I think Hallowe'en here is a bust.

[cherydactyl]

We got out first group of kids at 6:10 pm EDT, as my kids were heading out with their dad. Let me rephrase that, we got our only group of kids so far at 6:10 pm. It is now 7 pm EDT.

At least I'm rocking out in my black dress and cape.

ETA: I just got a second group of kids (2, for a total of 7 kids tonight so far). It is now 7:04 EDT. They are being driven around in a minivan, from house to house, curb to curb service. I tell you truly.

ETA2: Now it's about 7:30. There has been a couple of pairs of little kids and one mondo group of about 20 or 25 of age 1 to late teens. One 8- or 9-year-old had a really well-done tin man outfit made of grey foam, and there were some excellent teenage witches in full green makeup. It's still been very, very light traffic, perhaps slightly more than 30 people so far.

Comments

[the_rck]

We've had a pretty thin night here, too. Scott's of the opinion that it's all the empty houses. David suggested that it's the change in Daylight Savings meaning that it stayed light longer and people started later.

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

Empty houses? Are there unoccupied houses on your street?

[the_rck]

There are some. Scott believes that there've been a number of foreclosures. I don't know if that's his speculation or if he's talked to people who know (or suspect). Our neighborhood is full of starter houses. We tend to get people moving in who're either retiring and buying down or who're buying their first house.

Neither happening so much in this market.

[train-gamer.livejournal.com]

We started out slow here in Cleveland, but picked up about 6:25. I ended up with over 100 trick-or-treaters (estimate based on running out of my box of 80 rock-candy sticks about 7:30).

But that's actually pretty standard for this neighborhood. Solid middle class, stable, few vacant houses.

And yes, I know that many of these kids aren't from the neighborhood, but I don't care. If I can show them, even on one day, that their color or costume quality or home location doesn't matter, then I've succeeded. All I ask is that they (or guardian if they're too young) say trick or treat, and thank me for my contribution. I don't think that's asking too much.

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

Is this abnormally light for your neighborhood?

(And I can't believe those kids were climbing back into a van to be driving 50 feet down to the next house. What is wrong with their parents? They could have had the van shadow them.)

[cherydactyl.livejournal.com]

It's lighter than normal. We usually have around 50 kids. (My block is unfortunately light on kid-friendly places that give out stuff...many of my neighbors seem to either be curmudgeons or they go out on Halloween. so they seem to skip our block in favor of higher yield areas. sigh) This time is was under 40 total. Yet another reason I want to move out of here.

And I totally agree about the van. I was completely flabbergasted at that.

[surakofb5.livejournal.com]

I lost count, but I probably had around 50-60, which is a good year for me, considering I've had as few as 15. There were more kids out before dark down here.

At least I didn't have anyone driving the kids around. Don't the kids need to work off all the energy from the candy? ;-)

[shekkara.livejournal.com]

With the clocks falling back the weekend *after* Halloween, the sun set one hour later than it did for last year's Halloween.