How is your trick or treat action?

We had only three knocks on our door tonight.  We may have had a few more groups of kids walk away before we realized our doorbell doesn't work and put up a "please knock" sign.  We were expecting maybe a dozen groups at our door so it was a slower night than usual.

Brian

As I do each year, I dole out more and/or better candy to the kids who put some work into their costumes and/or are very polite.  15 years old?  Ya threw on a mask and wore regular jeans? Here's a Tootsie midge kid, have a great night.  Adult holding a bag telling me your kid's down the road?  Here's a small jawbreaker.  

Exactly.  But a little one who has on an adorable costume gets several pieces of candy. I love seeing all the tiny kids dressed in costumes. We had around 200 kids as we do every year.

it was a really nice night out, and i live in a development with 600 or so homes close enough together to walk half of them in 2 hours...and still only had maybe 50 kids??  i know i've seen more than 50 on their bikes/in the pool/running around during the summer!  my first year in this house (2006) i bought about 80 pieces of candy and ran out in less than 90 minutes.  trick or treat is slowly dying

i've had no problem getting rid of the leftovers at work this morning, though!

We never get any action. Our last house, we got lots, but there are very few kids on my current block (only about 1/2 mile from where we lived before). My own kids used to go with friends trick or treating in their neighborhoods.

We did get new neighbors this year with a couple younger kids, so we bought a big bag of candy. They were our only trick or treaters, and I don't think it was just weather related.

I wasn't planning on passing out candy so imagine my surprise when I got a knock on my back door.  My security light was on and I ended up handing out candy to 4 groups.  Really?  My back door?  Thank goodness I had some candy!

So many kids now are lactose intolerant or have wheat sensitivities or peanut allergies that maybe next year I should just hand out toothbrushes or glow bracelets.  

Two neighbor kids can't eat certain types of protein (wtf????), which includes artificial sweeteners (again wtf??? who knew). We bought Skittles for them, which is just fine with me!  I may have eaten part of the stash earlier in the week...

We had some action, but as usual nothing like the amount we were prepared for.

Low turnout.  Only about 200 in total for our neighborhood which is a low turnout.  We live on a peninsula over the lake with the local elementary school at the base.  One road in and out with very little traffic.  A friend, Mike, who is a Charlotte policeman lives across from the school and he hangs out in uniform with the car (with friends) to slow cars down and keep things safe.

I set up the firepit in my front yard and wheeled out a big cooler full of beer, table and several chairs.  The neighbors turned their kids loose and gathered around to collectively hand out candy and drink.  Some "church vans" pulled up, vomitted out a dozen kids or so (typical for our neighborhood) and the parents gathered around to hang out by the fire.  (I welcome strangers.)  One of my neighbors brought out a big bowl of "hot tady" and mugs (warm spiced bourbon) which warms you up nicely.

We packed it in around 8:30pm when the kids got cold and tired.  And of course we ordered a couple of pizzas for Mike and his buddies and brought them some hot drinks.

We had 0. Last year (our first in our house) we thought it was because of a lack of decorations/lights to draw kids down our long driveway. We did it up nicely this year with lights, pumpkins, glowsticks etc and still no one. We figured they all went to a local neighborhood that has only two entrances to it and about 85-90 houses all pretty nice and walkable. This is the same neighborhood that goes all out on christmas decorations every year. It would also explain why, on our way home, we saw no less than 65 cars head away from our neighborhood towards the other one. (we usually see maybe 5 cars going home so it was a big difference)

More candy for me to take to work I guess!

Not sure, we both like to go out with our kids so we weren't home.  In hopes of keeping my house toilet paper free we always leave a big bowl of candy with a note saying "Please Take 2."

my old house - all the candy gone - no big surprise

2 years ago, new house - all candy gone and the bowl thrown in the bushes

last year - all candy gone and the bowl was taken

this year - all candy gone, bowl taken and my DH's Jeep was egged

And the new house is in a nice family neighborhood!  Little brats.  Every year I consider just turning off the lights and not putting out candy, but I'm afraid the kids will still knock on the door all night and freak out my dog.  I always hope that by putting the chair and bowl out a few yards from the door it at least helps the dog stay happy by stopping the kids from getting too close to the door/front window.

next year just wait with a squirt gun and if you see someone misbehaving, go at em

We went out to dinner so don't know exactly.  It was a rainy, windy night so it seemed like overall volume was down from what I did see.  We usually get quite a few.  We live in a neighboorhood of older houses and many decorate them creepily.  I had a giant inflatable black cat above the porch.  It was pretty cool.

There is a trend in our area for the downtown stores to pass out candy during the afternoon.  I took my son to that and it was just crazy.  Hundreds and hundreds of kids.  I think many are going this route because it is daylight, the stores are close together (no long driveways or steps), etc.  It is kind of a shame though as the ones who seem to enjoy trick or treating the most are the elderly in their houses who are visited by all the kids.  They seem to just light up at the little ones.