# ToT Count 2022!



## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Well, someone had to get this thread started. I'm up to 11 so far, (and the last one was the Grim Reaper with glowing red eyes!) so that is the total of the past two years plus several more for good measure!


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## Cephus (Sep 10, 2018)

Zero. Nobody around. We just gave up and turned out the lights.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

We had about 85 ToTs and another couple dozen or so folks who stopped by just to visit, look at the display, and chat. We also had 7 dogs who got Milk Bones as their treat.


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

I had 104 ToTs this year. Way down from other years, but for a while I didn't think I'd break 100. A group of 5 showed up around 8:30 tho and pushed me over the century mark. Think my high ever was about 175.


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## exascale (Jan 3, 2018)

3 

In the eight years living here the count gets smaller each year despite my displays getting more elaborate. 😭


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## kurtkyre (Nov 7, 2021)

corey872 said:


> Well, someone had to get this thread started. I'm up to 11 so far, (and the last one was the Grim Reaper with glowing red eyes!) so that is the total of the past two years plus several more for good measure!


 I was surprised that I got fourteen! They were mostly teens, but I don't care about that. 
The first four just came up and stood there with their plastic shopping bags held out. No masks. No make-up. Nothing. They didn't even say the words.
Now, I got flamed a few years ago for sending kids away if they didn't have some form of a costume or something, so I just gave them the candy and told them to be safe and have fun.
Overall, there were a few last second masks from the dollar store, and one cute little minion.
Next year, I will post a sign with The Rules. They are as follows:

Halloween is very special to me. If you come to my door on this night, you must observe the following customs:

1. You must be wear a costume, mask or makeup.

2. You must say the words: Trick or Treat!

3. Be Safe and Have Fun!


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## DarkOne (Oct 16, 2012)

I had 21. I think I had only 12 last year, so an improvement. I miss living in a neighborhood where we were the Halloween destination. I think now I just get neighborhood kids on their way back home.


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## Sblanck (Sep 13, 2007)

Twelve kids. I did around eighty the year before. I did take note that there were twenty different trunk or treats prior to Halloween. Folks are not doing the traditional door-to-door anymore. My neighbors who did hand out candy said it was just sad the lack of kids. I know the local home haunts with walk-throughs did fine. That is a whole different demographic. So for me, if I want to continue to offer scares and expect an audience I will have to change from display to walk-through.


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

exascale said:


> 3
> 
> In the eight years living here the count gets smaller each year despite my displays getting more elaborate. 😭


I too have seen precipitous declines every year, sadly. I won't complain though because I'm still getting a fairly large number. My neighborhood is one of those where parents come from other neighborhoods to let their kids ToT because we don't have anywhere close to the number of kids in the neighborhood that I get on O31. 


kurtkyre said:


> I was surprised that I got fourteen! They were mostly teens, but I don't care about that.
> The first four just came up and stood there with their plastic shopping bags held out. No masks. No make-up. Nothing. They didn't even say the words.
> Now, I got flamed a few years ago for sending kids away if they didn't have some form of a costume or something, so I just gave them the candy and told them to be safe and have fun.
> Overall, there were a few last second masks from the dollar store, and one cute little minion.
> ...


Just food for thought, my friend... be careful of the sign and demands, especially since you get teens. Remember, it's *TRICK* or treat, and when you turn away a group of teenagers with no costume and pillow cases, you're begging to be vandalized. It's like that saying goes... don't poke the bear. I get that they're just kids, but the whole reason ToTing started was to try to distract teens from causing destruction. I just fear that if you put a sign out there, at a minimum the sign will be a target, and teens might possibly try to get their worth out of your display. Maybe not, but I wouldn't tempt troublemakers to do something they might not otherwise do.


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

Sblanck said:


> Twelve kids. I did around eighty the year before. I did take note that there were twenty different trunk or treats prior to Halloween. Folks are not doing the traditional door-to-door anymore. My neighbors who did hand out candy said it was just sad the lack of kids. I know the local home haunts with walk-throughs did fine. That is a whole different demographic. So for me, if I want to continue to offer scares and expect an audience I will have to change from display to walk-through.
> View attachment 22709


This is very true. I don't have a walk-thru, but I saw at least a quarter of my ToTers drive up to the house, get out, come to the door then walk around after, and then get in the car and leave.


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## Scary Smurf (4 mo ago)

Halloween is just catching on around these parts and of course in some areas it's more popular than in others. I was too busy to really count but we must have had at least 150 kids show up at our door this year (probably about the same as last year) and quite a few parents too since many of the kids were under 8 years old and many of them much younger so hopefully we'll be good for the next few years at least. Some of the things I put out are 100% aimed at the parents in fact, hopefully that will keep them interested to come along even as their kids grow up and get old enough to go out by themselves.


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## JoeWrang (3 mo ago)

I think we had about 50 or 60 based on the candy we handed out. A far cry from the hundred plus we had a few years ago.
All this in spite of the fact that I live directly across from the elementary school and walking distance to the HS on the same street!
I will say that I started late this year and didn't have anything up until about a week prior.
Maybe next year word will get around that my house is built to scare!


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## xredge (Aug 21, 2014)

Didn't really count but would say 30ish had a few bags left wife made up and she did about 48 of them. Down by about half from last year but with the rain and mist was nasty out. I'm also out away from town in a small rural sub where most houses are a half to 3/4 acres and some more depending where they are like mine as I'm at the end and a cul de sac in the woods, and not that close to the road.


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## Dr. Maniaco (Sep 7, 2012)

Almost 100. Had four or five goodie bags left from the 100 I made. The Mad Lab went over very well! I have "Regulars" who make it a point to come see me every year. I really appreciate that, and it makes me want to do more! (just don't tell the missus ... she keeps hoping each year is the last.)


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## Skull (Nov 14, 2015)

330. My wife is very meticulous in handing out 2 pieces of candy to everyone, then subtracts from the bag count. We hold the haunt at my sister-in-laws house, downtown, in a quaint New England town. There was a line for 2 hours. Almost all the kids were in costume.

On a side rant, the oversized costumes should be outlawed. Someone came through in one of those ridiculous blow up dinosaur costumes and reeked havoc throughout our displays and knocked down walls. Next year we need to say, “no.”


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

23, about average for me


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## PrettyGhoul (Oct 7, 2005)

68! I remembered quite a few toters from the past two covid years, surprised me. In the past I've had anywhere from 15 to 60 TOTs. 60 being back in 2009 or so. Very excited! This year I kept an exact count of the candy bags I made (in past years I forgot and just kind of guessed). I made 50 Halloween goodie bags stuffed full and had 12 bags of unopened candy in reserve but was really thinking to myself: "I bought way to much, what a waste of money! I have just lost my mind". At 7:30 PM, I happily yelled to my brother (who was not involved and not feeling well) "I'm out of candy!!". He replied, shocked, because he saw how much I purchased and rolled his eyes a lot, "you're kidding!". LOL, I clarified I meant the bags not all the candy but still amazing!!! I made up 30 more goodie bags and then nothing. 

I gave it up and started watching a horror movie and then at 8:02 older kids started coming by. My last two toters were at 9:15 PM (at that point I did give a few double bags but I still have unopened bags of candy). Very excited, great year! 🎃🎃🎃🎃


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## stick (Jan 21, 2009)

My guess is between 65-70 I have not counted to see how many candy bars I have left and subtract the number I ate. It is about normal for me and was thinking at first with the light rain no one was coming but they saved my house for last.


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## 69-cat (Jan 18, 2014)

Even with rain falling we had 153...better than I thought. Nov 1 was a beautiful day... go figure!
Dave


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Ended up with a solid 13! [insert evil laugh here] So about double the past two years combined and roughly back to a low / average year. So I do really feel for the folks with low single digits or even none... stay strong Cephus!


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## Niitmaremaid (Apr 14, 2021)

We probably got about 50 all told (at my dad’s house where we focused our display this year). His is a very safe walkable neighborhood, whereas I live on a 50 mph road. A lot of people did say they came specifically to the house from outside the neighborhood because they had seen the displays going up, which made us super happy!


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

stick said:


> ...see how many candy bars I have left and subtract the number I ate...


LOL. Aint it the truth! 🤣 One for the kids... one for me. Two for the kids... one, two for me. Three for the kids... one, two, three for me. 🤣 Actually, I try to limit my candy intake as much as possible, but sometimes it's just not possible.


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## Sharkette (Aug 1, 2020)

I open the door and stand there saying "well! someone has to press "the doorbell". This year was an opening eye talking one. The pop out spider ones no longer work. I get lots of kids, young and old, new area, so still climbing and as I do a huge walk through (with a paid section for my electric bill) display, it's bedlam from about 4pm to at least 9pm. Next year I have been offered help from a group of 16yo girls to be tour guides. I seriously need the help. Checkout my page at www.facebook.com/myhauntedhalloweenhouse Or wait for my next YouTube video.


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## The Gill-Man (Jul 16, 2014)

A big, fat goose-egg here. My neighborhood is kinda hidden, and most of the kids who live in it go to the neighborhood across from ours to Trick 'r Treat, which is much bigger and more affluent. I've lived in this subdivision for five years now, and the most I've ever had was six kids (2018). In 2019 I had four, while in 2020 I had zero as well. Last year, I had one.


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## ncdodave (Sep 12, 2020)

I spend nearly the whole month to slowly put my display together. It sells a story that way and people get more and more excited as something changes weekly to the final day. I have a completely recycled materials constructed walk through graveyard and dragons dungeon featuring a 38 foot long dragon over my garage and everyone looks forward to the grand reveal each Halloween. This year ToT numbers were 256 and we counted parents separately which was another 625 for the adults. I dont care if they are dressed up or not. its just fun to play fantasy for 1 day a year and share it with everyone.


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## Batbuddy (Sep 3, 2014)

I have an awesome neighbor who has an open house each year. Has food on a buffet, candy and TONS of decorations inside. he has been doing this for years and has become somewhat of a legend in the area. One couple who brought their baby to the open house mentioned that they had come there as teens in prior years. The odd thing is that some of the visitors he had did not come to our house even though we had lights up and minimal decor. In the past we have done a walk through and had tons of people (several 100) but due to a major home remodel I haven't had the time to set it up. I guess I will need to set up my walk through again next year...


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## stoicclown (Dec 21, 2017)

So sad to hear of everyone's disappointing ToT turnouts. Fortunately, we did well this year in that department. My parents usually come up for Halloween to help out. Mom handles the candy at the front porch (which frees my wife and me up to be out in the yard among the visitors to greet, entertain, and keep an eye on them). My dad has bad COPD, so he can't get around and do much physically, so he spends the evening sitting on the porch swing and serves as our unofficial head counter (and this year I gave him the remote control to the air blaster cannon in the pirate section of our yard, and he had a great time blasting the ToTs as they passed by and making them jump). According to him, our final tally for 2022 was a total of 421 people. Of course, he's counting ToTs and their parents, but that's fine with me, as to me it's all about how many people we give some happiness to regardless of their age.

I will say that what made a difference for us in the ToT turnout has been advertising. We used to get smaller numbers of visitors in the early years since we moved to our current house, in the under 100 range. But then I started posting announcements in a handful of local community Facebook groups, sharing some teaser photos of the decorations and letting everyone know they are invited to come by and join us for some spooky fun, and that has made all the difference. Since I started doing that we have consistently had over 300 every year, and the last couple years have been over 400. And a good turnout makes all the time and work worth it. So marketing and shameless self promotion is the way to go.


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## GI_JOE_LIVES (Sep 15, 2016)

We ran out of treats after 406 kids! It was a good one for us!


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Based on candy handed out we had about 320. There were kids that came through that didn't take candy so guessing 350 or a bit better. Started coming a little after 6 and the last kids came by at about 805 pm. Steady line all night. We're noticing an uptick in the damn trunk or treats. I don't care if they hold them on the nights before Halloween but some of them are moving to Halloween night itself. Guess it's up to the parents how much effort they want to put into maintaining traditions.


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## PrettyGhoul (Oct 7, 2005)

jdubbya said:


> Based on candy handed out we had about 320. There were kids that came through that didn't take candy so guessing 350 or a bit better. Started coming a little after 6 and the last kids came by at about 805 pm. Steady line all night. We're noticing an uptick in the damn trunk or treats. I don't care if they hold them on the nights before Halloween but some of them are moving to Halloween night itself. Guess it's up to the parents how much effort they want to put into maintaining traditions.


We don't have trunk or treats competing but in my hoa new neighbors are trying different Halloween events to replace toting. This year it was a take a picture and have some candy event that was held at the boat dock. A lot of younger kids did go to that and I'm sure it was fun but I'm glad some went toting after. I just keep on setting up and hope kids remember it was fun last year. I also hope for word of mouth. 

This year was the most I've had, ever. So either lucky or kids remembered.


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## metrodj (Jun 16, 2013)

Our yard is set up to do a cemetery walk-through, and we have 2 (sometimes 3) "candy stations". The main one is at the front porch, and the TOTs walk through the rest to the end, where we have someone handing out single pieces so we can keep track.
This year, Pokemon did these great BOOster bags that had 40 packs of cards in each. Since I help run a couple of Pokemon leagues in our area, these were perfect for us to hand out at the end. Fifteen bags of Pokemon cards, 40 in each bag. So 600 packs of Pokemon cards. Each person who came through got one pack (kids, adults, everyone). We ran out at 8:00 and had to switch to candy. Kids came until 9:00, with some stragglers up to 10:00. 
The night started out slow (being a Monday and a school night), but really picked up right about 7:00. 
So, definitely more than 600. We ran out of the "end" candy about 9:30. I had 100 bags of candy total, and we had 5 bags left at 10:00


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## msglaigaie (Jun 18, 2012)

I live in a very small town in the Montana Rockies. Our count was 314 visitors for our last (we are retiring) haunt. Been doing it for forty years and it has just gotton too big. I am donating all of our animatronics and props to the Towns Theater to enhance their haunt. They have asked me to come on as an "advisor"


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## Death's Door (Mar 22, 2006)

We had 247 TOTers on Halloween day. Almost had to give away my stash! Our TOT hours were from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. Rain started at 7 p.m. and I did start bringing in the props at that time. Our town did do a Trunk or Treat on Sunday the 30th. I heard it was a success.


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

PrettyGhoul said:


> We don't have trunk or treats competing but in my hoa new neighbors are trying different Halloween events to replace toting. This year it was a take a picture and have some candy event that was held at the boat dock. A lot of younger kids did go to that and I'm sure it was fun but I'm glad some went toting after. I just keep on setting up and hope kids remember it was fun last year. I also hope for word of mouth.
> 
> This year was the most I've had, ever. So either lucky or kids remembered.


Sounds like you need to run for the HOA board, muscle your way into the president's seat, and then squash these HOA sponsored Halloween distractions. 😁 I joined my local HOA board mostly to deal with my psychotic neighbor in general, but also to head off any complaints about my sure-to-be-despised-by-my-psychotic-neighbor Halloween decorations. 🤣


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## The Haddonfield Slasher (4 mo ago)

msglaigaie said:


> I live in a very small town in the Montana Rockies. Our count was 314 visitors for our last (we are retiring) haunt. Been doing it for forty years and it has just gotton too big. I am donating all of our animatronics and props to the Towns Theater to enhance their haunt. They have asked me to come on as an "advisor"


It makes me so sad to hear about legendary haunters who retire. I understand why, but makes me sad. I'm so happy that the haunter who inspired me when I was a kid is still at it... mostly. He has to be in his 70s now, at least. Congrats on 40 years of fantastic success!


Death's Door said:


> Almost had to give away my stash!


🤣 This made me laugh. I always buy too much ToT candy to avoid this problem. This year was an unexpected down year for ToT #s, so more for my stash. 🤣 It was weird. I had way more visitors leading up to Halloween, but lower ToT #s. So unexpected. Given the huge increase in visitors leading up to, I over-bought.


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