# 2013 TOT Count



## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

Time to get this thing going since the Aussies will get to celebrate Halloween first (It's Halloween there already).

How many TOTs did you get?


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## The_Caretaker (Mar 6, 2007)

Due to the weather (its been raining since 10 pm on 10/30) only had 109 Toters, done from 250 the last two years


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## kauldron (Oct 17, 2011)

Considering the rain and wind tonight, the turn out was less than spectacular. All in all I don't think we cracked 80 tots. Hopefully next year will be better.


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## Nutz (Feb 19, 2013)

up a little from last year at 92. Up from 80 last year. 

Best reactions this year by far. Ready to start planning next year!


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## HalloweenRick (Nov 25, 2005)

165! Very happy with the turnout.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Thirteen, as the clock strikes 8. But I hear frightened voices at the door....


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Three more to add to the score!


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## Jack Mac (Nov 28, 2012)

Surprisingly, over 300 before we ran out of candy! That is up from about 85 from my old neighborhood!


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## Lord Homicide (May 11, 2012)

7 in one pack... Next door neighbor said we'd get none but the lady up the road said a few... Hell I'm happy! They were small too so maybe they will stick around 

Oh yeah, it's 8:10 right now


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## Indyandy (Sep 7, 2005)

We got 7 last night. ( Yeah they get 2 days to TOT). It was cancelled tonight because of storms, but is rescheduled for tomorrow.


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## chriss_nc (Nov 6, 2008)

137 this year. Up from previous years by 20 or so.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

20, so up for us.


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## Kraken (Sep 7, 2012)

120...bad year for us...


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## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Around 15...


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## tjc67 (Jul 28, 2013)

79 by 830pm- 37 first hour, 34 second hour - only 8 after 8 so far. Not bad for around here.


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## MR David Person (Sep 30, 2013)

around 150 for me sadly we had to end ares early so it could have been more.


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## Drago (Sep 5, 2011)

Had a good year, even with some rain and wind got almost 250, last group was around 8:40pm


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## Stratusfear02 (Oct 1, 2006)

Not to sure about Toters but 258 through the haunt on a drizzly night down from 2011's record 318... no 2012 due to Sandy...I'll take it.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

About 450, which was great considering the steady rain and high winds. A very nice crowd tonight.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

Very happy with 63. I especially like the parents who were called by other parents saying that they had to check out our set-up. I just wish that they would not arrive in herds. We had like two herds of 20, between 6-8pm. The rest were just groups of 3-4 until our last ToTs at 9:30pm.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I feel like a jerk posting this. 2,280 between 3pm and 10:22 PM. I am freaking beat, and I will not be walking too well tomorrow. Had a great time though.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

BioHazardCustoms said:


> I feel like a jerk posting this. 2,280 between 3pm and 10:22 PM. I am freaking beat, and I will not be walking too well tomorrow. Had a great time though.


Between your Sunday paper front page coverage and your television appearance, you had more media coverage than some professional haunts. You should be proud of your accomplishment.

.


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## Night Watchman (Aug 15, 2009)

Last night (Oct. 30th) was perfect. I told my wife if the weather was like that on Halloween we would have over 400 kids. Tonight however, was very windy and rainy. I almost pulled down some of my stuff it was so windy. Usually we have ToTs starting around 5:30. Didn't see the first one until after 6. All in all it wasn't a bad night, wind let up a bit, had about 250 ToTs, down from most years but a good night overall.


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

No reason to feel bad for lots 'o TOTs!

Looks like I ended with 24 total... the last two rolling in around 9:30. I kept the show going full steam until 10p, then pulled all the major stuff in. Will probably kill the lights around midnight, but the Jack o' Lanterns will burn through the night as always...to ward off evil spirits and guide the peaceful ones on their way!


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

Halloween %$#@ SUCKS.

Maybe a dozen. Barn looked better than ever, too.


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## mroct31 (Nov 10, 2007)

Didn't decorate this year other than the huge blow up haunted house from Gemmy, which we got a heck of a lot of compliments on, and we still got upwards of 300 which surprised me! Took my oldest 2/3 the way across county for her first year of college in Auugust and went back a few weeks ago to visit so time was precious this year, but next...look out!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

We got around 80 or so, several took the time to get a good look at what we had, some came back to look again, we got to chat to a number of folks, and received many compliments (not that there's much competition in our neighborhood). It was a total blast and now my feet are killing me since I hardly sat down between 10AM and 11:30PM.


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## Will Reid (Sep 2, 2013)

xx


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## Hauntiholik (May 17, 2006)

255 up from 215 last year


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## Rocky (May 4, 2004)

Around 100... Turned out pretty good considering it's been raining all day.


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## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

400.... about the same as last year. Next year we will be swamped, as it's Friday and the guy up street is doing his walk-thru. Always a big draw, s he collects for the local food bank and its promoted at the nearby school.


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## scarrycher (May 30, 2012)

moved from the woods in Texas where I had 3 last year and had 400 pieces of candy.to give out here tonight, I had to work tonight and the kids I had stay here and give out candy said they ran out in a hour and a half...Not sure how true that is??? kinda bumed I had to work after all the work I put into my yard. but I was told the kids loved it so that's what counts


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## sookie (Oct 12, 2012)

About 35, it was a good night.


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## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

They came in herds..... 150? It's a major "win" for me because I've barely hit the double digits in past years. The greatest moments were when I heard the kids warning each other "This is the house! This is the house!" I popped out, they screamed and laughed and told me they remembered me from last year. It's my tiny piece of fame. I'll take it.


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## Haunted Spider (Sep 6, 2010)

600 at the campground ToT on October 5th, and 30 or so last night at the home ToT with high winds and some rain. I'll take it.


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

By 7pm we got no one but by 8pm we got a group of older boys. We gave them about 150 pieces of candy....no bull. We still have candy! The rain didn't help and of course I couldn't set up my graveyard. Oh well.....


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## Georgeb68 (Mar 26, 2013)

We ended up with 67.....not bad since it was rainy all day and then we had a 2 hour window from 5-7 before it started to pour! Last group of 4 came around 8:30....good news is that everyone loved the display and most said they come every year!


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## Blackrose1978 (Aug 13, 2011)

This was my first year staying home and passing out candy! I never thought to get a count but I went through 1 1/2 large bowls of candy!!! Next year I will start a count!!


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## NecroBones (Feb 10, 2006)

I just moved into a new neighborhood this year, so I didn't know what to expect. At my old place, I only got one or two knocks each year, which was hugely disappointing.

At the new place, I'd say we got about 40 - 50 last night. Not huge, but still fun. It turns out there's another haunter around the corner from me, and his crew were telling me that this year was quiet compared to last year. Not bad, and it give me hope it'll be even better next year.

One thing we're competing with is the Halloween Parade in the center of town. Kids get a ton of candy from that, and only some of them go ToTing afterward, or instead of going to the parade.


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## hedg12 (Jul 6, 2008)

21 - almost double what we had last year.


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## MotelSixx (Sep 27, 2008)

400 Toters this year. Toting hours were 6-8.. Up until 615 only had one Toter. Last Toter at quarter to eight. Driving rain and wind affected numbers.


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## The Pod (Sep 15, 2009)

Crappy constant raining weather all day. TOT count way down. Only 186. Last TOT stopped by around 10:45pm. Hopefully next year we'll have better weather.


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## autumnghost (Sep 12, 2009)

75-80. Not bad considering the crappy weather. One Mom said "We can always count on you no matter what the weather." Awwww!


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## Offwhiteknight (Sep 17, 2008)

I'm going to guess around 250 or so. Kinda lost track. Seemed like less than last year, but then again, I was better prepared. Nice to sit out front with some deep dish pizza, an Evil Dead Red ale, my kids handing out candy after trick or treating, listening to the compliments...

There was a stretch of about 15 minutes where it looked just like a movie, with mass amounts of kids and parents on the sidewalks and in the street...it was so cool...


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

We had about 25, the best we've ever had. The parents were the biggest fans.


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## Hairazor (Mar 13, 2012)

Last year I had 45 which was about triple my usual and this year I had 51 so yay I'm moving up


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## cid404 (Sep 19, 2013)

We had about 40-50 ToT'ers this year, and we stayed open until about 9.

That's when you start to get the creepy older teens, and I'm not terribly
comfortable about opening my door to teens in masks many of whom have very realistic looking weapons (swords, big axes, etc).

That's just me. YMMV.


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## Zurgh (Dec 21, 2009)

100+... maybe up to 150? Ran out of candy packs & had to resort to handing out loose candy...


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

We had 200+ this year, between say, 6 and 9:30. This just gets better every year!


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

No exact count but we had a decent turn out, definitely not like ever other year but it literally rained all day from when I woke up at 6:20 am until midnight when I went to bed. I soaked through 2 coats and worked my tail off. Probably the hardest set up I ever had....ever! But it was Halloween, and nothing can dampen my spirits on that night. Now I'm going through the annual feeling sad all day because it is over!


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

tjc67 said:


> 79 by 830pm- 37 first hour, 34 second hour - only 8 after 8 so far. Not bad for around here.


Damn, I didn't know there was going to be a math test today, I never studied. So, 79+830-37 carry the 1st hour. Oh, lets just say you had a crap load.



BioHazardCustoms said:


> I feel like a jerk posting this. 2,280 between 3pm and 10:22 PM. I am freaking beat, and I will not be walking too well tomorrow. Had a great time though.


You should feel like a jerk. If you had just worked a little harder, you could have pulled in 20 more, and broke the 3,000 mark. I expect better next year. (I'm so proud of you)



Lunatic said:


> By 7pm we got no one but by 8pm we got a group of older boys. We gave them about 150 pieces of candy....no bull. We still have candy! The rain didn't help and of course I couldn't set up my graveyard. Oh well.....


Those were some very lucky boys. I bet they hit your house again next year.



Blackrose1978 said:


> This was my first year staying home and passing out candy! I never thought to get a count but I went through 1 1/2 large bowls of candy!!! Next year I will start a count!!


I find it easiest to count the treats before passing them out. I beats having to keep track of each group as they come to the door.



autumnghost said:


> 75-80. Not bad considering the crappy weather. One Mom said "We can always count on you no matter what the weather." Awwww!


I have to admit, that's one of the reasons I do it. People count on us, and I'd hate to let them down.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

We ended up with 870 toters, give or take. I'm getting a lot more neighbors haunting. We were talking, and we all had different numbers. The ones who had 800 pieces of candy ran out and those of us who had 900-1,000 had some left. But it's hard to tell how much left, when our helpers were probably eating as much as they were handing out. The ones who had under 800 pieces of candy, forget it. A lot of the toters said that a lot of the houses in the area ran out. I'm just happy they were giving something out. It used to be 3/4th of the houses had their lights off. I had to laugh. The neighbors across the street just moved in 4 months ago, but I warned them about our Halloween numbers. They took their little girls to base toting and when they got home they turned their kitchen light on. Right away the doorbell rang, and they gave the 2 toters some candy out of their daughters bucket. The dad said the two kids hadn't hit the sidewalk, when two groups of ten hit their porch. He yelled to his wife, "Honey, shut off the lights, we don't have this much candy." They ended up putting blankets over the windows because the kids were afraid with the lights off, but the toters came if they could see light inside the house. lol Oh, and we gave away 24 doggy biscuits. The best one was a little dog dressed in a chicken costume. I'm going to hit the pet stores to see if I can find one.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

We have a very unique method of counting treats. We get priority mail boxes from the post office. Not the flat ones, but the square ones. We can get 100 treat bags in each box. We had 25 boxes at the beginning of the night. At the end, we had 20 bags left in one box, and 2 full boxes left. 

It's not a perfect system, but it works for us.


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## scareme (Aug 29, 2006)

That works well. Most helpers won't break open a filled bag to munch on. My problem is I don't make up enough, and we end up going to free handing the candy. That's when it's to easy to munch. Five for the tots, one for me. Three for the tots, two for me. One for the tot, a handful for me. lol But since next year Halloween falls on a Friday, I plan on making up 1,000, and hope like heck it's enough.


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## Troll Wizard (May 3, 2012)

_*Well we skipped this year. Didn't have any decor up or any lights on, and they still came to the door. What does that say.....huh?

We finally stopped answering the door, I think after the first hour or so, they got the idea. But oh well.....it was nice that they still thought to come. Neighbor only had 30 for the night, so I think it was pretty quite on our street. The weather was nice though, temps were in the upper 50's.
*_


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

We passed out 1,558 (Mrs. Doom and I each ate one) Smarties at one per TOT in just under 2-1/2 hours. Based on foot traffic after that, I estimate over 1,800 visited the neighborhood.


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## highbury (Nov 5, 2009)

I ended up buying a hand-held tally counter this year. Even with constant, miserable rain all day and night, we counted 218 trick-or-treaters. I'll take it!


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## fontgeek (Jul 24, 2006)

We got somewhere between 75 and 100 this year, which is a fair chunk more than we had last year.
Granted, not a huge number but with an aging community (few little kids), it's encouraging to see. I've got neighbors who gripe about kids coming from other communities, but to me, I'd rather see those kids have a good experience with TOTing so that they can help carry on the tradition themselves someday.


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## goneferal (Sep 8, 2010)

My neighbor thanked us for putting up the display. She said it drew way more TOTs than she'd ever had! You guys with 100's of TOTs are blowing me away. Way to go.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Guessing conservatively 600 tots and 200 adults.... Many adults without children...A good year!!


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

First year in a new neighborhood. Only 27 houses, 14 Tots, 4 of which were under 2 years old. Somewhat of a let down after years at the old place with over 200, but hopefully starting a new tradition for a young neighborhood.


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

300+

I ran out at 8:30 and they kept coming until 9:00 but not as many by that time. I probably would have been ok with another 50 treats.


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## austenandrews (Aug 22, 2010)

We gave out 200 candy bags.


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## SkeleTom (Oct 5, 2007)

What do you guys do to get an exact count? It's always so chaotic. Hand-clicker? Someone assigned to keep track?

The other reason it's hard to tell is because we have the haunt in the backyard, so as not to traumatize the very young and/or meek, while candy handouts happen at the front door, so those of us who stay in the back have no idea what's going on out on the sidewalk. But we ran out of candy, and I know I bought 20 bags from the grocery. There tended to be lots of groups of 8-15. 

I guess I would have to say somewhere around 250-300?


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## tjc67 (Jul 28, 2013)

SkeleTom said:


> What do you guys do to get an exact count? It's always so chaotic. Hand-clicker? Someone assigned to keep track?


 This is the first year we've kept count and just marked it on a note pad. But we don't get the numbers others do. I like the idea of making up treat bags and counting that way. 
It is funny to see the difference in numbers of ToTs haunters get versus non-haunters. My aunt lives a couple of blocks down from us and only got 14 Tot's


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

SkeleTom said:


> What do you guys do to get an exact count? QUOTE]
> 
> We count the candy bars and then do the math at the end of the night. Everyone gets one bar, so it works out pretty well.


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## IMU (Apr 8, 2009)

Weather was decent, rain held off for us until after TOTing. We counted 300 in 2 hours.


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## wandererrob (Aug 8, 2007)

50 here, about the same as last year (that's actually a lot for my neighborhood). But they were a lively bunch of screamers this year!


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

SkeleTom said:


> What do you guys do to get an exact count? It's always so chaotic. Hand-clicker? Someone assigned to keep track?


Along with the candy (which is not bagged), we offer a glow bracelet to everyone who comes to the door. Almost everyone will take one, so it gives us a close enough count for government work We know how many bracelets we start with, so it's an easy method.


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## Doc Doom (Aug 28, 2008)

Like Jdubba, we count the candy before (based on manufacturer's count per bag) and have a strict one per rule.


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## Black Cat (Aug 20, 2005)

We had 168 walk through our Haunted Castle. At least another 75 or so parents stood around looking at the Cemetery while waiting for the kids to go through. We only let four at a time into the Castle walk through so its easy for us to tally the numbers on paper.
Our last visitor was a neighbor out walking his dog at 11pm. Over all a great night as Halloween was basically cancelled two years in a row with bad weather.


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## Mattimus (Oct 23, 2013)

I didn't keep an accurate count but I think I got close to 100... felt down from last year, but my block is bland overall. I feel like we may have inspired some neighbors not to sit on their butts next year though.


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## PrettyGhoul (Oct 7, 2005)

I'm not even sure how many I had. In past years I've counted and its been up and down 20 - 50 This year I thought to myself I'd get no more then twenty but I bought a ton of candy anyway. I mix it all up and stuff ghost bags with 8 - 9 bars of snickers, M&Ms etc. I made up 50 bags and was out by 7:30pm. After that I think I had about 50 kids, I was franticly filling up new bags. So weird. I have no idea why I had more tots than ever before. I messed up this year too. I didn't do as big of a haunt as I usually do and I got called on it by so many children. It shocked me. Kids called me out on why this wasn't there, that scary thing wasn't there. One 9 year old girl scolded me for ten minutes. I kept on saying I'm sorry, It will be back next year but she was pissed. Not even 3 more bags of candy made her feel better, she wanted the scare. I feel l so guilty.


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## Mortuis (Aug 13, 2013)

We had rain and wind off and on throughout the night, so we only had the one TOT; but it was worth it. When I opened the door (in character, of course), and he saw the display I'd prepared - a head on a bloodstained platter, with a bloodstained hatchet lying next to it - his eyes got wide and he whispered "wow" and then smiled ear-to-ear. I don't even think he even noticed the butcher with the bloody cleaver (Yours Truly) and he just took his candy in his hand, didn't even drop it in his sack. I couldn't have designed a more gratifying reaction.


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

256 ToT's this year. It rained for 2 days before hand and didn't stop until 10:00 Halloween morning. Scrambled around and got everything out on time for a great evening!


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## smileyface4u23 (Apr 1, 2008)

SkeleTom said:


> What do you guys do to get an exact count? It's always so chaotic. Hand-clicker? Someone assigned to keep track?


We have a hand clicker - the one handing out the candy is in charge of it.


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## SkeleTom (Oct 5, 2007)

Thanks for the tips. The candy trick won't work because we have friends come over to help haunt, and often they bring bags of stuff too. (Near the end of the night I was looking for a quick bite of something sweet, and all that was left in the candy cauldron were cheese fish!)


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## DreadKnightswife (Oct 16, 2011)

We only kept count of those that came through the haunt, but I had over 1,000 pieces of candy and was out by 8:00, we had over 450 people come through the haunt between the two nights we were open and my door person was only counting (with a clicker) those she hadn't seen come through once already.


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## Manon (Aug 2, 2011)

I'm guessing I had about 200 ToTs this year. Great, great year for us! Can't wait til next year!!!


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

We had approximately 250 this year. That amount is usually the average for us because a lot of the kids come from neighboring towns. Our TOTing hours were from 4-7 p.m. I gave out glow bracelets, big candy bars, lollipops and licorice to the TOTers. My count is by the glow bracelets. I ran out of glow bracelets and candy by 7:02 p.m. Kinda was dissappointed that I didn't get any four-legged TOTers. I had a packet of pupperonis for each one to give out. Oh well, when I got to my brother's house on Thursday to work, Charlie and Jackie will be the reaper of those packets.

It was nice to hang out with our family and friends that stopped by for our open house at the end of the night.


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## shannibal (Aug 14, 2013)

Our charity haunt ran Friday and Saturday before Halloween as well was Halloween night. Friday and Saturday were slow but we definitely made up for it Halloween night- the mastermind of the haunt said our total was 800 total for all 3 days. Lots of food donated too!


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## drez (Oct 19, 2012)

we had 205 baggys of candy made up to try and keep track...... however they were gone in about a hour.

after we had 4 200+ count bags of candy as "back up". all but one bag made it out alive.

we estimate we had another 200 TOT's after the bags ran out.

total around 400 ToTers. this was only the second year we lived at out house and we had people stopping all times of the day leading up to the 31st. 

we had so many people that they had a officer close down the road for us due to all the foot traffic on the road. it gave us full access to wonder the street and made it a full on scare zone!!!!! 

not bad for just a haunted yard and NO walk through!!! now to plan for next year and hopefully get the walk through done!


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## BunchOfHocusPocus (May 23, 2012)

We didn't have that many kids sadly come to our door. Only got five kids total, our house is on a corner and it's pretty quiet at night. Most of the kids trick or treated in gated communities in our area which sucked. I got excited when the kids did come around though.


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## Sblanck (Sep 13, 2007)

Had six kids come by.
I live in a neighborhood of old people.
Actually at the end of my street is he gate to a retirement home.
kind of blah but were planning on moving so maybe next year will be better.


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## Jacksonville Haunter (Apr 21, 2011)

I put out two signs and had my biggest year yet 52.


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## studiokraft (Feb 7, 2012)

We estimated around 50, was kinda hard to tell since we had many "repeat" ToTers come back after going through other neighborhoods. We are not in a development, just a quiet street with a few houses, so I guess not too bad all in all.


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## GCWyatt (Aug 30, 2012)

I write this with mixed feelings on many levels. We had about 40 TOTs this year, about the same as last year but I was expecting many more. I bought 450 pieces of candy so I could give them out by the handful. The weather was perfect, the decorations set, my new Axworthy was working nicely and my new fog timer was keeping the yard well covered. We were aglow with lights that practically screamed, "Halloween is HERE!"

But here's the trouble. We live just a few streets down from a neighborhood called Morgan Ranch, a neighborhood where the home prices are twice what they are on my cul-de-sac just a few hundred yards away. The kids in town speak of Halloween in Morgan Ranch in gleeful, excited tones. It's the neighborhood where they give out full size bars! I took a stroll up there two years ago when we moved in and was shocked by what I found. I was expecting huge yard displays, haunts, mazes, professional animatronics, something cool, _anything_. I was met by the residents sitting on folding chairs in their driveways, large bowls (rarely even cauldrons!) brimming over with candy sitting out for kids to simply come up and take as much as they like. Other homes were busy hosting Halloween parties in their garage and they didn't have time to pay attention to the TOTs and again bowls were simply set out. The houses where you had to walk up to the door, knock and give the traditional greeting were few and very far between. There were NO appreciable decorations that I saw beyond a few cardboard skeletons and straw witches, but nearly every home was giving away candy.

There were TOTs. Lots 'o TOTs. Literally THOUSANDS of them. The streets were elbow to elbow, sidewalks unpassable. Cars venturing up into Morgan Ranch were stopped dead by the pedestrian traffic. Residents trying to get home couldn't. Likewise, out-of-towners trying to drop off a van full of kids were stuck. It was madness, but pointless too, in my opinion. I wanted to know what the point was of giving out candy to kids when you never greeted them, never complimented their costume, never gave the teenage with the beard and no costume some sass, never asked the cute little toddler, "and what are you?" What's the point of participating in a holiday when you don't seem to be celebrating it? And more to the point, isn't this a perversion of Halloween? Isn't it kind of like mailing out expensive presents for Christmas but not being there to savor all the joys of the holiday in person?

But I digress.

My point in relation to my haunt is that these thousands of TOTs had to either walk or drive by my house to get to Morgan Ranch. I stood on my front yard and watched the seemingly endless stream of the moving up and down the street on their trek, like ants marching to get their haul to bring back to the nest. Thousands of them, and I got maybe 40 to turn a corner and walk an additional fifty feet to my door.

So, I'm trying not to be bitter or resentful. I'm trying to keep my spirits up and believe that the handful of TOTs and their families that did stop by really enjoyed the display, told me they did, and that makes it completely worthwhile. I'm trying to hold onto the joy I had in making my creations, and that the only person that has to enjoy my display is me - and the fact that my wife and the rest of the family likes it is immeasurably wonderful. I'm trying to convince myself that I really don't want thousands of greedy, candy-hungry kids all over my haunt anyway.

The question I have for the assemblage is, should I try to attract more TOTs to our street, or not? I mean, they're RIGHT THERE, just across the street, come on over, see what I've got for you! Or do I just accept what I have, be grateful for the TOTs that do stop by and buy less candy next year.

'Cause I'm sure not going to stop building props.


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## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

GC, I'd rather have 40 ToTs that took time to enjoy what we put on display than a thousand who were there just for the candy.


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## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

I agree with Roxy. We had a bunch this year, but only THREE stand out in my mind. Two very small children who came up to me in all my monstery glory and gave me a hug, and a little girl who asked me if I would help her take a picture of her and our gargoyle for her mommy. I would not trade just those three for all the rest put together. They actually seemed to appreciate our display, while the rest were there for the candy.


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## Headless (Sep 4, 2011)

I agree too - I'd rather have a few that took the time to appreciate what you've done and compliment you on the work than dozens that didn't appreciate it at all.


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## ATLfun (Oct 12, 2012)

GC, we had 63 TOTs, and that was an enjoyable number. And yes, we gave king size candy bars, but we also put out a nice display with a few animatronics and a fog machine. I have ZERO interest in 500+ kids. I would like to have about a 100, then no more. 

I like the fact that every group of kids get to enjoy the set-up and props by themselves. It just seems more suspenseful for the kids if they go up to the door without a line of 200 kids behind them.

If I had to choose between 40 and 400, put me in the 40 column. Plus, I want to do a corn maze next year, and I would like to limit it to 4 people at time. I think this would help create a spookier atmosphere.


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## jdubbya (Nov 6, 2005)

ATLfun said:


> If I had to choose between 40 and 400, put me in the 40 column. Plus, I want to do a corn maze next year, and I would like to limit it to 4 people at time. I think this would help create a spookier atmosphere.
> 
> .


We limited the numbers for the corn maze to groups of no more than 5, and made sure each group had gone all the way through before we started the next one. Worked really well for crowd control, oplus each small group was "isolated". The didn't have the "safety in numbers" mindset that they would have if there were a group in front of and behind them. We were able to scare each member of each group with different actors targeting different people. It worked great!


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## screaminscott (Oct 13, 2006)

410 this year! A new record for our house!

We give out treats in party favor bags. Each kid gets 2 snack size candy bars and a small toy (spider ring, vampire teeth, etc).

We make them ahead of time and keep count. That helps us determine how many kids we get. We usually have to make up more near the end of the night.

Plus, I close the bag with a sticker that has my website (stonehavenmanor.net) on it so the kids can see how I make the stuff in the yard - its just starting out but I hope to add to the site more this year!


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## MansionHaunter (Sep 20, 2006)

119. Not as good as years past... a lot of kids have grown up and out. Adding to the dynamics is the fact that for some reason this year not as many homes decorated at all. Hopefully next year people will regain their spirit.


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