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Is Halloween a dying holiday?


Alk

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I don't know if it was just here or what but going around town last night was really depressing. I remembered when I was a kid everywhere you went there was a porchlight on and kids lining the sidewalks. Last night as we were driving around we could go blocks without seeing so much as one porchlight or any trick or treaters. I know that the nursing home is open for trick or treaters so alot of people go there to score the mother load instead of actually walking the town but we skip that mess. We went from about 6 till 9:30 just covering family and friends and walked away with 10 lbs. of candy.

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I think it just depends on where you live. I live in an older neighborhood with a lot of empty nesters and retired folks, there's just not a lot of kids here. With that said, I'm sure the pussification of America has had a bit of an effect on it, but I don't think it will ever go away.

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I think it just depends on where you live. I live in an older neighborhood with a lot of empty nesters and retired folks, there's just not a lot of kids here. With that said, I'm sure the pussification of America has had a bit of an effect on it, but I don't think it will ever go away.

That could have something to do with it. Everyone is scared to send their kids out alone yet too lazy to actually go door to door with them.

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We had several dozen kids ring the bell over here in TN (visiting family). Last year we had several dozen kids ring our bell in NC.

Also... I would say over 50% of the houses were giving out candy last year in my neighborhood and over 50% were giving out candy last night in this neighborhood.

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That could have something to do with it. Everyone is scared to send their kids out alone yet too lazy to actually go door to door with them.

I don't recall my parents EVER going out with us. We just headed out the door at around 6:00 and came back whenever we were tired. Ahh...the good old days.

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I don't recall my parents EVER going out with us. We just headed out the door at around 6:00 and came back whenever we were tired. Ahh...the good old days.

When we were real young the parents or a friend's parents came with us. I am pretty sure that you weren't walking around and rinigng stranger's houses at 3 or 4 years old without somebody older with you. :)

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I don't recall my parents EVER going out with us. We just headed out the door at around 6:00 and came back whenever we were tired. Ahh...the good old days.

Old school!

Alk is a young hillbilly. I NEVER went out with my parents either. and used to use a pillow case for the job.

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Agreed.

I think our doorbell rang 10 times all night, and it was a Friday..

I think the parent angle is a big deal, when we were kids we'd be out from 5 till like 10 covering a ton of ground..

Now, most parents go out for an hour or so and are done and none of them let their kids go out on their own...

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I don't know if it was just here or what but going around town last night was really depressing. I remembered when I was a kid everywhere you went there was a porchlight on and kids lining the sidewalks. Last night as we were driving around we could go blocks without seeing so much as one porchlight or any trick or treaters. I know that the nursing home is open for trick or treaters so alot of people go there to score the mother load instead of actually walking the town but we skip that mess. We went from about 6 till 9:30 just covering family and friends and walked away with 10 lbs. of candy.

It hasn't changed a bit in the areas I have lived. We live out in the country so we only got a handful of kids, but my mom went through 6 or 7 bags in the neighborhood where I grew up. Actually much more than when I was a kid. Not dying around here at all.

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Old school!

Alk is a young hillbilly. I NEVER went out with my parents either. and used to use a pillow case for the job.

Didn't your parents pick up and move one Halloween while you were out trick-or-treating?

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Agreed.

I think our doorbell rang 10 times all night, and it was a Friday..

I think the parent angle is a big deal, when we were kids we'd be out from 5 till like 10 covering a ton of ground..

Now, most parents go out for an hour or so and are done and none of them let their kids go out on their own...

Most kid were with parents (but they were between 3 and 7). I just don't think older kids are putting down their xbox controllers to get a few bucks worth of candy these days.

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Had between 50-60 kids in my area -- my cul-de-sac was out if full force complete with margarita machine and pina coladas so not only the kids get candy the parents get a little treat themselves

finally dragged my ass to bed just after midnight only to get a 4 am phine call from work to come in and work a 12 hour shift -- Im hurtin a bit but getting paid well -- and like BP I used to go out all afternoon with the old pillow case and come home full of goodies

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My block doesn't get many kids, because of where it's situated, but there were tons of kids out when we took my son over by my parents house. This was all before 7PM though, and most kids were with parents. A few kids rang my doorbell around 8:30 when we were trying to get my son to go to sleep in the middle of a meltdown.

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I'm convinced that the nursing home has killed the traditional door to door trick or treating here. I realize it's great for the people living there but all of the people around town are getting passed over. Good to hear it's still alive and well in some parts. :headbang:

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Old school!

Alk is a young hillbilly. I NEVER went out with my parents either. and used to use a pillow case for the job.

You don't need to be old... I always went out with a bunch of friends... no parents... and a pillowcase...

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Never ever went out with parents.

When I was younger I would head trick with my friends or treating late evening, do every house within a friggin mile of mine and not come back 'til the middle of the night. When I came back, boy did I have a feast. LOL

I lived in a very safe neighbourhood though, so my parents basically let us do whatever we wanted around that area. We also were a BIG group of friends.

There's nothing like that anymore in my neigbourhood anymore, there are hardly any kids around and the ones that are go out with their parents for like an hour at 7.00pm in the evening. That would suck!

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i didn't go out, had to work...but i did dress up at work. needless to say, i wish every night was halloween because it gives you an excuse to dress like a whore and get a lot of tips.

Pics? or it didn't happen....

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I don't know if it was just here or what but going around town last night was really depressing. I remembered when I was a kid everywhere you went there was a porchlight on and kids lining the sidewalks. Last night as we were driving around we could go blocks without seeing so much as one porchlight or any trick or treaters. I know that the nursing home is open for trick or treaters so alot of people go there to score the mother load instead of actually walking the town but we skip that mess. We went from about 6 till 9:30 just covering family and friends and walked away with 10 lbs. of candy.

I hear ya Alk. I dont know if anyone remembers a few years back there was an incident where sharp things were found in chocolate or what not and not a lot of people wanted to take their kids out on Halloween. It is either a hit or miss up here. There are days where we have tons of leftover candy left or we have none. Every year we buy less and less candy...

its sad!

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I hear ya Alk. I dont know if anyone remembers a few years back there was an incident where sharp things were found in chocolate or what not and not a lot of people wanted to take their kids out on Halloween. It is either a hit or miss up here. There are days where we have tons of leftover candy left or we have none. Every year we buy less and less candy...

its sad!

I remember hearing that when I was growing up in Bushwick, wasn't the best neighborhood but I never had a problem with candy. I say the kids need to man up!!

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Its tough to tell because of the area I'm in, but based on my experiences in recent years, I don't think its a holiday that has died, but more one that has transformed. It has become less about the little kids and more about the 18 - 35 group. I live in Hoboken and went out in NYC last night and there were people absolutely everywhere dressed up and going to Halloween parties. I'm not really sure to what extent that scene existed on Halloween more in the past, but I get the impression as parents get more afraid of letting their kids out and trick or treating has really died down, it leads to even more people go out to do things.

By the way, does anyone else find it funny that as kids we all always used to go out without parents with a handful of friends for hours, and there was no way our parents could really know where we are or what we were doing and it was never a problem. These days it seems everyone over the age of 2 already has a cell phone (or at least they could be given one for the night), yet that has actually become a bigger problem. Go figure.

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My sister lives on a dead end street and there are tons of kids 5-15 years old that live on the street.... yet only 3 kids and their parents came by. Oh well. More Butterfingers for me. :cheergal:

She had a party for the babies... so friggin sweet... of course they had no clue what was happening and they were staring at the spider on the ceiling. I posted some pics here... http://www.jetnation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1031295&postcount=16

And when we were kids we went out every year without fail.... in rain, cold, you name it and with pillow cases.... sometimes two!

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i didn't go out, had to work...but i did dress up at work. needless to say, i wish every night was halloween because it gives you an excuse to dress like a whore and get a lot of tips.

I was out last night and seriously, some of the girls out on the town have absolutely no shame at all. Not that I'm complaining, just pointing it out.:D

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