This is the third year in a row now that I bought candy, had some lighted pumpkins on the front porch, had the front door propped wide open with the entry light on, and had two big bags of good candy and not the cheap junk candy. And not one kid walked down our block. But that isn’t the problem. When I shut down at about nine last night everything was fine. When I went to leave this morning at about four thirty, both of our cars were on flat tires. Our neighbor’s cars were both on flat tires. The whole block had flat tires. All of our trash cans were knocked over with trash bags ripped open. There are several egg shells here and there. All that is missing is the toilet paper. I’m thankful that I have a very forgiving and lenient job since I was half an hour late this morning. My old job had a time clock and I would have missed pay. I still have to go home and hose off egg I couldn’t see and likely the street from some kitchen yuck trash. And yet people still ask me why I say I don’t like most kids. I’m thirty three years old and I am moving beyond angry old man status to I don’t know what’s next. What’s next???

That happened to me for two years in a row. Then I got maybe five kids and two of those were about 18 yrs old. Along came 2010 and I got about 15. Then last night, someone opened the flood gates. I bought some nice candy so I could eat it since it was not given out. It pretty much is gone this monring. I bought two of those 70 piece bags of Reeses, Milky Ways, 3 Muskateers and such. That was a total of 140 pieces of candy and I gave out two to each kid. Counting the two I ate, I have 26 pieces left today.

Now the question is where did the kids come from. There are only four on thisw street now.

We have a small army of JSO deputies and I would think this would be a great time of year to suck it up and pay some OT out and have a presence be known out on the streets for all the rugrats with and without mommy in tow and to prevent the little cretins from going too far. I got picked up by a cop for just sitting in the grass by a road watching the cars go by. He dragged me down the block to my house and I got whipped for having a cop bring me home. Now I guess we are supposed to be fine with this kind of thing. I don't know at what point the children started being raised by children but it wasn't that way in my house growing up. So I'm getting more and more alienated with each passing year.

We used to have lots of trick-or-treaters, but it has dwindled down to nothing in recent years. I used to enjoy dressing up and answering the door and giving out treats. No vandalism, however. With the 7 barking wiener dogs next door, no one would have been able to sneak onto my property.

It is with great regret that I read your post. Those who vandalized your car, etc. were not the small children/youths who put on ghost costumes and walk along the sidewalk trick /or treating. Those who vandalized your property are the same persons who throughout the year do such things. They are not children/youths. They are vandals. I am about to step out the door for a late morning meeting. When I return home... I will clean up the bits of paper, etc. left from last night. Happily we have no eggs/toilet paper to clean up. I hope you will not find your cleanup operation to be very difficult. Sincerely. brucev.

One further thought. About two months ago my wife and I started buying bags of candy... the good stuff. Last night we have four 8 qt. bowls filled to overflowing with candy to give to whoever came to the door. Every single child/youth who came to our house was exceedingly polite and well-behaved. In many cases, the parents accompanied them. This is understandable. We no longer live in Mayberry. This morning we have about one bowl of candy left, which we will give to the children's program at our church. They'll doubtless use it up at the Fall Festival on Saturday.

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We had a good Halloween, too. No vandalism, and a bunch of very polite kids.

I think the "trunk or treat" things in church parking lots are cutting down on the traditional ring-the-bell excursions. Its a shame, really. I remember the fun of being out with my buddies going door to door and coming home with a bag of goodies. I never vandalized anything - good parents, I guess.

I would be seriously pissed if I came out and my car was sitting on flats. That's not a prank, that's a crime.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

We didn't give out candy this year except tot eh grandkids. We live in a lower income area, and truth be known I have called 911 a couple times a year since we have lived here and stepped outside and confronted bad activities myself. Last night the neighborhood was quiet, a few of the neighbor kids were out, but no vandalism or other forms of destruction. Maybe the punks are gone, maybe they went to more "fertile" ground.

I loved Halloween for years when it was a holiday for the kids not adults and teens with an attitude. I always have the place well lit up, the lovely and charming decorates the house to welcome those who come by. Sadly we get fewer and fewer ghosts and goblins each year, Oh well I get to have any leftover candy. As they say you can never go home again, but I really do miss some of the good old days.

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Always Stay Strong!

its simple ... you have a small handful of thugs on your hands.
keep an eye out and burn em if and when you can. Succeed in this mission and the good normal kids will come back out from under the various rocks the thugs beat em under.

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it just needs more voltage

Out where I live everybody is a minimum 2.5 acres apart. I could have bought a single candy bar 20 years ago and I would still have it !!! Everybody prefers the housing tracts where the doors are a lot closer together.

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A closed mouth gathers no foot

A guy at work just told me to Google "Devil's night"...

I keep having to remind myself that being a vigilante is still against the law...

People, I can't live with most of them;
I can't shoot most of them.

I live in Jax too. We had em lined up starting at about 5pm. Lot's of kids until 5:45. Then, the noise from down the street. Sounded like a very high caliber handgun, or a shotgun. Don't know what happened, but that was it for kids on the street...I always keep the dark chocolate for myself anyway.

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Firearms and Saltwater Fishing

I live in a nice old residential neighborhood with the houses close together and we get well over 1000 trick or treaters every year.
Most come from other less safe/"hoods" and seem to be mostly black and hispanic.I give them all something, but when I see a real neighbor kid he/she gets more.
Call me racist I don`t care,I gave decent stuff to all. but I did note all of the kids bags contained way less than they did when I was a kid. In South Philly in the 1950`s we used pillow cases and filled them up in a short time. A kid now a days would have to have twenty helpers and still not score as much!
Oh for the good old days before PC.

I used to pressure wash the big trash can clean and set it by the door. You would think it was obvious but it got most of them. I then gave everyone a big handfull of candy each. I used to buy at least a couple hundred bucks worth of candy. Even the ratbag teens would get a handfull. Teens out begging for candy. I still don't get that. I stopped when I was either ten or eleven and was moved to candy giver. I liked it better since they came to you and I could pick out my candy from the bucket. From my bucket, not their's... But these days I would rather just run down the iPod wearing middle of the street walking finger flipping you offing punks that are today's spoiled brats.

My wife and I had one trick or treater, the son of a coworker. Not many last year, sadly, I think this is my last year. Next year I'll leave the porch lights off, and sit in the back of the house and watch TV.

Sorry to hear about your vandalism, that's uncalled for...

Last year we had a lot less than the year before, and most was 14 years old and up, and mouthy. This year we didn't give out any, and the wife watched out the window every now and then and only a few kids even walked down the street - only 3 lights on anyway!

I still kept the .45 by the front door in case of trouble but there was none.

We didn't even buy any candy for ourselves other than a single candy bar I split with the wife without telling the kid we had it.

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Good life will not Heaven get!

To the OP, I thought at first your post was a lament about no kids coming by. Only.
We have handed out the goods for the last 18 years, decorate the yard and all that. We noticed that for the last couple of years, the kids have slowed down to a trickle.
So, we decided that from now on, we're going to the church parking lot where they have a bunch of people handing out goodies and cooking hot dogs and such. Seems thats where all the parents are taking the kids.
I'm sorry for the damage you suffered.
Remember, No good deed goes unpunished.

Bob: Sorry to hear of the vandalism. I've had a few run ins with kids. One time a series of problems escalated to a point where I was ready to kill. Luckily my wife decided to divorce me about then. I was able to exchange my hatred from the kids to her. I think it's called "transference".

I got lucky with kids this year. I caught a few trick or treating. I caught 8 in the bear traps I dug in the yard. I found them this morning. They didn't see the humor when leaned over the pit to look at them and said: "It rubs the lotion on it's skin".

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SOS USA

Seldom see any trick or treaters and last night none at all. I think a lot of it had to do with someone in the neighborhood firing with what sounded like a high capacity 9mm...(no, not joking).

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The Last Standing Knight

About 1 AM here all the dogs just started goings nuts, and a few seconds later I heard nine, maybe ten big BOOMS from the schoolyard on the other side of the greenbelt that's behind the back fence. I guess someone had been saving up some fireworks. Heard sirens a few minutes later so someone must have called the Sheriff or FD. Didn't hear anything like a loudspeaker, though. I'd imagine the perps vacated the area rather quickly.

I was actually surprised to hear the sirens so quickly. We're on the extreme north boundary of the county here - a little pocket between 3 different cities that are arguing over who is going to get to (or have to) annex us. Most of the other unincorporated parts of the county are way south or east of here.

It's a shame to hear all this. Halloween was a big deal when I was a kid, and we all looked forward to it.

Part of the problem might be the local media. In the week before Halloween this year, the local news had reports on:

- Christians vs Halloween
- Where to get your candy x-rayed to find needles and razor blades
- Where to trade your candy for something that won't rot your teeth out
- Locations of "safe" Halloween events
- Extra police patrols to round up the pedophiles

No wonder the kids weren't out. Parents probably went the safe route and took them to the biker rally.

Here in the Northeast many towns cancelled Halloween due to the snowfall and all the problems it caused.
Vandalism and Halloween are not linked. Back in 1980 I made the mistake of leaving a suitcase on the front seat of my VW Beetle one night, got up later that day, my door window had been smashed in. On Martin Luther King's Birthday.

Some years dozens of kids, some almost none. Never any vandalism. This year nice weather, maybe 10 kids and at least 5 of them live on this block. Strange, oh well more candy for me.

bob, sorry to hear of your problems on halloween night. But. Don’t give up on the real trick or treaters….the little ones, who thoroughly enjoy the holiday.

society, in general has changed. lots of "its all about me attitude" from clueless individuals, who are just wandering around aimlessly and taking up space.

Like Zombies?

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Dum vivo cano

We had a table set up at the end of our street with a long table with candy, home baked cookie and cup cakes. Snow cone machine, popcorn popper, cotton candy machine, drinks, and hotdogs.
had a lot of children and adults.
Over in the next neighborhood a teacher had her house and yard "Teepeed". We helped clean up the rolls and rolls of toilet paper. We figgered that rich kids did this as the toilet paper was expensive top of the line. We rolled it up and going to use it as its better than what we normally use.

OP
sorry to hear about your vandalism,
The only trick or treaters we had where the neighbor kids, ages from 5-6
right through to seniors in high school. (Not even a dozen total)
My wife bakes homemade treats just for the neighbor hood kids along with the good candy. This with permission from all the parents smallplates of home baked treats also go home to some parents.
The store bought candy is for the kids from other areas/neighborhoods
not a single one last night. Had our lights on last night till 930
The Mrs was a little bummed along with myself, I guess it is a sign of the times.

Thirty four?

I've had a total of three trick-o-treaters in four years. Now, I buy a bag of candy and 99% is gone before Halloween rolls around. This season we had construction at our place with tarps, bare boards, etc.; looked like a crack house in the dark. So I ate all the candy (bars). Figured no one would show up. I was right.

Just to show I'm not a complete lump of coal just yet, I can still find some humor in Halloween:



But I am glad it's over so we can move onto the next big monster:

The ball-and-chain has been giving out candy for more year than I care to remember [I think our first halloween was 1970]. She enjoys seeing the kids in the neighborhood & handing out the candy.

The amount of kids that showup at our door ranges in numbers from a 100 or so to 10 or 12 in some years. This year my said we are getting the grand kids of the children that stopped by the first year we moved in.

Damn it hell to get old.