So I'm sitting here forking out candy to the likely 200+ Trick-or-Treaters our neighborhood gets every year. Every year we get more and more of the cheaters, those kids that don't even bother to dress up! One kid I'll give credit to, he at least had a shirt on that said, "Dude, where's my candy?"

Do you let your kids go out without a costume? Should I start teasing these kids a little, "What are you dressed up as, little boy?"

We don't get any trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood. There are very few children and either they go to a private party or a few blocks away where there are lots of kids running around.

The main problem I hear from people is parents from, how to say this, lower income neighborhoods carting a bunch of kids to more upper middle class neighborhoods to trick-or-treat.

Heck, when I was a kid we would cover about ten blocks in my neighborhood and then walk over to my best friends neighborhood. By the time we finished there it was getting late and people would just dump what was left of their candy in our bag.

I would be tempted to tell a kid, that didn't bother to dress up at all, that it's Halloween and they're not dressed for it...therefore they aren't participating.

Very tempting... most of them have parents with them though! That's who I think is really responsible, especially for the young ones that don't dress up. Maybe next year we should make up a "trick" sack. A little baggie with 1 candy that nobody likes... maybe black licorice, and a little note that says something in rhyme about dressing up for the good treats.

We went to different neighborhoods sometimes when I was a kid. Mostly it was when we lived in areas that didn't have alot of houses, or apartment complexes... ugh the stairs!

Good one!!! Kids remember who gives them good and bad candy.

What luck..just when I ran out of candy; it started pouring buckets ..and the kids all ran home..

HAH! Good timing!

by cheaters i thought what i used to do, we would go to a house in groups of three then switch costumes around a bit so we looked different and go back and do it about 4 times to each house

thats what i thought too, i actualy wear a costume under my costumes, its alway something that has to do with a mask and the other dress something femalish, this year though my girlfriend wanted to come \, so i had no choice but to wear just a girl costume, and of course she wanted to put makeup on me. what was i going to say no, you cant say no after they kiss you. so i only got tohit each house one.....

Here in NZ we get virtually no trick-or-treaters. We're not big on Halloween at all. I guess we just save it all for Christmas.

I'm fine with it..... In my neighborhood if the kids are going trick or treating with no costume its for a good reason... even teenagers with their babies all get candy at my house. In my opinion Halloween is for children no matter what.

I even had a mother dress up and ask for candy tonight. Weird but at least she was honest... said she didnt want to take her kids candy.

Haha. Damn, I remember when I was around 15 and hanging out with my friends on Halloween and one of my buddies came back with some Blue Diamond almonds. He was like, "I got them from that house." Long story short, I walk up to the house, rung the door bell, said "Trick-Or-Treat" and then stuck my hand out - hahaha. That *bleep* was funny. The man gave me two packs and mean mugged me. Haha.

things are not the way they used to be. my neighborhood used to see hordes of kids in costumes trick or treating. you could walk tens of blocks and find that almost every house was handing out candy. now your really lucky to find even one house on a block that still hands out candy and your even luckier to have one or two kids stop by your house so can you really blame the "lower income neighborhood " parents for going to the more "upper middle class neighborhoods" so they can have a good safe place for there kids go trick or treating?

My son who's 12, and this is his last "official" Halloween, didn't dress up in a costume.. He wore a t-shirt that said "Trust me, I'm a doctor" ... he got more comments from that than his smaller cousin did in his "Jason" get up... (about halfway through the night, he got tired of being asked what kind of doctor he was and replied that he was the Doctor of Love, which generated even more amusement)

I saw lots of kids in street clothes with funky hats or cute t-shirts...mostly, it was only the little ones that had costumes on...

I did dress up and was offered candy at a couple of houses...

I wasn't talking about slum neighborhoods, Ravinar...more like small, well kept two bed houses where most everybody has small children and in their first starter home.

yah i know. i live in that kind of neighborhood and let me tell you there are barely any houses any more that still hand out candy. your lucky to find one ever other block every one here dose what you said. they go to the more upper middle class neighborhoods now because its safer and there are more houses that hand out candy. those that still trick or treat in there own neighborhood have to have there parents drive them from house to house both because there so far apart and there are just so many crazy bastards out that its just not safe any more back in the day there were so many kids out that parents could just let there kids go out for the night and trick or treat with little to no supervision just for the simple fact that there was safety in numbers. but unfortunately things have changed