Trick or Treat...During Mandated Hours Only?!?!?!?!

Between 3 and 5? What the heck? I can sort of see setting a curfew at 9 or 10 so people can go to sleep without the doorbell ringing incessantly, but calling it quits before it even starts to get dark is ridiculous!

We have had this in our town for a few years now. I think its awful. Ours goes from 6:00pm to 7pm. We are told by the township they do this to keep kids from hitting houses twice. What i have found is everyone in such a hurry they are pushing and shoving knocking down the little ones trying to get to all the houses before the siren goes off and doors are shut. Not to mention no time to enjoy the great displays some of the houses have up. They do shut down all the streets in the main part of town but imagine getting hit by over 500 trick or treaters in an hour! Its maddness.

I think it's for a downtown toting event isn't it? Not neighborhoods and Halloween in general. Live in BC so just what I noted being mentioned on the local Seattle news.

In my town, ToT hours are 4 pm to 8 pm. However, it is an honor system. There are no curfew sirens and I've never heard of anyone being detained for violations.

Last time I checked...this is America and that type of curfew sounds....unenforceable. ..tell them to toss off.

It's ruined in the daytime before it gets dark. I barely get finished setting up before it's dark and before the first trick or treaters.

I just read this in the paper today. Ugh. They are trying to 'phase out' trick-or-treating? What?!?

http://www.timesleader.com/news/editorial/50506757/OUR-VIEW-Is-costume-tradition-nearing-end

We've always had assigned? hours of 6 to 8 pm... but at least I am thankful our town does do trick-or-treat ON Halloween. A lot of towns around us do it other nights, so that these small patch towns can share police and emergency services if needed. I can't imagine trick-or-treating on some other night.

ours is 5 to 8..and always on a weekend...sigh...oh and you can only go to homes with a porch light on..

Wolfman said:

My son lives in Lakewood, Wa, a suburb of Tacoma. Speaking with him today, he noted that certain areas of the Seattle-Tacoma area are going to implement "hours" during which Trick or Treating will be allowed. In one area, the designated time is between 3:00 and 5:00 PM. WHAAATTT?
He's going to ignore it, of course, but, WHAT IS GOING ON, AMERICA?
Is anyone else here facing Draconian measures in their area to eradicate the Best Holiday of the Year?

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Seattle is a cesspool of socialism. Not at all surprising.

6-8 p.m. here and while it's not necessarily enforced, it seems as though as soon as it hits 8 p.m., the kids just quit coming. We'll run the haunt until 8:30 as it's a Friday night but don't anticipate a large crowd after 8 p.m. I think if they ever moved it to daytime hours, I'd pack it in and just stop haunting.

It's the Big Brother Syndrome. Let's hope it doesn't catch on.

Strange, The Emerald City used to be regarded as a fun place to live. But I recall, maybe ten years ago, they tried to banHalloween altogether because it was "unfair" to members of the Wiccan Community.

And that ridiculous 3:00 to 5:00 curfew is, I believe, limited to a certain district only. Hey, kids don't even get off school until 3:00!

My mom said that when she was little everyone Trick or Treated well into the night - 11:00pm and even later!

Cannot believe a curfew before it's even dark. The shame. I can't.

Why are we letting ANY of this be controlled to begin with?

jdubbya said:

6-8 p.m. here and while it's not necessarily enforced, it seems as though as soon as it hits 8 p.m., the kids just quit coming. We'll run the haunt until 8:30 as it's a Friday night but don't anticipate a large crowd after 8 p.m. I think if they ever moved it to daytime hours, I'd pack it in and just stop haunting.

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You are right, it seems that at 8pm the kids just stop coming. Actuually it really slows down about a half hour before. I wouldnt care if they came at 9. In fact we keep the front door open and wait around HOPING for more kids. heck, we even hand out candy to the adults if they want it

We have SO MANY memories of stuff that happened in our haunts late, late in the evening. One year one of scare actors drank too much wine and passed out. Huge Samoan guy, well over 300 lbs. We couldn't wake him up, he was too big to move, so we left him in his room, snoring. He became "Deviated Septum Man", it was hilarious! We'd get kids, done Trick or Treating for the night, come back and volunteer to be in the haunt. That's how we got the twin girls from "The Shining". Covered in blood, staring from the end of a hallway repeating, "Come play with us...", a huge hit.
An awesome haunt becomes a gathering place for the entire neighbourhood. With a curfew, you lose that.

This topic gets brought up every year. A scheduled ToT time is common practice in certain parts of the country. Has been for years. My Dad said it was this way even when he was a kid. I grew up with this as well. For those of us that have lived with it, it's not that big a deal. Really. 2 - 3 hours of ToTing was always enough. It wasn't like you were not allowed to be out or allowed to do anything like have a party or what not.

Wolfman said:

My son lives in Lakewood, Wa, a suburb of Tacoma. Speaking with him today, he noted that certain areas of the Seattle-Tacoma area are going to implement "hours" during which Trick or Treating will be allowed. In one area, the designated time is between 3:00 and 5:00 PM. WHAAATTT?
He's going to ignore it, of course, but, WHAT IS GOING ON, AMERICA?
Is anyone else here facing Draconian measures in their area to eradicate the Best Holiday of the Year?

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Oh Man....How lameO!

ironmaiden said:

Growing up in So Calif. I went ToT at no set time. You would just kinda' wait til it began to get dark and see who would be the first one to hit the streets. After the first and second kid came to your house then you would grab your bag and hit the road.
I would stay out until after 9:00, that is when folks would start to shut off the lights. generally it would be about 3 hours of ToT

Now, when I moved to NH I was horrified to discover each town set the date AND time for ToT. And back in the 80's that was generally the Sunday BEFORE Halloween with set daylight hours i.e 1:00 - 4:00.

Then about 2001 things began to change. Towns moved their ToT back to the 31st and changed the hours to evening.

For example, my town is 6-8pm. Believe me, not ideal but we'll take it for sure!!
Only one town, Auburn, has ToT the Sunday before and still 1- 4pm.
Several towns near the NH seacoast have it on the 30th but at least it is dark

Oh and the reason for the many, many years of daylight, weekend ToT? The natives explained that after the panic following the Tylenol poisonings in 1982 everything changed. An entire generation grew up never knowing the joy of a true Halloween.

Like I said, the set hours are not what I'd choose but it's fantastic that at least it's in the dark and back on the right day

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Arghh Why Do PeopLe Ruin A Goodthing?