Trick or treaters at your house - Question

[Marisa6826]

This Halloween is the first one in the new house for us. We have lots of kids in the neighbourhood, so I guess we can expect lots of little visitors.

We didn't have to deal with any of this when we lived in the condo, so I'm wondering - what do you do after your babe's bedtime? Do you turn out the lights? Put a note over the doorbell saying, "baby sleeping!"? Put the bowl of candy outside and hope everybody minds their manners?

I'm not a huge fan of the day in general, but I guess I'll just have to suck it up.

Thanks

-m

[MamaKath]

We do not participate, so we leave the lights off. We don't put up lots of Halloween decorations and stuff that would lead folks to think we are there either. Most people are respectful of that, but you still get some who ring and ring and ring. In general, I often put a note on the door at naptime saying "Baby is sleeping, please call again at another time. Thanks" or something along those lines. I am not sure I would do it on Halloween though, don't want to get egged. I know a lot of folks no longer go house to house though, opting for malls, parks, or community style activities instead. GL!

[C99]

You sit in front of your open door w/ the bowl so as to prevent anyone from ringing the doorbell. We actually sat on our porch for awhile last year. At 8 p.m., we turn out the porch lights and don't answer the door, because by then, it's mostly kids that are too old IMHO to trick-or-treat -- and we're usually out of candy!

[heidi_timms]

Yes, I've found that the trick or treating usually ends around 8pm, which is a relief! We do like the trick or treaters, but I do like it to end at some point. We are temporarily living in a vacation/mountain community so I suspect we won't get too many trick-or-treaters this year.
~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03

[lisams]

Last year DD was one and we let her stay up past bedtime to see the trick or treaters, we'll probably do the same this year. Hopefully she will enjoy it as much this year, but I can see her being a little scared this year. We turned the lights out around 8:30 and by then there weren't many people out, so she didn't stay up too late.

Lisa

[peanut4us]

Honestly, since we had Sara, we scrooge on Halloween. We turn out the lights and pretend we aren't home! But before Sara, we used to bring our dinner onto the front porch with the Halloween candy around 5 pm. We were already there when the trick or treaters came, so no door knocking, bell-ringing stuff. And we'd pack it in around 7. Honestly, at least in my neighborhood, the only kids out after 7 are way too old to be trick or treating...

One thing we've done since Sara was born was to disconnect our doorbell. The mechanism that is on the inside of the house. It's lovely. I'm not sure I will ever re-hook it back up!

[Momof3Labs]

Talk to your neighbors and find out the "rules" - in our suburb, Trick or Treating is like 1pm-4pm on one designated day (usually Sat or Sun closest to Halloween) so that the kids aren't out after dark. If you aren't home, leaving a bowl of candy on the porch is sign to not ring the doorbell (though some kids still do). In areas that go after dark, turning off the porch light often means no candy.

[rrosen]

We have had this problem not because of a baby in the past but because of my dog. He goes bonkers when the doorbell rings. So what I do is cover the doorbell with a decoration and a sign that says,"Please do not ring the bell" I know when someone is coming because the driveway lights are on motion sensors. When the lights go on I open the door. It has worked for the last few years, and I plan to do it again this year.

[mary b]

Marisa,
You have gotten great advice about the doorbell, but I thought I would add 1 more tip: make sure you ask your neighbors an approximate amount of kids they "typically" get so you can guesstimate the amount of candy you need. Our first year we WAY over bought and then ended up eating half of it and really got bummed that our neighborhood just isn't a hot spot for halloween. Now, we only get a couple bags and that is enough.

Mary

[Sarah1]

I would think most of the kids will come by before Sophie goes to bed. Sophie will probably have a GREAT time watching all the kids come by in their costumes. Keep a positive attitude, girlfriend! It could be fun :)

[rottiemom]

I've found that the volume of trick or treaters also depends on what day of the week Halloween falls on. Last year we had a bumper crop since it fell on a weekend, so this year I'm shopping accordingly. Even on busy nights our trick or treaters usually dry up around 9PM. Personally I love it & I don't care how big the kids are, everybody gets candy & the kids love coming to our house. We don't have a doorbell (disconnecting yours or covering it is a great idea) but we do have a dog that gets vocal whenever someone knocks so we've been leaving the door to the porch open so that we can see the hobgoblins approaching & greet them.

If you don't want to participate you can always leave the lights out. One year we weren't home & left a basket of candy outside with a note "BOO take two & have a happy Halloween!" there was still candy in the bowl when we got home & nothing was destroyed. I remember growing up that a lot of people in our (small) neighborhood would leave their lights out & I'd be soooo dissappointed so that's the main reason that I like to leave candy out if we're not around.

Our town has a "hobgoblin" parade every year for the little ones so even though William will be too little to trick or treat he'll definitely be marching (stroller-ing) in the parade.

Nina

[amp]

We kept Jake up a bit later last year and when we were done, we turned off the light. People in our neighborhood respected that, but by that time, the festivities were pretty much over for the night.

[lizajane]

if you don't think it is fun and you don't want to play along, then don't put out a jack-o-lantern and keep ALL your lights out.