Halloween Problems Thread

[BmillsSkier]

Granted I'm glad I don't live in Detroit this time of year but I've noticed this simple holiday has started to pose some problems. Sure it's not houses burning down kinda problems but annoyances of varying degrees I guess.

For example, teens showing up with no costume on and simply holding out their pillowcases asking for candy. Now, I'm not going to turn them down because if hate to hear eggs hitting my house the minute I shut the door, but come on man! Isn't there a youth dance or something going on you boys could be chasing tail at?


Another is the ever-increasing van-loads of 12-15 kids each from out of town that show up in the neighborhood, clean up on candy, then pile into the next neighborhood. I'm by no means against giving any kid candy but the same 10lbs or so I get each year lasts shorter and shorter thanks to this phenomenon - and I know we still have the same amount of kids in the neighborhood. WTF?

[that dude who did that thing]

Youth events don't just spontaneously happen. Someone organizes them. Usually it's some adult who is concerned about teens hanging out and causing trouble when they'd prefer that they be attending "a youth dance or something going on."

[booner]

My neighborhood is ground zero for Halloween action in my town. People drive in from outside town to experience it.

Last year I was the only adult I saw that was dressed up... And the only one who had a "water bottle" in their hand.

W... T... F



Sent from one of those fancy cellular telephones

[glademaster]

I just sit on my porch in my underwear, with a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 next to me, and my shotgun in my lap. No Halloween problems to speak of so far.

[digitaldeath]

Halloween is for rabble rousers...duh

[MontuckyFried]

Time to move to the mountains. When there's a foot of snow on the ground, the trick-or-treaters are far and few between.

When I lived in SA, though, I experienced exactly what you speak of. The trick is to live IN the ghetto. Those are the kids talking about hitting up the rich neighborhoods by the van-load, and their parents gladly oblige to haul them there. My street barely had any trick-or-treaters because they were all gone, hitting up the nicer neighborhoods. Never had any problems whatsoever. Funny how my car/house never got broken into either. Living in the burbs however...way more trick-or-treaters....way more robberies. I think there's a correlation. They know where all the good loot/candy's at.

[Timberridge]

I like Halloween, what other holiday can you think of where a large majority of women dress up like sluts?

[KQ]

I'm way too far out in the country to have to worry about Halloween anymore but when I lived in the "Big City" I too experienced the older kids with pillow cases and no costumes. It was just wrong IMHO. I can't remember what age it was but there was a cut-off in our household where my parents wouldn't let us go door-to-door anymore. They thought trick-or-treating was more a little kids thing. I suppose I can see that.

Maybe you should write "Dear Abby". Caught this in the paper earlier in the month. Can't say I agree with her advice.

DEAR ABBY: I am a retired widow, crippled with rheumatoid arthritis. Every October, I start dreading Halloween, which I consider to be a legal form of extortion.

Living on Social Security, I really don't want to waste money for candy. Also, it is difficult for me to get up and down every five minutes to hand out candy. Too many of the "children" are 16- to 19-year-old males.

I have tried keeping the lights off and "hiding" in my bedroom, but I wake the next morning to find toilet paper in my trees and shrubbery. Once, my front door had been sprayed "Stingy Old Witch." The police said they couldn't act because I didn't see who did it. Of course, even if I had seen them, they probably would have been in a costume. Do you have any suggestions? -- GROUCHY GRANDMA IN AUSTIN, TEXAS

DEAR GRANDMA: Yes. Because what you've done hasn't worked, buy a large bag of inexpensive candy -- they are often for sale at this time of year -- and when the "extortionists" knock on your door, pay up. Because your physical condition makes it difficult for you to get up and down, enlist the help of a relative or neighbor to help you dole it out, or leave the bowl outside by your door with a note saying: "Take one."

[Gepeto]

Don't you mean Trunk or Treat?

Our latest community effort to reduce the bad in Halloween.


http://trunkortreat.homestead.com/


I refuse to participate...

[BmillsSkier]

Youth events don't just spontaneously happen. Someone organizes them. Usually it's some adult who is concerned about teens hanging out and causing trouble when they'd prefer that they be attending "a youth dance or something going on."

Don't we pay someone to do this stuff?

[adrenalated]

I just sit on my porch in my underwear, with a bottle of Wild Turkey 101 next to me, and my shotgun in my lap. No Halloween problems to speak of so far.

This was kinda my plan for this year.

[BmillsSkier]

Don't you mean Trunk or Treat?

Our latest community effort to reduce the bad in Halloween.


http://trunkortreat.homestead.com/


I refuse to participate...

WTF?

Try decorating a windowless contractor van with "free candy" sprayed on the side or "One Direction Concert Shuttle" and see how quickly they ask you to leave this trunk or treat nonsense.

Problem solved I think.

[Mofro261]

rabble rabble rabble.

[farmer]

Don't you mean Trunk or Treat?

Our latest community effort to reduce the bad in Halloween.


http://trunkortreat.homestead.com/


I refuse to participate...

A co-worker was telling me about this. In rural areas, where kids would have to walk 5 miles to hit up a dozen houses, it's a great idea. Everyone meets in town, all the kids get candy, no runts walking on your lawn.

[KQ]

Don't you mean Trunk or Treat?

Our latest community effort to reduce the bad in Halloween.


http://trunkortreat.homestead.com/


I refuse to participate...

What happened to going to the shopping mall/fair grounds/area business/retirement center? Around here, where we don't have a mall, they go shop-to-shop on Main street or there are also events held at Home Depot and some retirement communities.

You can not believe the mess the kids leave on Main street - the litter is incredible. Don't people teach their kids anything anymore?

[TBS]

For example, teens showing up with no costume on and simply holding out their pillowcases asking for candy. Now, I'm not going to turn them down because if hate to hear eggs hitting my house the minute I shut the door, but come on man! Isn't there a youth dance or something going on you boys could be chasing tail at?

A group of 12-15 YO boys came by our house yesterday and left a shopping bag with the following note:

"Trick or Treat
Not asking for candy this year...just cans of food for the local food bank. Please donate what you can and leave in sack on your porch and we will gather on Halloween.
Our goal is 1000 lbs - please help us reach our goal
Thank you and Happy Halloween"

Fuckin' kids these days...

[jayfrizzo]

Shouldn't this be in the first world problems thread?

We go to my mother-in-law's neighborhood because it's awesome and the parents walk around with wagons for their kids, though there are often rolling bars, too.

Last year we left a bowl of candy on the porch and I had to run back to the house for more booze. Just as I got to the yard I see some rapscallion emptying the bowl into his pillowcase and skating off on his longboard. Grabbed the beach cruiser and ran him down. He seemed genuinely scared and gave me the whole pillowcase. I told him had he worn a costume I'd have let him keep it.

Thinking about laying in wait this year with a couple airsoft guns.

[Art Shirk]

I'm just crossing my fingers that the Rapunzel costume will work instead of the Sophia costume she wanted. And I'm not sure I have a to-go cup large enough to get me through the night. I'm thinking of going as Oscar Pistorius - prosthetic legs, running attire, camelback full of whiskey and a gun.

[Cruiser]

Thinking about laying in wait this year with a couple airsoft guns.

This plan is bound to work and cannot end up badly for you in any way. Please do this and set up a gopro someplace to catch the action.

[LightRanger]

BMills = "Halloween for the 99 Percent"

You gonna dress up as the Grinch again this year?

Our condo complex seems to have picked up more children since the housing market has picked back up. In the past we had little-to-no trick or treaters. Maybe we'll get more now? I'd honestly like to see more. We have babies at home at the moment, so it's not like we're out doing anything.

[rideit]

Halloween is my birthday, so it's always fun!

[BmillsSkier]

^^^
That's pretty sweet CL.

I am moving the candy to the end of the driveway this year, far away from the house. Dragging the fire pit out there and starting a fire. Candy for kids, cheap canned domestics for the adults, I'm sure the wife will have wine. I figure we'll be out there well past the time any rabble-rousers will want to come back for tricks. I expect to be very sarcastic to any non-costumed teenagers.

That or the naked, shotgun, Turkey 101, etc plan. That's a good one too.

[BmillsSkier]

BMills = "Halloween for the 99 Percent"

You gonna dress up as the Grinch again this year?

Our condo complex seems to have picked up more children since the housing market has picked back up. In the past we had little-to-no trick or treaters. Maybe we'll get more now? I'd honestly like to see more. We have babies at home at the moment, so it's not like we're out doing anything.

Ha! Hardly. I just noticed that the candy lasts shorter and shorter each year. I have no clue where these van-loads come from, it could be one neighborhood over for all I know. That 'dear Prudence' letter can not be real.

[KQ]

Halloween is my birthday, so it's always fun!

[glademaster]

That or the naked, shotgun, Turkey 101, etc plan. That's a good one too.

I also make sure to angle one of the spotlights in the yard at the "Due to the rising cost of ammunition, I am no longer able to provide trespassers with a warning shot" sign, ya know, for full effect.