Do you pretend you're not home on Halloween?

[Habibi]

So as not to hand out candy to the kiddies?

We do something different every year. Not too many young ones in our neighborhood so it's a drag to buy bags of candy that won't get eaten (and that we don't need tempting us). On the other hand, I do enjoy the pumpkin-carving and dressing up a bit and seeing the kids. This year I think we'll do it.

When I was a kid in a small Ohio town, the town council (or whoever it was) designated "Beggar's Night" if Halloween itself didn't fall on a weekend. That way kids could go trick-or-treating without having to worry about being sick at school the next day. :D

How 'bout y'all? Handing out candy? Doing anything special to scare the pants off the children?

[kid a]

1. I make them wait a minute or two - then scare the shit out of them

[RoyGBiv]

2. Nope ...

I keep my door open, in fact, but the light out, no decorations that might in any way indicate I'm Halloween friendly, and a sign that warns people not to knock on this door else experience true terror. The door being open, and me visible in the living room with a baseball bat sitting by my recliner, is a detterent to the neighborhood hoodlums doing things that cause destruction.

Yeah, I'm a bastard, but I also donate $100 worth of candy to a nearby "safe house" not controlled by a church. I want the kids to have fun, but I want them to stay away from my home.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. No, but we've closed up shop early

and eaten the rest of the candy ourselves!

[OhioBlue]

4. no - i sit on the front porch

with a bowl full of candy and love watching the kids dressed up for Halloween. It is so cute to see the little ones say "Twick o Tweet" and then when reminded by their parents, they yell a "dank you". And, I have such admiration for the parents that spend so much time making the costumes of some. We had a dorthy from Oz that was handmade and just too cute. My b/f and I sat outside handing out candy and giggling at how cute they were.

[tigereye]

7. I used to do that

when I lived in a rowhouse, my neighbors and I would sit on our porches dressed up and drinking some beers and watch all the kids parade around, esp. on a warm night. It was a lot of fun.

Now I take my son around to our neighbors and my h has to keep answering the door at home! I enjoy seeing the little ones and teasing the teens with no costumes. And I've never had a bad experience with crazy kid behavior so far.

[arwalden]

5. Lights Out. Curtains Drawn. Gate Closed.

[tigereye]

6. philistine!

;)

[ailsagirl]

8. Me too... I have cats and it's just too dangerous opening the door

all evening. I used to put a dish of candy out for the
kids but the past few years, they've gotten rather
obnoxious (i.e., throwing the dish in the bushes after
taking all the candy), so I decided to hell with it.

Yes, it's lights out in my house.

[last_texas_dem]

9. Nah

Once I stopped trick-or-treating, handing out candy to the younger kids who still enjoyed it was pretty cool. Over the last few years the number of trick-or-treaters going to my house back home seems to have dropped off, though; I don't know if the neighborhood just grew up or if too many parents have gotten scared off from various bullshit urban legends about trick-or-treating or what may have caused this.

This year I'm living on my own in an apartment so I probably won't have any trick-or-treaters coming by. I'll give out candy if I have any, though. Halloween was my favorite holiday as a kid and I hate to see it dying off like it seems to be, in some ways.

[CanuckAmok]

10. I always pretend I'm not home. Like, every night.

Halloween just means I have a whole bowl of candy to eat by myself.

[Awsi Dooger]

11. I used to be a real jerk on Halloween

Emphasizing the trick, not the treat. Maybe in my late teens. My friend and I would run the hose from the backyard over the top of my parents' home so that it faced immediately over the front porch. Then we would sit on recliners out back, near the pool, munching on candy. I had a protective little poodle who would bark like hell whenever the trick or treaters approached, and jump on the front couch to greet them. My friend and I would hear my dog bark and slowly turn on the water. I'm busting up right now at the memories. They were the greatest screams and yells. Finally in the second year we did that one of the fathers came around back and confronted us. He wasn't burly enough to be threatening. We gave him extra candy.

[Floogeldy]

12. No, I don't pretend.

I turn the porch light off and don't answer the door. But I don't care if anyone knows that I am at home.

}(

[SeattleGirl]

13. No, but we don't get many, sometimes none at all.

We live on a dead-end street off a two-block long street, kind of off the beaten path. There are two little kids who live across the street, and if they are home on Halloween, their mom brings them over, and we usually have treat bags to hand out to them. They are so cute!

[DainBramaged]

14. yes, my dog gets crazy, and I have a lot of steps up to door

I just turn out the lights and hide in the bedroom until 9PM. Last year I just went to the movies with a friend. It's not that I don't like kids, I just feel like I should be giving them more than a lousy piece of candy, but I don't know what. Maybe atomic secrets? 50 MPG additive for their parents car? A trip to Europe? I just don;t know anymore.

[obxhead]

15. I've always wanted to put the bucket of candy on the porch

with a note that says "take two only please" and soak the greedy bastards that take a handful with the hose. I'll never do it, but every year I think that's exactly what the "greedy bastards" deserve.

as a side note we always buy the "good" name brand candy for 'em and pawn over their cute little costumes. Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and I remember how much I loved it as a trick or treater myself.

[Straight Shooter]

16. I love to hand out candy to the kids!

And, yes, I always dress up in something that I think they'll enjoy, although one year I think I really did scare some of them so much they wet their pants :o

Unfortunately, there aren't that many kids that wander into my neighborhood because I'm on a backroad. I always buy my favorite candy, though, and treat myself, too.