# How Long Does Your Trick or Treat Last?



## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

I've been curious to see how long your Trick or Treat last in your area.
Also what Hours it runs from.

In my town the time has dropped drastically from when I was a kid. It used to be from 6 - 8. Now for whatever reason they have pushed it back to only one hour and now it's only from 6 -7.

Having only an hour Is extremely short in my humble opinion.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

We get the small kids as soon as school lets out, around 3 or so. Then at about 4:30-5, the big kids start coming. Last year, they didn't slow down until about 9:30 or 10. Had one kid and his mom show up just as we were getting ready to take down for the night, so I went back and re-started the foggers and kicked the lighting back on, just to give him the full effect.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

6-8 for us, however we let everything run until at least 9 as we get stragglers and visitors who just come to see the display. I so loved TOT as a kid when you went out at dusk and came home when the porch lights went off, usually around 9:30 or 10.


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

Ours starts about 5:00 pm and goes strong until about 9:00 pm when it tappers off to a trickle. We typically run out of our 1,500 pieces of candy within the first two hours. 

Our latest TOTs was a parent with two little ones about midnight one year.


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## Lambchop (Jan 28, 2011)

No ordinance in my town. Young ones start in around or just before dusk and we get people knocking till 9 or 10.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Officially 6-8, but we usually have visitors until around 9PM or so. We start taking the display down at 9:30.


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

Typically we start getting kids around five thirty or six, and get a fairly continuous traffic until eight thirty or nine.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

I know that starting at 6 p.m. is kind of a rush for us. My helpers are all high school age kids who don't get home from school until 3:30 or so. We have a pizza supper for everyone about 4:30 or 5 p.m. and then have to get everyone dressed and in their places. We're sometimes running around doing last minute things as the first TOT's show up. It's also still light out now since they changed daylight savings time a few years back so the early birds don't get the full effect of the walkthrough. Some of my scare actors basically have little to do until it actually gets dark out, which is normally 6:30-6:45.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

:jol: Well usually we get TOT's from 5:00 until 9:00 (I know, they don't follow the rules...but they are wee ones..well wee ones until around 8:00.....then until 9:00...but they are still TOT's...) But....this year....oh dang it...go ahead and BOO me...
I am taking the year off....I need a break from the last 8 years....and I am changing my whole yard haunt around and with work like it is.....I just cannot pull it off this year.... I don't do anything in the month of October except plan the month, get out the display and then tweak and tweak until Halloween night.....
Please don't come down on me....I have agonized over this for months.....
Whimper......
Pumpkin5


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

Pumpkin5 said:


> :jol: Well usually we get TOT's from 5:00 until 9:00 (I know, they don't follow the rules...but they are wee ones..well wee ones until around 8:00.....then until 9:00...but they are still TOT's...) But....this year....oh dang it...go ahead and BOO me...
> I am taking the year off....I need a break from the last 8 years....and I am changing my whole yard haunt around and with work like it is.....I just cannot pull it off this year.... I don't do anything in the month of October except plan the month, get out the display and then tweak and tweak until Halloween night.....
> Please don't come down on me....I have agonized over this for months.....
> Whimper......
> Pumpkin5


No booing here. You deserve a break. Doing what we do is time consuming, well, more like "all consuming". Nothing wrong with taking a breather and re-grouping. I can relate to your comment about the whole month of October being about the haunt/display. It even seems to be creeping into the month of September now. Don't stress over it. Relax and enjoy a year off. It'll be fun to see what you come up with next year. I'll miss seeing pics of your beautiful display though


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## typoagain (Feb 27, 2012)

They start to show up around 5:30-6:00. Around 9:30 things start to slow down, so i just put a big bowl of candy out with a sign that says "Take some and leave some for the next guy, Happy halloween." and I go see a couple of folks who do big displays.

I have left cand out for the last 3 years and when I get back at about 10:30-11:00 there has always been some left. I keep expecting to find the candy, bowl and even the table missing, but it has not happened so far!

By midnight as lot of the Halloween decorations are down and Christmas has started to go up!


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Ours start about 4:30 with the really little ones, along with the parents. Then it tapers off a little up until around 8:00 it starts to pick up some, because we also contend with the malls, high schools, and churches all having that so called "SAFE" Halloween ToT. Once thats done it starts to get going and usually between 9:30 to 10:00 is when it starts to taper off and then just die out. 

Once in a while I get a stragler and I've shut everything off, but I will turn it back on for them and let them experience my haunt. Then they get their candy as well. Around here most of us leave the decor up for a few more days before taking it down, kind of a slow transition back to normal.

And yes, we do decorate for Thanksgiving at our house and then also transition into Christmas about the week before Turkey Day, so that the lights come on either that night or the next day. Depends on my mood! :jol:


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## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

No particular times are dictated here...
Yet, it never seems to be long enough...

Earliest I've ever seen tots around is 4pm, the latest is maybe 9-9:30pm. Most come between 6-8. Don't shut it down till 11-12am, then spent an hour or two taking most of it all down.


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## highbury (Nov 5, 2009)

6 - 8 for us, but usually we get ToTs until about 8:45. Then it all comes down.

Our problem is that every city in the area has a different day and different time, making things confusing. Our neighborhood celebrates Trick or Treat on Halloween night. I know, because I'm in charge of putting out the neighborhood sign!!


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## wormyt (Aug 29, 2005)

Here in my town the hours are from 6-8 but when I get home at 1:00pm I start anyway. My volunteers trickle over about 4:00. So we start cutting things on about 4. Kids will come about 5 or so and keep coming til after 9. One year when I was married I remember my hubby saying about 9:15pm ...well my dear I think its over. He went to the garage and blew out all my candles. Then inside and up to bed he went. Well I wanted more kids to come as I felt it WAS not over yet. So I took my lighter and got the candles going again and I went and stood in the front yard staring down the street waiting for more kids. LOL well I only got two more after that so yeah it was over and I was then feeling down. I get so excited after setting up my yard as early as the middle of Sept and all through Oct. So I am always on a Halloween high through the month with anticipation . Then after the night of and after all the tots are gone...well thats when I get so quiet and sorta a down mood. Knowing all I worked so hard for and its over in a matter of hours. .Speaking of which....I am getting into the Halloween high now so its time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOL


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## kauldron (Oct 17, 2011)

We get a whole hour. From 6 - 7 pm, maybe a few early birds and a few stragglers. I think that it should be from 6 - 9 myself but high school football is king around here and they don't want trick or treat to interfere. It shouldn't be such a big deal because it is only one night a year.


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

Our town usually has it from 3-7. The surrounding towns are usually have Halloween til 8 or 9 p.m. I still give out candy even after 7 p.m. because I have some left and I know that some of the kids are working their way back home and might double tap me for candy. I don't have no problem with that.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

So tell me with all of these towns everyone is mentioning about limiting Halloween TOT'ing, what happens if your caught giving out candy after the allotted time is up? Do you get arrested and go to jail, or does the candy police come and confiscate what candy you have left. Then tell you you're banned from giving out candy next year? LOL! :googly:


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

When I was a kid in the same town I'm in now, we walked around from about 5-5:30 until 9. The town now a days sets the time between 6 & 8 but the tots start at around 5:30 and we get stragglers between 8 & 9. I start turning down my graveyard sounds around 9 and start breaking the entire haunt down after 9:30 unless I see activity. I'm pretty exhausted by then being it a very long day setting up.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Halloween Gamer said:


> I've been curious to see how long your Trick or Treat last in your area.
> Also what Hours it runs from.
> 
> In my town the time has dropped drastically from when I was a kid. It used to be from 6 - 8. Now for whatever reason they have pushed it back to only one hour and now it's only from 6 -7.
> ...


Who is "they"? Trick or Treat starts when the first kids arrive and ends when the candy is gone. We do not have a a time set by anyone, that I know of. Typically once it gets dark the little ones show up and we keep getting groups until about 11ish when the last of the teens arrive for the left overs.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

"They" are whoever decides the times in my town for ToT. Unfortunately I don't know who is in charge of setting the time. But everyone seems to abide by the time slots that are printed in the paper and posted online. I only wish I would get stragglers like everyone on the forum gets. But it seems once 7 rolls around ToT is finished.


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## jaege (Aug 23, 2009)

Bummer! You should post a different set of times with longer hours and see what happens. Viva la revolutione!!!


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I concur with jaege. Fight the power!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

No, no! Us "old" people don't want to be up until 11PM waiting for stragglers before we can take down the display. We need our sleep!:googly:


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## MurrayTX (Nov 4, 2011)

The heathen masses begin with insane moms with the very young around 5 (blocking traffic by just stopping in the street). Picks up a lot by 5:30. Full on zombie mob scene until I run out around 8p.m...but they still keep doing laps around the neighborhood until all are houses are tapped out. Mostly done by 9. And then there are mobile moms driving into the neighborhood after then, and looking at us as if we are cheap for not lasting beyond 4 hours.


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## kakugori (Aug 26, 2013)

Our town does trick-or-treat, I think, from 5-6 on Main Street so we start getting people about 5:30. (How convenient that we're a block off Main St. The Mayor actually pushed the town TOT back 30 min for us and our other local haunt last year. ) We go through about 9 or 9:30, or whenever the people stop coming.

Of course, we have drive-by gawkers all day long.


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## Nrthrnstr (Jul 23, 2013)

TOTers start here around 5pm and trickle off around 9:30pm. Greg and I were thinking of putting up a sign saying we will open the walk through around 530 and stay open until 10pm. That way parents can plan to drive back after their kids have finished trick or treating if our line is long.


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## strynite (Jul 28, 2013)

We get the little ones as soon as school lets out at 3 pm and the teens until 10 pm or so. Our village suggests from 3 pm to 7 pm.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

So I did a little research and found out who "They" are and it's actually the Mayor of our town. So I've decided to write a letter (With help from my friend who is a English major) to try and convince him to extend our ToT to 6- 8 instead of 6-7.

So I'm hoping to maybe get some help as to what points I should make in the letter to persuade the mayor into changing the time frame.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

Halloween Gamer said:


> So I did a little research and found out who "They" are and it's actually the Mayor of our town. So I've decided to write a letter (With help from my friend who is a English major) to try and convince him to extend our ToT to 6- 8 instead of 6-7.
> 
> So I'm hoping to maybe get some help as to what points I should make in the letter to persuade the mayor into changing the time frame.


Have you ever found out what the reason is why they limit the time to just one hour? It is because of crime happenings from the past? Or is it something else that the city and mayor have determined this should be the only times to be out. This might help you in writing your letter, and may give you some ammunition going into this thing. :jol:


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## DandyBrit (May 23, 2013)

The few kids that we get on our street are usually between 5 and 8pm but as we are in the UK we don't have any restrictions such as bylaws - it would probably be up to the local authority in conjunction with the police and it would be related to anti-social behavior control.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

> Have you ever found out what the reason is why they limit the time to just one hour? It is because of crime happenings from the past? Or is it something else that the city and mayor have determined this should be the only times to be out. This might help you in writing your letter, and may give you some ammunition going into this thing. :jol:


I haven't been able to find any reason for the regulated time limit for my town. What I have found is that all of the towns in our county have a 2 hour ToT and that also goes for the counties within my area. I'm not sure as to what the issue is.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

I usually get an early-bird around 5-5:30 then I start getting slammed when it gets dark. They start tapering around 9:00 and pretty much done by 9:30 but I have had a few show up while I am pulling down the decor. I am usually out of candy by then.

Seems like me taking down lights would be a hint that I am done for the night but I guess not.


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## Uruk-Hai (Nov 4, 2006)

Haunted Bayou said:


> I usually get an early-bird around 5-5:30 then I start getting slammed when it gets dark. They start tapering around 9:00 and pretty much done by 9:30 but I have had a few show up while I am pulling down the decor. I am usually out of candy by then.
> 
> Seems like me taking down lights would be a hint that I am done for the night but I guess not.


That's about the same for us. We'll get the little kids and parents come out early while it's still light out and then the teenagers and all the other kids hit after dark. I usually do all my photography after the last of the ToTs so I'll be out there till 11:00 and still might get a few passerbys to check it out. I once had a few adults come by around 10:30 and I thought they were there to take a look but they wanted CANDY!? So much for there being an age limit on trick or treating! :jol:


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## FastEddie33 (Aug 16, 2013)

The little amount that I got last year started about 5pm and the last one showed up around 8pm...Hoping for a lot more TOT's this year!!


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## Will Reid (Sep 2, 2013)

xx


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## MrGrimm (May 19, 2009)

Anywhere from 5 pm to 8:30, 9-ish...

5 to 6:30 we get the wee ones and as the night grows colder, the kids grow older


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Halloween Gamer said:


> I haven't been able to find any reason for the regulated time limit for my town. What I have found is that all of the towns in our county have a 2 hour ToT and that also goes for the counties within my area. I'm not sure as to what the issue is.


I am not sure why the mayor would do that anyway. I doubt there is a trick or treat ordinance. It is a suggestion. The mayor can't tell you what hours to invite people to your house. Official curfews have to have an ordinance and that usually is a time designated for a minor to be off the street.

He needs to change his suggested hours since people seem to follow it without any thought.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

I employed the help of my friend who is an English major to write him a letter to change the time. But I haven't heard anything back yet So I'm sending him my 3rd letter to date. If I don't hear anything back by the end of the month I'm going to get back together with my friend and write to the Newspaper.


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## PrettyGhoul (Oct 7, 2005)

I've never lived in an area where it was a law as to what time kids could trick and treat. That just really annoys me. I'm in Florida and in my area people bring babies and toddlers 430 - 5; then when it starts to get dark the middle school kids come and around 8:30pm the teens. I leave my lights on until 11:00pm. I think the latest I've ever had a tot is 10pm.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

I can see the advantage to having set hours. It does make it a bit easier on the homeowner, knowing that the majority of kids will show up in a pre-determined window of time. We look at it from a haunters POV, wanting kids to come long into the night, but John Q Homeowner might want to turn in at 10 p.m. if he has to work early, or maybe doesn't want to be getting up to answer the door for 4 straight hours. On school nights, kids probably shouldn't be out much past 8:30. I'd like to see it go on a bit longer than it does. Two hours is a pretty short night, considering all the work that goes into a haunt. We go from 6-8 but could easily handle it through 9. Again, our numbers dwindle as 8 p.m. approaches. Wondering if they ever did extend it, if we'd still get crowds much past 8 or 8:30?


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## Johnny Thunder (Feb 24, 2006)

Ours is sundown until whenever the kids stop coming. But I also wish we had 'set' hours because some kids/people have different ideas about when 'sundown' is, so it's a challenge sometimes to make sure everything's set. Last year we didn't even have our costumes or makeup on yet and some kids were already up the driveway.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

So I've been sending the Mayor of my town for the past 20 days a letter addressing the issue of the Trick-or-Treat time restrictions. Many e-mails and 4 nicely printed letters. and finally I got a response back. (I've omitted the names and address)



> Last night I made City Council aware of your request to make Trick or Treat a two hour event. Their response was with one request, we should go this year as a one hour event and if enough additional requests are received we may reconsider for 2014.
> Thank you for your email and taking the time to express your thoughts.


My Letter to him.


> I would like to request a change to the regulated trick-or-treat schedule in Ashland County from 6 p.m.-7 p.m. to 6 p.m.-8 p.m., making the event two hours long. As a young boy, my friends and I looked forward to trick-or-treat every year-rifling through as many neighborhoods as possible in search of the ultimate candy loot. As an adult I still value this longstanding community event and wish for others to experience the same elation that I did as a child; however, it is becoming increasingly more difficult to engage in the event with a mere one hour time limit.
> 
> There is great value in extending the time: amplified community engagement, economic stimulus, and, of course, a greater sense of pride within the community. Myself, as well as many others, put a lot of time into the experience of trick-or-treating for the children of the city, but to only have a hour is becoming harder to manage, ultimately making the event and the time of year less important; therefore, making the community less excited for the event and the time of year.
> 
> ...


Now I feel as though he has kind of brushed off the entire reason I wrote him the letter. I guess It's back to the drawing board.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

Halloween Gamer said:


> So I've been sending the Mayor of my town for the past 20 days a letter addressing the issue of the Trick-or-Treat time restrictions. Many e-mails and 4 nicely printed letters. and finally I got a response back. (I've omitted the names and address)
> 
> Now I feel as though he has kind of brushed off the entire reason I wrote him the letter. I guess It's back to the drawing board.


You need to get the press involved. Public figures always respond faster to questions put forth to them by people from the press. See if can get some newspaper or television crew to work with you and you should see quicker results.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Your letter was well written and thoughtful, HG, so you can at least take pride in that. Our area also suggests a time limit for holiday ToTing, but frankly, most people ignore it anyway.


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## Dark Angel 27 (Sep 11, 2008)

Usually for me. I start the music up around 5:30 and am out in the yard by then in full costume and makeup. I get a steady amount of kids off and on. They like to come around in huge groups. And it's like that till around 9:30 when the last of the teenagers come through.


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## Halloween Gamer (Jul 31, 2013)

Scareme yeah I've thought about doing that. But since it's an election year for the mayor and it's getting late in the season I'm going to hold off until next year to go for round two. Figure I'll work on getting a Facebook group started and also a petition. If that dosn't work then I'm going to go to the press but start my own personal campaign against the forces who dislike Halloween.

RoxyBlue thank you for your kind words . I'm also going to take your advice for this year and "stick it to the man" and promote my haunt (Since my road is right off Main St.). So Hopefully ToT wont die off within the hour time slot allotted by the city as it usually does. I also recently just found out there is another haunt on the next street over. Maybe if I can find more on who is running the haunt we might be able to join forces to take on City Hall.


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## Pumpkin5 (Aug 8, 2010)

Nrthrnstr said:


> TOTers start here around 5pm and trickle off around 9:30pm. Greg and I were thinking of putting up a sign saying we will open the walk through around 530 and stay open until 10pm. That way parents can plan to drive back after their kids have finished trick or treating if our line is long.


:jol:That is a WONDERFUL idea....after all, it's your haunt, your candy, your RULES....buck the system....no one funds your haunt except you. Make your own rules and do what you love. My most favorite part of Halloween night is as the stragglers come in and getting to talk to the kids and the parents and some even admitting they came by earlier, but the kids BEGGED to come back and so they did.....just to look at everything...missing those people this year is going to kind of kill me just a little....but next year....oh, my God....next year....


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