OMG Ted are you OK?!? Huh, oh wait… it’s fake. Phew. </endlamejoke>
So tonight is Halloween. November’s Eve. Just wanted to send all you readers haUNTeD WiisHH (tried to make that read spooky, but just ended up looking like an AzN teen is typing). You might wonder what Wong Fu dressed up as, assuming we have plans tonight… should there be any, we’ll let you see some pictures. =) 
But the main event of the night is Trick-or-Treating right? Not saying that I do it (though I wish we were still allowed to), but now the roles have changed, and I’M the one answering the door to give out candy to all the little kids dressed up as Optimus Prime and Dora the Explorer. The thing is, I’m actually not bitter that I can’t partake in the free candy hedonistic gluttony. I actually enjoy being the giver and seeing all the families come by. BUT, the sad thing is… not that many people come by our house in this neighborhood. Last year I stayed home excited to give out candy… but only 10 families rang the doorbell. Needless to say, I was quite disappointed. We’ll see how many show up tonight. The sun is setting, so it should be starting soon.
Now, regarding the low attendance, is it the same in your neighborhoods? Is trick-or-treating becoming less popular? Or is it just my area? I remember when I was a kid, it was a huge deal and there’d be TONs of ppl on the streets. (But I also remember seeing the tooth fairy back then, so really, my memory is probably not reliable?)
If trick or treating has indeed lost popularity… what do you think caused it? Too many crazies out there? A new generation of overly paranoid parents? Or less homes participating… like my Dad. He’s at home tonight by himself. I called him up and asked him what he was gonna do, did he have candy? He said he was gonna do what he did last year, turn off all the lights and act like no one was home. Worked then. haha. Nice dad. Nice.
So most likely you’ll be reading this after Halloween. How was your trick or treating experience (from either side of the door)?
November 1, 2009 at 4:43 am
we don’t celebrate halloween at all at our houses here in Singapore
so i dressed up as myself. very cool!
we all go for some Halloween event some place if we wanted to, or some party…
But this year my school’s lecturers (i’m an animation major) all dressed up
e.g. Cloudy (Meatball boy) he waxed his hair high and wore a lab coat with a monkey plushie in his pocket and a french teacher as Linguini from Ratatouille, erm he wore a chef outfit & printed out the picture of the Rat on paper cut it out and pasted it on his toque…
another came into the class with a clone trooper helmet on and spoke to us with the voice changer…
and we went around their rooms and knocked on the door to get candy!
but some lecturers sought to trick us before the treat with their crazy little antics. like OOoOoOo *shaking door knob!!* very entertaining hahaha.
i think you should put some creepy thing outside your door, with a sign like “BEWARE, DANGER!!”
you know kids…the more they know they should not do it, the more likely they will.
November 1, 2009 at 3:59 am
Dude I wish I could go trick or treat in your neighborhood and drop by to say hi! XD;
I just went trick-or-treating tonight (as a sophmore in high school!), but no one visits my houses and I go to another neighborhood for the treating (and no tricking).
There were a lot less houses to hit last year compared to this year when I think about it… though I somehow got a decent stash again this time around.
I only saw a few reeeeeeeeeally little kids in their pumpkin and ninja turtle costumes this year.
I bet there’s less because even though it’s free SUGAR AND DIABETES, they’re too LAZY for the sweet goodness. They’d rather drive to the store and buy some than exercise and walk around getting free candy.
Or they’d rather not bother to even do that and just watch tv and be catered to by their parents. Just lie around on the couch all day… what has America succumb to? D;
November 1, 2009 at 3:00 am
Alhambra and SG are so dead with trick-or-treating. I think last year, only 5 groups of people came by. We never remember to buy candy to give away so we don’t really participate either. D:
November 1, 2009 at 2:22 am
This year, all my friends little siblings thought they were too mature to go out for trick-or-treating. What makes it even sadder, is that me and my friends went out to trick-or-treat. Along with all the juniors and seniors at our high school. So apparently, elementary kids are wayy more mature than high school kids. At least, in my area d:
November 1, 2009 at 2:17 am
Alhambra streets are so empty… I was at a friend’s house only 15 kids came by, it was pretty sad to see no trick or treaters! She still has 3/4 bag of chocolate lying around.
November 1, 2009 at 1:49 am
I went to the mall and was surprise right when it hits 5 pm, there were so much kids crazy for candies. Parents getting in line, children looking for which store has candy and arguing whose costume is better. I was surprise to see so much kids but at the same time scared because there was too many. And like you said, there were only like 3 people who came by for candy in my neighborhood. I think now the new idea for halloween is to go to the mall since parents are a bit paranoid with streets and not much people in my city area (alhambra) participate in halloween. YOU could pass out candy at the mall tho =] it would be the new thing…just make sure you bring A LOT of candies.
November 1, 2009 at 1:42 am
I think the biggest reason for the decrease in trick-or-treater’s is because of all the crazy people out there now. You always hear about all those kidnappings and things, people get paranoid. It’s really sad, Halloween used to be such a fun time to get free candy and things. That thing about drugged candy and things definitely also took it’s toll. ):
I miss the good ole’ days
November 1, 2009 at 1:36 am
Well we had about 160 kids come to our door tonight. When I talk to kids, they’re all excited about trick or treating on Halloween. I was in Walmart today and the kids costumes were cleaned out, there were dressed up kids everywhere. I really don’t think that kids are lacking in enthusiasm for running around in costume getting free candy. I think the biggest factor in whether you get trick or treaters or not is where you live, and what type of families are living in that area at the time. Certain areas have more young families than others. There has been a definite decrease in the number of kids in my area since I was little, because the people my age grew up, but their families didn’t move away, so new young families couldn’t move in. It’s the same thing that I see in the area that my school is in, there are hardly any students at our high school, because the area is mainly populated by older people. I was at a friend’s house in the area by my school tonight and hardly any kids came by. When I talk to the parents of my friends that went to our school, there were lots of people at the school then, well over 1000 compared to the 400 that we have now.
Pay attention to the people in your neighborhood, see what type of families are living in the area. If they’re mostly older folks, young couples without kids yet, or families who’s kids have gotten too old to go then you may have your answer.
November 1, 2009 at 1:24 am
Maybe…..an effect from the recession? Maybe some parents have too much trouble spending their money on candy they have to give away that other parents decide that there is no more candy…and then those parents who are willing to spend money decide not to because no more families are going to go out to get candy because they think there’s a recession so that they don’t buy any candy……I dunno. The most people I saw was at like…6PM and the sun was still out.
November 1, 2009 at 1:11 am
Yeah, same at the neighborhoods around my place in Oregon….This year is really not as active as last year… Swine Flu scares?
But I still got a bunch of candy by walking miles just to go to the lit up houses for 1 or 2 pieces!
Originally I was going to stay home and do my english paper but my friend bugged me to go to his neighborhood so i did. Which I am now glad that I did.
I told my asian parents to stay home and turn off all the lights too
our street did get a couple smashed pumpkins
We went to Blockbusters and Walgreens and got some candy there though.
Maybe this is my last year… I’m a sophomore….
If it is I’ll still be very content with my last night of Trick or treating ever!
November 1, 2009 at 1:02 am
i think it’s more of the area you guys are in. i used to live in monterey park, and hardly anyone would come around. the neighborhood where my college is located still has TONS of trick-or-treaters, even in tonight’s rain.
November 1, 2009 at 12:16 am
I agree 100% that the amount of kids trick-or-treating is definitely dwindling. I am spending Halloween at home for the first time in 4 years (post-undergrad) this year. Altho I was never big on dressing up for this occasion after my 13th bday, I still went out and bought a ton of candy and put on some bunny-ears (mom’s orders) to pass out candies. My mom decorated our front entrance and anticipated many kids to show up at our door. As kids came and rang our door-bell tonight, we kept track of how many kids showed up. And it only totalled to……… 37kids.
It’s now 11pm in Chicago, we finally turned off our pumpkin lamp outside, but the sight of our bags and boxes of candies by our front door is quite disappointing…
But hey, Happy Halloween to u guys!
November 1, 2009 at 12:14 am
I think it depends on where you live. There’s a street or two where I live that have a lot of people, and I know people from other cities like to come too.
Some people trick-or-treat in the daytime now (weird, I know), like in Alhambra where shops along Main Street in Alhambra were giving out candy.
November 1, 2009 at 12:01 am
hmmm, decorating your house is like a beacon to those kids…its like saying “come here for the candy”…maybe that will help…but yeah, there has def. been a huge decrease in attendance overall. I think the parents are just getting more worried with all the bad things that have been going on in the past 5 years or so.
October 31, 2009 at 11:55 pm
i hear trick or treating at the mall is the new thing
October 31, 2009 at 11:45 pm
well, i think after the whole 911 thing theres been a decrease in kids playing outside in general let alone halloween has been a holiday where parents get super paraniod unlike 10years ago where there were so many people trick o treat now its just the few n notice all the parents are with them * we live in a society where parents are afraid to leave there kids alone even for a minute, there too overprotective now a days, what did you expect?
October 31, 2009 at 11:43 pm
PARENTSSS being overly paranoid bout swine flu and kidnappers and bla bla bla. also its pretty chilly lately
October 31, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Happy Halloween! Yeah, there used to be many trick or treaters around my neighborhood ringing my doorbell every 5 minutes. But now I guess all those kids have grown up, like I have. High school/College hits you and you get stuck at home doing papers, outlines, and studying. And kids don’t stay kids, after all…
October 31, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Aw, don’t worry. Trick-or-treating isn’t becoming less popular, it just depends on where you live. Fore me, I’ve been getting my bell rung nonstop. About 30 groups already passed by. And some of those groups have like 10 kids haha.
Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2009 at 11:39 pm
woops
*For
October 31, 2009 at 11:32 pm
It has died in popularity. Especially since the razors with the candy incident in the early 2000′s. Do you remember that? People put razor blades in the candy or gave it out with the candy or something like that. After that whole scare, Halloween has never been the same. There’s also rumors about poisonous candy or unsafe candy or something of that nature, so yeah, Halloween will never be the same as it was before 2000.
I hope you got more trick or treaters as the night went on. Just give out extra candy since you know not much people will come. Have a good night!
October 31, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Happy Halloween!!! I think people like parties and that they like the indoor factor.
October 31, 2009 at 11:28 pm
One person came to get candy… the Halloween spirit on my street really kicks ass! >:D
October 31, 2009 at 11:27 pm
I noticed it too :[. In the last years, houses would be out of candy by 8:30. It’s 8:30 now and i’ve only han ded out to 5 groups of kids. Maybe 8 kids total. I’m really disappointed. I think it’s the fact that it’s not that safe anymore in addition to the costliness of costumes and candy altogether is causing trick-or-treating to decrease in popularity. Or maybe kids these days are just growing up too fast. I don’t know, but it makes me sad.
November 1, 2009 at 12:16 am
Yeah, so true. I know like middle school kids who prefer to party instead :T
October 31, 2009 at 11:20 pm
I will have to say the decrease may be because of the contagious swine flu season. If I were a parent, I would be worried that the person handing out the candy could have some kind of virus on them. And that’s not good, because your child will be touching the wrapper as they’re unraveling the candy. And they will be touching the candy directly with their hand to their mouth. So virus’ journey… person handing out the candy->candy wrapper–>hand of child–>to candy itself–>to the mouth. lol
Hypothesis: the more you decorate your house with halloween decorations, the more it will attract families.
I’m not doing anything either side of the door. Instead, I’m trying to keep up with biology reading (semi-studying lol).
My dad’s story:
Last year was the first year my dad got to hand out candies, he used to work night shift all the time. He was all excited to be able to actually do it. But once the second set of kids came, “Lisa! Go give out the candy.” Yeah, he quickly hated doing it just after the first door (wow…). But I forced him to continue on. And what did he do then? Give a whole BUNCH of candy at a time to each kid to get rid of the candy fast so that he won’t have to do it anymore for the night.
October 31, 2009 at 11:15 pm
Well, it rained today on the East Coast. So that certainly contributed. But that also means houses trying to get rid of their candy. More candy for the ones that do trick or treat.
October 31, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Not home, in Rosemead, but only like 10 people passed by during the whole night. I actually went trick of treating and everyone had a lot of candy still….
October 31, 2009 at 11:02 pm
omg, when i was little, there were sooo many kids trick or treating on halloween. compared to last year, i noticed ppl arent participating alot anymore. this year, only 6 families came. ): highly disappointed in today’s youth. D:
October 31, 2009 at 10:58 pm
Yeah it’s really sad how trick or treating has diminished over the years. I used to go all the time when I was small and I loved it. There were so many kids running around and lots of houses to go to. Pssh who am I still go trick or treating. I agree with Andrea, there is no age limit. And if you’re self conscious, just make sure you walk up with a bunch of kids and pretend to be a chaperone…or if you have any friends with little kids…borrow them?
The festivities haven’t started up yet here, but hopefully the turn out will be exciting. This is the first year I’m not going out trick or treating and it’s kind of sad. Anyway that’s enough rambling, I hope everyone had a good Halloween. 
October 31, 2009 at 10:40 pm
well i had to stay home with my younger siblings for halloween (sad, i know but parents had to work) nd like you guys were we were actually excited to pass out candy.
but only 5 people came TT_TT
it was so boring, it doesnt help that my house looks like a spookhouse too O___O haha
my dad told me the same thing about swine flu nd thats why there arent any kids tonight plus since im in nebraska its about 35 degrees outside… icky.
haha next year will be awesome tho my little 2 year old sister nd i are going to go as sailormoon && minimoon
October 31, 2009 at 10:37 pm
There wasn’t a single one at our house, and I live across the street from an elementary school.
October 31, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I’ve always been a big fan of trick or treating. I remember about 5 years ago, my steps would be full of little kids in big groups of 8+ each ring. The streets around my neighborhood was packed. This year.. it’s suprisingly to even see more than 30 people show up. Where’s the halloween spirit?!
October 31, 2009 at 10:35 pm
I went to a thing called Trunk or Treat at my church and it seems like there were less people there this year. I walked from my church to one of my friends houses and ended up helping pass out candy, but there weren’t many people coming by, some but not a lot.
October 31, 2009 at 10:34 pm
There weren’t that many people trick-or-treating in my neighbourhood, and a few people skipped my house -_-. But I think maybe it’s because everyone is growing up/grown up? Because in my area, the kids who lived here are either in the teens, or +20s now, and there aren’t as many families with kids now (who would most likely be the ones who would want to give out candy compared to the kidless working types).
October 31, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Its 7:26 right now, normally we would’ve had at least 3 or 4 families. So far, no one came. :[ It’s really sad. I think it’s popularity is dying. More people are becoming cheap.
Hmm just a thought Phil, what if one of your trick or treaters are fans? Wouldn’t you be worried that they may stalk you in the future? :O
October 31, 2009 at 10:28 pm
No one has knocked on my door tonight. No one! How absurd for a suburb. I think it’s because in my town, sidewalks are only on one side of the street. I’m on the no-sidewalk-side-of-the-street. So why would kids possibly want to cross a busy intersection just to get two pieces of candy? *sigh*
We bought bags of candy too. D: No one every comes to my house. It’s kind of lonely… I don’t hear many out either. I should’ve dressed up this year and ravaged the neighborhood.
October 31, 2009 at 10:25 pm
we have something for the kids downtown since we are in an apt. complex. there is face painting and the business give candy out to the kids. much more fun! we had to fight through to get to our resturaunt and on the way back.
October 31, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Hey Phil! Halloween in NYC is crazyy.
October 31, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Although I wasn’t accustomed with the trick-or-treating thing here in America because I’ve moved here when I was… hmm 12-13 years old, So I’ve never really done it until I was a sophomore in High school. First and Last time I’ve done it. haha. Anyways back to your question, from the year I’ve moved here to this year, trick-or-treaters has decreased through those 6 years.. They used to knock on our doors in big groups, one after another! But now, they come in small groups, like every 10 mins. But it has only started about an hour and a half ago, so I still have my hopes up that it would be better than last year. =]
October 31, 2009 at 10:21 pm
we did not even have 1 person! No one was around the streets on our block
October 31, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Yea, we only had 4 kids too at my house. That’s about half of what we got the year before. I don’t know why it’s dying down. I remember when I went out trick-or-treating, kids were on the streets everywhere in my neighborhood. Now it’s kinda sad.
October 31, 2009 at 10:13 pm
This year’s Halloween wasn’t that great. Besides the random clouds that decided to drop rain and stop, only like 3 families came by, which is sad because now I have all this candy just sitting here. Although the rain probably stopped the trick-or-treaters. I think its the world series game that is keeping people at home right now. Philly is quiet in the north when all the people are in the south.
I enjoy treat-or-treating because you get to see all the creative costumes out there(mines was a bus made out of cardboard), but it is fun when you have others tagging along with you~
October 31, 2009 at 10:12 pm
aha there’s never an age limit on who can trick-o-treat ! go out & do it phil !
i’m passing out candy. but living on a hill in an all asian neighborhood .. i don’t get that many people. got some obnoxious teenage jerks last year. beauty of trick-or-treating ? you can just close the door (:
October 31, 2009 at 10:09 pm
I go Trick-Or-Treating with my little sister every year. Sadly, a lot of the houses that we went to did the “turn-all-lights-off-and-pretend-you’re-asleep” route, so we only went around for about 30 minutes. :[
October 31, 2009 at 10:06 pm
My dad was trying to scare us out of trick-or-treating by telling us that the candy had swine flu. Hahaha. But yeah. Hardly anyone came by today. How sad. o_o
October 31, 2009 at 10:39 pm
My mom was watching the news & they did a report on that X) I wasn’t allowed out cause of that … My parents are so paranoid.
October 31, 2009 at 10:03 pm
i dont really go trick or treating… but any who yeah, nobody ever shows up to our house
October 31, 2009 at 9:53 pm
Only a group of four kids came by tonight (and it’s already 9:50PM). We definitely have noticed a decrease in trick or treaters every year. Maybe people are too scared to go out, or maybe they don’t have the motivation, or the money to buy costumes, or maybe people have lost interest in halloween.. Who knows. .. I personally never trick or treated, halloween hasn’t been a big deal for me… but we do tend to give out candy every year.
October 31, 2009 at 9:51 pm
haha, I did the same thing as your dad. Although, in my defense, I’m house-sitting right now, so it’s not even my own house.
October 31, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Lol
no one ever knocks on my house during holloween xD
kinda sad. ._.ll
October 31, 2009 at 9:46 pm
I agree. The Halloween spirit seems to have died down over the years. It’s as if the children of America are getting lazier and lazier =P I remember going to the mall around noon and the shops had no more candy to go out. Condo developments were definitely the easiest place to pick up candy within a short amount of time. I remember some houses couldn’t even close the door because there were too many kids. Now as i drive by, I only see some families. Halloween seems to have just become a day for people to dress goofy; however, I still love halloween for the free candy =D
October 31, 2009 at 9:42 pm
haha wow…