Happy Halloween, Metafilter
October 31, 2012 3:29 PM   Subscribe

You may have read np312's wonderful Reverse Trick-Or-Treating story in Ask Metafilter. You may have seen Doctor Popular's comic based on the same. This year however, you can now enjoy a video of the same concept. [via]
posted by radwolf76 (32 comments total) 12 users marked this as a favorite
 
The tree of humanity must be refreshed from time to time with random acts of kindness.
posted by stringbean at 4:10 PM on October 31, 2012 [5 favorites]


OK I AM DOING THIS NEXT YEAR we live in an apartment and people never come to our door.
posted by Windigo at 4:25 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


Allow me to introduce myself my name is mud
posted by hal9k at 4:41 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


My church did something called reverse trick-or-treating one year, where after our kids received their candy, they gave to the homeowner a piece of fair-trade chocolate and a card which explained why /how to buy fair trade items.
posted by 4ster at 4:47 PM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]


Reverse egging if you try to give me raisins.
posted by Brocktoon at 4:54 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


I thought this was going to be about something different. Halloween on the pediatric floor in the hospital means that all the sick kids dress up, and all the nurses, doctors and other staff stream into each room and drop off candy. Good times.



Except for the kid admitted for diabetes, who gets no candy :(
posted by legospaceman at 4:55 PM on October 31, 2012


I love that even the people who don't want to like this just smile until they have to knock.
posted by cmoj at 5:04 PM on October 31, 2012


These people were not thrilled to my satisfaction. They must think it's as hilarious as I do!
posted by orme at 5:09 PM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]


I thought this was going to be what I did the year I got to my new, empty house on Halloween evening.

When kids came to the door I told them I not only had no candy, I had no food, or anything at all, and that I was starving. I asked them for candy and offered double treats for them next year if they came by.

Amazingly enough I got a ton of stuff from kids, and ended up with a total sugar high.
posted by cccorlew at 6:12 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


Ah, Halloween. Gangs of sullen adolescents - wearing street clothes and not in costumes - bang on your door, stand on the doorbell, try to force the lock, hold out backpacks and demand candy, don't say thank you, tromp through your flower beds, and leave the gate wide open. Note to self: next year, make sure the gate is locked, the lights are out, and the shades are down BEFORE it gets dark.

(I am not at all sorry that all I had to give them was dried-out, five-day-old cookies that were otherwise destined to be squirrel food)

I am the Grinch of Halloween.

(get off my lawn, etc. etc.)
posted by caryatid at 6:17 PM on October 31, 2012


Gangs of sullen adolescents - wearing street clothes and not in costumes - bang on your door, stand on the doorbell, try to force the lock, hold out backpacks and demand candy, don't say thank you, tromp through your flower beds, and leave the gate wide open

And then, eventually, you die, and it didn't matter.
posted by shakespeherian at 6:49 PM on October 31, 2012 [7 favorites]


My church did something called reverse trick-or-treating one year, where after our kids received their candy, they gave to the homeowner a piece of fair-trade chocolate and a card which explained why /how to buy fair trade items.

Let me get this straight. You encouraged your children to go knock on stranger's doors in order to coerce those strangers into providing charity; and then, you had the little beggars shame those same poor Samaritans for not doing it "right"?

Good grief.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 7:04 PM on October 31, 2012 [16 favorites]


Ah, Halloween. Groups of really eager children - wearing costumes and accompanied by parents - knock in your door, call "trick or treat!", start saying thank you before the candy even goes in their bag, and say it again another time when they get it, and another when they realize you were generous and gave them 3 pieces each.

(Yeah, maybe you get crap, but I've never had a bad Halloween experience with trick or treaters, even living in some pretty poor neighborhoods. The worst I ever had was kids in 'scarecrow', 'hobo' or 'gypsy' costumes that were pretty obviously made from their parents or their own clothes)

The teenagers have always been polite, one helped me keep my cat from bolting out the door one year, usually they have their younger siblings/cousins/friends/kids/whatever with them, but not always, and teenagers can have fun too.

No Costume and they get a request to tell me a joke or story, and they still get candy. It's fricking candy. Whatever. I'm not gonna be a grinch because eh, it's -candy-. It harms me not to be a nice person.
posted by FritoKAL at 7:05 PM on October 31, 2012 [4 favorites]


That fair-trade chocolate story is a literal example of Get Off My Lawn.
posted by mannequito at 7:13 PM on October 31, 2012 [3 favorites]


I love giving out candy on Halloween and in our neighborhood the kids are all costumed, polite, and mostly under 13. I had a big sad today though, my little boy who's only 10 decided that he was too mature for trick or treating. He put on his costume (Star Trek uniform) and took charge of answering the door. Time marches on...
posted by Daily Alice at 7:17 PM on October 31, 2012


There is no more Halloween here in deep, red Texas. It's all fall or harvest festivals with kids going to approved and patrolled candy distributing venues. I haven't had an actual trick-or-treater at my door in years. If I was younger and considerably more extroverted I would so do this at my apartments...
posted by jim in austin at 8:10 PM on October 31, 2012


Let me get this straight. You encouraged your children to go knock on stranger's doors in order to coerce those strangers into providing charity; and then, you had the little beggars shame those same poor Samaritans for not doing it "right"?

It's what Jesus would have done.
posted by cmoj at 8:11 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


I had a big sad today though, my little boy who's only 10 decided that he was too mature for trick or treating. He put on his costume (Star Trek uniform) and took charge of answering the door.

Wow, that would make me feel incredibly proud more than sad! Cool kid.
posted by lastobelus at 8:21 PM on October 31, 2012


I bought all this candy and no kids showed up because I live in an apartment complex, but I'll be damned if I was going to be caught with no candy in case a kid did show up. Now I'm going to end up eating that candy. It's pretty late, I don't think any kids are coming around at this hour, so I might as well get started.
posted by A Bad Catholic at 9:16 PM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]


So in Fairbanks, it's already cold snd snowy. As in 19F (above, thankfully) but windy tonight. So you have to figure out a way to cram costumes over snowsuits. This year, my kids were ballet fairies, with wings and tutus over snowsuits and coats.

Some parents trick-or-treat their kids via car (drive from house to house, leap out and go to the door, get candy, and then get in the car to go to the next house), but I think that's cheating.
posted by leahwrenn at 9:27 PM on October 31, 2012


There is no more Halloween here in deep, red Texas. It's all fall or harvest festivals with kids going to approved and patrolled candy distributing venues. I haven't had an actual trick-or-treater at my door in years. If I was younger and considerably more extroverted I would so do this at my apartments...

This is the most depressing thing I've read in weeks. Our house was visited by every family in a ten block radius, in each case where I hadn't previously met them, the parent came up and introduced themselves and we had small talk. One guy shared a shot of rye with me. This, right here, is why I live in a hippie-dippie dyed in the wool blue state. I even forgot to check my son's candy for razor blades.
posted by Slarty Bartfast at 9:29 PM on October 31, 2012 [6 favorites]


I don't want to be nit-picky, but he keeps opening the wrong side of the door.
posted by snofoam at 9:46 PM on October 31, 2012 [6 favorites]


Also, in Brooklyn we used to give out candy and there were lots of little kids in cute costumes. There were also lots of teenagers in no costumes. In my head I would pretend that they were all dressed up like characters from The Wire.
posted by snofoam at 9:51 PM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]


The door needs to be mounted in a frame and sill. Carrying just the door is FAIL, as it cannot really be opened, just moved aside. Sheesh.
posted by Meatbomb at 11:37 PM on October 31, 2012 [4 favorites]


The worst I ever had was kids in 'scarecrow', 'hobo' or 'gypsy' costumes that were pretty obviously made from their parents or their own clothes

This sentence is an awesome example of when an apostrophe would make all the difference.

I knew things in the poorer parts of the USA were bad, but I didn't know kids were resorting to skinning their own family members :)
posted by lollusc at 1:08 AM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


Speaking of Halloween costumes...
posted by MartinWisse at 2:04 AM on November 1, 2012


In the UK, halloween was never as big a deal as it is now. My street - where we have gone through a cycle I guess 30 years ago when people knew their knew their neighbours - is like lots of London streets where nobody really knows one another. Halloween is one of two focal points in the year for our street, and the neighbouring streets, to get to know one another. The system is pretty simple: if you don't mind trick or treating, you put a pumpkin or something halloween themed outside your house to indicate you have sweeties.

In practice, with one parent out shepherding the kids, most of the houses who welcome trick or treating are the other parent staying behind. But some houses, like mine, participate. It's a nice way to build community spirit. And to see you neighbour and his son dressed as Jango and Boba Fett.
posted by MuffinMan at 2:05 AM on November 1, 2012


I love the idea, but think I would create a whole 'mini house' (cardboard) and walk it down the street. We could wave out of the windows!

next year!
posted by Surfurrus at 2:49 AM on November 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


Egad people. We weren't shaming people or calling people a "dick." We were grateful and kind to everyone we met, and we gave people a bit of information (and a piece of chocolate) to help people learn a bit about the conditions of workers (including children) on cacao plantations so that they can make informed choices about the candy they buy in the future. We weren't egging houses or papering their trees, or for that matter scolding anyone.

We were simply trying to raise awareness in our community of the conditions people actually live in on the other side of the world, and to show simple ways to help, just like our eyes were opened to this situation when someone shared the fair trade chocolate with us.

It amazes me how people on Metafilter can so often be such a generous and helpful community while in situations like this one assuming the very worst about people.
posted by 4ster at 10:34 AM on November 1, 2012 [2 favorites]


On MeFi, the assuming-the-worst seems to get flicked on at random. I'm with you. Kudos for throwing off the pile-on.
posted by herbplarfegan at 2:45 PM on November 1, 2012 [1 favorite]


We were simply trying to raise awareness in our community of the conditions people actually live in on the other side of the world, and to show simple ways to help, just like our eyes were opened to this situation when someone shared the fair trade chocolate with us.

This is sanctimonious malarkey.There is a time and a place for everything. If you want to raise awareness about fair-trade chocolate, there are far better ways to do so. At a minimum, how about not consuming this product you deem ethically suspect, yourself? By all means, organize a party, where fair-trade chocolate is given out. But going up to a stranger's door, soliciting a gift from them, and then hectoring them about the quality or origin of that gift is not only hypocritical, it's outright frikken rude. It's nothing more than pious posturing, and about as sincere as slapping a Save The Planet bumper-sticker on a Hummer.
posted by PareidoliaticBoy at 4:08 PM on November 1, 2012


They aren't strangers, man. They are our neighbors. We already knew them. And not everyone is as averse to learning something new as you apparently think, and you don't know me well enough to judge me or my sincerity.
posted by 4ster at 4:19 PM on November 1, 2012


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