Trick-or-Treat Hours?

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My kids are little (2 and 4 ) so we just go to a few friends and neighbors in the afternoon. I don't recall anyone being out before afternoon or after about 9 pm when I was a kid. It may be regional though (I grew up in the NY area).

Haha. I didn't know anything about set hours. I just assumed as long as the porch light was on on Halloween night you could ring the doorbell. I grew up in a smaller community though.

No advice, sorry, but good question... you have me thinking now too!

One of my parents always stayed home to hand out candy to the other kids when we were little but it is common in our town that if both parents are out trick or treating with the kids they leave a bowl of candy on the stairs and MOST kids are really good about only taking one or two pieces.

We go just after it gets dark and it usually last for about an hour to 11/2. It all depends on your kids age, how long they will walk, how spread out the houses. There is no perfect answer just get out and have fun.

Just be sure to leave the light off if you decide not to leave candy out. If you leave candy out early, it is less likley for 'those' kids to dump it all in their bag. I used to hate it when you go to a house that had an EMPTY bucket out because some kid emptied it! I ALWAYS took ONE (okay, maybe two if it was the 'good' stuff and there was plenty) so all the other kids could also get some.

Now as for times, I would use your best judgement. Parents might not be home from work until after 4 or 5 pm, but we usually waited until after 6pm when it started to get to be dusk. I am sure 'daylight hours' is to discourage older children from trick-or-treating after 8 or 9 pm. That's just too late. I do like to have my porch light on every other night of the year, but if you do it on Halloween and not have (or run out of) candy you run the risk of getting egg'd or TP'd in some neighborhoods!!

I leave some candy by the door while we are out or if I'm putting the kids to bed (some teenagers come LATE no matter what the trick or treating hours are). Also, you could turn off your outside lights to indicate that your not home/accepting trick or treaters.

I think "standard" hours are about 3-8pm. I know the cities usually say "daylight" so kids aren't out wandering around after dark.

Here's a helpful website, although Chicago doesn't list their hours: http://www.hauntedillinois.com/trickortreatinghours.php

We'll go out w/ our 5-year-old as soon as it gets dark since the next day is a school day. We usually do 2 full streets, then we're done. Too much candy! Sometimes I stay home to hand out treats, and sometimes I put a bowl out and go w/ my husband and daughter. Whenever I do that, it's surely gone by the time we come back. So I never put all the candy out, or I won't have any left for after we return home. Luckily, our area's kids don't usually stop by past 8 p.m.

Here in Westmont the official hours are 2-7, but how I wish it were 3-6 so my kids can nap without the doorbell ringing.

We pass out candy until we are ready to go out, spend about an hour out, then go home and pass out more. Last yr I tried to leave the candy out when we were gone, but someone swiped all of it within minutes. Apparently the honor system is not known by some.

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Here in Westmont the official hours are 2-7, but how I wish it were 3-6 so my kids can nap without the doorbell ringing.

We pass out candy until we are ready to go out, spend about an hour out, then go home and pass out more. Last yr I tried to leave the candy out when we were gone, but someone swiped all of it within minutes. Apparently the honor system is not known by some.

In our Chicago (city) neighborhood it seems to be a big ole free for all, especially on the weekends. Last year it was on a Saturday and kids started coming around 1:00 through about 7:00, so yes, your concept of "daylight" is right on!

We go out at with our kids at 6:00ish (5 & 9 yr olds). And we generally shut off our front house light (which is supposed to tell trick or treaters we are all done) around 8:00. If the weather is really nice and it is not a school night, we might hand out candy a smidgen later than 8:00.

We do not leave candy out. Fortunately, my parents come over and cover things while we are trick or treating.

My husband and I trade off. I take the kids for half the neighborhood. Then we come back and I'm on candy duty while he wanders the neighborhood. It's a good compromise. Another solution it to hit up the neighbors. Our neighbors down the way both needed to go (twins trick or treating for the first time ), so they gave their candy for the next door neighbor to pass out. They left a note on the door telling people it was next door. :)
As for trick or treating it starts around dusk around here and lasts about two hours give or take. We usually wait until we see other kids wandering about...then we head out.

I live in Oklahoma and the city I live in is recognizing Halloween on Saturday night. We plan to go around 6ish, before it gets too dark. My son is two so I don't think he'll last too long anyway. I'm sure there will be plenty of trick or treaters left by the time you get home. Save the candy to pass out yourselves!

i would not leave candy out - that isn't trick or treating, that's free candy! my son is only 4 so we haven't trick or treated that much but i've never seen anyone do that. as far as what time i think around 5 or 6 ish. she is 4 so she won't go all night. remember it's for her and if she gets tired of it or bored, be ready to head home.

My younger kids (3 and 8) are going from 5 to about 6:30. My older son (11) is going from 6 to 8. While we're out with our younger kids, we'll leave a candy bucket out. Every year the bucket is empty and I just don't guess how long it took to be gone (1 kid or 50 kids, don't know). I figure that our spirit of good intention are there in the form of the candy bucket for Halloween night.

Never heard of daytime trick or treating. We go out right before dusk and usually spend about an hour out. Here in Tx, it gets dark at about 7pm, so it's from about 7-8pm.

here in colorado it seems to be be around 5 to 8 pm that kids come and go.

In the columbus area it is called "Beggars Night" so you might google that and see if Chicago is the same, and it is Tonight in our city, from 5:30 to 7:30. Our TV stations run the times and dates for the cities in the area, so you might call one of them and see if yours is different than the actual Halloween date. In our area, they avoid weekend days because of drunk drivers. Everyone in our community just sits out on thier front porch or in the yard and hands out the candy for these two hours. The kids don't really ring bells. If no one is in the yard, kids pretty much go to the next house.

If you just leave your porch light off, you don't have to worry about leaving candy. Just hand it out while you are home, and when it gets late, turn off your light, and the lights in the front rooms of your home, and don't answer. That is fine to do, when you are done, you are done.

M.