Dr. Pepper and play video games all night... A tradition that lives on today

i think i will start doing that for halloween from now on.
mmmm dr pepper..
tastey.
i can feel the sugar already.


ADD: i think halloween has just lost all of the fun
you can no longer scare the crap out of kids without getting in trouble anymore.
you cna seldom find any truely scarey costumes anymore either.
the most frightening costume i saw at school was a giant penis costume.
thats right folks, kind of like those sumo suits that self inflate, it was a giant penis roaming the halls.
nuts at the floor.

Quote: Originally Posted by JimsZR2 I heard that too about the religion and halloween ordeal. It's like give me a freagin break, Maybe people are worried about poisoned candy and kidnappers now days.

People who are in a state of mind like that will no doubt take extensive measures in order to prevent these "fears". Proven in 1692, 1950's, last 3 years, and apparently tonight.
It just isn't the same anymore. Sucks

Turnout was cool, but a lot were in cars. Many kids just not really dressed up, just in their street clothes, more 16 - 18 year olds than anything else. Got a good laugh from a few fellow riders that showed up dressed like cows

I was out on the Sting-Ray the whole time, did a lot of terrorizing of the streets and raping of the slower bikes, gas powered scooters, mopeds, I won a bet tonight because of some punk kids that thought they were tough and wanted a piece of j-dogg's pwnage.

They were all talking smack on their little gas powered scooters and I was talking to one of my friends, "20 dollars says I can get to the next light before those kids on the gas powered scooters can."

I blew past them like they were having a tea party

Well, I left the house for a halloween party and the candy bowl by the door was full. Came back after an awesome party, candy was still there. We used to have a huge turnout, but the past few years has been crap. We have alot of kids in the neighborhood, so it's odd to see such a bad turnout over the past few years.

But I agree with AntiM wholeheartedly on the media issue. I hate seeing Halloween stuff on the first of August, and tommorrow stores will be decked out in Christmas or Thanksgiving gear. It's horrible. And whats worse, people by into it, purchasing more than they can afford and thinking that spending more money on gifts will make a family come together, when in actuality, the video games they purchase for their kids or the cell phone for the teenager pull them farther apart.

My parents said we had 26 kids come tonight. Not a bad lot, it's not a terribly large neighborhood. The thing that upsets me the most is the way kids have their parentals drive them around and find the rich neighborhoods to get their candy at. I don't know if it was the idea of the parents of the children, but tonight when I was delivering pizzas, I saw a LOT of people sitting outside bored out of their minds waiting for kids to come so they could pass out candy.

I saw an elderly woman sitting outside her house tonight, waiting for kids to come by so she could give out candy. It was sad for me to see (both times I drove by) her sitting there only hoping to see maybe a FEW trick-or-treaters to brighten up her day.

Maybe it's just me.

It's basically a marketing scheme to get your money. Trust me, Been through the christmas ordeal. Had a $4,000 Credit card 2 years ago and went wild. I figured I was giving nice gifts, and realized I went too far. Now my family rarely exchanges alot of gifts. We're just glad we have each other and a roof over our head and food on the table.

Media sucks big time as they push these things onto people.

Well, I can't say I'm part of the problem. I dressed up as Kid Vid and paraded down the street with my friend. Yeah, it's a little wierd knocking on doors of college students only a year or two older, but we got candy.

I also just got back from telling ghost stories in a graveyard. That was pretty rad.

But seriously, Halloween being one of my favorite holidays I always remember knocking on one door and having kids giving me candy. Like 10 year old kids. WHY ARE YOU NOT LOOTING THE STREETS?

Our holidays are all kind of distorted. Halloween's about dressing up as whatever and getting candy. Forget anything else. Christmas is about Santa Clause giving out presents. Meanwhile there are holidays like Day of the Dead which really have a sort of meaning to them elsewhere.

I'm not sure what I'm trying to say. Just spitting out thoughts.

And yeah, the streets looked pretty barren when I went out (7:30-8:00) but I might have not been in a popular spot, not to mention my town is pretty scary in a non-halloween way

I worked all night so don't know if anyone even would've stopped by or not. On that note - it's for the best anyways, now I get to keep the candy.

Kids? WHAT KIDS? I didn't see any kids I swear! ....*BURP*....

Ever since I moved into an apartment, I don't get any trick-or-treaters any more, but I called my parents and they said that their houses were packed with people. They both live in nicer neighborhoods, though, which probably means that some kids were imported. But, as was said before, with all the nut-jobs out there, I would prolly want my kids in a nice, safe area full of rich people who MIGHT not kidnap, kill, rape, poison, mame, accost or assault them.