# Is your neighbourhood 'Halloween Friendly'?



## kakugori (Aug 26, 2013)

Kind of Halloween friendly. We started because nobody else was doing anything, I was getting a bit old for the TOT routine and bored just sitting and handing out candy to what few kids came by. Later, a group of guys who've been in a band together forever (and conveniently rent the old city Mortuary, complete with "mortuary" in stone right on the building) started up a haunt - this is a block away. We love to go see each others' work after TOT is over. (Ours is totally the best, though. Sorry, guys. Wait til you see what I have cooked up for this year...)

A couple years ago, the city started a trick or treat thing on Main Street, which is only a block away from both of us. They pushed it back for us last year, so it'd be darker for start time.

There used to be a haunted yard that inspired us a block over, but those people have been gone for years. Would have loved to have another so close. They had a mini volcano that lived in the back yard all the rest of the year.

What do the neighbors think? Well, who cares what the neighbors think - we're gonna do it anyway. Halloween (and our setup) is one day a year, it's not like we're running a month long thing. We had new people last year across the street, they did hand out candy but had no clue what to expect and ran out way early. New neighbors (in a different house) this year. Heh heh. Another of our neighbors, who has been awesome, lets us borrow his trailer to haul our stuff out of storage. Not too many kids in our neighborhood, mostly older people but they all know where to find us. You can't miss the fog.

We would do this no matter how many people come - not just kids, the adults love to see what we do every year too. Really depends on what day Halloween is on as to how many, it's much higher on Friday/Saturday of course and Sundays are a disaster (bible belt). At this point, we're getting 350+ people (we don't really count, but I know we've had that many). That's more than 10% of our little town's population so I'd say not too bad! 

I swear we have about three times the traffic on our street in October, drive-bys and gawkers. Kinda funny. Few people who've stopped to ask if our house was on fire (nope! just a fog machine! please don't call the fire dept).


I will say, I'm glad our neighborhood is safer and quieter than it used to be. Otherwise, we'd never be able to do this at all. When you're always afraid somebody is going to do _something_, bog knows what, it certainly takes the willingness to do something nice for the community out of you.


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## wdragon209 (Sep 3, 2013)

My neighborhood is halloween friendly. Much of the residents on the street are elderly, so there's only one or two houses that actually decorate other than me and my family. Since we really have just one neighbor (we live across from a field of sorts), and they are to our left side, they don't mind us decorating as long as we don't start encroaching into their yard. Side note: We've had to start over in our decorations, so that's never a problem.

Unfortunately, because of the field, they've taken out some of the street lights that were in front of the houses when they tore them down. That makes the trick-or-treaters not want to visit our street. We still decorate despite that. Even if we get 1 or 2, if it makes someone smile, then we'll keep on doing it. (Although the anxiety part of me worries about someone destroying or stealing things.)

I remember when our street was full of kids. It was fun to see their faces when they came up. One year, we had a grand total of 50. These past few years, it's been 2 or 3. It doesn't matter though. We do it because you never know who will drive by and be intrigued by it all.


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## kloey74 (Sep 7, 2008)

Our neighborhood gets hundreds of kids but we are definitely the Halloween house. Yesterday our mail carrier was telling me she couldn't wait to see our decorations this year. I said it's too bad that she doesn't see what we DO on the actual night


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## splunge999 (Sep 13, 2012)

We are the only house in the whole neighbourhood that does any real decorating! It saddens me. I wish more people would get involved. I think we are looked upon as the "weirdoes" in the area lol. But last year we attracted a lot more TOT's, about 90 or so and that was just after the hurricane and with most of my stuff already put away. They had seen it all a few days before when we did all the decorating, videoed it, then took it down again to batten down the hatches. 
This year I'm curious as to what will happen, if they will remember last year!


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## Danceswithdoom (Sep 18, 2012)

Our neighborhood is Halloween friendly. We live in a cul-de-sac and i would say about 1/2 of the houses pass out candy. Only a few, including us actually decorate. Although the "Halloween house" is a few blocks down. They go all out every year. I would consider our neighborhood to be everything within a 6 block radius, and overall most houses decorate and/or pass out candy.


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## dbruner (Aug 23, 2012)

My neighborhood is very Halloween friendly, at least a quarter to a third of the houses decorate. The ones that don't decorate still give out candy. We get 25-30 TOT's every year.


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## ALKONOST (Aug 27, 2012)

Not too many in my neighborhood actually decorate... and I have no idea how many pass out candy. We're pretty new to this neighborhood (1 year in Aug) There are about two other houses that decorate alot and just a handful more that put out a few pumpkins. I hope this year will be different. I got a few nice comments last year about my display so maybe that will encourage others. If we move again... I'm going to make sure it's to a neighborhood that decorates quite a bit.


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

Where we moved from, We were the Halloween House. No one else decorated for a few years. Then the neighbors kids told their parents that they wanted to decoarate like Bethany. When we moved in in 2000 my daughter was the only trick or treater on the street & many houses handed out candy. As the years went by less and less houses handed out candy, but I got more kids. I think our record was 9. Doesn't matter if we get ToTs or not. I have always and still will continue to decorate for me & my party. If we get lucky enough for me to actually get lots of ToTs That's great as I love seeing the kids in their costumes. this year there will be no decorations & no ToTs due to where we live. BUT next year look out!!


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## crazy xmas (Dec 30, 2008)

Pretty friendly where I live we used to just pass out candy till about 5 years ago when I joined HF now I do a yard haunt and get around 400 kids.


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## annamarykahn (Oct 4, 2009)

yeah, we're the halloween house!

unfortunately, we've had to skip a few halloweens over the years, including last year :-(

so, i put out a few things on 9/1 and will slowly add more every weekend, or so ... i'm hoping the word spreads that "they're back!"

the neighbor directly across from us has a daughter that is also into halloween ... unfortunately she lives out on her own but she is super excited that we'll be doing halloween this year ...

we're really the only house in the area which decorates ... i've been hoping that others might get bitten by the halloween bug, but it doesn't appear that this will happen ... which i guess is fine

i don't know how many tots we get ... somewhere in the area of at least 200 or maybe up to 300?

as far as being kid friendly, we do get a few young kids that r 2 afraid to come up the stairs from the sidewalk, the parents try 2 force them, but we always go down and bring the candy and treats to them and tell them that this is all make believe, that nothing is real

amk


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## TheMayor (Sep 3, 2011)

I'm also known as the Hallowe'en house, I live in a huge cul de sac and all the neighbours and kids know and look forward to my house every year.
There was a neighbour at the entrance of the cul de sac that did a display but hasn't the last 2 years and I think it's because of me...I saw one of them at my place last year with her arms crossed staring at the display like an upset child that isn't getting what they want...personally I hope I'm not the reason they stopped, they had a good display..adams family theme with full sized character! I would love to have see more displays in the neighbourhood


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## theworstwitch (Aug 14, 2006)

In our neighborhood only a couple houses decorate, most just put out jack o lanterns, if anything. On our block we are the ONLY ones aside from ONE house that does jack o lanterns.
We live between two 'main' roads through the neighborhood, the TOT's tend to skip the in between streets like ours. But I just keep making it, hoping they will make our street the path between the two main streets! If I can get them to come down our block for our house alone, I'm pretty proud!


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

How cool would it be to live in a housing development that was for Halloween people only!! Just had that go through my head since we are house hunting.


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## Willodean (Sep 13, 2010)

We live out in the country so the only trick or treaters we get are family. But we are also the "halloween" family. It kind of sucks because I want others to enjoy the decorations and efforts....but because we live out in the country, we can have great parties and no one cares. I told dh that if we ever move, we are moving to the closest thing to a halloween town I can think of which is Salem!


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## Scatterbrains (Nov 16, 2008)

kakugori said:


> *What do the neighbors think? Well, who cares what the neighbors think - we're gonna do it anyway.* Halloween (and our setup) is one day a year, it's not like we're running a month long thing.


I don't understand the who cares what the neighbors think mentality? I care.


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## Madame Leota (Sep 19, 2005)

My neighborhood has gone through some transition in recent years. Years before we moved in, it was known as THE neighborhood to take your kids trick or treating; almost every house at least put out a pumpkin or two and handed out candy - lots of candy! Then the town became infiltrated by those "Halloween is the devils holiday" people and trick or treating took a hit. Seriously, it was like a Halloween version of the movie Footloose. No Halloween allowed in school, all the churches started pushing their "Fall Festivals", and everyone was discouraged from taking their kids door to door. As if all that wasn't enough, along came 9/11 and the anthrax scares that followed. Trick or treat was just about done. We kept decorating and hoping. In 2001, we moved to our current house. We got about 20-25 kids that year, about twice that the next year. Things were getting better and we started decorating more each year. Only about every third or fourth house participated at all though, and even now when we get an average of 500 TOTs, there are still a lot of dark houses. But it is getting better! Last year, I counted more decorated houses (even if it's just a pumpkin on the porch) than ever since we've lived here! I am hoping this year will be even better. Fingers crossed!


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## osenator (Nov 3, 2009)

I turned my neighoodhood halloween friendly. Everyone tells me before we moved, nothing was done, now, almost the entire street decorates. I might share actually some of my decoration collection with them, as I have enough to decorate about 50 houses, I think.


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## James B. (Oct 8, 2009)

I am the Halloween house on my block. I have a neighbor who is military and been gone two years that just moved back who does a big set up just 4 doors down too. Some folks do not know about him so it will be a big surprise for this year. My neighborhood is 5 years old and full of working professional families with lots of kids, about 100 just on my block with 3-5 births a year. Halloween will be big here for at least another 15-20 years I would say. 

Already a few families are taking daily walk bys to see if I have started setting up and I was asked Friday when the spooky house will start. I said not till October because I will be in FL for the last 1.5 weeks of September. Seeing grandma and taking my little girl to Disney then sneaking over to Halloween Nights at universal


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

James B. said:


> I am the Halloween house on my block. I have a neighbor who is military and been gone two years that just moved back who does a big set up just 4 doors down too. Some folks do not know about him so it will be a big surprise for this year. My neighborhood is 5 years old and full of working professional families with lots of kids, about 100 just on my block with 3-5 births a year. Halloween will be big here for at least another 15-20 years I would say.
> 
> Already a few families are taking daily walk bys to see if I have started setting up and I was asked Friday when the spooky house will start. I said not till October because I will be in FL for the last 1.5 weeks of September. Seeing grandma and taking my little girl to Disney then sneaking over to Halloween Nights at universal


A group of FL Haunters are going to Universal on the 22nd!!


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## disembodiedvoice (Sep 24, 2011)

In a word...No! I don't even see kids trick or treating in the houses around me. They either go trunk or treating or ship out to a bigger neighborhood. Truthfully I only see about 9 kids year round anyway. We get a handful of trick or treaters but I don't think they even live here since all of them have come in cars. If I drive around on Halloween night I don't really see trick or treaters anywhere. It's an odd sight and I'm not sure whats up. Not one house other than me decorates in my neighborhood and I mean not cutouts on the windows , not a lonely ghost in a tree....nothing. I miss the days when I was a kid, before trunk or treating, before the mall handed out candy...we would get so excited to make our costume, nobody I knew bought one and then we would go out together as a group and almost all the houses gave out candy. You can drive through neighborhood after neighborhood here and not see a soul trick or treating. Sorry to bring everybody down lol
Or maybe I made you happy you don't live here


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## James B. (Oct 8, 2009)

Bethany said:


> A group of FL Haunters are going to Universal on the 22nd!!


Bummer I am heading there the 27th; I posted another thread about it.


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## Scottv42 (Jul 23, 2012)

My neighborhood is weird. There is only one house I know that puts up a display besides mine. However on Halloween night everyone hands out candy. Some neighbors play Halloween music, some give out warm cider and some give out hot dogs. So they make an effort on Halloween but they don't really decorate. So I would say it is Halloween friendly but you wouldn't know it until the night of.


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## Dogmom (Oct 18, 2007)

I live in a subdivision of about 40-50 houses and I think most of them give out candy (at least the ones I can see looking out the front door of my house). I'm definitely the "Halloween house" in my neighborhood. Most just have a pumpkin or some orange lights. We get lots of compliments from everyone and I've never had a negative comment. When we first moved here 5 years ago I asked a neighbor how many TOTers they usually get and she told me about 25 so I bought enough for 50 and we ran out! I made my husband run to Wal-Mart and in the meantime I gave out his lunch treats  We usually get about 75-85, so I'm not sure if I've increased the popularity of that neighborhood or if the neighbor I asked just way underestimated. There are not a lot of kids in my neighborhood so most of them are driven in from nearby neighborhoods. 

Bethany, I've thought the same thing about living in a Halloween neighborhood! Wouldn't that be cool? What if they had a subdivision and in the HOA it was a rule you had to decorate and the houses were designed to lend themselves to Halloween decorations and they had lots of outlets in the front yard, etc.


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## sookie (Sep 19, 2010)

I think they are Halloween friendly but I am the Halloween House. There are others who decorate but no one goes all out like I do.


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## Lisaloo (Sep 27, 2011)

I would say my neighborhood is somewhere in the middle of the Halloween friendliness scale. Our side of the street has no sidewalks and there are no street lights at all. We're on a residential street that has slightly heavier traffic due to it being a cut through from one bigger street to another. I think the added traffic is good for us since parents driving kids and just stopping in front of decorated houses seems to be how we get most of our trick or treaters. Several neighbors also hand out treats, but our house is by far the most decorated.


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## All Hollows Eve (Jul 25, 2013)

My neighborhood is very neighborhood friendly. I live in a pretty good size neighborhood on the outskirts of the city. We have 3 or 4 people who decorate a good amount just on our street, so I am very lucky to have as many people involved as I do. We have always put up a good amount of decorations every Halloween but last year is when we first started our 'official' haunted walk A Nightmare On Gantry Street. It was a huge success last year. People told me 'Thank you, you have started a new tradition for my kids', which is completely awesome. Those are the kind of comments that make what I do so worthwhile  I'm doing a lot more advertising this year for the haunt, so I'm excited to see how much it grows this year. We actually plan on doing the haunted walk 2 nights this year instead of just on Halloween


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## Palladino (Aug 29, 2013)

Bethany said:


> How cool would it be to live in a housing development that was for Halloween people only!! Just had that go through my head since we are house hunting.


LOVE this idea!  Imagine the great yard sales.


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## HalloweenNJ (Oct 21, 2011)

Absolutely, We live in a subdivison in central NJ of 116 homes, there are alot of kids of all ages. Most of the homes have halloween decorations up, and on Halloween night easly get over 100 TOT, Pumpkins lit up on everyones porch it so much fun. Our HOA even does a Halloween Kickoff Party for the neighborhood each year.


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## kuroneko (Mar 31, 2011)

I really don't know how Halloween is here. I moved in last year and we had Hurricane Sandy ruin Halloween. From what the neighbors have told me, we get around 15-20 ToTs, unlike the people on the other side of the tracks who expect over 100. As far as I know, I am only the one who goes overboard with the decorations. I saw a few houses in my area do regular decorating and I'm hoping to get the people on my block to do more decorating.
I'm thinking of offering a free 'webbing' service since I got a ton of bag-o-webs for dirt cheap when a dollar store closed. I'm hoping my unique treat bags will also bring some traffic. I'm hoping that my decorating will inspire others to decorate their own homes.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

We're brand new here, having moved in July. Finally heard a little from the single guy next door. He said he gets several ToTs, but he doesn't decorate, and didn't notice if anyone else does...so I guess we'll be the only ones. There's a busy street that intersects with ours, and it's very Halloween-friendly, but I don't know of any houses with decorations other than fall stuff.


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

Dogmom said:


> Bethany, I've thought the same thing about living in a Halloween neighborhood! Wouldn't that be cool? What if they had a subdivision and in the HOA it was a rule you had to decorate and the houses were designed to lend themselves to Halloween decorations and they had lots of outlets in the front yard, etc.


Awesome houses with Victorian look. I would be in heaven living with people like me!!



Palladino said:


> LOVE this idea!  Imagine the great yard sales.


LOL I've never sold or given any of my stuff away. But could you imagine the builds! Neighbors all helping eachother build their stuff all year round!! 

I think my heart just skipped a beat!! LOL

I just had a GREAT idea. We are looking for a house. I think I'll go check out the neighborhoods of the houses on my short list to see how they are decorated at Halloween!!


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## 22606 (Aug 11, 2008)

Not very much anymore (lots of those who did decorate, or at least pass out candy, have either moved or passed away), so I certainly do not blame parents for driving their children to a different area to ToT; lucky to get 60 anymore, when it used to be 200 or so. Needless to say, I would scoot in a hurry, if only I could


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## DaveintheGrave (Feb 12, 2004)

I guess you could call my neighborhood Halloween Friendly. Not many house really decorate much, but they all seem to enjoy my over-the-top yard décor.
And I've never had anything messed with or stolen.
The only thing that ever happened many years ago, was somebody tried to topple my cemetery columns. But I had them secured to 2 X 4's buried in the ground on the inside, so all they did was make them lean some.


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

Garthgoyle said:


> Not very much anymore (lots of those who did decorate, or at least pass out candy, have either moved or passed away), so I certainly do not blame parents for driving their children to a different area to ToT; lucky to get 60 anymore, when it used to be 200 or so. Needless to say, I would scoot in a hurry, if only I could


For me in Ohio 60 would have been AMAZING!!


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

haha! I just noticed your address, Bethany! That's the one that I use when I don't want to give out my real address. 



Bethany said:


> For me in Ohio 60 would have been AMAZING!!


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

LairMistress said:


> haha! I just noticed your address, Bethany! That's the one that I use when I don't want to give out my real address.


Yes but did you notice my signature? 

Actually going to look at a house on Mockingbird Lane. Just wonder if they'd let me change the address to 1313 if I bought it......


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

Love the signature, too! I always wanted to make a temporary address "sign" for Halloween night (because I wouldn't want to cover it up at other times).

I wanted to make a little black cardboard box with "1313" carved out of the front, put crepe paper or vellum behind the numbers, and glow sticks in the box to light it up. I never did get around to it. Maybe someday. I live on a street with a boring name though, haha.


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## GobbyGruesome (Sep 14, 2005)

Our neighbourhood is quite Halloween friendly. Years ago, we were one of the only ones to decorate, but now there's likely almost a dozen houses that could pass as "the Halloween House" - mostly because they have lots and lots of Halloween decoration and they kind of fill their yards to the brim - pretty awesome! It'll be interesting once the kids at those houses get old enough to start really building things - they may end up blowing us away. But we're probably one of three houses right now that sort of plans out in advance what goes where and has some more unusual props. Still way too many houses that don't decorate at all, but I think our neighbourhood is far better than most - especially for an older area.

We had a family come to the door a couple years back and tell us that a house a few blocks down had won the neighbourhood Halloween decorating contest (which we knew nothing about) and that "There's NO WAY they should have won with your house here." And another family who had moved out of the area years back but drove over because the kids - who were now probably 18 - had good memories of TOTing at our house. That kind of stuff is rare for us but it feels pretty darn good.


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## Zaiden (Aug 7, 2013)

Halloween took a while to get here, but it's growing pretty fast in our area (probably thanks to us  ).

A couple of years ago no one in the street was handing out candy, but now it seems like more and more of them are.

We have one neighbour that decorates, and they put in a lot of effort too. There's a bit of friendly competition between our houses, though we've definitely had the upper-hand the last couple of years. We're side-by-side, so the kids love having the two Halloween houses together. 

Most of our neighbours are pretty good sports about it, they don't seem to mind the lights, noise and crowds. There's quite a few kids in our street, so they all love it, and even the adults love the effort we put in. 

We have one neighbour who doesn't seem to like it, but then she's got a bit of an attitude problem, so whatever. Her child likes our display  

Once we started doing a full yard display, the number of ToT's skyrocketed. We went from about 6 one year, to 100 the next. We're expecting a few hundred this year. I think we'd do it no matter how many ToT's we got, we have fun doing it, and everyone who comes by seem to love it too, so we'll keep doing it


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## Zombastic (Oct 26, 2011)

I live in a subdivision in a rural area so it seems like we get all of the trick or treaters in the area coming here and that's fine by me.
My first year here win 2004 we were totally caught off guard by hundreds of kids. 
We were not haunters at our old place. We just sat out by the road handing out candy.
That first night here though, I told myself that from here on out I'm gonna scare these kids and decorate the best I can. 
When I was a kid I always loved the houses where the people put some effort into Halloween, even if it was just dressing up while handing out candy.
I have a neighbor who's a prude and cuts his lights off but for the most part, everyone on my street participates.
There are a few here who decorate and a guy a few houses down that does a kid friendly haunted house. My haunted garage is more for tweens.
Come Halloween night, the neighborhood is crawling with kids.


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## ElectricButter (Sep 5, 2013)

It will be our first Halloween, so it will be super small and although we don't know our neighbours, we do know they have children. As we live in a little unit area with our own community of 15 units, I don't think we'll be getting many ToT's from the streets. But it's the thought that counts so I'm thinking of putting flyers in the mailboxes to let the neighbours know so they can escort their kiddies over


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## Spooky_Girl1980 (Jul 12, 2010)

We are the halloween house. The kids beg their parents to drive by our house and the parents thanks for going all out for halloween. We are the only ones who put any effort into decorateing for halloween.


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## Terror Tom (Nov 3, 2008)

We are the only house on the block, both sides of the street that decorate! On the next block down a few houses decorate. The numerous trunk or treat and the 2 close malls kill the turnout. But every year I keep at it!  I have the Halloween house in the neighborhood for several blocks. Turnout is getting better every year.


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## SpiderWitch (May 6, 2013)

Ours is Halloween Friendly, but very few decorate beyond the basics- some pumpkins or jack-o-lanterns, maybe some basic decorations. A few houses (literally 2 or 3) have large displays, but they go for the "gotcha!" effect of costumed players mixed with dummies rather than a themed display with music and lights and so on.

We do have a lot of support from the neighborhood, lots of people walking by and asking questions, or slowing down/stopping as they pass the house (blocking traffic!). The kids get off the bus and walk past us, and many of them have stopped to talk when we're working. That's the best bit- seeing that they're excited. My husband put a ghoul in a tree on Saturday for our yard sale (reason? "Advertising" he says) and several people eagerly asked if we had started decorating.


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## fennyann (Sep 6, 2012)

We have been in out house for a little over a year now...Last year we didn't get as many kids as we would have liked. Since I was pregnant, we didn't get too crazy with the decorating like we would normally do. This year, I am hoping it's different. Want to attract as many people as possible. We live in a neighborhood of a lot of elderly people, so its pretty quiet. They decorate for fall, but not as much for Halloween.


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## Brimstonewitch (Aug 23, 2009)

Sadly, our entire area is rather Halloween....oh, what's the word....absent maybe? You have a few houses, and I do mean few, that decorate for Halloween. At the same time, we have a lot of people who LOVE what we put together and always say they can't wait to see what we do next. We will likely be letting them down big time this year since we aren't decorating much outside, if at all. Our hope is that when we eventually move (sooner rather than later) we will have a more active Halloween group around us.


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## hallowmas (Sep 11, 2013)

we have the same problem on our street the mall is right across the way for those treat thru the mall stuff and then there are lots of apartment buildings/condos also so almost all of the house "porch lights" are off so the only halloween deco is just our house my neighbor and some other around the corner but thats it. we do get the rare van loads of kids from the apartments. i like to put halloween pencils in the treat bags so that gets around that they will get a pencil for school!


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## Tyrant (Aug 19, 2013)

Halloween is, unfortunately, somewhat low key in our area. We've lived here for ten years now and the first few years, folks really got into it with decorating and tons of kids everywhere. The last few Halloweens have been pretty quiet and anyone who did tons of decorating moved away with the new owners more into Christmas decorating. We only had about ten or so trick-or-treaters last year to boot. Silver lining: More candy for us!


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## BloodyBones (Aug 31, 2013)

The near by church holds a trunk or treat down the road...so that means I haven't had a trick or treater in 4 years. I still sit out there with my bowl and candy and hope.


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## aero4ever (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm definitely the Halloween house in my area. It's funny because when I first started doing it, hardly anyone would decorate. Now there are at least 10 houses on my street that will at least do something. I love having people come each year, even when they don't have kids, and they ask what's new this year and seem to really enjoy it. Makes me feel good about spending all that time for about a 3 hour exhibit.


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## JasonB5449 (Sep 10, 2013)

Guys,

I am crazy excited for this year! We just moved into a neighborhood a couple months ago which is a mecca for Halloween. In talking to our neighbors, last year they had over 500 ToT'ers. My old house that we lived in for 10+ years had maybe 5-6 a year. Because of this I kinda fell out of the whole prop/decorating thing but this year I am pulling out all the stops!


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## kakugori (Aug 26, 2013)

I noticed today that my neighbors have a fairly large pumpkin out on their front porch. They do more of a fall thing, but they did hand out candy last year.


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## CrypticCuriosity (Aug 18, 2012)

The neighborhood as a whole is pretty Halloween friendly, there are one or two houses that rival mine. However, we're definitely the best house on this block. Somehow we're the only house on this entire street that bothers putting anything up. But that's okay, more spotlight for me! 

Also, my neighborhood is very new (my house was only built in 2005) and it's in a developing part of the city, so we don't get as many ToTers as I'd like, but it's increasing every year.


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## Brimstonewitch (Aug 23, 2009)

BloodyBones said:


> The near by church holds a trunk or treat down the road...so that means I haven't had a trick or treater in 4 years. I still sit out there with my bowl and candy and hope.


That is so sad! We experience the same with one of our local church's. On the years they have their trunk or treat on Halloween, we see very few TOT'ers. Otherwise we get quite a few more. I never know until Halloween night what will happen and always over buy candy just in case. I would hate to turn anyone away because we ran out. Often results in more leftovers than we ever need.


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## LairMistress (Jul 31, 2009)

We live relatively close to four churches, I wonder if Trunk or Treat will do us in as well. Although, we have heard great things about the busy historical district street that intersects ours, so maybe we'll get a good trickle of them, at least. I don't want to be stuck with 80+ candy bags, for sure!

We finally met the "little old lady" who lives next door, and I stand corrected. Although she is a retired teacher, she is not a little old lady.  As it turns out, the reason we hadn't met her yet, was because she was living elsewhere with her mother who was preparing to go into a nursing home. She's back now, and advised us that our neighborhood hoodlums tend to run off with decorative items now and then.

She said that both she and the previous owners of our home have lost "everyday" decorations like solar lanterns. That worries me. I've had my solar lanterns out front for at least a month now with no trouble, but they're much closer to the house than the sidewalk. 

Initially, I intended to put my stanchions and tombstones just about two feet back from the sidewalk, but now I'm not so sure. I have so many, and I know that I don't have to use them all. 

If I set the creatures out prior to the 30th (we ToT two nights here), I will probably bring their heads in nightly. That way if the body is stolen, it's cheap to replace--Goodwill clothing, masking tape hands and some PVC, not such a big deal. Masks and wig heads, I don't want to lose. I probably will not put my "Bucky" out until the 30th, and will bring her in at night.

I won't have the time or money for cameras this year, and I think that setting $1 door alarms on the items is a good idea, but would wake our 2 yr old and my handicapped son before it would wake me, because the display is under their windows, not mine. Those two are the ones who need their sleep (or mom doesn't get any either!)


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## Cynamin (Sep 13, 2013)

We live in a townhouse neighborhood with lots of young families, so it's definitely a busy place Halloween afternoon/evening. Our house is always the most decorated, but we're not the only ones who decorate. Most houses do at least a little something, like a wreath or lights, to get in the spirit, and there are a couple of others who go further as well.

First Halloween we were here, we moved in only a week or two before Halloween, and I made sure to find the decoration boxes first when we unpacked. Our neighbors were amazed we were set up for trick or treaters so soon after moving in. Definitely made for a good introduction!

Last year, we apparently were the spot of choice for neighbors to take pictures of their kids in costume. Made me grin to see all the little kids posing in the tiny graveyard.


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## Cynamin (Sep 13, 2013)

Grr, double post. Sorry.


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## Pumpkin215 (Jul 31, 2013)

Well I live in an apartment so I get zero TOT’s.

But last year was my first Halloween with my boyfriend so I dragged about half of my décor to his house. (I had plenty to go around and there was no shortage of decorations at my apartment). I noticed maybe two other houses on the block that had a few items out.

I will be doing the same again this year and adding a few things. I’m hoping he will slowly adjust to the spookiness I bring……


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## jordand3 (Jul 26, 2013)

Last year was our first Halloween in our new house and we were definitely the folks with the most decorations on our block. That being said, our neighborhood in general is pretty solid in terms of people decorating (including two AMAZING houses within a few blocks). I'm still fairly new to this game having lived in apartments until last year, but a couple of neighbors have already asked when we're putting up our stuff. Ha, it's nice to feel appreciated! 

In terms of TOT, last year we ran out of candy, and I was pleasantly surprised to see TOTers out until well past dark (the way it should be!). My block is the last one before a busy street, but that doesn't seem to stop kids from swinging by. I'm excited to see how it goes this year.


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## SPOOKMART (Dec 27, 2012)

I'd say unfriendly. The demographics have changed drastically over the years. Although I still attract a couple hundred kids many neighbors pull down their shades and turn out all their lights and don't even give out candy. I certainly make a lot of noise and visually it's the only house that decorates. To protest my decor on Nov. 1st a bunch of houses put up Lucifer decorations! Ha! I wonder if they know December 25th has nothing to do with who they think it does? It's those same people who think I do too much or it's too scary. It's really a cultural thing. The people populating my city do not have any cultural ties to Halloween so they don't get into it. I'd probably attract way more than 2-300 but this is also a high crime city so that will keep a lot of people away. I'll be scaling back this year. It's really not worth it where I live to go all out. One lady has a light in her window another family will put out some decor. Other than that you're lucky to see a pumpkin on the stoop.


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## Skeletoncrew (Oct 10, 2013)

Our neighborhood is fairly Halloween friendly, most people hand out. We are really the only house that goes all out, everyone seems to like it though. I've been told by people that their kids make them drive by every day to see the house.  When Oct. gets close people start asking when the decorations will go up.


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## Bethany (Apr 3, 2013)

First Halloween here. Guess I'll find out real soon.


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## LurkerNDdark (Sep 9, 2010)

Call it Halloween indifferent. I don't get hassled about my set-up; in fact, I get a lot of positive comments about having the best decorated house in the neighborhood. However, most houses don't even bother handing out candy, much less set out a jack-o-lantern or inflatable skull. I'd love to have some competition. It's not much fun being the best decorated house in the neighborhood, when I am almost the only decorated house in the neighborhood.


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## Nightlites13 (Oct 8, 2008)

LurkerNDdark said:


> Call it Halloween indifferent. I don't get hassled about my set-up; in fact, I get a lot of positive comments about having the best decorated house in the neighborhood. However, most houses don't even bother handing out candy, much less set out a jack-o-lantern or inflatable skull. I'd love to have some competition. It's not much fun being the best decorated house in the neighborhood, when I am almost the only decorated house in the neighborhood.


We get those compliments and It's great to receive and we do not get hassled but I do feel like I could put out a couple pumpkins and our Grim Reaper and we would be the most decorated..LOL...sure would save a lot of days of work 
There was one other house that used to decorate more than anyone else and after we started a couple years in they stopped. We asked and they said they just gave up because before we came along they had the most so it wasn't worth even trying
Geez I felt like we should have inspired some friendly competition but oh well. They still stop by each year.


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## ThePirateHouse (Aug 9, 2009)

We too are the Halloween House. We moved to our development in 2001 and we were like everyone else...a pumpkin and wreath on the door. Then we found the cutest little skeleton candy dish and things blossomed into what it has become today. Seven hundred plus trick or treaters and no longer just a house on the block. We are a destination. But the great thing is our neighbors have embraced the Halloween spirit and every other holiday as well. This year for Halloween we are doing a haunted hayrack ride through the development with stops at several homes. One a zombie encampment, another does a light show, another tells ghost stories, another is showing a movie in their yard with smores, popcorn and a fire pit. We expected about 30 kids for this hayride and currently have 100 plus the parents. We are thrilled with the involvement our neighbors. One seems to feed off the other. Ideas are shared, people volunteer to wear costumes and help in any way. We are very fortunate.


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## RCIAG (Jul 19, 2010)

Yes, mine is pretty Halloween friendly. Usually there's only one house that doesn't give out candy but we're the only house that decorates big. No complaints yet.


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## blowmoldcrazy (Jul 22, 2013)

My neighborhood is halloween friendly. most are people who have lived here a while set up a nice amount of decorations, not too much, not too little. The people who are recently moved in are still getting the hang of it. Usually a lot decorate but not as much this year, I hope they are just setting up late. It is nice to see the street lit up at night on halloween.


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## Cpt Murphy (Sep 28, 2013)

I think we're the Halloween house. We've had a mixed go of things since we live in a horizontal duplex, where one house is out front, ours is through the car port and in the back. For some reason it doesn't seem like there are a lot of trick r treaters in our neighborhood, even though there are a lot of kids in the area.









Last year I really pushed to decorate the front slice of yard we have (see skeleton picture) and asked our neighbor if we could decorate on the patch of grass he has out front. 

With all of that, it was better, might have had 15 kids come by. But it's kind of sad. I hope it's not like that everywhere and we're just in a weird area. I'd hate to think most people have given up regular trick r treating and go to church/mall functions instead.


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## SPOOKMART (Dec 27, 2012)

I'm going to decorate less this year. There will be about 15 tombstones, pumpkins I haven't bought yet, music, led light, and maybe some corpse heads on stakes and I will have been by far the most decorated house. Oh I dress up and no neighbors do that, that would be too embarrassing. Halloween is on a Friday and in 2008 we only had 60 trick or treaters. That is something I consider. With drizzle and high winds we had I think 120-150 last year. We used to have 200-300. I think when Halloween is on a Friday a lot of parents will take their kids to a party instead of walking around for a couple of hours through a traffic jam. That's another thing when you live in a city a lot of parents drive their kids to the bus stop so they're definitely driving them around trick or treating. Such a hassle I would think. Also another thing is candy. I remember as a kid a candy bard would be 25 cents-50 cents from a corner store. That was probably marked way up. Now we go to Walmart to buy candy and they have these bags of ridiculous snack, fun and bite(crumb)size. I think the packaging probably cost more than the candy. Walmart has boxes of full size that come out to $0.61 a piece. That can get a little pricy with 200-300 kids. When you get into the hundreds it can get mind boggling as you don't know how much to give out. The kid feels like Charlie Brown and the next year when he turns 10 and has a smart phone and x-box he's too old for "kid's stuff". His parents agree. They go to Walmart and see Christmas stuff replacing the dollar store decor and think Halloween isn't their holiday, it's passee. They're not into anymore. That's my area but I hear others around the country have noticed like I that people often set their clocks to Walmart and Walmart has cut way back. I sell a lot of Halloween stuff around the country and the world. There will be quite a few home haunts this year with my contributions. Halloween in my area has become fringe. Small pumpkin on the stoop is risque. Last Halloween a neighbor on the other street said to another "he was about to go over there and...." because I was playing the Halloween music very loud. He never did come over and it's a good thing for him. That's the silent attitude though. Some will walk on by and say "wowwww" but wow actually means "what a nut" or this isn't right. You know what it's really all about? Freedom. People are very careful these days to not be free. It's too natural to be free. Can't have that. One must be prim and proper. One mustn't indulge "Devil's Night". Subsequently in order to get more participation I'll be handing out ringtones and bootleg video game dvds in pre-production. I figure I'll get about 2000 kids this year


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## kyhauntfreak (Jul 29, 2014)

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.We are the only ones that put anything out and last 2 years we put out minimal stuff. Except for a few jols and mums no decorates and no tots. Major bummer. I am putting everything out this year. Just for us and a neighbors 2 children who love it. I mean as long as there is a chance my yard haunt could bring happiness to just 2 kids that may continue the tradition and enjoy the season it is well worth it.


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## Nightlites13 (Oct 8, 2008)

kyhauntfreak said:


> ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.We are the only ones that put anything out and last 2 years we put out minimal stuff. Except for a few jols and mums no decorates and no tots. Major bummer. I am putting everything out this year. Just for us and a neighbors 2 children who love it. I mean as long as there is a chance my yard haunt could bring happiness to just 2 kids that may continue the tradition and enjoy the season it is well worth it.


Even if it is just for you, you should go for it. If there are 2 kids that love it even better!


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## zombieprincess (Nov 1, 2013)

Our subdivision (this will be our fourth Halloween here) has been known as the place to TOT for decades apparently. We get about 200-300 TOTs. There is a mixture of both older and younger couples/families and we have almost 200 houses. Almost every house gives out candy and they'll put out JOLs. We are the spooky house and after our first year other houses joined in. So now we have about half a dozen that make a real effort. As new people move in they seem to catch the spirit. I can't wait to see if we have new people decorating. Every year we have rental houses change hands or older people that sell their homes in order to scale down, so it's always a surprise. I take my youngest around TOTing while the rest of them hand out candy and scare people. I always tell anyone who decorates how much I love their stuff and I am so glad that someone else decorated. Looking forward to doing a yard haunt soon.


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## Skeptic (Aug 29, 2013)

My place is definitely the Halloween house in the neighbourhood, sadly none of my street mates are spurred on to haunting greatness. I'd do it if nobody came and all I got to do was stand out in costume waiting, candy cauldron in hand, for that one possible tot'er to come by. I shall haunt as long as I draw breath, it's just too much fun not to.


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## Ampp Zi Sidlo (Oct 3, 2014)

With the exception of this year, I normally am one of the few in our gated housing area who troubles to go all out on decorations. Our property manager is a nag, and even limits how much I can put out. Most folks who do decide to decorate play it safe with just window and door dressings. Myself and one other neighbor (though they just moved out this year) would go nuts on the 30th with last minute light hanging, props, and letting the kids know we are handing out candies. I not only set up the kiddie bowl, but have stuff set off to the side for the adults and a couple of my teen treaters. I go the extra mile in how I bag their stuff up, with separate candy types, etc. We don't get much of a hit, only about $82 in candy last year, and we still had 20% left over. Still, dressing up in full costume, music playing in the background, having my old school 'Dare to get more candy' plate of goo and guts table set up, makes it worth it. As for the reason I'm taking off this year, my mother passed away on 10/30/2013, and everything was up, the candy was there, so I made it a tribute to her, letting my treaters know we would not be doing it this year due to it. I am hoping to come back with a roaring colorful bang in 2015, though. I love Halloween, and it just drives my dad nuts how I'm always making spooky crafts. Hell, I have my Halloween Tree on my desk with purple and orange lights, picked up a few new skull glasses, and saving ideas to make for next year.  I can't help it, it is in my blood to celebrate and collect fun weird things.


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## ToddandMelissa (Aug 26, 2014)

We love Halloween and chose our neighborhood because it closes the streets for ToT 5pm-9pm on Halloween night. We get anywhere between 750-1200 kids every year except 2008 when it landed on a Friday and we had to compete with the football game. It will be the same this year. That does not matter. I love this time of year. As we put each new and old decoration out in the yard and the air starts to take on that fall feel. There is nothing better than that is there. You all know what I am talking about.
Oh, sorry I got caught up. Yes, our neighborhood is Halloween friendly.


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## Eblore (Sep 18, 2013)

I'm the Halloween house in town. I get thousands of people every year - all ages. Last year I had a line for 3 hours. I'm not sure why people are willing to wait so long, but they do. Main street is 4 blocks away and they have a tricker or treating earlier in the evening. After they finish there, they begin to filter down threw the neighborhoods and eventually end up at my house. I get my first TOT around 5:30 and have to cut it off at 9:30. There are about 10 friends that come help me every year. My mother comes and feeds all my helpers and keeps an eye on the house because I'm always running around making sure everything is running smoothly. Because of bottle neck near the front door, I always give out candy from a tent in the front yard. 

Luckily there is a community center across the street with a small parking lot. That quickly fills up so people just park in the street. Several years ago, we had an ambulance come threw right in the middle of everything. I'm not sure how he made it down the street but he did. I was expecting some flack from the city after that but never heard a word. 

Every year, friends tell me that they have called the local news but fortunately, they have never shown up. I already have more kids than I can handle, and really can imagine any more. 

As for the rest of the neighborhood, some decorate, but none like me. There was a couple in a rental house a couple of years ago that did a good graveyard but they moved. I always warn new neighbors before Halloween, but they never believe me until they see it. 

The immediate neighbor has offered to let me decorate their yard but who has the time. I have thought about doing an everything but the kitchen sink theme and bringing out everything I have. If so, I will have to use their yard. 

Good luck to all you Halloween Houses! Can't wait to see your pics on November 1st.


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## mesta831 (Sep 26, 2013)

Our neighborhood is definitely Halloween friendly. The houses are about 110 years old, so it is a prefect area for haunters. I would say about 40% of houses on my street participate, and several blocks on each side. People drive in from other parts of the city to tot. We had last year (2013) approx 2900 toters (one piece of candy each), so if you include parents, it has to be over 4,000 people. Most of the houses decorate pretty elaborately. It is one of the cool things I love about living where i do.


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## ToddandMelissa (Aug 26, 2014)

Now see that's what I am talking about. I knew there had to be people getting a lot more than I do. We are in the back of our subdivision and the front gets around 3000 ToT. That is awesome! I have short clip videos to show when people do not believe we get so many kids. Love it!


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## SPOOKMART (Dec 27, 2012)

I think I need to move...this place sucks.....thousands????


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## bayoubrigh (Jan 12, 2007)

Halloween friendly - most houses (about 60%) decorate and hand out candy - LOVE IT, but numbers around 250 not thousands! High school football is going to have an impact where we are - good team this year and many of my oldest's friends will be there instead of helping at our haunt (How dare they!  Good thing my youngest has middle school friends who are more than willing to help!


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