Rules:
- Be under 13 years of age
- Be in costume - homemade, store-bought, even if it needs to be explained.
- Say "trick-or-treat"
- Only take the candy that is given to you and only FOR you.
- Say thank you
- Again, be under 13
Violated Rules:
- Repeatedly I had to ask some teenagers who they were dressed as, because they didn't appear to be in costume at all.
- I saw a few 10-12 year olds who had a 2nd bag for their "nephew" waiting in some unknown place.
- I reluctantly gave candy to adults who were with their children, but with their OWN bags.
- I asked several, no - numerous children what they should say to get candy. Most said please, then with some coaching, finally said trick-or-treat.
- Once I let a girl with a good costume pick her candy, and she took a HUGE handful of tootsie rolls. I said - um...just 1 please. Then she didn't say thank you.
- One teenager couldn't even come up with "Uh, I'm a high schooler" as a lame answer to what she's dressed as. She got so uncomfortable she just walked away. I felt slightly like a jerk, but had to stick to my conviction and enforce the rules above.
- This isn't quite a violated rule, but I was slightly offended. A man was dressed in a gray sweatshirt with multiple paint sample colors attached to him. All were variations of the sweatshirt color. I looked him in the eye and said "Seriously are you 50 shades of grey?" He confirmed it and even suggested I count them all. I was disgusted. The only thing I could appreciate was the creativity in the delivery, but honestly - it just shouldn't have been done, especially as you walk your 8 and 10 year old daughters around the neighborhood.
I want more kids like these at my house: