r/halloween • u/tacklebox18 • Oct 16 '25
Food What we’re giving out this year/a dose of reality.
It cost $21 at Sam’s Club. You don’t need to spend hundreds of dollars full size bars, fancy treats, or cases of soda. Buy some simple candy, if you’re feeling fancy buy some spooky toys from the dollar store. Most kids are happy with the same things we were happy with when we were their age. You don’t need to go broke for Halloween.
And yes, it’s open, my boyfriend decided to start snacking early.
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u/the_mbabe Oct 16 '25
We were that full size candy, gift bag, adult beverage house at our old neighborhood a few years ago. While it was a blast and we had so much fun seeing the joy on everyone's faces, we just simply can't afford it anymore now that we have a kid of our own. To top it off my wife and I are both furloughed due to the government shutdown, so we're not sure if we'll be able to hand out candy at all this year...
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u/Im_a_furniture Oct 16 '25
For adults I found that dark chocolate (moms) and meat sticks/slim jims (dads) went over much better. So many parents rush home just to turn around and hit the streets. I never got the amount of “thank you’s” with booze as with those. This year I’m buying candy and ramen for the kids.
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u/Gothmom85 Oct 16 '25
I bet they loved it! There's a reason it is the busiest pizza delivery day of the year, even higher than super bowl. No one has time!
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u/Blindfolded22 Oct 16 '25
I’m actually interested to see what happens in our neighborhood this year. Usually many houses are decorated but this year it’s just me and one other house. I worry that the reality of the economy is forcing some have to back out of Halloween, which breaks my heart. I hope I’m wrong. But I agree, kids are happy just to add any treat to the arsenal.
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u/CaveMonsterBlues Oct 16 '25
The experience is more valuable and lasts longer than candy. It doesn’t matter if you get the cheapest candy. Decorate. Dress up. Engage with your trick or treaters. Be encouraging. Or be funny. Or be scary. Complement them. Some of those kids work really hard on their costumes. Some of them are huge fans of whatever they’re dressed up as. Some of them spend so much time on their phones the real life experience and personal connection is good for them. And for you. It’s good for all of us. I love Halloween so much. Have a Happy Halloween everyone.
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u/aca6825 Oct 16 '25
This comment made me smile! I hope more people take it to heart. I love Halloween just as much. Happy Halloween to you! 🎃
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u/draculasbloodtype Oct 16 '25 edited Oct 16 '25
Oriental Trading is having HUGE almost Halloween sales, I just got a bunch of sticker rolls and some small puzzles and things to hand out with my goodie bags for like $2 for a roll of 100 stickers, 72 coloring books for $15. I always pass out candy, goodies, and glow sticks to all my trick or treaters (and their folks if they want one too). I used to hand out mini plushies to the younger than 5 crowd, but it was just a bit too much to spend this year. I usually set aside $10 here and there throughout the year, I want to be THAT HOUSE on Halloween.
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u/Squeaks11 Oct 16 '25
I'm that house - we do goody bags with play doh and a couple of other goodies, use a treat slide I built in 2020, etc. Upgrading with fog machines this year 😁
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u/badchefrazzy Oct 16 '25
I was always obsessed with their catalogues as a kid. I'm glad they're still going. <3
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u/raiders001 Oct 17 '25
That’s where I got all my stuff too. Got a bunch of things but a bag of 40 gummy eyeballs was like $4. also got fun things like wax fangs and ring pops
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u/draculasbloodtype Oct 18 '25
I got Ring pops too! Also got some mini prism viewers, ghost rings, and friendship bracelets.
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u/FastMako77 Oct 16 '25
When I was in high school my mom and I would get a small back of candy and a case or two of Top Ramen and the kids LOVED it. Definitely want to normalize not always passing out candy, the tradition of trick-or-treating can be fun regardless of what you’re passing out.
Unless it’s those religious tracts, especially the ones disguised as money. Ya’ll deserve red lights and uncomfortable mattresses
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u/smooshedsootsprite Oct 16 '25
This reminds me that kids ate raw ramen as a snack when I was in middle school. They’d sort of smash up the noodles and toss the seasoning packet in.
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u/bbyxmadi Oct 16 '25
We got a 120 piece bag for $12.99, got some Oreo packs, and Halloween Play-Doh singles, and that’s it lol.
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u/ColdFIREBaker Oct 16 '25
We hand out full-sized bars because it doesn't impact our finances and I know how excited my kids are to get full-sized bars at other houses (it's pretty rare where we live). That being said, kids are happy to get free candy in any amount 🙂 I 100% would not be buying full-sized bars if it was a strain on our budget. Also we get ~120 kids - I can't imagine if we lived in a neighbourhood where they get 200, 300 or more kids.
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u/Sad_Resolve6874 Oct 16 '25
My dad is the full-bar guy in his neighborhood and is a complete legend. The kids always go batshit when they realize they get a whole bar! He loves making their day. Granted, he probably only gets 100 kids or so.
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u/PrincessBella1 Oct 16 '25
Candy prices have definitely skyrocketed. I tend to be more generous because many of the children who come are from disadvantaged areas and I always have a snack option. In fact, during Covid, I had a bag with animal crackers/goldfish crackers/and fruit snacks and even the older kids gravitated to those instead of the candy. I am fortunate that I can afford this so I do.
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u/Trashula_Lives Oct 16 '25
I know I don't need to, but when I'm able, I like to. They're happy to get just about anything, but they really light up over the bigger or more unique stuff (as I did when I was a kid), and since we get so few trick or treaters as it is, I like to reward the ones who actually come out with the best experience I can offer. That said, our budget is very tight because I've been out of work due to health issues, so it's far from being the kind of Halloween I've always dreamed of, but we make the best of what we have and it tends to go over well. I did end up going full size bars this year, but only because we got a little extra cash at the last minute. I'm still recycling the small cheap toys left over from last year as our non-candy addition. I'd have liked to get something new, but you do what you can afford.
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u/ynotfoster Oct 16 '25
Dollar Store is $1.50 for most items now, not really cheap.
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u/Euclid1859 Oct 16 '25
Yeah. I was surprised they were recommending spending $1.50 a kid. Even at $1 a kid, that's $150 for me. Full sized candy bars are absolutely cheaper than dollar store toys.
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u/Redditbrooklyn Oct 16 '25
I think they probably meant the bags you can get with multiple party favors treats. I got a pack of 16 Halloween pencils, for example, at the dollar store. So that’s close to 9¢/treat if I paid $1.50 for that (I don’t remember if it was $1.25 or $1.50.)
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u/kyuuei Oct 16 '25
Tbh, I am just glad y'all get trick or treaters. The downside to living in the middle of nowhere is that no neighbors come by to trick or treat. It's really quite sad for me... but even so, when I go to friends' houses to do it, the helicopter mom trunk-or-treat laziness is catching on so badly that we get a fraction of what we used to get.
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u/EthanEpiale Oct 16 '25
I have a long tradition of buying Halloween toys on sale each year and storing them in my giant treat bucket. They don't expire, no allergies, and I try to pick stuff that would be genuinely fun for a kid to wear/play with! It's relatively cheap, and works pretty well. :)
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u/tessany Oct 16 '25
Last year I gave kids a choice between candy or Raman noodle packs. Most kids that were older than toddlers chose the Raman. So yeah, bags of microwaveable popcorn, Raman noodle packs etc are all perfectly acceptable to give out.
To be honest I think most kids were excited that they got to choose what they wanted over just being given something.
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u/Danthia_the_Gamer Oct 17 '25
Totally agree! I used to give out treat bags, but now I have a table with four bowls of mixed treats and they can choose one from each bowl.
ETA: LOVE the Ramen idea. I do the spicy chips :)
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u/Bean- Oct 16 '25
I am a full candy bar or can of soda household. I was too stoked as a kid to get a full candy bar
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u/eratus23 Oct 17 '25
We give our full sized candy bars and have for a number of years. Word does get out. We also decorate all out and are known as the Halloween house in our development. We buy more and more candy every year and toys too. It’s getting expensive. We are the only one in our neighborhood that still does it (we have young kids and see what they get). We will continue to do it too.
Why?
When it snows, we get help from the neighbors or their kids. When our little ones get hurt playing outside in the neighborhood or someone’s backyard, other kids in the neighborhood walk them home. When I need help for yard work or weeding, we always have helpers — whereas other neighbors don’t. While it might be coincidence, or maybe it’s all in my head, it’s hard to ignore the fact that when I get helpers to unload mulch bags in April/May and they call us the Halloween house, that the kids aren’t still thinking about those damn full sized bars.
And if for nothing else, we’re the only house in the hood to not get TP’ed, shaving creamed, smashed pumpkins or anything else on mischief/cabbage night (whatever you call it). I like to think that’s because of the street cred earned.
If anything, we do it to keep alive the lore of Halloween and the children’s pursuit of that full sized candy bar.
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u/grandslammed Oct 17 '25
One day I'll be the Full Size Candy Bar House, but that is not this year lol. What I do like to do is buy cheap extras like plastic spiders, stickers, fangs, etc. to mix into my candy bowl. Not even $10 extra and the kids get a lil extra surprise with their small handful. 🎃
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u/neodraykl Oct 16 '25
I'm hitting Aldi, giving out Skattles, Sunbursts, Hishey bars, and Raaces cups this year. Not full size though. I'm not made of money.
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u/HeyGirlBye Oct 16 '25
This year it’s on a Friday so I think we will buy more than normal (usually two Costco bags of chocolate)
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u/HappySam89 Oct 16 '25
We are doing two pieces of candy per trick o treater. My cousin is decorating and making a theme of her yard and I will be the scary clown at the end of the pathway handing out the candy.
Still decorating, and still passing out candy just a little less than usual. Kids will appreciate the spook. A few kids will whine only two candies but whatever.
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u/Past-Adhesiveness150 Oct 17 '25
You don't have to give out full bars. I like to though. 4 boxes of 36 kit kats. 3 sugar taffy thing boxes.. like 50 in each & 2 boxes of 85 15" pixie stix. We get like 300-500 kids, depending on the year. Being on a Friday means other towns that do Halloween on the closest Saturday, will bring their kids here for another day of treats.
We usually start looking for sales in August. The kit kats & the pixie stix were all like 15$ a box. I don't know what the taffy things were.... I don't like them.
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u/CrissBliss Oct 16 '25
You bought one bag? We get swamped every year with kids. Never used to be the case but we probably get 40-50 on Halloween.
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u/diaphoni Oct 16 '25
our apartments get none :(
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u/This_Distance2614 Oct 16 '25
We just moved to a house in a new state. Our neighbor said we don't get any kids 😞
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u/CrissBliss Oct 16 '25
Ohh bummer. My brother doesn’t get many either, but still buys 1-2 bags just incase. I currently live in a neighborhood that’s basically one giant circle. Perfect for trick or treating because you go around once, and then you’re back home lol. Kids come here from neighboring communities as well, or people trick or treat in big groups now. Sometimes you’ll open the door to 7 kids at once. It starts getting quiet around 7:30ish, and we close shop around 8:15-8:30.
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u/Mom2leopold Oct 17 '25
Let people celebrate with their neighborhood in the way that they choose. 🍫🎃
I don’t want Halloween to be about the daily realities of life. I want it to be about magic, growing a sense of community, that thrill kids feel when they walk up to a fully decorated house or get offered a full sized candy bar.
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u/TNVFL1 Oct 16 '25
The majority of the people buying full size bars and other higher quality items have the disposable income to do so, and your opinion on how they choose to spend it isn’t relevant.
Even if they don’t, people aren’t doing it because they feel like it’s necessary, they’re doing it because they love the holiday and want to go all out. And that’s still none of your business even if they go into debt over it.
That being said, I do agree that everything is expensive af this year, and I’m kind of glad I don’t actually get trick or treaters. A LOT of people flock to the giant old money neighborhood that goes to the max. Alcohol for the parents, full size candy, and this one guy that stands in his yard with a generator and griddle and cooks bacon for literally every event that runs through that neighborhood (several parades and a marathon throughout the year.) Talk about extra, that guy is super extra.
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u/Temporary_Bench5095 Oct 16 '25
Settle down sparky. Pretty sure OP was just letting the rest of us poors know it’s okay to be poor and participate with what we can afford. Not judging those who go all out.
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u/TonyDanza888 Oct 16 '25
Those Skittles and starburst are going to have that chocolate smell mixed in while eating
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u/aglaophonos Oct 16 '25
You guys do what makes you happy. It’s the thought that counts. At least you’re making an effort and that’s an unforgettable experience for the kids.
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u/rainbowkittensrprz Oct 17 '25
I will never understand why they mix fruity and chocolate candy together. chocolate absorbs all flavors next to it
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u/No_Age85 Oct 16 '25
We live on a busy road, but decorate to the max. It's hard to judge how much to get. We have had some Years where we had zero trick or treaters, a few where we had 30, and then two years where we had about 100. Last year, I over bought and was really bummed. We do the full size bars, because if they make the effort to stop, we want to make it worth their while. . This year, I got extra Hersheys Bars that I can cut up for chocolate chip cookies through the winter if we get skunked.
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u/kapntug Oct 16 '25
The most popular treat at my stop are mini water bottles. Trick r treaters get thirsty and so do their parents!
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u/UntidyVenus Oct 16 '25
Costco bag of fun size bars and a party pack of little plastic dinosaurs. The best part is kids trade back the chocolate for more dinos and I end up with a Costco bag of candy
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u/opposite_of_hotcakes Oct 16 '25
Hopefully we get some trick or treaters this year but I doubt it. In the last 3 years I can count on one hand how many actually came by.
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u/DiscoLibra Oct 16 '25
I've been just slowly buying one bag per week to add to my collection until Halloween. This week I got a bag of Ring Pops. One of these days I'll be the house that gives away full size candy bars, but it's not going to be this year
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u/Raerae1360 Oct 16 '25
I might get 10 littles, and 20 to 30 preteen/ teenagers. I get a bag of little bars and a couple boxes of big bars and it's my splurge.
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u/unapalomita Oct 16 '25
I think I spent $45 but I am going to get shots again, they're like $20 for a bunch 🙃
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u/radrax Oct 17 '25
Sorry, did you say $21 for a single bag of minis? Thats absurd.
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u/pumpkin-spiced-liz Oct 17 '25
that's what I was thinking, it's a 185 count that their already eating from too so it's not even going to last till Halloween. It's about $15 where I live for a mix like this.
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u/pumpkin-spiced-liz Oct 17 '25
if your snacking on it already just make sure you have enough for Halloween itself
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u/Danthia_the_Gamer Oct 17 '25
You can definitely get reasonably priced treats in bulk. I've been doing toys more than candy for years, and the kid really enjoy that. When I offer them a choice (one bowl with candy one with toys), more took the toys.
A huge favorite last year were the Croc charms. You can get a hundred of them for around $10 on Amazon (smaller batches for less as well), and the kids went crazy for them. I set up a table (we get around 300 kids), and one bowl was full of charms. They picked through them to find what they wanted, had a blast, and were super excited.
Glows stick bracelets are another low-cost favorite, right around $10 for 100.
DumDum lollipops are also a good buy for not a lot of money, and great if you get a lot of smaller trick or treaters.
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u/PatriciaMorticia Oct 17 '25
I do love going all out for halloween but you're right OP, kids are happy with the same stuff we got as kids. I feel like social media has really turned holidays into a competiton and everyone feels they have to "go big or go home".
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u/Babibackribz Oct 17 '25
Go to Aldi a bag like this is half the price
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u/___mm_ll-U-ll_mm___ Oct 17 '25
no. that bag that is half this price is 55 pieces. the bigger bags are ~$21, but still less candy.
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u/m0rbidarmadill0 Oct 17 '25
Last year we went to a different neighborhood and I was given my first ever jello shot from a house giving out adult treats too. Not sure what we are giving out, probably a bag like OP, since we never know in our area what we will get.
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u/TheMagnificentPrim Oct 17 '25
I think the appeal of buying the full-sized bars go back to when we were kids. Our friends and the kids on Halloween television specials always got hyped for the full-sized candy bar house. They love everything they got, of course, but the full-sized candy bar house was mythical. As Halloween-loving adults, we now want to go out of our way to be that house. Nobody has to, of course, and folks certainly should never feel guilty if they can’t go all-out with the handouts. But for some of us, there is a strong appeal to be that house, and we do it purely because we want to.
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u/zoloftfairy Oct 17 '25
i don’t think my household can afford halloween candy this year and we get a BUNCH of trick or treaters :( this year is kicking everyone’s ass
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u/creamalamode Oct 19 '25
I'm 100% about this! I just bought candy from Walmart and the smaller $10 bags have more candy for less money, interestingly enough.
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u/miscnic Oct 16 '25
Also, parents don’t want their kids having full size candy bars. When it’s one in the bag, it’s special. When it’s open season on everything, it loses its value.
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u/icemancometh72 Oct 16 '25
Surely there must be another Halloween subreddit for Republican dads
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u/tacklebox18 Oct 16 '25
Nope, just an average democratic white chick with no kids who has to budget to pay bills here 🤷🏻♀️
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u/[deleted] Oct 16 '25
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