I love your plan of keeping your kids unplugged. I can’t believe they still haven’t asked you for TV or video games–it gives me hope. Thanks, and best of luck.

You might be interested in one other Halloween custom that is gaining popularity (and that probably sounds very odd to anyone not in the US): Trunk or Treat! The trunk of the car is what you call the “boot” in the UK. A town will get businesses or interested people to bring their cars to a large local parking lot. People decorate the trunks of their cars with spooky decorations which sometimes get quite elaborate, and pass out candy. It is rather like a giant Halloween party that is particularly helpful for people who do not feel their neighborhoods are safe for trick or treating. (Americans are very car-oriented!)

I think this year we must have been pretty much the only family in our street who stayed in and welcomed tricksters, hence we had loads of visitors AND got to go to a halloween party!

However it is a HUGE deal here in the US (I cynically feel that is all due to the efforts of the candy company lobbyists and advertisers).

I agree that staying home would be the ideal solution to the candy overload, but trying to tell your kids to stay home when all their friends are trick or treating would be very difficult! Something like announcing that there would be no Christmas tree or presents this year.

We know one family whose children have lots of allergies and can’t eat most of the candy they get. When they were young, it was easy for their parents to keep them home, but now that they are older, they really want to go with their friends. They trick or treat and trade their candy in for a small toy.

Actually, we had a good time this year. We went trick or treating with two other families. All the kids enjoyed themselves, particularly at one house that always goes all out to be scary. We adults went along with the children (minus the candy collecting or course) and enjoyed each other’s company too.