s/o Trick or treating

[HermioneGranger]

For me the "appropriate age" for kids ToT'ing is when they can walk not when they will speak "trick or treat" to strangers.  While I like seeing itty bitty babies in silly costumes, I dislike giving then candy since its quite clear I'm giving their fully grown adult parents candy not the kids.  But a little tyke walking and holding a sack?  Bring 'em on!

Of course I do still try to trick them (the cutest thing ever was the look on an about 4 year old's face when I pretended I was going to put my cat in his treat bag "and here's a pet for you!")

I agree with all of this.  I know our neighbors love seeing the little neighbors all dressed up.  I usually have some lollipops for the 3 and under crowd.

But I honestly don't know what I'm supposed to do when an adult comes to my door with a 4 month old and a trick or treat bag.  I have a neighbor who ignores the bag and says "Oh, how sweet.  Thanks for stopping bye so we could enjoy the costume.  Have a great night." and closes the door without offering candy.

I think your neighbour is just fine.  A baby this young is obviously not going to be eating any treats, and many people consider Halloween treats to be for children, not adults.

We have a neighbor that expected candy a few years ago for their infant twins.  Who had no teeth yet.  I would have loved to say that, but it would have started a war.  We just chalked it up as yet another example of their entitlement. 

[Jones]

Lollypops are a great teether...gush about it while giving out the Dum Dums.

The parents will be grateful as their children happily suck the candy through the pain.

Then the fun begins as the sugar hyped younglings race about all night. 

[Yvaine]

He not only said it for her, he sang the whole "trick or treat" rhyme.

There's a rhyme? Is this the one with "smell my feet, give me something good to eat"? If not, then I've never even heard of it! 

[snowdragon]

He not only said it for her, he sang the whole "trick or treat" rhyme.

There's a rhyme? Is this the one with "smell my feet, give me something good to eat"? If not, then I've never even heard of it! 

That's the one.

[Outdoor Girl]

I get the biggest kick out of the little ones, whether or not they say trick or treat.  I have no problem handing over candy to the adult who brought their adorable 6 month old in costume for me to see, whether or not the adult was in costume.

Your plan to only go to 5 or 6 houses, mainly just to show off how cute she is?  Totally fine.  Doing a complete tour of the neighbourhood,  collecting 3 bags of candy that she won't eat on her own?  Not so much.  I had one women, no costume, going around with two bags one year, collecting candy 'for her twins who were home sick'.  I normally give out two or three of the snack sized chocolate bars or candies.  I put one in each bag so I didn't have to argue with her and sent her on her way.  Even if her story was true, seriously?  Buy them their own candy.  The whole point is so that I get to reward the kids for showing me their costumes.

[Piratelvr1121]

I love to dress up to take the boys out ToT'ing. I don't expect candy, though I have had it offered to me.  Sometimes I accept, sometimes I don't, depending on how desperate I am for chocolate.  LOL. 

[pearls n purls]

I also love to see the little ones dressed up.

You might want to have her "practice" before you go out.  Last Halloween, a tiny boy walked right in when I opened the door.  I'm sure he's not used to just standing on the doorstep after ringing the bell.

[Outdoor Girl]

I also love to see the little ones dressed up.

You might want to have her "practice" before you go out.  Last Halloween, a tiny boy walked right in when I opened the door.  I'm sure he's not used to just standing on the doorstep after ringing the bell.

That's hilarious!

[Green Bean]

I, too, love to see the little ones in their itty bitty costumes. Cool homemade ones and little people are the fun ones.
I took my older daughter our her first Halloween at just 6 weeks, to just a few friendly neighbors. I didn't expect candy and probably didn't even have a bag. Some offered candy, though.

As I think about it further, though, it's never too early to take a child that will enjoy it. A few years ago I decorated my 39 wk belly as a pumpkin while I took the older one ToT. You'd be surprised how many people offered me candy for "coming in costume".

[ClaireC79]

I loved a photo I saw recently, a woman had a baby in a black baby carrier on her front - she'd stuck legs to the carrier and wore a white dress with black lines on it - the baby was the spider and she was his web

[Knitterly]

I loved a photo I saw recently, a woman had a baby in a black baby carrier on her front - she'd stuck legs to the carrier and wore a white dress with black lines on it - the baby was the spider and she was his web

That's exactly what LK and I did last year while we handed out candy at the door.  I also painted additional spiderweb lines on my face and put little spiders in my hair.  It was great!    

[Peregrine]

Heck, I took my little guy trick or treating to the two neighbors last year, he was a nine month old viking....complete with horns and a dagger that he was happily teething on.  I let him have a kit kat bar for his halloween treat which he enjoyed with complete abandon....so it's not out of the realm of reason that a little one will eat the candy.  I just let him have a piece every couple of days, and since we only went to two houses there wasn't much to eat.

He is 22 months old for this Halloween and while my little Steampunk toddler can walk up and down steps by himself and press doorbells he genuinely is unable to speak intelligably beyond Mama, Dada, Kitty, Doggy and Ducky.....So no "Trick or Treats" from him.  I just happen to think he is the cutest thing ever in his little ascot and tophat complete with home made goggles and I like to show him off....He's a total flirt and will wave to everyone and dispense the biggest grin.  I don't really think I'm doing anything wrong by taking him out.  I will, of course, thank everyone on his behalf and have him wave.

[Knitterly]

So we did take her out and ended up doing way more houses than we expected to.  She really got into it - although a few times she thought we were actually going to visit people and tried going into their homes.

Pretty much everyone thought she was adorable and I now know a few neighbours on a first name basis that I did not know before.

I'm really glad I did it.  A lot of the neighbours seemed to anticipate the smaller kids and had a separate batch of treats appropriate for littler kids (things like welchs fruit snacks - which she LOVES - and juice boxes).  Someone even had mum-mum snacks for the babies, so obviously they seemed to expect it.  I loved that idea so much that I've tucked it away in my mind for next year.

We tried doing an indoor trick or treat thing at the mall, but that didn't work out.  It was supposed to run from 5pm-7pm for children up to 10 years old.  Unfortunately, according to several store employees, kids started trick or treating there at 4pm and they felt obliged to hand out candy.  So when we got there at 5:10pm, almost every store was all out of candy.  Very disappointing.  Too many screaming and badly behaved (older) kids there, too. 

The neighbourhood thing was lots of fun, in spite of the rain.  I found that most of the other kids on the street were well-behaved and considerate of the smaller ones. 

It was my own first time trick or treating, too.  Very fun!!

[NyaChan]

My mom loves the little trick or treaters, especially since the older kids (13+ ish) have that air of being over it.  I called last night and she was telling me that the little ones are always so appreciative and surprised that people will give them candy, but the older ones often just expect it as their due for showing up.

[Jones]

Boo Bear was so excited....one of the neighbors gave him a rubber ducky in lieu of candy.