[Cheef]

ok, So yesterday i mentioned that we needed to go to Costco next time we go to the "city" and pick up a case of candy bars for halloween. I did this alst year and we got stuck with a box of snickers, lol. i blame the crappy weather and halloween being ona s chool night.

anyway, my wife mentioned how she thought it wouldnt make any difference to the kids if we gave them a couple of the small candys that come in the halloween packs that you can buy at all the grocery stores during halloween season.

I however, think that the kids eyes light up and they would rather get a "normal" sized candy bar vs. the small ones any day. I also would argue that they remember where the "Big candy" house is and will be buggin parents to return the next year.

So whos right, Me "the big candy bar guy", or my eife who would rather give out the normal small size crap.

I will note that i always have a back up supply of the small stuff, and were thinking about having a caramel apple station set up for a couple of the local nieghbor kids we know for them to make thier own apples.

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

As a kid, sure enough, I already remembered which houses gave the good stuff. One house would give four-packs of peanut butter cups. That was a good score.

And of course, we always remembered which house belong to the dentist. We'd only go there if we felt like we need another free toothbrush like last year.

But as an adult who gives candy to the youngsters now, the viewpoint is flipped. I'd love to give big bars to the kids, but you just gotta ask yourself... can you afford to keep it up every year? Because they will remember your house.

It's like putting out a saucer of milk for that stray cat. It will just keep coming back.

[GUS]

that's so true, a good stand out halloween house (especially early) is a beacon to all those under 5 ft tall!

..and a good house gets them doubly revved regardless of what you give them I reckon!

Big candy is fine, but maybe go for glow bracelets (buy em off ebay) pop the ends on them (joiners) ...& crack off 10 at a time (brits'll get that one )

keep it small & a handful of candy each in case you are INUNDATED, I reckon a good house will have an increase of 10-15% footfall per year! (judging on my meticulous drunken surveys on the night)

[Kittie]

I say go with the Big Bars! I was always excited when our close neighboors handed us big candy bars.

[Tkaraoke]

If you can afford it, I say go BIG!

I'm getting a bunch of rocks together to give out this year! LOL

[Mistress_of_Halloween]

I ususally give out a full bag of Chips, a full size Chocolate Bar ,and a treat bag full of halloween pencils, erasers, highbouncers, rings (whatever I get on sale after the previous year) But I only get around 10 - 20 kids. If that amount ever goes up I may need to rethink it.

I love to spoil all of the kids that come to visit.

[Joey]

I'm a fan of receiving the big candy bars. Those always end up eaten right away, whereas I usually have a bag full of the little ones that I end up forgetting about. I know I sure remember which houses gave them out! I used to plan my route specifically to include them, even if they were out of the way.

[GeologySage]

Moved to a new house this year... we're gunna start off with the big bars. If we don't have a billion kids show up, then we'll likely keep it up.

What we usually do though is have a huge mixture of all sorts of different snack size chocolate bars and let the kids pick out whatever they want and as many as they want. Never had a lot of kids so giving out 5-6 or so was no prob.

[badgers]

Past few years I've been going with the BIG STUFF. However I keep that aside till I see what or who is at the door. If you're an 18 year old punk (and we've had quite a few recently) and have the nerve to not even attempt to put on some kind of costume you're getting the small stuff (the only reason they even get that is too keep from having eggs thrown at the house).

Other wise the kiddies get the big stuff!! And the only reason we get the return visits is because the want to see what new pumkins have been carved.

[The Captain]

We do the small candy, but my wife makes little bags. We give 4 to 6 candies and maybe some little toys. The year we did the whole spider display we put spider rings and those sticky spiders that will stick to the wall and then crawl down. We also put a custom tag on our bags that says "Happy Halloween from Miss Jen & Mr. Jason" and they all have assorted movie monster faces on the tags. The kids seem to like our little gift bags, but we only get between 8 and 25 kids so its not to much work.

[Crystal]

I save the good stuff for the kids that actually dress up and make an effort. The 16 y/o that put on a hat gets ONE dum dum lol or a tootsie roll

[Batgirl]

I'm a bit like Mistress, we give out treat bags full of fun stuff. Usually each kid gets a bag that has candy, small Halloween toys (plastic fangs, finger puppets, pencils, erasers, a light up ball, etc), and a giant Pixie Stick hanging out. It's cumbersome but still cool. And then they each get a glow necklace.

My family is weird, i guess, because we always give candy to the older kids. Maybe they aren't dressed up as a dinosaur like the little kid earlier in the night, but they're still taking part in the holiday. At that age, most kids would be made fun of if they really dressed up the way they wanted... yet they still want to trick or treat like they did when they were little. Not only that, but once the kids get older, many have to start paying for their costumes and I don't know a lot of 14 year olds that have enough money for a really cool costume. They do what they can. I just like that they're doing something.

The older kids usually don't come till later anyway, and if it's late enought the goodies are gone so they get what they get. Plus, what's wrong with being known as the house that's cool to the little AND big kids??

I've always felt Halloween is a time to celebrate and share a scare, not judge kids and choose who gets what.

I'm in NO WAY implying that my way is the best way and that I think the way other people distribute candy is wrong. I am merely explaining my point of view on the subject.

I'm sorry, I'll get off my soapbox now. Hehe!

[Zombie Pumpkins!]

If we only had 10 or 20 kids ringing the bell, I'd definitely give out bigger candy, or maybe even custom made goodie bags. I wish I could. But we literally get hundreds of trick-or-treaters. Not too economical to give the really good stuff to that many.

As for giving to the big "kids"... I think I probably went trick-or-treating until the end of high school. I remember feeling a bit guilty for being too old (I tried to pick costumes that disguised my age) but it was still fun! I'd go door-to-door now if I could.

So I don't mind their age so much. It's more about their attitude. Besides making no costume effort, some of the older kids I've seen have held out their pillow cases without so much as a "thank you." Or if they do speak up, they might be swearing up a storm of vulgarity in front of the little kids.

If you're friendly and polite, I don't care if you're 15 or 50, I'll give you a big candy bar. But if you're just rude, you get the small stuff.

[Crystal]

So I don't mind their age so much. It's more about their attitude. Besides making no costume effort, some of the older kids I've seen have held out their pillow cases without so much as a "thank you." Or if they do speak up, they might be swearing up a storm of vulgarity in front of the little kids.

If you're friendly and polite, I don't care if you're 15 or 50, I'll give you a big candy bar. But if you're just rude, you get the small stuff.

Thats it EXACTLY My poor 13 y/o got cheated out of Halloween. Hes 6 foot and around 210 pounds. I did TOT at that age but with his size he sure gets lots of rude comments.
I never make comments and give anyone thats dressed candy. I just feel they need to MAKE an effort a little For some reason we have alot of kids that look like they had NO clue what Halloween was till that night and they just walked out the door with a old plastic bag.

[GUS]

..yup those chancer kids can go to hell! no effort or intention, no words, no thankyou! ....rude little sweetie stealing a$$wipes.