Halloween candy question

[Hera]

How much Halloween candy do you give per child? Does everyone get the same or does it depend on the child's age etc?

 

[that_someone_special]

If it's a slow night.. a handful... if it's a busy night, one or two pieces.

But the place we're at now-- not so many kids.. we will MAYBE get 1 now.

 

[Cehrabehra]

I hate to say this but to some extent it is based on how much thought they put into the costume relative to their age as well as how polite they are at the door. It's on a case by case basis. I tend to give less to way older kids unless they really worked their butts off to tell me a good story with their outfit. I had some adults come by last year with shit pinned to their shirt saying something like my kid is back home sleeping or sick or whatever - pffft. I gave them one tootsie roll lol

 

[KimberlyH]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

 

[oranges]

We get the same trick-or-treater every year since all of the kids in the neighborhood have grown up and the houses are far apart so we give her a ton of king sized candy!

 

[soocool]

Funny thing my sister does. When little kids trick or treat she gives them a regular sized Hershey bar. If it is a grown-up or teen (16 or older) she gives out toothbrushes and tells them that they probably need the toothbrush more than the candy.

 

[Loves Vintage]

soocool - That's REALLY funny! I bet the teens love her! Haha.

I usually give a handful. In my old neighborhood, I had about 150 kids. It was the best. Where I am now, last year, I had one. I could have given her the whole bowl. Sigh. Everyone on my street has their lights off. Sigh, sigh.

 

[E B]

This is our first Halloween in this city/house, and our neighbor just informed us that last year, he had over 200 trick-or-treaters. So...probably one piece per kid this year.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

We give 2 pieces to each kid. I cup them in my hand so they can't see how many they're getting I also refuse to buy candy with peanuts. Two reasons - I'm allergic and I'm scared that with everybody being sue happy these days that some parent will come after me for giving their kids candy with peanuts.

 

[dragonfly411]

Sparkly - that's very thoughtful of you, considering how many are allergic to nuts of many kinds.

We don't get trick or treaters, so all the candy is mine

 

[Tuckins1]

Usually just 1 because we get SOOOO many kids, we would run out of candy very quickly if we didn't ration it!

 

[MichelleCarmen]

Since we moved, I don't know how many trick-or-treaters we'll get. Normally, we take the kids out around 6 pm and I know this is horrible, but when we get home and see how much candy the kids have gotten, we end up giving some of the candy THEY got to anyone who comes to the door! hahaha. My kids get way too much and we let them eat most of it that night just to get it overwith.

 

[qtiekiki]

Socool - LOVE the toothbrush.

Kimberly - I was debating whether or not to take Meena ToTing last year because my coworker said "the candies are for parents when the kids are babies". We ended up not going because she got sick. We are going this year though.

I give based on costumes and politeness. I usually give 2 candies, then more for good costumes. Last year, a teenager (not in costume) came by and asked not very nicely for specific candies. I ignored his request. I knd of don't like it when the adult ToT along with their kids. It's like really you can't buy your own candies, but I still give them 2 pieces.

 

[Sabine]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

Awe, this makes me sad Kim.

We're taking Jackson trick or treating this year (he'll be 15 months) because we will get a kick out of having him dress up, and he'll have a blast actually walking around the neighborhood and seeing the other kids I think. We're only going to go to a handful of houses on our street, but I think our neighbors will also get a kick out of seeing him. He'll be dressed as a cow and he tries really hard to 'moooo' but it comes out mmmm.

I let the kids take as much as they want out of the bowl.

And this year we're leaving the bowl out on the porch. If one kid takes the whole thing, well, oh well.

 

[Miss Sparkly]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

Awe, this makes me sad Kim.

We're taking Jackson trick or treating this year (he'll be 15 months) because we will get a kick out of having him dress up, and he'll have a blast actually walking around the neighborhood and seeing the other kids I think. We're only going to go to a handful of houses on our street, but I think our neighbors will also get a kick out of seeing him. He'll be dressed as a cow and he tries really hard to 'moooo' but it comes out mmmm.

I let the kids take as much as they want out of the bowl.

And this year we're leaving the bowl out on the porch. If one kid takes the whole thing, well, oh well.

So cute! We should start a costume thread Course my "kids" will be dressed at hot dogs (min pins)

 

[MichelleCarmen]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

Awe, this makes me sad Kim.

We're taking Jackson trick or treating this year (he'll be 15 months) because we will get a kick out of having him dress up, and he'll have a blast actually walking around the neighborhood and seeing the other kids I think. We're only going to go to a handful of houses on our street, but I think our neighbors will also get a kick out of seeing him. He'll be dressed as a cow and he tries really hard to 'moooo' but it comes out mmmm.

I let the kids take as much as they want out of the bowl.

And this year we're leaving the bowl out on the porch. If one kid takes the whole thing, well, oh well.

We left a bowl on the porch one year and of course it was empty when we got back. Now, if we were to do that, I'd like to video tape it to see how long it would take before someone dumped the entire contents into their bag.

We dressed the boys up before they could even walk. When they were little, they wore the costumes from Old Navy that are super warm (not sure if they still make those) so that the boys could look cute & cuddly. Now they've picked out the thin ones from Party City that requires an extra outfit under.

 

[zoebartlett]

I don't think about it much. I just reach into the bowl, grab a piece or two, and put it in the kids' bags. My parents live in an area of my hometown where everyone goes trick-or-treating, so they get LOTS of visitors. It's always so busy, so I tend to hand out candy quickly if I'm there.

 

[zoebartlett]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

We've had toddlers and their parents stop by to trick or treat, strictly for the experience, not for the candy. Parents have specifically said "oh, we're just here to say trick or treat!" (and then the kid would repeat it.) I don't think I've seen parents take their babies (under a year old) out, unless the babies happened to be with their older sibling(s). If I ever do, I'd assume it was just for the experience of having a first Halloween.

 

[diamondringlover]

We get a ton of kids, it also depends on the age and what I am handing out, the good stuff they get one, the cheaper stuff maybe 2, but as of right now I have enough candy for 300 kids, hope it is enough

 

[KimberlyH]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

Awe, this makes me sad Kim.

We're taking Jackson trick or treating this year (he'll be 15 months) because we will get a kick out of having him dress up, and he'll have a blast actually walking around the neighborhood and seeing the other kids I think. We're only going to go to a handful of houses on our street, but I think our neighbors will also get a kick out of seeing him. He'll be dressed as a cow and he tries really hard to 'moooo' but it comes out mmmm.

I let the kids take as much as they want out of the bowl.

And this year we're leaving the bowl out on the porch. If one kid takes the whole thing, well, oh well.

Don't be sad! Bringing him to friends/neighbors is cute! I think it's odd to bring babies/toddlers to strangers houses when they can't eat the candy and it's clear parents are trick-or-treating for themselves. Our friends are bringing their 6 month old to our house, both he and J will be dressed up, and a few other people are coming over for dinner. I'm just not a fan of going to strangers' houses until kids are old enough to get what's going on.

 

[Hera]

Wow! Such diverse comments! I had so many trick or treaters last year and I didn't know how many to give. I was giving out full handfuls to everyone. I didn't want to appear like a scrooge but I also don't want to buy $100 worth of candy either!

Thanks for the comments everyone, keep them coming, it's so interesting!

 

[princesss]

Shoot, I forgot I have to buy candy! I'll be moved out of my house already, but I'm going to go back and hand out candy. I have a few kids that I completely adore in the neighbourhood, and I can't wait to see them all dressed up!

As far as how much I give - last year was the only year I've had trick or treaters, and I got 8 kids. My favourites got a few handfulls, the other kids got 4 pieces or so, and the last two girls that came by got the rest of the (very large) bowl.

 

[pinkstars]

We don't get that many trick or treaters, but we enjoy how excited the kids get that we end up giving them a lot....Like BF might give them a huge handful, and it's fun to hear them run off and tell their friends how much they got. Also hearing them tell other people that they have to go to our door...It's so exciting!!!!

 

[Brown.Eyed.Girl]

I usually give 2-3 pieces, unless the kid is too little to understand, then I give one piece; I am not a fan of infants/toddlers trick-or-treating, or adults, I always think: buy your own candy. I don't care how old the kid is through college age (which isn't a kid anymore, I know), as long as they're dressed up.

Awe, this makes me sad Kim.

We're taking Jackson trick or treating this year (he'll be 15 months) because we will get a kick out of having him dress up, and he'll have a blast actually walking around the neighborhood and seeing the other kids I think. We're only going to go to a handful of houses on our street, but I think our neighbors will also get a kick out of seeing him. He'll be dressed as a cow and he tries really hard to 'moooo' but it comes out mmmm.

I let the kids take as much as they want out of the bowl.

And this year we're leaving the bowl out on the porch. If one kid takes the whole thing, well, oh well.

We left a bowl on the porch one year and of course it was empty when we got back. Now, if we were to do that, I'd like to video tape it to see how long it would take before someone dumped the entire contents into their bag.

We dressed the boys up before they could even walk. When they were little, they wore the costumes from Old Navy that are super warm (not sure if they still make those) so that the boys could look cute & cuddly. Now they've picked out the thin ones from Party City that requires an extra outfit under.

My mom said she did this last year and it wasn't the little kids, who were surprisingly restrained, but the teens who just grabbed fistfuls of candy. I live right by my high school so I'm wondering what the mix of ages will be, but I'm thinking of giving out two pieces, unless the kid is really cute or the costume is really good (Well after I take out all the Tootsie Rolls - those are MINE).