Halloween is a fun, colorful and whimsical event that kids and grown-ups alike look forward to all year. Some people go all out, spending months planning their Halloween costumes and buy their candy to hand out well in advance. However, every year you’re also bound to encounter a Halloween-Grinch. This is that person in the undecorated house no-one bothers to trick-or-treat anymore; the person pretending not to be home or who hands out apples or granola bars.
We’ve compiled this handy guide to help you have the best Halloween yet.
DO be safe and accompany small children while out trick-or-treating.
DON’T let minors roam the streets alone and knock on strangers’ doors.
DO decorate your porch with carved pumpkins and Halloween themed paper lanterns.
DON’T knock other people’s Jack-O-Lanterns off their porches. You know how much effort goes into carving the perfect pumpkin.
DO respect other people’s time by organizing your Halloween festivities to take place at a reasonable hour.
DON’T go trick-or-treating late at night, especially if you have elderly people living in your neighborhood.
DO dress up in a fun costume and join in the fun.
DON’T wear anything that others might find offensive (dressing up as a religious figure, for example).
DO go the extra mile when planning your child’s Halloween costume. After all, kids enjoy Halloween a whole lot more than adults.
DON’T let your children wear costumes that are inappropriate for their age. It might look cute, but dressing small children up like characters from shows like Breaking Bad does not send out a very good message. Costumes that are too gory, like bloody zombies or Jigsaw from Saw might be traumatizing and cause nightmares for the younger children.
DO dress up your pets and take them along (on a leash of course) when you take the kids trick-or-treating.
DON’T include your dog in your Halloween celebrations if he/she is anti-social, aggressive or doesn’t like kids.
DO give out good candy. Stick to the favorites like Hershey’s and Candy Corn.
DON’T be that person who hands out apples, granola bars and kale chips. Just don’t. It’s one night in the year where kids are allowed to enjoy their buckets full of candy. Even if all they had to do was dress up in a cute costume and knock on people’s doors, they earned it.
DO keep the porch, as well as the walkway to your door well-lit so trick-or-treaters can see where they’re going.
DON’T leave your porch light on if you’ve run out of candy. Switching off your lights is the code for “I’m out of candy”.
