It never fails I get 1 or 2 kids each year with 2 bags or buckets. Claiming they are TOT for an ill sibling.
Do you give candy to both bags/buckets? I personally do.. however I just divide the amount of candy I would normally give to this child. If I would give 4 pieces I put 2 in each.

Also do you get repeat kids. I get a few that will come back twice. They are normally pretty easy to spot b/c they will come in a group of 2 or 3 and they will stick with the same 2 or 3 when they come back a second time. Do you give more candy?

I have never had that happen. I would probably put a small piece in the 2nd bag if it did. I don't give to 2nd time arounders (we have had that once or twice)

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it all depends on my candy supply! the earlier kids don't get as much, but as the night goes on i start loading up the bags because i don't like having leftover candy. the last kid that shows up at 8 usually makes out like a bandit at my house!

I have had this happen almost every year too.....In some cases I know it be true because I know the family, and in some cases I suspect its not, but I still put candy in both bags or buckets.....My feeling is if it's true then I want the child to have some part of Halloween and I would feel bad later on if I hadn't give anything and later on found out it really was for a sick sibling......

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"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

I haven't gotten either of those situations lately, but, have in the past. I just keep giving it out until the candy is gone. What drove me nuts was in Hawaii, we would get kids from other neighborhoods, by the VAN FULL or TRUCK FULL. I thought T or T'ing was for your neighborhood. I think the reason they did that is because they knew they could hit a lot of houses in a short amount of time, and most all were giving out candy. Oh well.....I just let it roll off my back.....they're kids, I guess.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

We get a lot of this where we are at now......Drives me a little bit crazy, because there have been a few times that the have wiped me clean of my candy stash, then I haven't had anything for some of the actual neighborood kids......

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"You can never really pay back. You can only pay forward."

Wayne Woodrow “Woody” Hayes

O-H-I-O

I don't like the mom's with babes in arms or strollers. The child is too young to know what's going on. If TOT'ing were strictly a neighborhood thing, over the last 10 yrs., my children would have about 6 houses to go to. We have older people in the neighborhood that don't hand candy out and younger families that both parents take the kids out. Growing up, Dad always took me out and Mom stayed home and passed out candy. Just doesn't seem to happen anymore.
I can't really say that I've ever had one show up with two bags. I agree with a previous poster though, I'd divide what I normally give one child between the two bags. And, the babes too young to be TOT'ing I give only one piece to. I've always had a nagging feeling the candy wasn't for the babe but for the mom.

It's Halloween people...my favorite holiday of the year! I never count candy or kids...I just give it out until it is gone...then sometimes I'll run out and buy more!

I give it out because it's candy that I don't want and my family doesn't need to consume. My dh usually give out the candy and he doesn't really care either.

I just really care for the teenagers, the seem to be a little old for TOTing.

When I was six years old, I was in the hospital with a staph infection @ Halloween time. My older brother was kind enough to tell my sob story and he had all my candy waiting for me when I got home. Soooo..............I'm a sucker. I'll load'em up.

In our old neigborhood, which had sidewalks and streetlights, they used to VAN-POOL them in also. We used to get a lot of the kids without costumues, holding a Walmart bag (instead of a Halloween bag or bucket). A few of them would ask for candy for their sick sibling. I would give them the extra candy, but if my DH answered the door he wouldn't. In that neighborhood we used to run out of candy, turn the lights out and they would STILL ring the doorbell.

After Halloween last year, I read in our paper on "the comment" page about a woman who said she had seen it all when she said a young man showed up trick or treating with a cigarette (commenting on how old is too old for trick or treating). Humorous to read, but really quite pathetic!

One year I did get some seniors in highschool, but I have never seen a child with two bags. I would go along with it, but would ask them a reason why.

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I don't think I really care why, I don't think it's right to go around with 2 bags.

If I had had a sick sibling when I was going around, I know my Mom/Gramma would have done something special for that sick sibling since they couldn't go out. It's not the neighborhood's responsibility to still hand out candy for someone at home.

The receiving of the candy is part of the entire experience of getting dressed up, going from house to house, ringing the bell, etc. It shouldn't be expected that other children who didn't show up automatically get candy just because.

I don't know. Maybe I'm too old fashioned, but my family would have provided something nice since it was THEIR child that was sick. I find anything else way too tacky.

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Honestly, I would probably give the extra candy, figuring it's a great thing if it's true and it doesn't really cost me much if it's not.

That said, I can tell you when one of my children was too sick to trick or treat, his siblings all shared some of their candy with him, so he had as much as they did. I would never have allowed them to ask for more from the neighbors.

When I was a kid it never seemed to fail that I would end up with pneumonia every single year at Halloween. My aunt would ALWAYS trick or treat for me and bring me a bag filled with candy afterwards. I can't tell you how much this meant to me as a kid...and it still makes me smile to think about it.

I would think that if the kids had adults with them (don't parents take their kids trick or treating anymore?!) I would oblige and give to the second bag. Otherwise I might be a little skeptical.

On a similar tangent, we once had a trick or treater ask if we had any cigarettes we could give him.

I agree with some of the other posters..I give until it's gone. I have seen the double bag (for sick sibling), and once when I was a kid a friend of mine did it for her sick little sibling and got HECK for it at almost every house. If one of my 3 kiddos was sick, I can't think of a single thing that could replace them missing out on TOT'ing, except for getting a bag of loot from a caring sibling..to some the entire experience is right in that bag of candy.

I've had kids come backy through again.

I've had kids that are not from our neighborhood (we also will drive to other neighborhoods ourself).

I also give to parents/wee ones. I really don't care who eats the whole 2 pieces of candy I give them. I usually also buy some safety pops, juice boxes, or something more appropriate for toddlers and under.

I'm really shocked to hear so many people complaining about stuff like this.

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If you really want something in this life, you have to work for it. Now, quiet! The're about to announce the lottery numbers... - Homer Simpson

I once had a group of teenagers ask if I had any beer. When I said no, they asked if I had any alochol. When I said no again they asked if I had anything to drink. I gave them candy. A few days later we had fireworks set off on our front porch at about 4 in the afternoon. I don't know if they were related, but it was an awfully strange coincidence...


Lisa

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"It's not having what you want,
It's wanting what you've got"

Gosh a lot of this brings back memories. I was one of those high school kids who went trick or treating one year though. I was 13/14 and my two best friends and I went when we were freshman. We didn't want to go to any parties that were going on where kids were smoking and drinking. We just wanted to go out and have a good time.

Right now we don't give out candy because of our dog. He is a good dog, but he is very, very protective. We would have to put him up if we wanted to give candy to trick or treaters and that is something I'm not willing to do.

We go to my parents house every year for Halloween. Where we live there are alot of seniors and they don't do TOT so we have for the last 9yrs we have left. I remember taking my 1yr old out trick or treating. I was so excited for his 1st TOT even though he couldn't eat the candy. We just enjoyed starting a tradition. From then on we have always taken and dressed up our kids for TOT'ing even if they were babies.

My ods son plans on taking his baby brother (6month) TOT'ing this year. He is so excited! By some of your answers maybe I shouldn't be letting him go TOT'ing with his brothers I really don't care what kind of candy the baby gets, I just get warm fuzzy feelings when my ds's want to take their new baby brother TOT'ing

Halloween is about one night, honesty who cares who comes to your house to get candy.

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Melanie SAHM to my two wonderful boys! Brandon 9yr & Hayden 6 yr & Spencer 4/20/07

It's okay to go to another neighbourhood, but you have to WALK once you get there! No taking a van from street to street, especially with so much candy to burn off.

I don't see a problem with taking a baby out with another sibling, so long as the baby's not tired of it all.

LOL....I will be taking my son to a different neighborhood this year. We just moved and 80% of our neighbors are part-timers, and there are only about 30 houses to begin with. My son is the only child in the entire neighborhood, unless you count the 17 yr old boy who lives at the end of the road. So we will go up the road about 1/4 mile to a large neighborhood for my 6 yr old to Trick or Treat! I feel all the years I lived on a military base passing out candy to 500kids (Ft Bragg) knowing only 200 probably where from my neighborhood, gives me a pass to take my 1 child and let him have a true TOTing experience. So if you see me out, I know that my son doesn't live next door to you, just load him up with your good candy

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"I have seen the double bag (for sick sibling), and once when I was a kid a friend of mine did it for her sick little sibling and got HECK for it at almost every house"

What a nice sibling! This is a good reminder for us adults not to assume that the kids are being dishonest. Let's just have fun with it. By the way, this is my first Beggar's Night in our new neighborhood so I'm very excited to see how many Trick or Treaters we have.

Rebecca

We always WALK the neighborhood. What's the point of TOT'ing if you don't walk. Also my little one is going to be all dressed up in Halloween gear (the boys picked out 4 different costumes...lol) don't know which one though! We love Halloween.

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Melanie SAHM to my two wonderful boys! Brandon 9yr & Hayden 6 yr & Spencer 4/20/07

We never went trick or treating when I was a kid. The houses were all spaced out too far (we lived in the country). So there was always a big party at the church on Halloween where we had a cookout, played games, and they fixed bags of candy for the kids to take home. We always had a ball.

When we moved to town I bought candy every year for the first couple of years, but we live on a busy road and have never had a trick or treater.