Does anybody drive their kids to different (better?) neighborhoods to do their trick-or-treating?
I actually drove myself to the middle class neighborhood to hand out candy at a friend’s house. I don’t know what it’s like where you are, but here there are certain neighborhoods that are trick or treater friendly [sidewalks, lights, lots of people home, thickly settled, decent parking] where a lot of people go. It’s become enough of a tradition that the nearby hospital opens up their parking lot to people from more rural areas (where the trick or treating is difficult or dangerous) who drive in and all trick or treat in one place. There’s even daylight trick or treating in the business area downtown for the really teeny kids. It sort of becomes self-fulfilling because ease of access and a ton of other kids makes the neighborhood more fun for kids who want to see their friends etc.
No kids trick or treat in my neighborhood but there are kids. I see them pile in to the car in their costumes and I assume they are going to better neighborhoods to trick or treat or a community based party. I live in the kind of neighborhood where surly teenagers with pillow sacks might ring your bell…no costumes. I make sure I am somewhere else on halloween.
In my small town, the two main streets are the place to trick-or-treat. All of the residents on those streets get together and create a kind of carnival atmosphere with lavish decorations and great treats, so most of the kids stick to that area. Also, the local nursing homes organize elaborate Halloween parties and place ads in the paper encouraging the kids to come by and trick-or-treat from the residents. So, between the two main streets and the nursing homes, the rest of us on the side streets barely get any trick-or-treaters at all, but it works out pretty well. When my kids were little enough to need parental supervision, it was nice to be able to ferry them to the main areas and have them be guaranteed a good time.
