Keep your head up and stay positive! If we chose to let it die it will eventually. But as long as I walk this earth I will Haunt till the day I die! Halloween Lives and I bleed orange! lol! Take care and keep the spirit alive no matter what!

 

Yes I have to agree off and on with most of this. I too noticed many of the trends latley have been less scary. I am not sure if this is because parents want things "less scary" or if glittered skeletons really are trendy. I mean I have seen elements to help make SOME scary scenes but nothing gory.

I think spirit and online retailers usually have MORE scary elements versus the smaller stores.

As far as trick or treators, I have noticed it all depends on the area. My neighborhood used to have HUNDREDS of kids and teens. Not anymore, lucky if we get like 20-35 people. This was about 10 years ago when there were tons of people out. I think it's a combination of the following: Kids grow up, move out of parents house, parents still live in the same house, kids have grandkids and the grandparents go to their kids houses, ie...different area for trick or treat. I think thats why certain neighborhoods have less trick or treat.

Also parties can be a large reason why there are not as many people out. Again some people on here say TOT varies from tons, none, a little, 10-50 ..it all depends.

 

Trick-or-treat, which used to be the primary activity of Halloween in the later 20th century, is no longer a good indicator of the holidays health.

Adam is right - TOT depends entirely on neighborhoods, the night of the holiday, whether there are sidewalks or a school nearby, traffic, lots of things.

Halloween is way bigger than trick-or-treat these days.
The decor you see, the stuff that isn't as scary or horrifying as you might like, is a sign of the holidays growth. It is big with adults now, who want all sorts of variety - classy, spooky harvest, witchy, cartoony, gothic, morbid, colorful, country kitch and everything in between.

You know, like Christmas - a style for everyone.

I've mentioned in other threads how sideswiped trend forecasters and designers were last year when they released their Halloween forecast for the market - color trends, motifs, popular icons and styles, etc. It was hugely popular, and people want more, more, more.

When I was a kid Halloween was half a grocery store aisle of candy and plastic cartoon outfits with molded masks. Now, there are giant Halloween stores that open all across the country.
Party suppliers like Party City completely transform for the holiday.
Parties are everywhere, haunted attractions are numerous, dinner parties are all the rage and yes, kids still go trick-or-treating in many areas, by the thousands.

Halloween is more popular than ever, despite the fears of a tiny minority, and the creepy fun, the magic, the nostalgia, the costuming and the revelry shows no signs of slowing down.
In fact, it is getting bigger every year.

There is a rumor that Halloween is the second largest holiday for spending in the US. Not true, unfortunately (check Snopes.com for this) as gift-giving holidays like Valentines and Mothers Day still beat it, but many financial sources say it not only grows every year, despite economic troubles, it is also enjoying a revival (slowly but surely) in it's birthplace - Ireland, Scotland and England. The European continent is seeing it in France and Germany, and more people celebrate it as more politicians cry out against this new american festivity, with it's ghoulery and its candy-begging.

Halloween is still good to go.
So light your lantern, grab your spade, pick a grave and start diggin'!

 

Halloween's supposed to be about being scared. The trouble is a lot of Parents, seem to wrap up their little darlings in cotton wool and shield them from everything they deem inappropriate. I think it's rude of them to comment about it in the first place. If they don't like it then don't go to your house!

You do Halloween how you want it, don't let other people's opinions bother you. Keep the tradition alive and don't let narrow minded idiots ruin the day we love so much

 

I mirror Spats' sentiments exactly!

Around these parts, I get 10 TOTs max. New neighborhood is highly rural, so I doubt we'll get much more...probably less, if any. But I'm still going to put up a display and invite friends over. I love getting TOTs but that's not the sole reason I enjoy Halloween or decorate for it...I suppose that is the same for many people. And has been said, kids grow up and move to different neighborhoods, have kids of their own...the big TOTing epicentres seem to crawl around in that respect.

Parents' attitudes can be insane, and I do agree this overprotective mollycoddling is not doing the holiday any favours, but Halloween still continues to grow and evolve despite their nefarious efforts

 

I totally agree with everyones comments. Last year I bought a bunch of candy after moving into an apartment because when I was a kid, apartment complexes usually had tons of people giving out candy. But last year I had no one knock at all. So it really does depend on your area. I live by an old church that does a sorta candy party in which they call it an alternative to TOT. But I love Halloween and I'll always decorate and keep the the traditions alive. No ones opinions will ever change that.

 

It does depend on the neighborhood. Some are packed others not so much.

My beef is how schools have pretty much wiped out the whole Halloween holiday. I'm sure some do something but none around me. So I make sure my son and soon to be baby, will enjoy Halloween like I did-decorations-trick or treating-scary movies-parties.

I think the Halloween spirit is still alive and kicking. I see many retailers with aisles and aisles of goods and whole magazines devoting all of their pages the cause.

 

I have been doing this for a much longer time than most here. I remember a time when I was fortunate to get a store bought superman costume made of the cheesyist painted on cotton fabric with a poorly made half shell plastic mask with a rubberband holding it on. TOTing was the only thing to do. There were few if any parties or haunts and no neighbors with fantastic displays. I have seen the holiday grow exponentially in the last 10 years. But all the numbers are based on money spent on the holiday. It used to be about the kids and the fun they had. Next it was an adult holiday too . Now it is more and more an adult only holiday. The kids seem left out. We have become so paranoid about the crazies out there that we shelter our children from everything. I don't know, maybe it is a necessity in this day and age. I would rather think that it is a knee-jerk reaction to all the media hype about a very few isolated incidents. Case-in-point the Millenia bug or Iraq's WMDs. There is no answer for the common individual. Demographics will change. We just have to try to push Halloween in a healthy way. A way that allows us our creative canvas for the holiday we all love. It is not about the money. It is about the fun, for all ages!

I do have one thing to say to those of you that love the blood and guts and gore side of the holiday. If you were to drive up on an accident, where all the people had been thrown from the cars with their body parts scattered everywhere and blood covering everything in sight, would you take your children for a walk through the scene while stopping to closely examine the worst of the carnage and maybe hold your kids there so that they would not get away from you? I guess I am not as much into that side of Halloween as some here are. I love a good scare that is driven by make believe. I still worry about the thing under the bed. I can however show my kids that things like this do not exist outside of our own minds. I can't show my kids that the real wackos of this world don't exist. I sure don't want to keep reassuring them that they do! We all have to decide what is too far and what is real and what is not. We as haunt builders have to decide which audience we are playing to! Sorry about the preaching, I should have left it for my blog! HAPPY HALLOWEEN

 

I guess I'd agree that I do see the holiday growing in some ways. But like some said, schools take dressing up away and trick or treaters vanish! I guess there is a reason for everything though. I never thought much about people growing up and parents staying in their homes... I just hope that when I move again I'll be in a neighborhood with more trick or treaters! For now though I'll just keep throwing my yearly Halloween bash and be happy about that

I hear chain stores are going to be taking a bigger approach to Halloween this year. Let's hope that's true! There used to be a Spirit here every year, but last year they moved away

 

Hell with it!

I agree! Most of the parents are a bit younger then me and tend to be too “organic” for my tastes. I was in Kmart yesterday scouting Halloween decorations and there was a 30ish lady trying so desperately to get her little Johnny not to scream and yell with her logical rants, its was sad as all little Johnny did was get more upset! One cannot be logical with a 5 year old, IMHO, anyhow my rant is over………..

As my tastes have grow for Halloween and my yard has grown WAY OUT OF CONTROL, so have my likes for the “scarier” props and I have about 7 airblown yard decorations that have not come out of the box in 3 years as they just don’t “fit” in my graveyard scene. Last year I got SO MANY compliments on how scary my yard was. But there was one 30ish family with a boy I am taking it as his dad called him Eli, I overheard him tell his son that he will not be partaking anyone who worships Satan and will NOT be going to “that house”………………..REALLY??? Now I worship Satan, WTH??
As I am in the final planning stages of my yard this year, my daughter who is 18 mentioned to me that this is going to be way scary and most of the little kids and they wont be ToTing at my house this year. I paused for a second or two and thought about it, do I really want to worship Satan, BLA! I am going to SACRE THE HELL out of my ToTers this year! I think its all about having safe fun! I am about 80% done with the music and close to my final set up, now I just need to get building! I say to all of the little Eli parents out there is ……BOO!!!!!!!! Don’t like it don’t come, more candy for the other ToTers!

 

Seems many young parents these days are creating future generations of whimps and whiners... a society that doesn't understand the word NO and calls for an ambulence over a paper cut... feeling entitled to anything without working for or earning what is given to them.

Basically spoiled brats.

George Carlin best described this trend about bicycle helmets and survival of the fittest.

Yeah I know gonna step on some toes with this. LOL

 

I agree 100%. I saw a kid the other day wearing a helmet with elbow and knee pads.

 

I would agree that there seems to be less good Halloween supplies at stores. I have found myself going from store to store to find or gather what I think I need.

as for kids trick or treating? No decrease where I am at. Last year I went through 500 pieces of candy (1 per kid). I upgraded to a new home/street in November, and my new neighbors are informing me to expect at least 800 kids to pass through, more if the day is nice.

As for the spirit of Halloween...it depends on the area sadly. I am lucky...new neighborhood is bit on Halloween and Christmas. The house on the corner (4 houses down from me) have a "Monster Mash" party in their yard every Halloween. They put out a ton of props, and their whole family and friends (normally a dozen people) dress up to the hilt and party out. Last year I was told there were hundreds of kids/families watching and checking it out.

House across the street is all about scaring and put up a Haunted House in the driveway (very large driveway). He puts up walls, tarps them over, and has a maze with stuff to scare the kids.


The spirit of Halloween is alive in my town (or street rather).

The biggest problem I see is the attempts of our culture (in the USA) to make Halloween a Rated G Pixar movie event. Sometime in the 80's I think is when the marketing/media in America started to take the "scare" and "Tricks" out of Halloween. Costumes are not "scary" anymore. Instead of seeiing devils, ghosts, etc., I see princess's, comic book hero's, or hippies (had 30 hippies last year come through). It is all becoming a G rated affair.

 

And we imagined that the little 7 year old boy dressed as a pink M&M had to be the parents' idea pushed onto them as well.
OK seriously this made me laugh out loud .

If you look in a lot of stores the gory stuff has been replaced with glittery decorations and the selection is now very, very limited.
HEy Hey hey...dont hate on the glitterty decorations, we all know how much Spookilicious loves her glitter

Ok back to why you wrote this...I totally see what you are saying. There are not nearly as many TOT in my neighborhood as well. I found however when I started to do the walk through haunt that many more TOT came each year. Now we are sort of known for it and we get a quite a few. But the other blocks where maybe dont have but some decorations in their yard get very few TOT. It seems by 8 or 9 streets are empty Its quite sad how its changed since I was young.
However we as present day Haunters need to keep the spirit alive. I was just telling my husband wouldnt it be great if in the future one of the TOT's become a haunter because they had so much fun going through our house!! Then my job was done Try to keep a positive attitude and hopefully things will turn around. For the record I do not do glittery on the outside of my house. It is all tombstones and crypts and creatures....my sons tell me they have a reputation to uphold LOL I do however love me a glitter skelley so I save all my vintage and glittery finds for the inside of my house. The boys have given me permission to go crazy there, LOL the outside however is off limits to my glittery friends

 

Careful, gang.

I'll start quoting scholars from the 12th century AD, or even the 8th century BC, quotes complaining how useless and self entitled and spoiled the youth were in their day.

Try not to be one of the people who fall in the trap of "these kids today", which not only blames kids but their parents and their "poor upbringing".

For generations, we have seen our youth as lazy, rude, spoiled and over-protected with no real work ethic and a sense of entitlement, depending who you ask, and for generations kids have seen their elders as stagnant, ignorant, fearful and lacking in wisdom.

Both groups are dependably incorrect, and have been for centuries.

 

Yeah dang these kids today with their new fangled eletric lights and wearing shoes.

 

Like many home haunters, Halloween to me has always been (and always will be) about trick or treaters on Halloween night. I will go to a few haunted houses during the Halloween season, but never on Halloween night itself. Especially to stand in line for 2 hours for a 5 minute walk through haunt that costs $20 to get in. Nor will I go to a Halloween party on Halloween night. It seems strange to me that people have events that take you away from the real event of Halloween night. At least the real event to me. But a lot of people do this. They go out for Halloween...?

I'm not knocking anyone who throws a Halloween party on Halloween night - it's really kind of the best of both worlds. You have your party and the potential for trick or treaters to stop by. I just personally prefer to "haunt my own house" instead of going out.

 

I am sad to hear that some of my fellow haunters are having such low trick-or-treater turnout. I would venture to say that everyone on this forum offers trick-or-treaters an above average Halloween night experience.

This is a topic that strikes at one of my core Halloween values. Today’s trick-or-treaters are tomorrows haunters. They need to be awed and spooked on Halloween and thus inspired. I hope we the Halloween community are providing the trick-or-treater (and their parents) with an experience that cannot be ignored, reset, or turned off.

Some of my fondest childhood memories are of Halloween night and tick-or-treating. Had I not been spooked and scared by the few haunters in my hometown that went over the top I might not spend most of the year thinking about ways to build it bigger, better, and more realistic. Most of us on this site spend our time, talents, and money creating an experience that we hope is unforgettable.

My wife and I promote Halloween year round with the kids in the neighborhood and my efforts thus far have been rewarded. This year will be our fourth Halloween in our current home. The first year we had about 30 trick-or-treaters. Each year we have had more and last year we had a couple of hundred people come by the house. I think my yard display has gotten better over the years. I think other key factors to our increased success has been getting the other houses on our street to participate on Halloween night. My display / haunt is ever evolving and growing just like everyone else’s here. I try my best and hope that in some way I am inspiring (spooking) one or two of those kids who visit into eventually doing what we all do.

The point of my post in short is to encourage and thank all of you who put up a skeleton, a tombstone or carve a pumpkin. My hope is that we keep inspiring the trick-or-treaters who visit our homes and that we keep inspiring each other.

 

Halloween is now almost nonexistent where I live, it seems. Most of the people didn't decorate last year, nor did they hand out candy. We had such a miniscule turnout compared to prior years, but I can kind of understand it; why waste time going down a street where hardly anyone bothers to put a porch light on when they can take the kids to a better area where people care? It's almost like last Halloween never happened, since I don't even have pictures to prove that I decorated, thanks to CVS D@mn, this is depressing... Sorry

 

I sure am glad I do not have this problem, every year we buy more and more candy and every year it's all gone. Trick or treat and Halloween is alive and well in Michigan.

 

I'd love to live in Michigan and get ToTs. That'd be cool.

 

I think the tots ya get depend on where you live... We live out in the middle of the boondocks and never get any tots. We lived in a small town when I grew up- less than 1/4 acre between houses- and there were a ton of us local kids going around. But now at that same small town there are so many people driving there to tot you cant even walk the streets cause you will get run over by some crazy mom driving her kids and stopping every 20 feet. I don't know if they are lazy or if they are just worried about safety? Things will always be changing I guess.

If the parents think your haunt is too scary they reserve the right to move on and get away from your property!! I hate when people do that. It's always good that they come up to your house to complain about it being too scary, yet they have brought their kids (who were the concern for it being scary) with them up to the house... That hurt just trying to figure it out in my head let alone horribly butchering it onto the keyboard... Sorry

 

The ones of you with TOT's are so lucky. My neighborhood has mixed ages and such, but it seems that they have no holiday spirit at all. And I mean, no spirit for ANY holiday. Only my house and a couple others decorate for Christmas, and I swear me and only one other neighbor even decorate for Halloween. My road doesn't have TOT's, but it's actually a good thing, I live on a VERY busy road, and there's no sidewalk, not safe for the kids anyhow.

I usually go over to the next town where my mom & step-dad live, and pass out candy with them. They get TONS of kids coming through. I love it soo much Makes me feel like a kid again. BUT!! One thing I notice that I CANNOT stand, is the RUDE kids. Unfortunately it seems like the majority of the kids have no manners, and what's up with just walking up and sticking your little bags out, and not saying 'trick or treat!!'???!!! They just look at you like, 'can I have my candy now?'. Grrr lol. That drives me nuts.

Anyhow, none of us should give up hope. I agree with the whole, it depends on where you live thing. My hubby & I are hopefully moving back to our home town about 10 miles away, and my home town has tons of kids that TOT. I love it

 

I never seem to get TOTs unfortunately, but I still decorate and I do go out with my daughter but I stay in the shadows and let her get on with it, I also will not let her knock if a house has no decorations up as everyone is entitled to their privacy. She never tricks and we always have a spooky themed party afterwards with our friends. I'd love to live in a street where everyone celebrates but beggars can't be choosers.We make the best of a boring neighborhood at Halloween!

 

It's the sissification of America. I think I just created a new word. But, it's true. Political correctness has killed so much of the American "spirit". We shun anything that might be offensive or remotely uncomfortable for the MINORITY who will be offended by just about everything. Political correctness has dampened our ingenuity, squelched expression and tampered with time honored traditions we hold dear. Halloween is just another victim of the times.

 

I have mix feeling about how everyone see Halloween. I used to have a best friend and she was Bible-thumping at me about how wrong celebrating Halloween is. She used to celebrate it with me when we were young, she claim she didnt know what she was celebrating and now that "she knows" (rolling my eyes) this wont be happening. How dumb can she be?

again, everyone is correct about the reasons and some of the reasons will always will make us scratch our head.

 

I don't usually decorate my house - I have decorated my friend's house in the past. The situation has changed and I'm doing my place this year. The problem is that my neighborhood isn't the most active on Halloween. I talked to all of my neighbors and encouraged them to decorate and support the holiday. I also plan on putting up signs at the major entrance points to my neighborhood to get people over. I hope it works.