Cookie, I've toyed with the idea the last few years myself.
I thought maybe if I put my name and number on them...or "Kamren's Mom"...that people would be okay about it..but we get visitors that are not from the neighborhood too..So their parents wouldn't have a clue who we were. If I lived in a more "secluded" or exclusive neighborhood I'd do it in a heartbeat.
If I knew who the goodies were from, I'd have no problem them eating homemade treats.

I have an apple tree full of small "kid" size apples, and would love to caramel or candy them for the kids.

With the world like it is these days ( not sure all that I mean by that! LOL!) I would be afraid that some parents would not allow home made treats.
And my experience with home made cookies and cupcakes, is that they get smashed in the bag.
As nice as it sounds...I would co with prepackaged junk! LOL!
Linda C

Cookie, I have made homemade treats and they were very well received! With that being said I think it depends on where you live. We live in a very small community. When I lived in PA and had 100's of kids I never would have made anything homemade. There it was more quanity than quality. Moving to NC has been a different story. Small, more rural communities and way fewer kids. Last year I made cupcakes, I always tag them with a Happy Halloween and put my nane and address on them. I've made homemade cookies and candy as well and they are always well received! When we lived in Manteo, I went for a run the day after Halloween and one of the teenagers that came to my house caught up with me and thanked me for taking the time to make the cupcakes! Needless to say I was blown away, but made me feel good about my decision to make the treats! Hope this was some help! Gina

I have never made homemade treats but know those who hand out the packaged stuff to the general rabble and have special goodies packaged for the kids they know.

I do give out homemade treats, but ONLY to those children I know--and I show the parents what I'm giving the kids, to make sure they know where it came from. I would never give a homemade treat to a child I didn't know, because it will most likely be thrown away.

I actually have 3 tiers of treats I give out--the special homemade ones for the kids I know, I give out Little Debbies to the rest of the neighborhood kids, and I always have a bowl of small, inexpensive treats for the urban gang members who bring their kids to the suburbs and demand treats for not just their kids, but themselves, their SO's and 3-4 other kids who are 'home'. You're afraid to give them nothing, of course, but I refuse to give them the more expensive items I give kids who actually live in our neighborhood.

To get back to your original question, I think it's wrong to give homemade treats to stranger's kids. For one--most will get tossed into the trash. Secondly, most children are taught NOT to eat homemade treats, so it's really wrong to tempt them with one. If they know their parents don't approve of homemade treats, they'll probably eat it before they go home--thus committing 2 infractions--eating a homemade treat AND eating something before their parents got to check it out. I just think it's unethical to encourage anyone to do something wrong. But that's me.

As Barnmom mentioned, I have homemade treats for the kids I know, last year it was "bones" (shortbread cookies shaped like bones sandwiched with raspberry jam and dunked into white chocolate) and "bloody eyeballs", peanut butter candy dunked in white chocolate with an M&M eyeball and red piped icing for the blood.

I've gotten anywhere from 300 to 500 kids, no way can I make that many treats anyway, but the one I know, they get the good stuff!

When my kids were small, I'm make them throw away anything opened or homemade stuff if I didn't know where it came from.

Annie

When my small children got homemade treats from homes I knew, I ate them! My kids liked the pure sugar stuff like Skittles.

If I saw them being received by neighbors I knew I would let them have it. Otherwise I would probably throw it away.

I plan to give Quaker Oats granola bars away this year. They only have 100 calories and some nutritional value. Plus I don't want to be left alone with the leftovers of one of those giant bags of candy:)

Kate

I'm in the suburbs. Last year we only had 25 kids come to our place. The homes are about 20-25 yrs old so a lot of older kids and young adults at home. It's a good spot so no one is leaving much to the dismay of my little ones. Back to topic, I guess I will make for the kids I know with a tag. Now, any tips for the candy apples (the red ones) so the candy stays on? I've had problems with the apples weeping and making a mess of the candy. I've used a mix in the past. I wonder if homemade is the way to go? Do you think I didn't bring it the candy stage enough?

Check out Martha Stewart.com..I think she's got directions for candy apples...and I found this site through FoodGawker last week.

Here is a link that might be useful: apples 2 ways

omg, Annie - you get that many!!! ...and u home? lol I'd hide but know u luv it:)

Okay, this is a good spot to share the funniest "treat" last year. The couple were sitting on their front porch when we came up and asked...Fish or Chips? They had live goldfish- in the bags of water like at the pet store and also a box of individual size potato chips - you could choose! LOL!!! I'm thinking they were vacating their fish tank. We went with the chips because I know that one goldfish would have cost me $50 after I went and got a while set-up - LOL. Thought it was so clever.

Thanks Terri. I will try them out this week. For the kids I don't know I will give them apples - shrunken head apples - trick or treat!

Here is a link that might be useful: http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_y70ea7DAobE/SqQQF3V9LNI/AAAAAAAABy8/5GdAzaZ9F9o/s320/AppleShrunkenHead3.jpg&imgrefurl=http://the-artful-crafter.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-to-make-ghoulish-shrunken-heads.html&usg=__sbweDAtxYrkmb2rx-bEoFA4mN98=&h=179&w=320&sz=9&hl=en&start=28&um=1&tbnid=EJgsBae2rko0YM:&tbnh=66&tbnw=118&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dshrunken%2Bhead%2Bapples%26ndsp%3D20%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26channel%3Ds%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26start%3D20%26um%3D1

Maggie, we're in a very rural/agricultural area, so all the kids that "live out in the country", come into town to trick or treat, it's more efficient than going 10 miles, getting a treat, going another 10 miles, LOL. Plus it's easier on their folks' gas tanks!

My little town always has a Halloween parade and costume judging, so that brings people from all over too, and they just stay in town for trick or treating afterward.

It's fine with me, I love seeing them all. I don't care how much taller they are than me, if they dress up, I'll give 'em candy! Some years I even dress up myself and one year Amanda and Ashley turned the garage into a "chamber of doom" that everyone had to walk through, complete with spiders and vampires. Treats were in the back yard, in the middle of the "grave yard". We all had a ball.

Annie

I've been doing Caramel Corn for probably about 20 years now. I've even got some kids bringing back their kids...yikes!

I've got "regular" candy for kids who come in huge groups and those that I don't know. I put it the carmel corn in a ziplock bag with "From the xxx's" written on the outside in Sharpie. That way the parents can know who we are and that it's okay.

Grace

We don't get a lot of kids so I just buy candy from the store. But I made popcorn hands one year and they were very well received.

I agree - I know a lot of my neighbors and would be fine with the kids getting homemade treats from them, but if it was from someone I didn't know, I'd toss it -- sad but true

Cookie, thanks for the link..I'm pulling my 9 yr old over here to look at ...I'll let him go pick some of the baby apples off the tree and make them.

Believe it or not, some of the things our kids liked best were:
Loose change
Salty stuff (pretzels, chips, etc. in individual bags)
Gift ($.25 or $.50) coupons for places like McDonald's.
Superballs (rubber bouncy balls) or other tiny toys.

They had so much candy, I think the novelty wore off so something different really stood out.

We always rationed the candy, but the other stuff they could use/eat at will!!

Deanna

I tried for a year or two when they were really little to ration candy and I just felt like the candy police. I was always a pretty firm mom and we definitely operated on a schedule etc, so it was an amazement to all concerned when I decided that after the boys were about 6 or so they could just do what they wanted with the Halloween candy.
Not surprisingly it was gone in days... BUT no one died or even complained of a stomach ache and imho the damage if any to teeth was better than dragging out the sugar coating for weeks. No one was chunky so we weren't worried about calories.
But best of all within no time the candy was GONE. Meaning that I didn't have to play Gestapo to four hungry boys for weeks (heaven knows I did enough of that regularly!) and I wasn't tempted to eat the stuff myself (am I the only one that sneaked into their kids stashes??!).
As a Mom, I tried to "pick my battles" and this was one that I never regretted sidestepping!
Grace

Funny, I never rationed the Halloween candy haul, either. They could eat as much as they wanted on that night and they hit sugar overload pretty quickly. The rest went in a big bowl on the counter. Over a week or so the favorites were consumed. What remained hit the dust bin or went to my workplace where I gave it to the receptionist who used it for her desk candy dish.

Cookie8, I just wanted to say that I find it heartwarming that you have such a nice memory of "Mrs. Venebles."

It's funny, but my kids always appreciated those huggies, juice boxes, etc. -- they were always got so darn hot in those costumes!

Cathy in SWPA

Cathy funny you say that. That is actually a second memory, first one was she really smelled like cigarettes and coffee. Nice lady though.
Thanks for the push, I think I will have a three days of a free for all for my two older kids. They will be in heaven as they usually ask me for everything - and how many. Not sure how that happened but it's there. I am the Nazi mom to many. As I child, it was a free for all for me.
Regarding unique things, I gave out Ring Pops one year and what a hit that was. When the first kid noticed and the reaction I got I miraculously turned into one of "Bobs Beauties" showcasing the Ring Pop to each kid. I know, pretty lame, but I was so proud of my purchase!

How about --------

dcarch
Dried up onion
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A Gourd
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Turkey bones
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all right the younger two just made their shrunken heads...

We're really evil and give out things that make NOISE! Last year we gave out metal coach whistles (along with candy) and the neighborhood sounded like the world's largest football game at about 9 p.m.

The neighbors LOVE us...hee-hee. The previous year it was kazoos and slide flutes. This year it's "whoopee" noise makers.

No, we don't have kids. LOL! And Oriental Trading Company is my friend. :-)

Kathy, my kids would have loved you. My Grandkids would love you now but my girls would hate you. (grin) I just might steal that idea....

My kids never encountered "candy rationing" either. They ate as much of it as they wanted, when they wanted. I usually used the rest of the chocolate Easter bunnies to make chocolate chip cookies about September. As for Halloween, anything that wasn't eaten by Christmas got used in the Christmas baking or taken to work for the candy jars, where it got thrown away when the Valentine's Day candy got brought in.....

And neither of my girls were ever overweight and both have perfect teeth!

I did get all black jelly beans and anything else made of black licorice. Now I'm pickier, I want licorice All Sorts, LOL, or Black Crows.

Annie

I'm so enjoying these posts, and for me, walks down memory lane. I have to tell you Annie 1992, the black jelly beans at Easter are always gladly "donated" to my mom.

As an aside, I was homeroom mom for Halloween, and we played the "Body Parts" game. After cutting a hole in the box for the kids to put their hands in, I also cut away the opposite side for those who had finished and wanted to watch their friends (or for those who just couldn't bear to put their hands into that black hole.) Funniest moment was when the students crowded around to watch their teacher play ... she got stumped on two: cauliflower (brain) and apricots (ear).

Such fun memories ...

Cathy in SWPA

Cathy, my grandmother and I argued over those black jelly beans. Soon, they never made it into my Easter basket at all, LOL.

Annie

Smart lady, Annie, and a day brightener:)

Cathy in SWPA