Yep. Teeny squares now, not the rectangular hunks they used to be.

Ehh, those little kids are packing Ozempic auto-injectors in their candy bags and mommy is going to take away their candy anyway. It’s a brave new world.

I give each kid a fistful of the mini candies, so mommy has more confiscating to do.

John, you live in a different world than I do, LOL, although I'd also be handing out a fistful of the mini candy.

Here I got 10 trick or treaters. Madi and Maci came first, with a friend. The people who live across from the farm have 5 kids. Another neighbor has two. Only one is slightly overweight and I don't know anyone who uses Ozempic. I bought full sized candy bars and everyone got two. Anyone who comes all the way out here and then comes all the way up my driveway, well, they get richly rewarded!

It is one of the very few things I miss about living in town. I loved seeing the kids in their costumes and the sound of happy children running up the sidewalks, the almost embarrassed young teens sheepishly presenting themselves because I was known as one of the places that had the "good candy". That meant chocolate bars of some type and not those little peanut butter taffy things. I happily passed out chocolate and if an older sibling was bringing their little sister/brother but hanging back because they were "too old", I always made sure I marched my Happy Halloween self out and gave them candy too. I always reassured them that you are never too old for candy. (grin) Plus I figured they should be rewarded for being responsible instead of out stealing pumpkins and stringing toilet paper on the teacher's trees.

I do hate the downsizing of everything, though, those little mini candy things are maybe one bite, sheesh.

Annie

I got just under 60 kids! That isn’t our record - we got 80 one year - but is better than the last couple of years. Covid put a damper on trick or treating for awhile.

We live in a prime trick or treat neighborhood, and the threatened rain stayed away. I gave each kid two mini-candies and a roll of Smarties - they liked the Smarties and a couple said no-one gives them out anymore - and as we started running low, I started giving out full-size bars. By the time it ended, we had only enough candy left for another 12 kids. I had Ferrero Rochers as an emergency reserve, but I prefer to eat those myself.

Since I had to sit by the door for the evening, I put on my ski boots for the first time since August. You are supposed to get your summer sandal feet re-accustomed to the tight clamping fit of ski boots, I’m told, but my boots don’t need any adjusting to - they just fit perfectly. They also scared a couple of the littlest kids.

I got none! First time for that, even during Covid! I only heard one group but they didn't come up the stairs. When we first moved here, we had over a hundred every year, but I think the whole neighborhood has aged, not just our block. But the hordes and the population density are why the fun size. No one gives whole bars around here and never have. The mini-bars, yes, but I haven't seen them for a long time. Or one of those small checkout stand sized packets of M&M's. But I only bought one small bag of each and I can give them to the minions. Even with the fun size, half the take usually goes to the children's hospital or similar, and the kid still has half a grocery bag full of candy. Or at least did before there was the big push to have them go to parties and not trick or treat any more... :(

John, congrats on keeping your mogul feet!

There was a debate on English TV yesterday : should we give the kids sweets or stickers? People are so worried about overweight kids these days...... happily only 13% of people thought stickers were a good idea..... sigh..... it's once a year after all.

When I was a kid there were those who gave pencils. I think most kids, even who might need a new pencil, would be disappointed, unless there were a peanutbutter cup tied to it.

Wow! That sounds great!

Pillog, they still sell the fun size, but they have also sneaked in a smaller square size.

Sherry, I bought the bags marked ”fun size”. The ”bars” inside don't look too wrong in the wrappers, but they're half the volume of the old ones.

I will have to check it out. My hubby eats Milky Ways. I only like the good stuff and not much of that, lol. I haven't bought any since last year.

Wow Annie your previous Halloweens sound amazing! I see why you miss that.

Alternate swag sounds interesting. What little tchotkes would be affordable (say, $1 or $2) and fun for kids? Little blinky lights they can hook to their clothes, LED candles for their nightstand, cute little plushies?

Islay, my recollection is that Halloween parties/costumes are maybe a bit of a thing in France, but trick or treating is not - is that right?

I didn’t know trick or treat was a thing in the UK. Are there any non-Anglophone countries that do it?

We give out one mini to each kid or teen (or even adult if they really want one!). We have a bowl of no chocolate or nuts that people occasionally sneak a couple. We ran out of 1500 pieces by 8 PM last night! Might have to up it to 2,000 for next year! We made a dinner party for a motley crew who wouldn't go away! I think Ghuuuuuelosh was on the menu! There was also a creepy cemetery and guests flying in the tree! Oh, yeah! We were on the unfashionable end of the street! The middle of the street where the mansion is gets 6,000 TOTers!

Holy moly, I have never heard of such numbers for trick or treat!

Are these neighborhoods just stuffed with little kids and fecund families, like you can’t swing a cat without hitting a triple stroller? Or are they “destination” neighborhoods that kids come to from far and wide?

THere is a block in the "fancy" section of East Grand Rapids that everyone calls the "Halloween Block" and they go all out. The news even reported on their trick or treaters, saying that 2,000 kids are the usual traffic, MSN picked it up. I hope the link works but I'm having some trouble with it. I'd say that was a destination neighborhood and some come just for the decorations, they all say they're just trying to make things fun for the kids with things like a BeetleJuice theme with an actual flying human.

https://woodtv.com/news/kent-county/halloween-block-prepares-for-trick-or-treaters/

Annie

John, trick or treating is really a U.S. thing. SOme people try it here, but it's a bit of a damp squid. More successful is the old traditional Samhain party. Much more about the real dead and not a zombie LOL. TOnight the next door town has a big party to celebrate that. But, not everywhere is Celtic, obviously. In England, we have the grim reaper - here in Brittany we have l'Ankou who is the same personage. The rest of France doesn't have him. The Breton beliefs and traditions are amazing. The most important here is Toussaint - all saints and all souls. The French go to the cemeteries, clean the tombs and cover them with flowers. It's a lovely way to remember the loved ones who have gone. It's a time for big family get-togethers and it's a national holiday.

I just hit the "after Halloween" candy sale, 75% off. Oddly enough, there were none of the mini-sized candy bars, only the fun sized ones, which are at least twice the size of the mini bars.

It appears that the "fun sized" bars are still alive and well here but they cost more, of course. Maybe everyone bought the minis because they got more for their candy bowls? I bought them because I wanted the M&Ms for decorating cookies and they aren't seasonal colors, so they'll work. There were approximately 15 M&Ms per package. Amanda promptly went through the bowl and picked out all the Almond Joy while Bud stocked up on Reese's peanut butter cups.

I don't think they'll last until next Halloween, though!

Annie

Great haul, Annie!

I checked. The bags I got are both clearly marked ”Fun Size”, but they're Mars, not Hershey's. Twix and M&Ms, as well as Snickers are Mars, whose trademark ”fun size” is or was. And these ”Snickers” are just peanuts in caramel, no nougat. Do you think they're counterfeit? I should call...

I have eschewed them all in favor of Chuao Chocolatier, but I thought the trick or treaters would prefer the Snickers and M&M's...if they'd bothered to come up the stairs.

When I was a kid, the people who owned my current house would put a bushel of wrinkly apples on the front porch with a note that warned to take just one. Every year. I took one once and confirmed they were as bad as they looked. lol! I’m not sure whether any other apples were ever taken. Those fun size candies would have been a much better treat. :)

PM, we had a neighbor in White Cloud that passed out apples too. IT wasn't a big treat here in the middle of apple country, but the kids politely took one and then I'd make fried apples and biscuits for breakfast because at least they were fresh apples and still more popular than the dentist's toothbrushes, LOL.

So maybe the size designation depends on the company. There wasn't a lot of chocolate left, and nothing in mini sized, but there's still a ton of Starburst and those Sour Patch Kids, apparently not as popular. I was hoping for Milky Way, but apparently have been saved from the calories by the trick or treaters because there were none.

I always scrounged the kids' bags for licorice, which neither of them liked. Remember those black and pink taffy things? BlackJack? My Mother loved them too but they were hard to find and only occasionally showed up in the trick or treat bags. My kids HATED getting those, I think the only non-chocolate candy they really liked were Twizzlers, Laffy Taffy and Smarties.

Annie

Dentist’s toothbrushes?! omg. lol!

Great idea for using the apples, but I could only get the one.…

We could get two because had two girls, but I always had apples in the house for snacks so I could dig into our own and get enough for fried apples or an apple crisp just big enough for the three of us.

Yeah, toothbrushes. His buy back cash-for-candy was better received. (grin) That BlackJack taffy was probably TERRIBLE for my teeth, you'd think he'd stock up and consider it job security!

Annie

I don't think any of the alternatives are nice enough. The toothbrush is passive-aggressive. The boxes of raisins are at least sweet. Since I was a kid, no one around here was allowed to take treats that weren't professionally wrapped and sealed. Most of the warnings were fake, but enough to give people bad ideas. I don't know a kid who'd rather have any kind of stocking stuffer instead of candy. And they'll eat the AbbaZabbas when the rest are gone. No to the stickers.

I did call Mars this morning. The CS rep took down all the particulars. Probably not counterfeir. More likely a manufacturing issue that missed inspection. The bag does look legit. And the drawings on the bag show the normal amount os nougat. I think there's nothing wrong the M&M's except maybe a couple bags with too few. I'm pretty sure they, like everyone else, go by weight and as long as you get the full weight you paid for, a few oopsies aren't a big deal. I felt a packet today and it seemed like the normal, non-shrunken fun size. I remember a box of paperclips I bought in college. It had only 97 out of a hundred count paperclips, but three safety pins as make-weights.

John...Yes, ours is THE TOT neighborhood! Think Pollyanna, Scream, Shadow of a doubt, another Scream! The mansion has a big deal for the kids each year! We have never made it in to see it cause we're busy at our own house, and the line goes halfway around the block!

So now there's fun size and bite size? I don't buy candy but usually grab a few pieces at places that have a candy bowl out and they're teeny compared to when I was a kid, as far as I can remember.

There are one bite versions the size of medium sized box of chocolate pieces.

When I had Halloween in Fresno (I was in Moorpark this year and missed all the cute little ones). I have been giving bags of those Goldfish crackers. Last year found there were some that were pretzels - the older kids liked liked these, but the little ones were thrilled with the regular ones. Only the older teenegers - not from the neighborhood - were p....ed because I didn't have candy! Imagine! Their flouncing off didn't bother me even a minute.

I heard that the neighbors got bout 50 little ones and a few bigger ones later on; that sounds pretty the same as since COVID.

We had lots of those tiny candies - that you all mentioned - that were rediculously expensive... and then only about 20 little ones and lots left over candy. I don't remember the cost of the Goldfish ones.

Teenagers must be different here, they all LOVE getting the cheese crackers, whether they be Goldfish or pretzels or Cheez-its. They're mostly just happy with some edible food item, whether it be candy or snacks but the favorite right now seems to be the Flaming Hot Cheetos. Not for the little ones, they like candy, but the bigger kids like the snacks.

Annie