Fed Up With The Mess That Happens Due To Trick-Or-Treaters Every Year, Rich Parent ‘Ruins’ Halloween For Thousands Of Kids
It’s all fun and games until somebody gets hurt. Halloween might be one of the most festive holidays of the year, but it doesn’t give people the right to do whatever they want. And parents should still be making sure that their kids know to trick or treat in peace, without leaving a massive mess behind. Alas! Real-life is often confusing and chaotic.
A redditor living in a rich neighborhood told the tale of how they ‘ruined’ Halloween for thousands of kids. They asked the AITA community on Reddit for their verdict on whether they were being a total jerk or not because they didn’t feel any remorse. Their sister, however, was livid.
We don’t want to spoil the full story for you just yet, so go on and read the full tale below, dear Pandas. When you’re done, we’d love to hear your thoughts about the situation: do you think the parent was wrong to ask the police for help to restrict who can come into the neighborhood or were things truly getting out of hand?
I reached out to parenting blogger Samantha Scroggin, from California, for a chat about Halloween, trick-or-treating etiquette, and what role parents should play in all of the fun. Samantha is the founder of the Walking Outside in Slippers blog. “Safety has to be the most important priority when it comes to trick-or-treating. That means make sure you’re walking in a well-lit area and probably with a flashlight, wearing comfortable shoes, wearing costumes that don’t obstruct your vision, and being careful while crossing the street,” she told Bored Panda.
The blogger revealed that her approach is to go trick-or-treating along with her kids, however, each parent needs to decide for themselves what’s best for their family. It’s not just about age. “I personally accompany my kids while trick-or-treating, and wouldn’t feel comfortable letting them go alone for a number of years. They’re currently 10 and 6. Plus, going along for the candy gathering is a key ingredient in a fun Halloween night for me. I think parents need to make decisions regarding letting kids go trick-or-treating without them based on their kids’ personalities and ages, and what makes sense for that family.”
Halloween is a lot of fun, but hundreds upon hundreds of trick-or-treaters can cause some problems for the locals
Image credits: Charles Parker (not the actual photo)
One parent shared the moment that they decided to ask the police for help with restricting who can come to trick-or-treat in the rich neighborhood
Image credits: throwawaynotherr432
Image credits: throwawaynotherr432
I’d imagine that any good parent would be absolutely livid that they can’t take their child to the hospital when they’re in pain. That’s exactly what happened to the redditor, the author of the post, whose daughter broke her arm. Unfortunately, due to all the cars parked haphazardly by out-of-neighborhood folks, the redditor had to wait hours to get their teen daughter to the ER.
The parent was done with the endless droves of trick-or-treaters leaving behind candy wrappers and causing chaos. They got some locals, mainly police officers, to stand at the gate and restrict who can actually come into the neighborhood to celebrate Halloween. In short, if you wanted to trick-or-treat in the neighborhood, you had to be close to someone who actually lives there.
However, the redditor’s sister got extremely mad at them for putting an end to trick-or-treating for so many kids. She reminded them about how they had to go trick-or-treating in other neighborhoods because they lived in a trailer park when they were kids themselves.
The vast majority of AITA community members thought that the author of the post did nothing wrong. Or, as one user put it, “People still need to behave. The kids can still have fun. Parents just have to actually parent them now because someone else is watching.” However, there were plenty of other, more critical opinions about what happened.
Parenting blogger Samantha shared what trick-or-treating is like in her neck of the woods on the US West Coast. “We are among only a few families with kids in my current California Central Coast neighborhood. But we live in a cute little old town area on a cul-de-sac, so I love taking my kids trick-or-treating each year and to visit with the neighbors.”
She continued: “For my town in general beyond our immediate neighborhood, trick-or-treating is commonplace, along with attending school and church trunk-or-treat events. A number of houses get creative with the decorating each year, and some start as early as August. Decorating that early sounds a bit much to me, but the holidays do come around so fast, so I guess it makes sense for people to do what makes them happy. Especially in pandemic times.” Halloween can be a wonderful way to spread some joy during these hard times, after all.
I was especially interested to get to the core (or rather the nougat) of the topic: what candy families should get so they’re a big hit with the neighboring trick-or-treaters. “I don’t feel like I have a good grasp on what candy is popular for most kids these days. I buy what I like if left to my own devices, which is basically anything with chocolate and peanut butter,” Samantha said.
“My 10-year-old son picked out the candy this year for us to give away, and it’s gross little suckers and tiny fruity things. At least I won’t be as tempted to eat the leftovers! I think the ultimate prize for any trick-or-treater is still the full-sized candy bar, which was something kids talked about even when I was little. Of course, it’s a rare and lucky day that you actually score the elusive full-sized candy bar.”
One of the most important things for ghouls, ghosts, and goblins to remember on Halloween is to be polite at all times. It might sound simple and obvious, but a warm ‘thank you!’ shows your neighbors that you care. Meanwhile, avoid stomping all over the lawn to get to the door: use the path, it’s what it’s there for. You’re not here just for the candy—you’re here to be a good, respectable neighbor, too.
CNN warns that trick-or-treaters should do their best to keep their greed in check. “If someone has left a bowl of candy on their doorstep, be nice and take only one or two pieces so other kids will have some to find. And if you’re ever offered candy you don’t like, take some anyway. You can always sell it—yes, for money!—to a buyback program for a good cause,” Melissa Gray writes.
Something else you should keep in mind is how your costume will affect the locals in your area. For instance, if you know for a fact that there will be lots and lots of small children around, you probably shouldn’t put on your most horrifying costume. Instead of something that would scare the living bejesus outta even grownups, giving them nightmares for weeks to come, why not go for something a smidge less scary and a tad more fun?
Keep in mind that some kids can’t eat regular candy because of allergies. If you want to be extremely accommodating to everyone, consider picking up some treats that are, for example, peanut-free or specifically designed for those with severe allergies.
And if you want to take a break from handing out candy on Halloween this year, CNN suggests that you turn off the lights and lower the volume of the TV. (You can also pretend you’re asleep or even hide in the closet if you hear any trick-or-treaters passing by. Who knows—that might be fun, too. Just watch out for the monsters hiding in the shadows.)
Some people thought that the parent was completely right to restrict access. Here’s what they had to say
However, others thought that there were other, better ways to solve the issue
Once again, kids reap the consequences of their parents' bad behavior. OP didn't ruin it for the kids who come to their community, those visiting kids' parents ruined it for everyone.
The parents weren't leaving the trash and trampling yards alone though.
Load More Replies... Protecting your neighborhood from people who obviously have no respect for someone else's property, privacy or safety is not wrong. For the op the main reason for banning less privileged or poor people was not because they wanted to spoil Halloween for the kids, it was because the parents behaved like scum and created dangerous situations. Strict parking rules and/or strict enforcement wouldn't have changed the situation at that time. You can't have a cop on every street to prevent jerks from parking their car wherever they like. NTA. For the parents: TTA (Totally The @ssholes)
We are a target "road" b/c we're by the school, so everyone feels safe here, etc., blah blah blah. We get over 100 kids on a bad year. And *none* of that stuff happens. Granted, 100-plus isn't much compared to those numbers, but dang. Just... dang... Memo to self, hand out bonus candy this year (oh wait, I do that every year.)
Um... why did I get a downvote? If it's for handing out bonus candy, I have three buckets: Nut-free; Sugar-free; Nothing-free. We have fun with it. the kids and their parents like it. So, yeah, okay, whatevs. You live near a school in a relatively rural area, people see it as a safe place. (That law about sex offendres not living within a certain distance of the schools, for example.)
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My neighborhood growing up was like this. It was annoying and it was expensive. We also were unable to leave our home. We started parking a vehicle a few blocks away at a convenience store in case we needed it because we also had an accident and needed to get to a hospital. Thankfully, it never happened again but we were prepared. Also, even though we lived in a nice neighborhood that was so popular for Halloween, no one signed up to provide hundreds upon hundreds of dollars of candy for strangers. People would still knock and incessantly ring the doorbell even after we turned the porch lights off. It was like being held hostage in your own home. All for some candy. That's not what trick or treating or Halloween is all about. I'm not going broke to give kids a piece of candy and then pick up their trash in my yard. Those years nearly ruined it for my entire family. We still love Halloween and over the top decorate for it but I buy a few bags of candy and that's it.
The community voted on this and the cops felt it was a safety issue so they got involved. Why are you being singled out as the A-Hole? You did what you needed to do to ensure your community, and therefore your family, are safe. If the police got involved, this is an actual issue of public safety and not just some grumpy guy wanting to ruin some kids Halloween, the police would have told him to sod off otherwise. If your kids need to be dropped off in other neighborhoods or towns to go beg strangers for free cheap-as-chips candy (seriously you can buy enough cheap candy for $5 to give a kid diabetes in one shot), you've failed as a parent in so many ways. OP, you're not the AH here, others badly parenting their children are the AH's.
I see both sides of the story. Folks shouldn't litter and block road ways. Especially for medical emergencies such as this. Broken bones could be fatal (think sharp bits of hard organic matter). Also parents/guardians should teach their kids about not littering and respecting peeps properties regardless of where they are at. This deems to be a lesson. Also the housing community was in vote of this, not just one person who was looking out for their family. Parking management for a future holiday (to help with medical emergencies, and note medical emergencies can happen at anytime regardless of holidays) can help while keeping doors open. Folk can walk in and be well reminded to not litter. Halloween is a really cool holiday and I love that folks have fun. But I love it more when all parties are responsible with celebration.
You are NTA. This happened to us when we lived in a "bedroom" community. We were all ok financially, no European vacations or fancy cars or clothing, just kids, parents and pets. One year, big trucks filled with kids showed up at the beginning of our neighborhood and we had about 500 kids when we usually got 40. These huge numbers of kids came from some miles away. And few of these kids were "youngsters" a lot of them were older teens. That was the last year of trick or treating for us. We were NOT a gated community, just a neighborhood.
Not everyone celebrates Halloween. I don’t, and it would annoy me too if people flooded my neighborhood. Especially since you’re paying more to be in a rich neighborhood. Then you should at least be able to get some peace. Kids or adults, the inconvenience is the same. It doesn’t matter what age the neighborhood pests are. They aren’t entitled to be there.
For anyone who write "YTA"... have you ever had a broken bone and know how it f*** hurts? I have, I got to the hospital immediately but still had to wait for a doctor for 3 hours (no-one was available) and I was crying in pain the whole time - and I was 30 at that time. Blocking the road so that an ambulance cannot pass is unacceptable.
Yup. I know this is lost on a certain subset of Americans, but medical situations are supposed to be a priority.
Load More Replies... Not familiar with all the cultural context of trick and treating but the way I see it, its just one neighbourhood. Can't the kids visit other neighbourhoods? Sure, the candy is probably less but the fun of dressing up and hanging out with friends should still be there.
@BoopBoop Why yes, I do live in a relatively safe neighbourhood! I enjoy that privilege very much. Though idk if it applies 'door to door' since we don't 'do' halloween in my country. I'm wildly jealous you guys have a holiday to basically get free candy. Wow. Such privilege. If the inconvenience to enjoy your holiday is so immense; consider staying home like the rest of the world is.
Load More Replies... It sounds believable to me, I haven't seen a trick or treater on years, they're all across town in a better neighborhood. Not the best neighborhood, there's some sort of hive mind or something among modern parents, and they all do their trick-or-treating in the same place. This is the norm now, and it's a big expense for the chosen neighborhood, and a massive inconvenience. Hopefully if the block off the too-popular place, it will even out a bit.
NTA, but I will say, a better way of doing this would be to have the police at the entrance so they can direct them to parking areas outside the neighborhood and maybe have a hay ride or two to bring the kids into the neighborhood. Make it clear there should be no unattended minors and then put decorative trash cans at every driveway or door for trash. Have signs that say people who litter will be asked to leave immediately. Perhaps the real trick here is not to cut everyone off, but to have more organization to it. If anyone argues with it, they can leave. Make the parents behave so the kids can have fun.
Nope. These are people trying to live peacefully in their private homes. "Ooooh the poor little kids" is such BS because every single community group, church, YMCA, Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scout, Girl Scout, strip mall, etc is running curated Halloween Trick or Treat parties for local children. All these families have a multitude of options to give even the poorest kids a wonderful Halloween experience. People who feel they have a right to let their kids run wild in a neighborhood because of "inequality" is the most over the top example of entitlement I've seen in a long time. Good for the neighbors for putting a lid on this nightmare!
Load More Replies... Not the asshole! I wouldn't want this in my neighbourhood, either. Talk about taking advantage! There is no shortage of candy in the world, is there? Kids can go elsewhere closer to home, or their parents can take more responsibility for their kid's Halloween experience if this isn't possible.
At the end of it children behave in a manner they have been allowed to so blame should be placed on the parents. I also find it hard to believe that people parked on peoples lawns and the home owner allowed it for years before it was stopped and the police never called. I lived in a pretty nice ungated community and all the kids trick or treated in the complex growing up because their was about 500 houses so no need to go anywhere else. We take my granddaughter every year to a different area in the city about less than a mile from my house. Less and less lights on houses are lite up every year, but we only stay out for an hour. Its possible that the residents had an issue with the amount of trick or treaters, but the only trouble makers I ever saw was older kids. I understand the frustration about not wanting property destroyed but I also think it is getting harder and harder to find areas to trick or treat in because people arent giving out candy as much.
I find the rich areas the most stingiest and least pleasant areas to bring kids. It's the older, medium income neighbourhoods that are best to go because the people have the most fun decking out their old homes. But if you don't want kids coming to the door either leave out a bowl of candy or leave your porch light off.
Regardless of everything, no way am I handing out candy till 1 am! Lol!!!😂
I grew up in Connecticut. If you've ever been to Connecticut you'll know that sidewalks and streetlights are incredibly rare outside of metro/downtown areas. Even in new housing developments sidewalks and streetlights aren't common. So in my town, everyone went to the center of town to trick or treat because it was the only place with sidewalks and streetlights and therefore the only place to safely trick or treat. Otherwise you would be walking around a neighborhood in the dark on a street that likely has blind drives and blind turns everywhere. I know many people who lived in the center of town complained about the cost of buying candy for thousands of kids but the ones who hated it that much simply shut off their lights and didn't participate. Plenty of people loved it and fully participated. My childhood would have been ruined if those people that hated it attempted to stop the trick or treating all together.
Surely you just by the sweets you can afford and once they're gone, they're gone.
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Did OP seriously eot their kid sit there with an injured arm (even if they didn't know it was broken at the time) and not call an ambulance? That's asinine. The police would have had to come make sure the ambulance could get through and that would have solved the problem about the parking right then and there. F*****g ridiculous.
He shouldn’t need to call an ambulance. And why should he have to pay that expense?
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I live in a small town and when we went trick or treating, we mainly to just people our parents knew. We were always respectful of the residents' property and traffic was not blocked. It's unfortunate that these children can't trick or treat anymore, but it's their parents' fault for not being more cautious.
Sooner or later people with "more" that are expected/coerced/forced to give in to pressure from people with "less" will just quit and move somewhere else. It's pathetic for parents and kids to go harass specific neighborhoods for handouts.
The weird thing about these "target neighborhoods" that get overwhelmed with all the trick-or-treaters in town is that they aren't necessarily the richest neighborhood in town. I have no idea how the parents all pick the same place, they usually choose a place that's fairly prosperous and "safe", but there's always more prosperous that get ignored. It's a huge imposition on the place that's picked by the hive mind, they have to feed hordes and deal with crowds and mayhem... without ever knowing why they're getting hit and not someone actually rich.
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I don't give out candy any longer, I did for 40 years and now it's kids with huge bags full coming to the door, not like before where you had the kids around your street coming with their little pails. Now there is nothing wrong with older kids coming better that then getting into trouble lol but most didn't even dress up and you didn't dare not give them candy or your house might be egged or worse. Candy is nothing new to kids now, most have something every day not like years ago where it really was a treat.
I'm on the fence as far as limiting the number of people. What I am floored about was this woman allowing her teenager to "not bother anyone" when her mother knew she needed to go to the ER. Was she asking the teen to traipse out there and ask people to move their vehicles??
I have always loved Halloween and used to go all out. Over a period of several years, though, it quit being fun. First there were the droves of kids that I knew for a fact don't live in my neighborhood. Then I started getting teenagers and young adults. The final straw was when the parents started showing up with bags of their own and expecting candy. Just nope. Now I don't decorate and turn off all of the lights in the front of my house.
I refuse to give out candy because we don't have kids and don't want to spend $100s of dollars on candy. My parents planned for 300 kids this year in a small, rural town where 300 kids don't even live, but they live on the popular road and in an hour had to go buy candy for another 300 kids. They had to shut off the lights early because they ran out for a second time. 600 kids in a rural town of fewer than 1000 people is ridiculous, but we're safe and the "wealthy" town in the area. I once had to park in a church parking lot a block away in one of the few spots and walk home one Halloween. We spend the day unscrewing our floodlights and making sure our house is dark so we can spend the evening not being disturbed all night long.
Having for many years lived near one of the most popular "Christmas Tree Lanes" in SoCal I can appreciate the traffic and inconsiderate people problems being caused by too many people showing up for Halloween. Unfortunately, too many people have not been "raised" to put consideration of their actions and how it will affect others high enough up on their list of priorities to keep from spoiling a good thing and a fun time for all by their inconsiderate actions. In a more socially conscious time this was referred to as "boorish behavior". When a sufficiently large segment of the population engages in boorish behavior, it wrecks it for everybody. Places such as Disneyland can restrict the number of people by virtue of their design, having been built this way, something that "neighborhoods" aren't designed to do. They also have inconspicuous security in place to keep the more obnoxiously boorish people form getting out of hand, once again, something "neighborhoods" aren't set up to do
NTA. That many people without an kind of crowd control are simply a saftey hazard - for themselves and for everybody else. (Halloween is not that big in my country and I am just gobsmacked thinkking about how that kind of migration would look like. Thousands upon thousands?? in one neighbourhood? No matter how wealthy these people are, that's just insane.
I understand if you are in an apartment building or some other situation where your kids can't trick or treat in their own neighborhood, but it makes no sense that there should be 1000s of kids going to one single neighborhood. I took my son to my parents' neighborhood when he was little. If others in my apartment did something similar, there'd be maybe one extra piece of candy handed out by each house in the target neighborhood. That's horrifying that your neighborhood would be taken over by 1000s of people, doesn't matter if they are rich or poor. With my son, one woman did ask me suspiciously if I was from the neighborhood. I said my parents lived up the street. They'd been there for over 40 years at that point, so I figured I was okay.
We don't prevent people from trick or treating in our neighborhood, but we don't allow cars to come in (we are only one main thoroughfare). Parents have to park at the front of the neighborhood and walk in. We do this to keep it safe for all the kids who trick or treat. The front of the neighborhood is blocked off on one side (to allow residents to get in and out).
NTA. I am not an american so an opinion from a person from a different culture. It is not mandatory for you to participate in other ppl's fun activities. It is good if you do and you are a good person if you make a child's day better but it is not your responsibility. Children were free to come to your house till it wasnt bothering you but as their behaviour startied impacting your privacy, damage your property and restrict your freedom of movement in an actual case of emergency you had to put a stop to it. You could be considered an AH if you did not allow ANY kids to your neighbourhood but you clarified that you allowed the local kids and kids who have some connection to your neighbourhood. I am all for doing charity and good in general to other ppl but not if it impacts your heath, security and privacy. I abide by the rule My freedom ends where the other person's freedom starts. /continue
I am considered an AH in my family for not following our country's tradition of sort of trick-o-treating during Easter when boys go from house to house and pour buckets of cold water on girls and the girls are supposed to pay them with money and chocolate. Again I may ruin their fun but I am no one's scape goat and I am certainly not a vegatable so I dont need watering. Even if nowadays it is becoming more symbolic it still brings unpleasant memories and makes me feel like an unworthy piece of sh*t . and I get it there is some old superstitious symbolics behind this but I dont care. My health and personal integrity is more important that someone else's fun. So I dont think I am the AH here for protecting myself. And you are not an AH as well. PPl are just too entitled
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Was there literally nowhere else these kids could go? My parents lived in a very middle class neighborhood that became overrun. They spent several hundreds of dollars on candy and still ran out and had to shut down. Then your property gets damaged. People had to stop doing any candy just to get it to calm down.
I'm going with NTA. 1000+ kids. That's A LOT of candy to buy. And then you would have to basically just stand by your door all night just to hand it all out. Its not like they banned Halloween all together. The 300 they let in is already way more than I've ever had where I live. And why were the vehicles there until 1:00 AM. They should have cleared out of there by 9:00 pm...10 at the absolute latest. I don't blame them for wanting some more order.
it's too bad for the kids that their parents are so poorly behaved, parking on the street or peoples lawns is totally unnaceptable. It sounds like everyone allowed this bad behaviour to go on for too long, police should have been called in long before this point, vehicles should have been towed etc
I have never understood this custom. Parents always tell their children to never take sweets from strangers then encourage them to solicit sweets from strangers on Halloween.
Where (other than this claim) does trick-or-treating go on until 1AM? There are usually ordinances for this. Then, turn off the outside lights.
Some communities can have trick or treating going into the early hours of the morning. My last trick or treaters came to the house just after 2 am last night. And before you ask, yes, my lights were off but the teens didn't care.
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I say YTA for letting the child with a broken arm sit in pain until she could be driven to the hospital! A painful broken arm could easily develop compartment syndrome and left untreated could result in amputation.
I fail to see how that makes her the YTA when she couldn't drive her daughter to the hospital because cars were blocking their way out in the first place ( might I add calling for an ambulance wouldn't have worked either) from all these trick-or-treaters and their parents.
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It does not say 30,000 kids were visiting, it said that people from a neighbouring city of 30,000 inhabitants were driving to her neighbourhood (= when a city of that size should have enough possibilities for t&t itself).
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Just because they don't live in the rich neighborhood it means that the kids and their parents are poor?
Load More Replies... Once again, kids reap the consequences of their parents' bad behavior. OP didn't ruin it for the kids who come to their community, those visiting kids' parents ruined it for everyone.
The parents weren't leaving the trash and trampling yards alone though.
Load More Replies... Protecting your neighborhood from people who obviously have no respect for someone else's property, privacy or safety is not wrong. For the op the main reason for banning less privileged or poor people was not because they wanted to spoil Halloween for the kids, it was because the parents behaved like scum and created dangerous situations. Strict parking rules and/or strict enforcement wouldn't have changed the situation at that time. You can't have a cop on every street to prevent jerks from parking their car wherever they like. NTA. For the parents: TTA (Totally The @ssholes)
We are a target "road" b/c we're by the school, so everyone feels safe here, etc., blah blah blah. We get over 100 kids on a bad year. And *none* of that stuff happens. Granted, 100-plus isn't much compared to those numbers, but dang. Just... dang... Memo to self, hand out bonus candy this year (oh wait, I do that every year.)
Um... why did I get a downvote? If it's for handing out bonus candy, I have three buckets: Nut-free; Sugar-free; Nothing-free. We have fun with it. the kids and their parents like it. So, yeah, okay, whatevs. You live near a school in a relatively rural area, people see it as a safe place. (That law about sex offendres not living within a certain distance of the schools, for example.)
Load More Replies... My neighborhood growing up was like this. It was annoying and it was expensive. We also were unable to leave our home. We started parking a vehicle a few blocks away at a convenience store in case we needed it because we also had an accident and needed to get to a hospital. Thankfully, it never happened again but we were prepared. Also, even though we lived in a nice neighborhood that was so popular for Halloween, no one signed up to provide hundreds upon hundreds of dollars of candy for strangers. People would still knock and incessantly ring the doorbell even after we turned the porch lights off. It was like being held hostage in your own home. All for some candy. That's not what trick or treating or Halloween is all about. I'm not going broke to give kids a piece of candy and then pick up their trash in my yard. Those years nearly ruined it for my entire family. We still love Halloween and over the top decorate for it but I buy a few bags of candy and that's it.
The community voted on this and the cops felt it was a safety issue so they got involved. Why are you being singled out as the A-Hole? You did what you needed to do to ensure your community, and therefore your family, are safe. If the police got involved, this is an actual issue of public safety and not just some grumpy guy wanting to ruin some kids Halloween, the police would have told him to sod off otherwise. If your kids need to be dropped off in other neighborhoods or towns to go beg strangers for free cheap-as-chips candy (seriously you can buy enough cheap candy for $5 to give a kid diabetes in one shot), you've failed as a parent in so many ways. OP, you're not the AH here, others badly parenting their children are the AH's.
I see both sides of the story. Folks shouldn't litter and block road ways. Especially for medical emergencies such as this. Broken bones could be fatal (think sharp bits of hard organic matter). Also parents/guardians should teach their kids about not littering and respecting peeps properties regardless of where they are at. This deems to be a lesson. Also the housing community was in vote of this, not just one person who was looking out for their family. Parking management for a future holiday (to help with medical emergencies, and note medical emergencies can happen at anytime regardless of holidays) can help while keeping doors open. Folk can walk in and be well reminded to not litter. Halloween is a really cool holiday and I love that folks have fun. But I love it more when all parties are responsible with celebration.
You are NTA. This happened to us when we lived in a "bedroom" community. We were all ok financially, no European vacations or fancy cars or clothing, just kids, parents and pets. One year, big trucks filled with kids showed up at the beginning of our neighborhood and we had about 500 kids when we usually got 40. These huge numbers of kids came from some miles away. And few of these kids were "youngsters" a lot of them were older teens. That was the last year of trick or treating for us. We were NOT a gated community, just a neighborhood.
Not everyone celebrates Halloween. I don’t, and it would annoy me too if people flooded my neighborhood. Especially since you’re paying more to be in a rich neighborhood. Then you should at least be able to get some peace. Kids or adults, the inconvenience is the same. It doesn’t matter what age the neighborhood pests are. They aren’t entitled to be there.
For anyone who write "YTA"... have you ever had a broken bone and know how it f*** hurts? I have, I got to the hospital immediately but still had to wait for a doctor for 3 hours (no-one was available) and I was crying in pain the whole time - and I was 30 at that time. Blocking the road so that an ambulance cannot pass is unacceptable.
Yup. I know this is lost on a certain subset of Americans, but medical situations are supposed to be a priority.
Load More Replies... Not familiar with all the cultural context of trick and treating but the way I see it, its just one neighbourhood. Can't the kids visit other neighbourhoods? Sure, the candy is probably less but the fun of dressing up and hanging out with friends should still be there.
@BoopBoop Why yes, I do live in a relatively safe neighbourhood! I enjoy that privilege very much. Though idk if it applies 'door to door' since we don't 'do' halloween in my country. I'm wildly jealous you guys have a holiday to basically get free candy. Wow. Such privilege. If the inconvenience to enjoy your holiday is so immense; consider staying home like the rest of the world is.
Load More Replies... It sounds believable to me, I haven't seen a trick or treater on years, they're all across town in a better neighborhood. Not the best neighborhood, there's some sort of hive mind or something among modern parents, and they all do their trick-or-treating in the same place. This is the norm now, and it's a big expense for the chosen neighborhood, and a massive inconvenience. Hopefully if the block off the too-popular place, it will even out a bit.
NTA, but I will say, a better way of doing this would be to have the police at the entrance so they can direct them to parking areas outside the neighborhood and maybe have a hay ride or two to bring the kids into the neighborhood. Make it clear there should be no unattended minors and then put decorative trash cans at every driveway or door for trash. Have signs that say people who litter will be asked to leave immediately. Perhaps the real trick here is not to cut everyone off, but to have more organization to it. If anyone argues with it, they can leave. Make the parents behave so the kids can have fun.
Nope. These are people trying to live peacefully in their private homes. "Ooooh the poor little kids" is such BS because every single community group, church, YMCA, Chamber of Commerce, Boy Scout, Girl Scout, strip mall, etc is running curated Halloween Trick or Treat parties for local children. All these families have a multitude of options to give even the poorest kids a wonderful Halloween experience. People who feel they have a right to let their kids run wild in a neighborhood because of "inequality" is the most over the top example of entitlement I've seen in a long time. Good for the neighbors for putting a lid on this nightmare!
Load More Replies... Not the asshole! I wouldn't want this in my neighbourhood, either. Talk about taking advantage! There is no shortage of candy in the world, is there? Kids can go elsewhere closer to home, or their parents can take more responsibility for their kid's Halloween experience if this isn't possible.
At the end of it children behave in a manner they have been allowed to so blame should be placed on the parents. I also find it hard to believe that people parked on peoples lawns and the home owner allowed it for years before it was stopped and the police never called. I lived in a pretty nice ungated community and all the kids trick or treated in the complex growing up because their was about 500 houses so no need to go anywhere else. We take my granddaughter every year to a different area in the city about less than a mile from my house. Less and less lights on houses are lite up every year, but we only stay out for an hour. Its possible that the residents had an issue with the amount of trick or treaters, but the only trouble makers I ever saw was older kids. I understand the frustration about not wanting property destroyed but I also think it is getting harder and harder to find areas to trick or treat in because people arent giving out candy as much.
I find the rich areas the most stingiest and least pleasant areas to bring kids. It's the older, medium income neighbourhoods that are best to go because the people have the most fun decking out their old homes. But if you don't want kids coming to the door either leave out a bowl of candy or leave your porch light off.
Regardless of everything, no way am I handing out candy till 1 am! Lol!!!😂
I grew up in Connecticut. If you've ever been to Connecticut you'll know that sidewalks and streetlights are incredibly rare outside of metro/downtown areas. Even in new housing developments sidewalks and streetlights aren't common. So in my town, everyone went to the center of town to trick or treat because it was the only place with sidewalks and streetlights and therefore the only place to safely trick or treat. Otherwise you would be walking around a neighborhood in the dark on a street that likely has blind drives and blind turns everywhere. I know many people who lived in the center of town complained about the cost of buying candy for thousands of kids but the ones who hated it that much simply shut off their lights and didn't participate. Plenty of people loved it and fully participated. My childhood would have been ruined if those people that hated it attempted to stop the trick or treating all together.
Surely you just by the sweets you can afford and once they're gone, they're gone.
Load More Replies... Did OP seriously eot their kid sit there with an injured arm (even if they didn't know it was broken at the time) and not call an ambulance? That's asinine. The police would have had to come make sure the ambulance could get through and that would have solved the problem about the parking right then and there. F*****g ridiculous.
He shouldn’t need to call an ambulance. And why should he have to pay that expense?
Load More Replies... I live in a small town and when we went trick or treating, we mainly to just people our parents knew. We were always respectful of the residents' property and traffic was not blocked. It's unfortunate that these children can't trick or treat anymore, but it's their parents' fault for not being more cautious.
Sooner or later people with "more" that are expected/coerced/forced to give in to pressure from people with "less" will just quit and move somewhere else. It's pathetic for parents and kids to go harass specific neighborhoods for handouts.
The weird thing about these "target neighborhoods" that get overwhelmed with all the trick-or-treaters in town is that they aren't necessarily the richest neighborhood in town. I have no idea how the parents all pick the same place, they usually choose a place that's fairly prosperous and "safe", but there's always more prosperous that get ignored. It's a huge imposition on the place that's picked by the hive mind, they have to feed hordes and deal with crowds and mayhem... without ever knowing why they're getting hit and not someone actually rich.
Load More Replies... I don't give out candy any longer, I did for 40 years and now it's kids with huge bags full coming to the door, not like before where you had the kids around your street coming with their little pails. Now there is nothing wrong with older kids coming better that then getting into trouble lol but most didn't even dress up and you didn't dare not give them candy or your house might be egged or worse. Candy is nothing new to kids now, most have something every day not like years ago where it really was a treat.
I'm on the fence as far as limiting the number of people. What I am floored about was this woman allowing her teenager to "not bother anyone" when her mother knew she needed to go to the ER. Was she asking the teen to traipse out there and ask people to move their vehicles??
I have always loved Halloween and used to go all out. Over a period of several years, though, it quit being fun. First there were the droves of kids that I knew for a fact don't live in my neighborhood. Then I started getting teenagers and young adults. The final straw was when the parents started showing up with bags of their own and expecting candy. Just nope. Now I don't decorate and turn off all of the lights in the front of my house.
I refuse to give out candy because we don't have kids and don't want to spend $100s of dollars on candy. My parents planned for 300 kids this year in a small, rural town where 300 kids don't even live, but they live on the popular road and in an hour had to go buy candy for another 300 kids. They had to shut off the lights early because they ran out for a second time. 600 kids in a rural town of fewer than 1000 people is ridiculous, but we're safe and the "wealthy" town in the area. I once had to park in a church parking lot a block away in one of the few spots and walk home one Halloween. We spend the day unscrewing our floodlights and making sure our house is dark so we can spend the evening not being disturbed all night long.
Having for many years lived near one of the most popular "Christmas Tree Lanes" in SoCal I can appreciate the traffic and inconsiderate people problems being caused by too many people showing up for Halloween. Unfortunately, too many people have not been "raised" to put consideration of their actions and how it will affect others high enough up on their list of priorities to keep from spoiling a good thing and a fun time for all by their inconsiderate actions. In a more socially conscious time this was referred to as "boorish behavior". When a sufficiently large segment of the population engages in boorish behavior, it wrecks it for everybody. Places such as Disneyland can restrict the number of people by virtue of their design, having been built this way, something that "neighborhoods" aren't designed to do. They also have inconspicuous security in place to keep the more obnoxiously boorish people form getting out of hand, once again, something "neighborhoods" aren't set up to do
NTA. That many people without an kind of crowd control are simply a saftey hazard - for themselves and for everybody else. (Halloween is not that big in my country and I am just gobsmacked thinkking about how that kind of migration would look like. Thousands upon thousands?? in one neighbourhood? No matter how wealthy these people are, that's just insane.
I understand if you are in an apartment building or some other situation where your kids can't trick or treat in their own neighborhood, but it makes no sense that there should be 1000s of kids going to one single neighborhood. I took my son to my parents' neighborhood when he was little. If others in my apartment did something similar, there'd be maybe one extra piece of candy handed out by each house in the target neighborhood. That's horrifying that your neighborhood would be taken over by 1000s of people, doesn't matter if they are rich or poor. With my son, one woman did ask me suspiciously if I was from the neighborhood. I said my parents lived up the street. They'd been there for over 40 years at that point, so I figured I was okay.
We don't prevent people from trick or treating in our neighborhood, but we don't allow cars to come in (we are only one main thoroughfare). Parents have to park at the front of the neighborhood and walk in. We do this to keep it safe for all the kids who trick or treat. The front of the neighborhood is blocked off on one side (to allow residents to get in and out).
NTA. I am not an american so an opinion from a person from a different culture. It is not mandatory for you to participate in other ppl's fun activities. It is good if you do and you are a good person if you make a child's day better but it is not your responsibility. Children were free to come to your house till it wasnt bothering you but as their behaviour startied impacting your privacy, damage your property and restrict your freedom of movement in an actual case of emergency you had to put a stop to it. You could be considered an AH if you did not allow ANY kids to your neighbourhood but you clarified that you allowed the local kids and kids who have some connection to your neighbourhood. I am all for doing charity and good in general to other ppl but not if it impacts your heath, security and privacy. I abide by the rule My freedom ends where the other person's freedom starts. /continue
I am considered an AH in my family for not following our country's tradition of sort of trick-o-treating during Easter when boys go from house to house and pour buckets of cold water on girls and the girls are supposed to pay them with money and chocolate. Again I may ruin their fun but I am no one's scape goat and I am certainly not a vegatable so I dont need watering. Even if nowadays it is becoming more symbolic it still brings unpleasant memories and makes me feel like an unworthy piece of sh*t . and I get it there is some old superstitious symbolics behind this but I dont care. My health and personal integrity is more important that someone else's fun. So I dont think I am the AH here for protecting myself. And you are not an AH as well. PPl are just too entitled
Load More Replies... Was there literally nowhere else these kids could go? My parents lived in a very middle class neighborhood that became overrun. They spent several hundreds of dollars on candy and still ran out and had to shut down. Then your property gets damaged. People had to stop doing any candy just to get it to calm down.
I'm going with NTA. 1000+ kids. That's A LOT of candy to buy. And then you would have to basically just stand by your door all night just to hand it all out. Its not like they banned Halloween all together. The 300 they let in is already way more than I've ever had where I live. And why were the vehicles there until 1:00 AM. They should have cleared out of there by 9:00 pm...10 at the absolute latest. I don't blame them for wanting some more order.
it's too bad for the kids that their parents are so poorly behaved, parking on the street or peoples lawns is totally unnaceptable. It sounds like everyone allowed this bad behaviour to go on for too long, police should have been called in long before this point, vehicles should have been towed etc
I have never understood this custom. Parents always tell their children to never take sweets from strangers then encourage them to solicit sweets from strangers on Halloween.
Where (other than this claim) does trick-or-treating go on until 1AM? There are usually ordinances for this. Then, turn off the outside lights.
Some communities can have trick or treating going into the early hours of the morning. My last trick or treaters came to the house just after 2 am last night. And before you ask, yes, my lights were off but the teens didn't care.
Load More Replies... I say YTA for letting the child with a broken arm sit in pain until she could be driven to the hospital! A painful broken arm could easily develop compartment syndrome and left untreated could result in amputation.
I fail to see how that makes her the YTA when she couldn't drive her daughter to the hospital because cars were blocking their way out in the first place ( might I add calling for an ambulance wouldn't have worked either) from all these trick-or-treaters and their parents.
Load More Replies... It does not say 30,000 kids were visiting, it said that people from a neighbouring city of 30,000 inhabitants were driving to her neighbourhood (= when a city of that size should have enough possibilities for t&t itself).
Load More Replies... Just because they don't live in the rich neighborhood it means that the kids and their parents are poor?
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