What Time Are Your Kids Going Trick-or-treating This Year?

Updated on October 29, 2015
C.S. asks from Los Angeles, CA
16 answers

Given that it's on a Saturday, I'm anticipating that a lot of people will go earlier and I don't want my son to miss out on all the good candy lol. When are you guys planning on heading out?

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M.D.

answers from Pittsburgh on

My kids will go from 6-8, the scheduled time. Everyone always has plenty of candy. And personally, if a kid rang my bell much earlier than 6, I probably wouldn't be ready yet and they wouldn't get anything... (not trying to be mean/snarky, I'm just not that organized LOL)

3 moms found this helpful

T.S.

answers from San Francisco on

Not really a set time frame. Younger kids/families usually head out around dusk, older kids wait until dark.

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J.K.

answers from Wausau on

Trick or Treat is 5-8pm pm here. Some years it is very nice out but this year is chilly and there is a chance of snow. The darker it gets, the colder it gets, so starting sooner rather than later is likely. Most little kids start right at 5 so they can make use of the last hour or so of daylight.

In our neighborhood, TOT is really popular. Kids from other neighborhoods come here because so many residents participate. Most people tend to buy more than enough candy and will not run out.

I've never lived in a town or city that didn't have set TOT hours, so it doesn't strike me as odd to have set hours. One annoying thing that they used to do here is have TOT on the Sunday before or after Halloween. Every year, the subject would come up in city counsel to be determined. This year, the current council made an ordinance to say that TOT will always be on the 31st now.

I don't like the '12-year-old' rule that some places have. I never heard of that until this year. We get trick or treaters of all ages, from babies to college students. :-)

3 moms found this helpful

S.T.

answers from Washington DC on

the towns nearby have official times for trick-or-treating, which always strikes me as the sort of overly officious interference that makes some of us nut up.

i mean, it's trick or treating. if a kid shows up early, give them candy anyway, or don't open the door, right?

when my boys were very small we'd start a little earlier just because i didn't want 'em to wear out before dark when all the houses and other trick or treaters look their best. but we really liked to start at dusk.

sorry to be scrooge-y, but 'missing out on all the good candy' is kinda wack. who doesn't love candy? but it shouldn't be the focus, should it? if you want your kid to have 'good candy' go buy it for him. the fun of trick or treating for us has always been in the spooky walk from house to house, the appreciation of the decorations, the fun of running into other trick or treaters. making candy the main attraction just misses the point entirely.
khairete
S.

3 moms found this helpful

O.H.

answers from Phoenix on

as soon as it starts to get dark. really, there are rules and times for some towns? never heard of that before.

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T.D.

answers from Springfield on

each town in our county has a time for when you can go. we will be going at the time out town stated we can go

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E.D.

answers from Boston on

6p, usually done by 7:30-8

1 mom found this helpful

M.D.

answers from Washington DC on

Usually when it gets dark, around 6pm. Some places around here say it's from 6-9.

We have the kids ready before 6 normally and head out when we see others starting.

1 mom found this helpful

S.G.

answers from Los Angeles on

We wait until sunset to start, so 6:00pm. We usually stay out until 9 or 9:30pm, but we may stay later because it is the weekend. I guess it will depend on when people shut their lights off.

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N.B.

answers from Oklahoma City on

I think the towns usually put out a notice as to when the city Halloween is and what times.

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E.T.

answers from Rochester on

I find it interesting that towns publish when kids can trick-or-treat and how old kids can be. We live in a community where seriously, my kids can start trick-or-treating on Friday night and continue all day Saturday. Heck, we could have started last weekend! Friday night there is a senior living building that is opening up for kids to come and trick or treat in their hallways from 4-5 and the Boys and Girls Club is having an event for the public. There are also a couple of churches doing Trunk or Treat on Friday night. On Saturday starting as early as 9:00 in the morning there are trick or treat events at the children's museum, the mall, the nature center, the university, a local owned toy store, another senior living center, several churches, one of the middle schools, a learning farm, a neighborhood parade, and several churches. There were at least 5 trick or treat events last weekend! Seriously it is overload!!! We live a couple of hours south of a community that is the self-proclaimed "Halloween Capitol of the World." I think lots of communities in our state try to keep up with them. One of my friends who lives in a nearby small town took her kids trick or treating three times last weekend!

We also have lots of middle and high school age kids who come trick or treating. Many of them are refugees or immigrants from countries that don't celebrate Halloween. They are getting a chance to be kids and participate in some good old American culture. We also get several high school kids who come trick or treating for food donations for the local food shelf. I always give them candy too!

We didn't do any of the events last weekend. We might stop at the senior living center on the way home from school on Friday. The kids will already be in their costumes because their school still has Halloween parties and a costume parade. We are also going to go to the event at the middle school. It is a fundraiser and my kids are very excited about shooting silly string at their principal! We will probably start in our neighborhood around 5:30-6:00 after we eat dinner and it starts getting dark. We live on a very large block that has a long cul de sac half way around it. It usually takes us 30-45 minutes to go all the way around. We end up at one of our friends' homes. Everyone in their cul de sac gathers in front of their house. They always have a fire pit set up in their driveway and along with handing out tons of candy they also have hot coffee and cider (and usually some adult beverages). Sometimes they have old horror movies from the '50s and '60s playing on their garage door. Then we go home and the kids hand out candy until we shut off the porch light at about 9:00.

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M.C.

answers from Louisville on

We go to a block party at 5:00, and trick or treat after that.

1 mom found this helpful

J.S.

answers from St. Louis on

I have always turned on my lights and get the kids dressed when I am ready and we head out when we see other kids

1 mom found this helpful

V.S.

answers from Reading on

Our community won't trick or treat on a Friday or Saturday, so they do beggars night - ours is tomorrow, Thursday, from 6-8.

B.C.

answers from Norfolk on

Where we are, there's a county ordinance that says:
Trick or Treat hours will be from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on October 31 for children 12 and under.
(Our son just turned 17).
We live out in the country and one of our neighbors holds an annual Halloween/Samhain party.
We go every year and look forward to it!
The adults participate in a pumpkin carving contest and the kids judge it.
There's also a night game of croquet marked out with glow sticks.
We'll be having too much fun to worry about missing any trick or treating!

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J.C.

answers from New York on

6:00/6:30 is the norm around here. Can't go much earlier than that during the week or no one will be home - but on a Saturday, we'll start as it's getting a bit dark.

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