We had our first visitor at six. Our second grader started a bit after six and went until a bit before eight.

We used to live near a school and would usually get a few kids trying their luck on the way home, so yeah in the 4 o'clock hour. I'd always tell them to go home and put on their costume and come back. I agree that 6 is generally the norm, which means some people start at 5. As long as I'm ready, I don't care. And if I'm not ready, I don't answer the door.

Be grateful you're in this area--some places go much earlier, like days in advance, is the 31st is on a weekday.

We stayed inside until 6pm. My kids were soooo excited it was hard to contain them. They especially wanted to show neighbors they know their costumes. 2,4,6 years old. We like to start when it's a bit light out so we can get some pictures in their costumes.

It was cold yesterday. We didn't start until about 6 but we wrapped it up by 6:30 because the kids were getting cold. Had it been warmer, we might have kept going until 7.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School lets out at 3. 4 is early, but leaving your front door open on Halloween definitely sends the "we're open for ToT business" signal, especially on a cold day like yesterday. Why else would your front door be open?

Sunlight and visibility

Visibility? What were you trying to see? Didn't seem to work since you missed the kid on your porch.

We didn’t have anyone until it was dark, as it should be.

We didn’t have anyone until 6

Anonymous wrote:School lets out at 3. 4 is early, but leaving your front door open on Halloween definitely sends the "we're open for ToT business" signal, especially on a cold day like yesterday. Why else would your front door be open?

Sunlight and visibility

It was early. I think 6pm is sort of the unofficial start time. Before then we are getting ready and eating dinner, so we have a hard time answering the door! But I don't begrudge the early birds, every whose had a 1-4 year old knows they might need to be in bed by 7pm.

School lets out at 3. 4 is early, but leaving your front door open on Halloween definitely sends the "we're open for ToT business" signal, especially on a cold day like yesterday. Why else would your front door be open?

Because some kids have other things going on - little kids need to eat dinner, bathe and get to bed by 7pm, older kids may have homework they need to tackle, it may be the only time parents are available to take kids out, etc.

I grew up in the 80's and some kids were out straight after school ringing doorbells and some kids were out at 8pm ringing. If you don't want to answer, then don't answer. You can't micromanage everything.

That’s weird. Our first TOTers arrived right before 6 which is pretty typical. We did have a big crowd early (6-7pm) but I think that’s pretty typical for younger kids.

Past 6 or 6:30 you start running into older kids who aren’t always so nice to the little ones. My 1st grader was done by 7 and by then not many kids his age were out.

Most families in my neighborhood started ToTing around 6.

4pm is definitely way too early.

I had the first kid knock on my door at 4:07 pm! I was finishing up a call and missed that kid. I didn't even have a porch light on! I guess they saw my door open behind my glass door and figured someone was home.

I had the most kids visit from 4:30-6. I only had maybe 10 kids after 6 pm.

When I was a kid in this area, we didn't even head out until at least 6 or 6:30 - definitely once it started getting dark. We also went around until at least 8 or 8:30. I saw most homes on my street turning off their porch lights at around 8. I left mine on until 9 just in case there were any stragglers, but nada. I didn't even have any high school kids come by this year.

Is it because there are so many Halloween candy giveaway events before Halloween that parents skip the actual day or only let kids go to a few homes early in the evening?

I know this past Saturday my city had a trunk-or-treat from 11-1, downtown ToT to the businesses from 12-3, and a shopping center monster mash from 4-8. There was also a church trunk-or-treat even Sunday afternoon.