I think the best response to those who ring the doorbell, baby in tow, to collect candy that they will clearly be eating themselves, is to say, What a brillant costume! How clever! You look just like real parents! And where did you get the darling baby? It looks so real!

Then give them their candy and say Happy Halloween.

When I read the complaint about the parents that take around the babies I was horrified. Is the person that wrote the origninal message a parent? It is so exciting to dress up your kids at Halloween and I love to see the babies dressed up at my door. The cutest costume I ever saw was on a six month old baby dressed up as a bumble bee. I applaud the parents for their effort. Obviously, if the parents can afford a costume for their baby, they certainly can afford to go buy a bag of candy. Did it ever occur to you that the parents were doing it to show off their baby and not for a free hand out? I mean really, does it get any cuter than a baby???? Geez.

I loved Halloween. It used to be my favorite holiday. I kept going out into my teens, but made sure to have a costume. The last year I went out, one older woman made some pretty nasty comments about us being on her door, that we were "too old" to be out trick or treating. I was 14. I had a costume. What was the big deal? I don't like Halloween so much anymore. But I would never turn someone away because I was unhappy with their efforts in return for candy. It's not like I spent all day making the candy. And most adults that have babies in costume have a pittance for collected candy in their buckets compared to the kids. In my experience, they do have them out just to show off how cute their children are, not for a sugar fix.

But I do wish the teens that came out would at least try to come up with a costume. You don't get many more chances to induldge in the fun of Halloween. They should take advantafe of it for as long as they can!

What my mom always did was she'd buy a combination of cheap candy and the really good stuff (mini Snickers, etc.) and the kids with costumes would get the good stuff, and the people without costumes would get the cheap stuff.

'course it made no difference to them, I'm sure, since they probably got plenty of the good stuff from other people and didn't notice what we gave them. I guess it made us feel better to stick it to the party poopers even if we were the only ones who were aware of it.

What really bugs me are the little kids who look in your bowl of candy and go "Ooh, can I have the [insert name of candy]?" I just respond by giving them whatever random type of candy I was about to give them already and say "beggers can't be choosers."

My wife and I took our 8 month old "trick or treating" last year. Holloween was our first big holiday with our child and we couldn't have been more excited. We went to 5 houses and took plenty of pictures . Trust me....we weren't in it for a free candy bar or packet of smarties. If you turn that front light on, be prepared to share candy with young and old...it's just having some fun.

rmcnally24:

Did it ever occur to you that the parents were doing it to show off their baby and not for a free hand out?

Or they simply want to enjoy with their kid something they enjoyed AS kids. Even if the baby doesn't get it yet.

Ever known anyone to say that their baby wasn't old enough for birthday or Christmas (Hannukah, etc.) presents? Not likely! So let the parents enjoy a "first" with the kid. Give them a graham cracker, if you feel better doing that. Just don't be a wet blanket and show them how much more sophisticated you are by informing them of their "mistake."

Razia:

What really bugs me are the little kids who look in your bowl of candy and go "Ooh, can I have the [insert name of candy]?" I just respond by giving them whatever random type of candy I was about to give them already and say "beggers can't be choosers."

That seems a bit mean. I hold out my bucket and tell them to pick two. If both are Snickers, so what?

Has it occurred to any of you that the teenagers without costumes may not be able to afford them? Or that their parents refuse to buy them? My son has a few friends who truly can't afford a costume, so we always have a few extra masks on hand for those kids when they come over. What kind of person withholds decent candy from kids because they don't have costumes? You may very well have given a kid cheap candy just because they were poor and rewarded another kid for being more fortunate. Why not just turn out your light and eat all the candy yourself. Then you can stick it to everyone.

csm: Instead of being snide to people out enjoying the first holiday with their child, why not post "trick or treating rules" according to you at the end of your driveway to keep anyone you deem inappropriate from knocking on your door. If I were out with my child and you made the rude "You look just like parents. How clever." I might reply, "And you make a convincing witch even without a costume."

I too was horrified and had the same response. I thought, "This person must not be a parent." When my child was 1 month old we dressed him in a pumpkin costume and went door to door trick or treating. This was not for candy! We could buy our own candy! It was to show him off! We wanted our neighbors to see our beautiful new babe and we have done this every year since. My goodness. I encourage you to look for the good in others. To think that someone actually thought that we were using our one month old to get candy for us to eat blows my mind!

It is ridiculous that some people think the parents with babies are "looking for a handout". Get real! They are just enjoying the halloween traditions, by dressing up the baby and taking him for a stroll. I'm not a parent and I never thought anything of parents coming to my door with a baby. I usually only have snickers bars and feel I should have some "baby snacks".

I'm amazed how picky some people are regarding trick or treating. I figured the impossible to please would simply leave the light off. Now I learn they participate, but spend the rest of the year griping about it. How fun!

As for the teens not being able to afford costumes, that's a bit tough for me to believe, since you can give yourself a beard using cosmetics or turn yourself into a ghost with a $2.00 sheet from Goodwill. But unless they're obnoxious, who really cares if a few teens come around? (And if they're obnoxious they'd still be annoying even if they were in costume.)

I am living in a new home this year and the neighborhood is safe enough to enjoy Halloween. I don't have kids but am thinking of dressing up my dachshund for a stroll around the neighborhood.

That's a great idea! I would absolutely love to see all the cute dogs in my neighborhood. And cute babies, too.

Thank you for what you wrote... you seem to have alot of insight, you can come to our house anytime! There were some other interesting posts under the title Helloween on the first page.

Hope you go out and have a great time this year!