Trick or Treating 101

I love Halloween. My dad instilled a love for this holiday in me while I was growing up. He would always dress up, usually as Dracula, but he would periodically change his costume. He helped us don make up and create unique costumes from various articles of clothing we had at our house. I honestly do not remember ever buying a pre-made costume. A little of this and a little of that made us turn into something magical or scary or cute.

We'd walk around carrying pillow cases and my dad would patiently hit house after house with us. He would even let us go to the houses that had the best candy twice. We were not allowed to eat the candy while out Trick or Treating, but every now and then we could "sample" our loot if we shared a treat with dad.

Now that I'm older, I love Trick or Treaters. Unfortunately, apartment living isn't always conducive to Trick or Treating. The past two years, I've set out pumpkins, kept our outside light on, and bought candy...but nary a ghost or cowboy or princess visited our doorstop. We were on the second floor and while I waited patiently for the kiddos, they never came.

Now that we're in a town home community, I am eagerly anticipating Trick or Treaters. So, how do you encourage Halloween guests?

What to do:
1) Pumpkins. Carved or not, you need to have representation near your front porch. In fact, they need to be there prior to Halloween so when people are driving around, they can see that you celebrate Halloween. We have not found the time to carve ours this year...
2) Lights. You must turn on your outside lights so wary parents walking around with their spacemen, witches and fairies, will allow their wee ones to approach your door.
3) Candy. Don't skimp either. Buy the good stuff so you can start a reputation of being the "house with the good candy." Chocolate goes over very well, but don't buy the cheap-o chocolate. You know the kind; the foil wrapped pumpkins that taste weird. The "fun size" bars are the great, but if you can afford it, buy full size bars to pass out. Those houses were golden. (Our house isn't a full size candy bar house...yet). If you don't want to buy candy bars, you can buy other type of candy, just know that you won't establish the reputation I mentioned above.
4) Compliment the kiddos costumes. I promise you they will light up with joy when you tell them they are prettiest Dorothy they have ever seen or the scariest vampire.
5) Be generous. Don't just give out one piece of candy. You must be prepared for lots of kids, so buy lots of candy so you can pass out hand fulls to each kid. Sampling is also OK. I think I've sampled my fair share of Halloween candy in the past...and present.
6) If you run out...Turn off your lights and don't answer the door. Don't disappoint kiddos. And plan ahead for next year.
7) Dress up. It doesn't have to be fancy. A pair of ears or fake teeth will make your Trick or Treaters smile. You can go all out if you want and the kids will love it!
Yes, I recognize that these are off the rack costumes and we also have a monkey costume we bought (Madeline is sleeping, so picture will follow). Rest assured, I'll dress up my little doll with homemade costumes when she's older.
8) The extras. Music, spider webs, wreaths and other decor. You can't overdo it. The more, the merrier. However, you do not need to create a haunted house on your front door. If you want to, that's OK though. My dad once built a coffin. Like I said, you can't overdo it.

What not to do:
1) Leave the candy unsupervised. I promise if you leave the candy on your front step that the first teenager (who is probably too big to be Trick or Treating anyway) will dump your entire bowl in their sack.
2) Give out homemade stuff. This may have been normal years ago, but parents will throw it away (and justifiably so). It would be a waste.

Happy Trick or Treating!