[hopelesslyinsane]

I want to play a few harmless tricks on my TOTs this year. Gotta earn that candy somehow My house is going to be covered in spiderwebs so I'm thinking of hanging clear strings from the ceiling of my porch to brush against them. My other thought was a jumping or remote controlled spider to give a little scare. We have a cheap drone too that I want to put a ghost on and have it fly all over the neighborhood but my boyfriend complains that's too much work, lol.

Do you play lighthearted tricks on your TOTs? What pranks do you pull?

 

[BR1MSTON3]

My son wears an all black morph suit and hides in the shadows, depending on the age of the kid he waits till they pass and stands behind them. Sometimes he goes for the parents!

 

[Plastic Ninja]

A very long time a go my dad set up a fishing line strand like you mentioned near the spider section of my display. It went really well, and spooked the crap out of people who were really scared of spiders.

 

[Madame Leota]

No, I just follow the old tradition of buying them off with treats so that they don't trick us!

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

This is one of those "Rare" things, but it DID HAPPEN, i Know, because it happened to ME!
Sweating profusely working to get things done in the JC Haunted house, as I walked through some Fish Line, my sweaty eye lid caught ahold of the fish line and did not want to let me go ! Very painful!
But playing the odds.. this might only ever happen very rarely.
I would think that with costumes on most would never even feel this Effect.

 

[HalloCat]

We have done the jump scare effect with my son dressed as a werewolf all still among prop werewolves and had mild success (hard to judge who should be 'jumped' as we have lots of very young families and I don't want them traumatized lol). Only did it one Halloween as I'm paranoid that someone might react with a punch instead of a scream lol. I like the fishing line effect but I agree that elaborate costumed TOT's may not even feel it. My only other trick is putting things like plastic bugs and rats mixed in with the candy so some get goodies and some get tricks.

 

[PunkinGal]

The "trick" we like to play is on older kids who expect candy with no costumes! No costume = no candy at our house. One year we tossed ketchup packets in the bags of high schoolers who TOT'd without costumes!

 

[A Guy In Town]

What? No chunks of coal laying around?

 

[Pumpkin215]

Not really a "trick" but for the older kids, I like to act confused as to why they are at my door.

The house is decked out and I'm in costume but I treat them as any solicitor.

"Yes? Can I help you?" *looking confused at their costumes....as if they are the weird ones*

"Trick or treat!, we want candy, etc"

"What does that mean? I already have insurance/vacuum cleaner/found Jesus. You want candy? You shouldn't take that from strangers. What do I get out of it?"

Keep acting confused. Doing this in full costume is a blast. When they point out my costume, I just claim that it is everyday wear.

 

[Pumpkin215]

No candy = no costume is a hard rule at my house! (I meant to do this in response to another poster but now I can't figure out how to delete the post)

 

[hopelesslyinsane]

This is one of those "Rare" things, but it DID HAPPEN, i Know, because it happened to ME!
Sweating profusely working to get things done in the JC Haunted house, as I walked through some Fish Line, my sweaty eye lid caught ahold of the fish line and did not want to let me go ! Very painful!
But playing the odds.. this might only ever happen very rarely.
I would think that with costumes on most would never even feel this Effect.

Oh no! I didn't even know that this was a thing that could happen! Was your eye ok in the end? I don't want to blind someone.

Not really a "trick" but for the older kids, I like to act confused as to why they are at my door.

The house is decked out and I'm in costume but I treat them as any solicitor.

"Yes? Can I help you?" *looking confused at their costumes....as if they are the weird ones*

"Trick or treat!, we want candy, etc"

"What does that mean? I already have insurance/vacuum cleaner/found Jesus. You want candy? You shouldn't take that from strangers. What do I get out of it?"

Keep acting confused. Doing this in full costume is a blast. When they point out my costume, I just claim that it is everyday wear.

I understand the no costume = no candy rule although I have never had a kid try to pull it on me but I would feel bad not giving someone candy just because they are older. I went trick-or-treating until I was 17 and no one ever batted an eye at me.

 

[Frankie's Girl]

The idea that kids not in costume don't get candy or there is some age limit to TOTing comes up almost every year and I still don't get it. It's Halloween.

Would it hurt anyone to give them a few pieces of candy and wish them a Happy Halloween with a big smile on your face? And maybe those same kids will try to make a costume next year, or get some ideas from some of the decorations and stay home and make their own stuff and expand the Halloween love in your area... we're supposed to be showing how awesome Halloween can be, not punishing kids with too little money or worried their friends will make fun of them, or just on the cusp of becoming an adult and maybe trying to stay a kid for just a little longer after all...

I don't care if they are babies in strollers, no costumes, full grown adults - if they say the magic words (or their parent does for the ones that can't talk yet), they get candy and a very sincere "Happy Halloween" at my house.

Anyway.

We prank the kids sometimes by having the husband in full costume out in the graveyard standing perfectly still so they think he's just one of the props. He does this usually in a Michael Myers costume. There are usually several other full size mannequin type props out there too so we've definitely gotten some great scares from the older kids. Especially the ones that say "oh that's not scary!" - he slowly turns his head, then takes several fast steps right towards them, and those not so scared kids are the ones that scream the loudest.

I sit off to the side to man the candy bucket and warn him to stay still when it is really small TOTs so they don't get extremely frightened.

We also have several props that we can hide in our tree as it has a branch about 6 foot above the ground, like a sound activated spider that drops down on a line. So if the TOTs come up and are laughing loudly or call out for their friends, it's RIGHT THERE in their face when it triggers. Lots of shrieks when that happens.

 

[hopelesslyinsane]

I thought it over and remembered I had one kid 2 years ago who was just in a Creeper hoodie from Minecraft. But I made a joke about the game and he got super excited a "grown up" not only knew the reference but had played the game. I also gave out candy to adults last year mainly because I didn't want a bunch of candy in my house cause I'd be the one eating it! I think Frankie's Girl is right in that everyone should get candy.

Loving the tricks so far! I wish I could pull the ol' "is that a dummy or a person" but I'm not patient enough to sit still.