Halloween Bankruptcy!

[justbroke]

Okay, after going through bankruptcy and not passing out candy on Halloween (for the last 5 years), I jumped in feet first. I will not tell you how much I spent on candy, but it rivaled the most expensive meals I have had at 4-star restaurants for 4 people.

I purchased 1,400 pieces of candy. The "snack size" of various candy bars; not the "fun" size or "bite" size.

In fact, many revelers marveled at the size of our candy (although not full sized bars but literally half sized). I spent a small fortune and even had to "reload" just 2 hours and 1,000 pieces of candy into the night. (Sent son to store to purchase more candy. For 20 minutes I had no candy to give out as 100 more children appeared.)

After 3.5 hours (6:00PM - 9:30PM) and 1,000 trick-or-treaters, I surrendered! For the first 30 minutes, I handed out 2 pieces to each child, but thought my stash of 1,000 treats would be gone by 9PM. We switched to single pieces by 7PM! By 7:50PM I was out of candy (and had to restock)! It was a blast and I felt like I gave back to the community. (It's more an extended community as people drive to our area specifically to trick-or-treat in a safe and generous neighborhood.)

I will do it again, but I may have to take out a 2nd mortgage on my home!

Happy Halloween!

[pamkev]

You made me laugh. I live out in the sticks and maybe got 10 kids if I was lucky so I don't even bother anymore.

[sophieanne]

And I'm sure those trick or treaters made a note of your address..number 1 stop next year. Thanks for sharing..thad made me smile.

[justbroke]

I think that I was trying to say... don't go bankrupt over the amount of money you spend on candy. I did not buy a bunch of decorations so I didn't go "too" far. I think I'll need to hide next year.

[Slingerland]

I only buy the candy that I like anyway... sometimes I forget to turn on the porch light...

[justbroke]

I only buy the candy that I like anyway... sometimes I forget to turn on the porch light...

I tried this. But my neighbor attracts just about everyone.

[LadyInTheRed]

That sounds like a lot of fun, JB! And worth the splurge. We don't get any trick-or-treaters here in "the 'hood". They go to the more safe and generous neighborhoods like yours. I always buy candy just in case. A small bag of small Snickers or peanut butter cups because that's what me and my husband like. Then I have to take most if it to work so we don't eat it all!

My husband called me from a store yesterday and wanted to buy me a $60 costume for a party we went to last night. I told him I would make do with what is already in the costume box. Maybe I'll spring for a costume next year when my BK will be behind me.

[justbroke]

It was fun and seeing neighbors (near and far) was a nice thing. I got to meet the person who just bought a home a couple of doors down from me. The children were all in costume. I didn't see as many Queen Elsa's as I thought I would, but there were enough. The boys were Captain America or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A few batmen, a batgirl, zombies, pirates, fairies, and some I couldn't tell. There was one creepy (adult) clown.

It was a very nice 70 degrees and dry and the perfect cloudless night. That may be why the participation level was higher than I ever have known. I felt bad shutting off the light at 9:37PM, but I was done! I think that it finally completely ended by 10PM although the neighborhood (sub-division) stores like Starbucks had a lot of people still milling around after 10PM.

There was some sad news from an adjacent county where a 2-year old child was killed by a truck during the festivities. I had to direct traffic at one point on my street because there were hundreds in the road and the cars were getting a little feisty.

[switch625]

This year's Halloween was the least active in almost 10 years in my subdivision, which was weird. Maybe we've had some kids reach their pre-teen or early teen years all at once and decided they were too old. We bought 14 bags of candy at CVS for about $20, thanks to my wife's great couponing and sales skills (plus some CVS ECBs). All gone by 8PM!

Now comes Xmas. I'm thankful for Swagbucks and Perk and some other online rewards apps that we do that the kids will get something decent for Xmas in in spite of the 13.

[AngelinaCat]

Without reading all of this thread, I am totally delighted to say that I live at the end of an 800 FT. long driveway, through the woods, that is discouraging at it's *best* behavior.

When I was living with my Mother in order to take care of her, even though I had the lights out, because we were on a busy street, we usually got a few knocks anyway. That was more than 30 years ago. The trick or treaters were less malicious then.

[May2014]

5 trick-or-treaters, swiped leftover candy from work (we still have tons of the stuff!), no new costume. My only expense was pumpkins, less than $3 each. A successful Halloween!

If only Christmas would be so easy...