Not a single trick or treater.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

My neighborhood normally gets lots and lots, and too many years I have run out of candy. This year I had decided I wouldn't be giving out candy anyway, so now outside lights and plans to stay in the back of my small house where the lights wouldn't be seen anyway. Didn't need to bother. Not a single kid.

Normally they start showing up around 4pm, while it's still plenty light, and continue until about 9pm. I kept on looking out the front windows and nope. Not a one. By 7pm what few outdoor lights were on, were turned off. Including the neighbor across the street who has a truly wonderful Halloween display in the front yard.

A bit sad, but I seriously hope those with young children found good alternatives.

[MFM008]

1. me either

but turning off the lights doesnt help...........

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. I take it you mean that in the past turning off the lights

didn't help. I'm sorry to hear that. Where I am, and where I've been before, lights on/lights off were always respected. Where I currently live, when I needed to go out of business because of no more candy, turning off the lights and retreating to a room in the back of the house, with door closed, worked. I have never gotten a knock/doorbell ring when it's not obvious I'm open to trick-or-treaters.

I will say this. I LOVED it when my sons were little and I got to take them trick-or-treating. Over the years there were various weather conditions, including snow, rain, very cold, and I loved every bit of it. My husband was not at all into taking the boys out, and was happy to stay home and give out candy. One year I had him go out with the boys while I stayed home, and realized it wasn't any fun at all. Recently, with my sons long grown and now living in another city, I have been happy to hand out the candy. A few years ago I was working the information desk at the hospital in my city, and had candy to give out to any kids who came in. It was a lot of fun.

Hopefully, 2021 will be a "normal" Halloween.

[Hoyt]

3. We had more than previous years. We left candy in front with a sign

saying please take one.

My Lady Friend made little bags with 5 decent pieces of candy and a little spook ring. Don’t think they abided by request, though. Fortunately, we had backup. We got a lot of kids from other neighborhoods. I’m glad, kids have had a tough year.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

5. Interesting. Where do you live?

I'm in Santa Fe, NM, where things like masks are taken seriously. Apparently yesterday there was some kind of a warning to those who subscribe to that stuff on their cell phones (I don't) that said not to trick or treat this year. Apparently it was taken seriously. Which is good.

As I already said, I'd decided a couple of weeks ago not to give out candy.

[Hoyt]

7. A very rube state where majority of parents said Halloween was going on no

matter what. My Lady Friend decided putting candy outside was best way not to deprive kids, but still avoid CV19 exposure.

Interestingly, her brother tested positive about 10 days ago. He appears to be recovering but was really sick. Docs did not recommend hospitalization, though.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

8. That was the best choice, aside from not putting anything out at all.

The parents are idiots.

[Salviati]

4. Good. The pandemic is blowing up again.

We need people to be taking this thing fucking seriously.

I am really having a hard time deciding if I want to go to see my family at Christmas. It will have been about a year since I've seen them in person. I would have seen them likely at least 2x since last Christmas if it wasn't for the pandemic, but I'm having a tough time now because of how much it's blown up in the last two weeks. Before then it was a no brainer, but now I'm really having second thoughts.

People need to fucking take this seriously. So I'm glad that you didn't get any trick or treaters. Maybe people are starting to do what they need to do if we want to have any hope of containing this thing.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

6. I am with you.

I would love to visit family for Thanksgiving or Christmas. I'm in Santa Fe, NM. I have family in the Kansas City area, and a son who lives in Fairfax, VA, outside of Washington DC. My son visited me last year in October. As much as I'd love to see him again, I am not about to get on a plane, nor am I going to ask him to fly to see me. I had a conversation with my sister in KC recently, where we briefly discussed my coming there for one of the holidays, but concluded it was not a good idea.

Yes, I am sorry I won't see any of my relatives for these holidays. But I'd rather be safe myself and know that they are safe.

This is going to last a whole lot longer than most people realize.

Here is what I've been saying, and apologies to you who have already seen this.

Pretend it's 1939 and you and I are planning a trip to Europe next year. We are so excited. We've been working extra jobs, saving every penny possible, and it will finally happen! Yes! Next year. We will go to London, Paris, Rome, Venice, the French Riviera, maybe other places. We are still working out the details.

But then September rolls around and WWII breaks out. Oh, crap. Clearly we are not going to Europe next year, but we are optimistic and hope the war won't last very long, and we'll be able to go in 1941.

But the war lasts. And lasts. It doesn't finally end in Europe until May, 1945. The soonest we might possibly take that long postponed trip will be 1946. Maybe a year or two later. And when we finally get there, the Europe we will see will be vastly different from the one we might have seen in 1939.

It's going to be a lot the same with Covid-19. Even with a safe and effective vaccine, even if that vaccine starts being used in 2021, it will be a very long time, a year or more, before enough people are vaccinated to make things like international travel start up again. And in reality, it will probably well into 2022 before a vaccine makes people feel at all good. And what if the vaccine isn't permanent? What if it requires regular boosters? What about all those who will refuse the vaccine?

So yeah, nothing will be the same going forward. Nothing.

[Olafjoy]

9. We had 55. Normally 200.

Everyone in the neighborhood had candy on tables. We sat far back. The kids were polite and excited and parents thanked us for allowing the kids to have a little fun and normal. One kid came up and was inside a giant cardboard box. I thought maybe he was Amazon? “ No, I’m a moving box” 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

10. How nice that you had those that you did.

In my neighborhood, there was not a single trick-or-treater. In no small part because my city (Santa Fe, NM) strongly advised against doing that.

We can all hope that 2021 will be different.

[sinkingfeeling]

11. Since I moved from a house sitting 300 feet from the street to an

apartment in a huge complex, I expected a ton of kids. I bought 340 treats. I had 3 trick or treaters.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

12. So you'll be consuming the candy for a while now.

Don't know where you live, but I do know that in a lot of places trick or treating was strongly discouraged.

For me, in a neighborhood where I usually got so many kids I sometime ran out of candy, not to see a single kid was quite amazing. Although I'm glad people here (Santa Fe, NM) took it seriously enough not to go door to door this year.