trick or treat etiquette

[Kate&Lucas]

We went to a quite few last night that had pumpkins outside but didn't answer. I just assumed they were out trick or treating too.
When we went out I sellotaped a load of lollipops to the front door

 

[loeylo]

Wow that's quite interesting to real, even though it is last Halloween now. Wish I had read this a few days ago!

When we were younger we were only allowed to go to people's doors who we knew, our street had around 50 houses and we maybe went to 30 of them. All the kids in the street used to go round together, and most of the people in the street only opened doors to people who they knew (there was maybe 10-15 kids) so it was never an issue. Most houses decorated inside and had us in for about 10 minutes, we all had to do a trick and we ended up with loads of sweets.

Strangers from other areas used to drive their kids to our street because it was a "nice" street and they wanted to get lots of sweets, which is why we all agreed on going out together and most residents only opened the door to us.

We also went round our families houses trick or treating, then we went to a few houses on my grandparents street, but again only people we knew.

I didn't really know people went to strangers doors nowadays - we have been in this house two years, it's quite a busy road (but mainly elderly people) and we haven't had one trick or treater!

 

[prettybirdy27]

I'm in the US and the rule of thumb is that if an outside light is on, you can knock. You can definitely knock if there are outside decorations lit up, but not if they aren't (for example almost everyone in my neighborhood has the same light up plastic pumpkin in their front yard, but if it's not on, don't knock.) A lot of people also go out and light jack-o-lanterns on their front step, which is definitely an invitation.

One thing I don't like, though, is that the older kids will come out later, well after the acceptable trick or treat hours, and knock if your lights are on. I'm talking teenagers. We don't like to turn off our lights because it's Halloween! And the acceptable trick or treat hours in the neighborhood are 5-8. However this year we had teenagers knocking all the way to 9:30, and that started to bother me, so we finally gave up and turned our lights off.

Also just for fun, I just wanted to say that we have a tradition of counting our trick or treaters, and we got 144 this year. Last year was our all time high since we bought the house of 168. Our all time low is 102. So trick or treating is pretty huge in our neighborhood.

 

[Andypanda6570]

My kids are big now, but if the door is closed we just walked by that house..Only open doors..I know plenty of people who decorate and keep their doors closed, so I wouldn't depend on that..But the majority around here are great and do participate.. To each their own ..XO

 

[Eternal]

Im also one who isn't a fan of trick of treating ... our church did a "trunk or treat" nicked off americans using the boot of your car in a church car park. I really do not like trick or treating. We usually have a party, which I love, I love halloween and dressing up, but just not the trick of treating bit lol.

As for etiquette, I guess I agree with the majority, decorations mean they are open for Trick of Treaters, although if I made up the rules it would be only to those you know and NO TEENAGERS, especially if they can't be bothered to dress up.

 

[jd83]

The general rule in the US, as others have already mentioned, is if the porch lights are on, they are passing out candy. Actually, many people come outside and sit in their driveway to pass out candy to make it even easier for the kids to get to tons of houses. Our neighborhood FB page was talking about how many trick or treaters people passed out candy to, and many gave out candy to over 300 kids this year! It was a huge turnout since the weather was so nice over the weekend.

 

[prettybirdy27]

As for etiquette, I guess I agree with the majority, decorations mean they are open for Trick of Treaters, although if I made up the rules it would be only to those you know and NO TEENAGERS, especially if they can't be bothered to dress up.

I agree with the no teenagers part. I always get really annoyed near the end of the night when the teenagers come up. Most of the time they have no costumes and they don't even say thank you. I know I trick or treated a couple years past when I probably should've stopped, but I at least had the decency to dress up and say thank you. But I always give them candy because I"m afraid they'll retaliate and egg or toilet paper my house.

 

[Mushymilkfor2]

We go by the porch light rule, no light and we won't knock. I never paid too much attention to who had their house decorated but didn't have their light on, I've just always assumed they were out trick or treating as well.

Since we were going to be gone this year and we're new owners in our neighborhood I didn't want to get egged or toilet papered we out a HUGE bowl of candy out for any to take. Apparently we don't get trick or treaters because not one candy was removed from the bowl.

 

[SpringerS]

When we were kids you just went to every house and pretty much everyone participated and gave you fruit or nuts. But at some point since the late 80s when I was last out it switched over to handing out sweets and trick or treaters really only go to decorated houses. Which is sensible as it allows those who want to participate the let people know and lets everyone else opt out.

I can't believe how generous people are though. He got 5-10 funsized bars of chocolates/bags of jellies/crisps from each house. Some people had gift bags/creepy hands made up to give out. Others had tables set up in the hallway with various treats in bowls and would give each child something from each bowl. Some people had even home baking prepared for the parents. It was unreal. And so many people went to town on the decorations with zombies rising from full sized graves in the front garden and motion sensor animatronics to scare you as you got near the door. It was amazing fun but I suspect I'll be doling the treats out next weekend at his birthday party because he has nearly 100 items left. (We went to about 12 houses.) Not including the sweets I got in to give out. Though I didn't buy much as I, rightly, expected that we wouldn't get any callers as we live just outside the estates and are set back off the road.

 

[DCS]

Halloween in the US sounds so much fun. I don't know if it's just my area or if it's the majority of the UK but people don't realy decorate much. You see the odd house or two with decorations up.

Can I ask, those of you who have mentioned the door being open do you mean the front house door? If I left my front door open my kids and dog would be straight out.

 

[maryp0ppins]

I grew up in Canada and the rule was if there was a lit pumpkin/decorations/porch light then they were open for trick or treaters.
I always got about half a pillow case of treats!!!
my parents get on average 300 kids each halloween.

We moved to our current house just over a year ago and on both halloweens here we havent had a single kid. We live on a tiny street and most of the people who live here are very religious muslims so I think thats probably why.
At our old place we would get about 60 kids, I loved it!

 

[mummylove]

We didnt have any decorations up and i didnt answer the door when 2 groups of trick or treaters came as i was bathing the kids. I dont believe in going round knocking on strangers door for sweets. We try teach our kids not to take sweets off strangers but then go knocking on strangers doors. But....I think i need to change cus specially my daughter wants to dress up and go trick or treating next year. We will only go to people we know which isnt that bad where i live as live in a village and people know everyone. O suppose im just liek one of them at christmas bar hum bug lol. Seriously going to try more next year jsut for the kids

 

[prettybirdy27]

Halloween in the US sounds so much fun. I don't know if it's just my area or if it's the majority of the UK but people don't realy decorate much. You see the odd house or two with decorations up.

Can I ask, those of you who have mentioned the door being open do you mean the front house door? If I left my front door open my kids and dog would be straight out.

The only time I've seen doors left open is when they have both a regular door and then a storm door; people will leave the regular door open but have the storm door closed.

I'm in the US and I wish you could see my street at Halloween. Almost every single house is at least somewhat decorated, but there are a few people that really take it to the next level. My next door neighbor spends the whole week before making an elaborate display in his yard. One woman a few doors down has every square foot of her yard decorated, including things hanging from the trees. It's so bright you can see it from several blocks away. And the weird thing is that almost every house has this one decoration that's the same - this big light up pumpkin. I bought one just because I felt like I had to to fit in to our neighborhood. However Christmas is when my street really goes crazy; every single house is lit up, even the old cranky neighbors that never talk to anyone.

 

[mummylove]

Halloween in the US sounds so much fun. I don't know if it's just my area or if it's the majority of the UK but people don't realy decorate much. You see the odd house or two with decorations up.

Can I ask, those of you who have mentioned the door being open do you mean the front house door? If I left my front door open my kids and dog would be straight out.

The only time I've seen doors left open is when they have both a regular door and then a storm door; people will leave the regular door open but have the storm door closed.

I'm in the US and I wish you could see my street at Halloween. Almost every single house is at least somewhat decorated, but there are a few people that really take it to the next level. My next door neighbor spends the whole week before making an elaborate display in his yard. One woman a few doors down has every square foot of her yard decorated, including things hanging from the trees. It's so bright you can see it from several blocks away. And the weird thing is that almost every house has this one decoration that's the same - this big light up pumpkin. I bought one just because I felt like I had to to fit in to our neighborhood. However Christmas is when my street really goes crazy; every single house is lit up, even the old cranky neighbors that never talk to anyone.

That actually sounds exciting

 

[jd83]

Found this link to some local Halloween decorated house in my state. This is how into Halloween we get in the US

https://northeastohiofamilyfun.com/must-see-halloween-displays-in-northeast-ohio/

 

[mummylove]

haha that looks pretty cool

 

[Tasha]

I always thought the decorated rule too. My daughter was chasing people down the street to give them treats if they didn't knock

 

[catty]

My children are too young yet but i definately follow the decoration rule.

I had spiders on the door and lit pumpkins in the window. If i didnt want trick or treaters i definately would have taken this down

Just edited to add if i was out trick or treating myself i wouldnt remove decoration but would turn lights off.

 

[Andypanda6570]

I always thought the decorated rule too. My daughter was chasing people down the street to give them treats if they didn't knock

awww that is really cute

 

[DCS]

Found this link to some local Halloween decorated house in my state. This is how into Halloween we get in the US

https://northeastohiofamilyfun.com/must-see-halloween-displays-in-northeast-ohio/

That is insane. I love it. I realy WishWish we could get I to it like that. Round my area you don't even see many houses done up for Christmas.