r/mississauga • u/Vinayplusj Applewood • 1d ago
PSA: Prepare for Halloween
Hello, fellow neighbours,
Every year, on Halloween night or the next day, I see posts with disappointment that few children knocked on their doors. Others are surprised how quickly they ran out of candy.
I have observed:
- Word gets around. Kids talk to each other. For very young children, parents talk to each other.
- Trick-or-treaters choose streets, not individual houses. Unless your house has an amazing reputation or decorations that draw people to the entire street, the number of trick-or-treaters depends on how popular your street is for trick-or-treating. A street with history of several well decorated houses or good candy givers is more likely to attract trick-or-treaters this year.
So one house may run out of candy early while another wonders where the children went.
If you want to attract more trick-or-treaters, start putting out pumpkins or Halloween decorations early. The reverse also applies. 😄
If you have put in all that effort and turnout is still slow, I suggest that you leave a bowl of candy outside and walk around your neighbourhood. Enjoy the decorations. Halloween is a great time to enjoy the neighbourhood in a good light and Christmas is almost 2 months away.
Happy Halloween in advance!
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u/sishgupta 1d ago
A third observation is that neighbourhoods with more children tend to have more trickertreaters.
Many mississauga neighbourhoods are cyclical. A whole bunch of young families move in as the elderly move out, the kids grow up, eventually they grow out of halloween, and the neighbourhood will go through a bit of a dryspell, until the cycle repeats.
So if you have kids but are in an area with older folk, you should get in your car and drive somewhere else probably. Closer to a school where kids walk to school.
If you're an adult that wants to give out candy but you live in an area with no kids or not enough homes participating - go hang out with some friends at their place drink some dranks and give out candy there. It's even better if they have kids so they can go out with them but still have their house participate.
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u/N-Squared-N 1d ago
I've been giving out large chocolate bars since I got my place. My house is one of the cool ones.
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u/Vinayplusj Applewood 1d ago
A classmate in child's school announced last year that full bars will be given out from theirhome. Guess whose house was popular?
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u/medikB 1d ago
Experienced trick or treaters will know to choose streets with many houses participating, with short driveways and no fences between properties. Mansions with long driveways are often a waste of time. Semis and townhouses ftw
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u/NatalieH1965 1d ago
Can confirm. I live in a townhouse and we get so many kids, most of who don't live in our neighborhood. It's fun!
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u/UnknownLyrker 3h ago
Agree with both takes here. We get tonnes of kids who don't live here and I'm perfectly fine with that.
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u/AnAwkwardWhince 1d ago
Also, please consider boycotting Nestlé chocolate products. Research why.
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u/blackanvil_rc 1d ago
Stopped giving out candy due to teenage punks knicky-nine door our house over and over again. They even slammed repeatedly a basketball on our front door.
Even on the recent Terry Fox run, caught a few kids ringing our doorbell on our surveillance camera.
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u/sebbyperez 1d ago
Thats hilarious. Not the basketball part. But lol on terry fox run. Awesome kids
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u/HugeTheWall 23h ago
Adding lights makes a big difference, especially if you live in an area with the garages sticking out the front. It's hard to see an amazing display from even a few houses away but lights that are visible from down the street definitely attract more. Sound too and just seeing people standing on the sidewalk.
-8
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u/Unable_to_see 1d ago
Barely anyone has put up decorations this year yet. But ppl will start about a week prior to Halloween. Our street is fun. Lots of kids, lots of houses giving out candy. This year I decided to litttle toys, playdoh etc instead of candy