What's your favorite way to dispense candy?

[ghostie]

What's your favorite way to despense candy? I'm looking for some ideas...And know you all probably have some good ones!

[trishaanne]

We tried the "everyone take one piece" and we tried having some of our actors handing out the candy and then we had my mother in law sitting in the driveway in costume handing out candy...none of which worked. The greedy little kids took handfuls and one kid tried to empty the whole bowl into his bag before we caught him. The actors AND my mother in law probably ate more than they handed out so that didn't work. Last year I was in costume working the front yard while the actors and hubby were working the maze in the back yard. I had my crypt kids in the baby carriage with a tape of baby crying sounds coming from a tape recorder inside the carriage. I was just pushing the carriage up and down in front of the house welcoming eveyone in and dispensing candy from the carriage. It was easier if I control it myself rather than rely on others. I think we may do that again next year since that seemed to work really well for us.

[Zombie-F]

I made up some goodie bags in advance and each kid got one at the front door. I handed them out personally.

To those "brave enough" to venture out back and see the joking skeletons I had seated on the back deck, I awarded them with another two pieces of candy. Again, handed out by either myself or my wife. You just can't trust greedy kids to take just one or two. :p

Ultimately, I someday want to construct a skeletal hand out of wooden dowels and some kind of mechanism that can grab the candy and hand it out. That would be awesome to hand out candy with a "real" skeletal hand.

[ghostie]

Ultimately, I someday want to construct a skeletal hand out of wooden dowels and some kind of mechanism that can grab the candy and hand it out. That would be awesome to hand out candy with a "real" skeletal hand.

Hey Zombie-F, have you seen this hand? (you probably have, but thought it would be worth sharing!)

http://softlyspokenmagicspells.com/halloween/death.html

Thought of it right away when reading your post. Would be a kick to hand out candy with it!!!

[Hella]

good question ghostie! at my house I usually have several different things that I am handing out, depending on the age of the TOT. It is usually me that sits out on the porch and hands out the candy so I can chat with the parents and the TOTs, this next year hubby and I decided we would do an open house type of thing in our garage, where we can set up soem tables and chairs to have our neighbors sit and chat a bit as well.

[Zombie-F]

Hey Zombie-F, have you seen this hand? (you probably have, but thought it would be worth sharing!)

http://softlyspokenmagicspells.com/halloween/death.html

Thought of it right away when reading your post. Would be a kick to hand out candy with it!!!

I have seen that before... just couldn't remember where! Thanks for refreshing my memory. :D

[DeathTouch]

One of these days I would like to try CCs Idea for handing out candy. The magic mirror. I don't think I will be able to get it done this year, but maybe one year.

http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/magic_mirror.html

[TipoDeemin]

My husband and I dress up and haunt our front yard, which would otherwise just be a static display (...that's changing this year, though!). One of us typically carries the candy around and passes it out, and the other scares the kids as they walk past. We've never had any problems with kids taking more than one or two pieces, but I like Zombie's bag idea enough that I might end up doing that this coming year instead.

[ghostie]

Have you guys seen a Parabolic Mirror Illusion?

http://www.optigone.com/holograms/mirage4.html

I thought it would be really funny to put a fun-sized bar in it so when they go to grab it, it's not really there. We have one and it looks SO real. Would that be mean? http://littlekeylime.com/images/cheesysmiley.gif We'd heve to give them something nice after that...he he.

[Frighteners Entertainment]

Well, interesting.
We haven't given out candy in 4 yrs.
really.

[grapegrl]

I prepare goodie bags with candy, treat-size chips or popcorn, and trinkets. I live in a very small town in a rural area, so we get a lot of TOTers who are brought in on flat-bed trailers, "hay rides", etc. Goodie bags have helped cut down on bottle-necks at the front porch and the kids really seem to love them. I enjoy putting them together as well.

[ghostie]

Grapegrl, How do the treat bags help with bottlenecking at the door? (I wish we had bottlenecking! We're lucky to get twenty kids at our new house...) Nice dragon! I have to ask, where did you get him? I had fun looking at your HP stuff. Have you seen Britta's Hogwarts page (http://britta.com/hogwarts/index.html)? Big HP fan here too. And man, your mum's do well in FL!

[grapegrl]

Grapegrl, How do the treat bags help with bottlenecking at the door? (I wish we had bottlenecking! We're lucky to get twenty kids at our new house...) Nice dragon! I have to ask, where did you get him? I had fun looking at your HP stuff. Have you seen Britta's Hogwarts page (http://britta.com/hogwarts/index.html)? Big HP fan here too. And man, your mum's do well in FL!

When I was younger, I used to help hand out treats for my parents (who get literally hundreds of TOTers). When we just poured a bunch of candy in a big container and handed it out, I noticed that some of the less-than-well-mannered TOTers wanted to linger a moment to ogle the candy and try to pick and choose what they wanted. Not only was this frustrating, but it caused the line to back up. With goodie bags, the kids take their bag (all of which look alike in the big washtub!) and are in a hurry to get out of line so they can see what's in it. The goodie bags also help to avoid unpleasant experiences like kids trying to snatch handfuls of candy.

Thanks for the compliments on last year's stuff! My dragon's head was the Ancient Dragon mask I bought from Halloween Only (http://www.halloweenonly.com/website/store/product_detail.asp?UID=2006051809044864&item%5Fno=80448&keyword=dragon&cat%5Fkeyword=&search%5Fpage%5Fno=1). I got those monstrous mums from my local fruit stand--everyone who saw them commented on how huge they were! Oh, and I love Britta's page! I had checked it out for a little inspiration last year. She does amazing work.

[Da Weiner]

I usually am the one who greets the TOTs at the door in my Spiderella costume. I have a large basket that I continually fill up. I have decorated it with black tulle, webbing and plastic spiders of various sizes are on it and all through the candy.

I used to make up bags but we now get over 300 TOTs on Halloween. I just fill the basket up and hand it to each TOTer. somtetimes depending on the amount of TOTs at the door, I sometimes let them take their own candy out. I like to see their faces when they put their hands in there and see spiders all over the place. I also give out the glowing bracelets along with the candy. The little kids and teenages love em.

[gmacted]

Those skelton hands are great! Does anyone have a "how to" for them?

[ghostie]

Gmacted: It looks like Allen described how to do it in pretty good detail, but just didn't have photos of each step. That would have been awesome. I'd like to make one too! You could go to his main page and e-mail him. He might have the info somewhere else...worth trying anyway!

Grapegrl, I see what you mean about the bags. I was thinking of just having one kind of candy this year, but you'd still get kids wishing (demanding) more. If they're in bags, they can have their "issues" after they're gone from your doorstep. Very smart...

I've been searching dragon masks online and found some good ones...can I ask, can you see out of them at all? Is it tedious to wear for long periods? Very cool. Thanks for the info!

I've been looking for a more extreme way to hand out "the goods" and I guess CC's is the most extreme! Wow. That magic mirror was great, but very time consuming. What fun that would be....Thanks for the great ideas everyone!

[grapegrl]

Ghostie,
That particular mask is an oversize mask and is designed to sit higher than a regular one. The eye holes are actually in the neck of the mask. I didn't put it on, but my boyfriend tried it on so he could sneak around the house and scare our dog. He did mention that it was difficult to see out of it. :)

[ghostie]

so....what did the dog do??? ha ha.http://littlekeylime.com/images/cheesysmiley.gif

[ghostie]

Sorry, I just realized I spelled "dispense" wrong. I must have been too excited to do my first post here and just lost my head! ha ha.

[grapegrl]

:p My boyfriend crept around the side of the house and shook some plants by the back door, which always makes Morgan go to the door and bark. He then stood up so the dragon's head appeared over the deck rail and she barked and snarled really ferociously and charged the back door (sliding glass). When he walked up onto the deck she was really going crazy, but as soon as he opened the door and growled back at her she ran and hid behind me (as I'm laughing my head off) and kept barking until he took the mask off. She puts up a good front at first, but she's a big chicken!

[ghostie]

Maybe not a chicken...just really smart! That was funny. I think it's good to give them (dogs) a little excitement from time to time. Then they're so relieved when they find out it's not really a *fill in the blank*!

[gmacted]

Thanks ghostie! I missed that the first time.

[ghostie]

I know what you mean, gmacted, when first looking over sites, I tend to just skim and look at the pictures!

[NecroBones]

Hey Zombie-F, have you seen this hand? (you probably have, but thought it would be worth sharing!)

http://softlyspokenmagicspells.com/halloween/death.html

Thought of it right away when reading your post. Would be a kick to hand out candy with it!!!

Thanks for posting that!! I've been wanting to build something like that for ages.. the way they did it is great!

Lately I've been using cheap store-bought skeletal gloves, where the fingers are somewhat 3D, and just along the back of the black glove they're attached to... still fairly effective in low lighting...

http://halloween.necrobones.com/photos/2004/ed_grimreaper2004.jpg

And I have matching feet..

http://halloween.necrobones.com/photos/2005/halloween/a378b.jpg

[Slarti]

I need a better way to distribute candy. For the last couple years I've been using a skeleton fountain/punch bowl as a candy dish, but a lot of kids are too spooked to hang around after I "come to life" and bend over to get the candy out of the container!

[ghostie]

Cool feet, Necro. I've never seen them and they really add a finishing touch to your costume. And it's an awesome one! The reaper is timeless...

Slarti, I know what you mean about scaring the little tots. Kind of a dilemma, to scare or not to scare, that is the question...

[MrsMyers666]

I give the kids their candy. They've been pretty good about it. Do get those greedy ones. Sometimes I get the candy back because I scare them somehow right after they get their candy and I've had quite a few kids drop all their candy and run without collecting it all back.

There are some very creative ideas here. May have to think about using some.

[Vlad]

First we take the pellets out of the 12 guage shells and then put the treats in, then we................lol

Actually Black Cat has a large retro tin lithograph basin that she puts the treats into. After the kids have gone through the walkthrough, she asks them to choose one. I like the kids picking what they like, it slows them down long enough to get to see their costumes, and adds to the "old time" feel of the occassion. With over 500 people going through the haunt this last year, there's just no way I'm making up goodie bags. We have had the odd kid trying to take more than one, but we don't put up with bad manners around here, and nobody has ever dared to. It's also at treat giving time where the treat giver gets an accurate count of the attendance.

[Black Cat]

I have to say the majority of toters are good about only taking one treat. We do an assortment of chips, chocolate bars and last year we added in juice boxes. The juice boxes was a great hit. The kids are so thirsty after eating candy all night and welcomed the drink boxes. I did have the occassional toter who chose a bag of chips but when they saw the other treaters ripping into the juice boxes they came back and asked if they could exchange there treat for one.
I think this year I'm strickly going with the chips and juice boxes. September is when they go on sale at the grocery stores in preperation for school starting so the cost is rather cheap compared to buying candy.
The downfall to giving out juice boxes is the garbage that gets left behind at the street. Those little plastic wrappers from the juice box straws where everywhere. Gonna have to make some sort of spooky garbage can at the street edge in hopes they will use it.

[Slarti]

Juice boxes are an awesome idea! We’ve done toys and candy, and aside from candy bars and glow-in-the-dark yoyos, the kids don’t seem too jazzed about what we give out. And I also like the idea of letting the kids pick their own treat out of a container. I bet if I stuck a light inside the punch bowl fountain I could still use it and it would slow them down a bit.

The weather’s been rainy for the last couple years, and I’ve been sticking the candy container inside the garage with me instead of outside at the end of the little maze. Of course, in the words of our brilliant president, it may not have been the best strategery to try to give the kids candy right before I scare them out of the garage. Duh!

[Da Weiner]

Hmmmm - juice boxes - that is a good idea!! How many kids do you get Black Cat? I could probably do that if I could get a good price on them. Way tooo many kids that come to my house but I could give them to the little TOTs. It's the little ones that get thirsty fast. I'm going to check into that.

[Black Cat]

Last year we had 300 toters, 200 adults and 2 dogs. Usually you can pick up the juice boxes for $1.99 for a package of 10. (Cost $0.19 each) Last year I got the Capri Sun ones on sale.
If you really watch the store ads in September you can catch the chips on sale for $3.99 for a package of 24. (Cost $0.16 each) Last year I got the chips at Walmart. I snagged up all they had left at the $3.99 price. The usuall sale price is $4.99 for 24 which works out to be $0.25.
In the long run it's always been cheaper than buying a decent size candy bar to give out.
I hate those little bit size pieces of candy that people try to give out and then tell you you can only have one. With the chips and the drink box it's a larger item and seems to get the kids attention as they tell everyone what we are giving out. I recommend not getting the bags of mini pretzels as the kids seem to pass right over them. As for the dogs that visit I always have on hand a few biscuits or rawhide treat in my pocket.

[Da Weiner]

Thanx for the tip Black Cat! I think I will do the juice box giveaway this year as long as I can buy in bulk and I agree with you about the small size candy bars. It's only one day a year for Heaven's sake. Spare some candy. I never gave out pretzels or chips because they seem to break up in the TOT's bags.

[ghostie]

I like the juice idea too...and the chips are in a bigger bag so the kitties think they're getting something even better. Doesn't matter that they're way cheaper than chocolate. Kids have no idea how much the stuff costs! 100% juice is a really nice alternative...I always cringe when I see the price of candy around Halloween and we end up eating the leftovers anyway. Bad. So chips would be more useful post-Halloween. (last year I gave the rest of my coffin-filled-party-packs to the pizza guy to bring back to the store. He was delighted and now we get better service!)

[grapegrl]

One of the microwave popcorn manufacturers (Act II, I think) sometimes has 20-packs of single-serve microwave popcorn in Hallowe'en packaging. I put these in my goodie bags one year and actually had a little boy who ran back up to the porch to thank me again for the popcorn. I thought it was really cute that the little guy got that excited over microwave popcorn!

I like the juice box idea--I've been wondering about better/more age-appropriate stuff to put in bags for the toddlers I get and I think this would be a great item to include.

[DeathTouch]

You guys are a bad influence. Now I want to buy juice boxes for all the little kids. aahhhhhhh...

[Da Weiner]

And just when I thought my glow braceletts were the rage, popcorn sounds good tooo. After all that TOTing and the sugar high, you put your little tired feet up and whatch a horror movie with popcorn. That's the way to go. I think I'm going to steal the juice box and popcorn idea. :D

I'm sure DT will try this tooo.

[Black Cat]

It's not just the toters who appreciate the juice box. Many parents saw the kids drinking them and asked if they could have one. The long walks with the kids got them thirsty as well.

At least I know I wasn't wasting money by giving out the juice boxes since they drank them on site.
It's amazing how many candy bars, all the bite size ones that we found in our hedges or along the street edge that the toters dropped or just disposed of.

[slightlymad]

I am definitly switching to juice boxes this year especially now that some thought has been put to it because when i walked the kids the house with juice was always in the middle. We almost always have adult beverages for those who linger and admire. The evil mother gives out the candy at the end of the sidewalk and anyone who even hints at being over 12 has to reach into her brew for it. the brew is a mixture of very oily noodles and peeled grapes. we dont have a problem with greedy manners i have a rep for zero tolerance ie we have a basket ball court and i have no problem taking kids back to their parents

[Johnny Thunder]

My wife usually sits or stands at the end of the walk and has a big basket full of candy, small toys and plastic monsters/spiders, etc and hands them out. I hide and roam around and scare the TOTers.

[Torgen]

The downfall to giving out juice boxes is the garbage that gets left behind at the street. Those little plastic wrappers from the juice box straws where everywhere. Gonna have to make some sort of spooky garbage can at the street edge in hopes they will use it.


Oh yeah, like after going through a haunt, they're gonna open that garbage can! :eek: :lol:

[DeathTouch]

I know I was telling you about CC's magic mirror that is really good for handing out treats. I found out a few days ago that he is planning on making a skull for the magic mirror. Here is the first picuture of it. Can you see kids walking up to this thing getting candy?

http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/blog/2006-05-23.png

[Dr Morbius]

No pic

[DeathTouch]

It is right in front of your face. You no see?

[Johnny Thunder]

DeathTouch - that is way cool.

[Vlad]

I saw the magic mirror on display at the Pa. gathering last year. It's a neat effect, but looking behind the scenes and seeing all of the techno stuff it took to run it made me think twice. At least two laptops, a mile of wiring,etc. It'll be a while before I try that one, lol.

[Torgen]

Check my post in "Props" about the world's easiest interactive Pepper.

[Torgen]

I priced Capri Sun juice packs at Costco yesterday. $6.60 for 40. That's 16.5 cents each! A bargain! And if I buy too much, I won't go into diabetic shock disposing of the leftovers. ;)

Gonna do skull whistles and skull rings as well. RI Novelty has them for less than $5/gross.

[PrettyGhoul]

I don't have a huge haunt and get only about 20/50/60 TOTs (depending on the year) so I fill up bags with about 6 or 7 fun size bars and hand them out at the door. If any kids are to afraid to come down the walk (which happened a couple of times last year) I go after them and give them 2 bags (a bribe to love Halloween). Actually I give most kids a few bags because I always think I'm not going to get many more TOTs. This has made it necessary for me to hold a few bags of fun bars in reserve in case I'm wrong...which I have been the last couple of years.
I try and purchase a large variety of candy because not all kids like chocolate. I like the pumpkin bags that look like little jack-o'-lanterns after you fill them up, very cute. My theory has been that no one else does this so the kids will remember where they got the great candy, tell their friends and come back next year hehe. Also their parents will know its safe and won't throw it out. This is probably a bad theory since the number of TOTs doesn't seem to go up much....maybe this year my haunted ship will bump it up. I really loved Black Cat and Vlad's idea of juice boxes last year so I'm going to do that this year as well. Also this year I want to add individually wrapped theme candy....fangs, creepy gumball eyeballs, road kill, Harry Potter candy. Wal Mart and Big Lots sell this type of thing (I thought of it to late last year, I was already stocked with candy) plus you can order it on line). I just thought the kids would enjoy it and its all about the kids....right? ;)

[Dr Morbius]

Check my post in "Props" about the world's easiest interactive Pepper.

Which thread, Torgen?

[grapegrl]

Which thread, Torgen?

Here ya' go, Morbie...

http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=2307

[IshWitch]

very awesome!

[IshWitch]

I am sold on the juice box idea!

It can be really hot down here on Halloween (which sucks the true feeling out of it for us northern transplants) and I have had many a friend bring their younglings by for my yard haunt and ask for a glass of water.

I usually hand out candy from a plastic cauldron (dressed as a witch) and have a second cauldron with little halloween toys like rings and bats, spiders and skeletons. I let the kids pick one out from that one while I do the candy. I've tried the bags before and prefer them to loose candy but never seem to have the time before the night to sit down and fill them.

Now about those drink boxes, hmmmm, can you hear the gears grinding? I'm thinking of having them on ice, yes, okay, in a cooler inside a coffin, that's it, yeah, yeah, and a fogger, ohhhh, this is gonna be fun!

[Vlad]

We didn't chill the juices before giving them out.If they don't want to drink it just then, they'll be putting a wet drink box into their treat bag to make a mess. Up here in NJ, they get a little chilled from the cool nights anyway.

[IshWitch]

Good point Vlad. I picture the kids cracking right into them down here, but a wet box is pretty nasty. Okay, scratch the cooler idea. If they're thirsty they won't care what temp they are anyway!;)

I still like the idea of the coffin tho', would make a better presentation to have to reach into something to pull them out. How 'bout a coffin with a piece of black stretchy cloth pulled tight with a slit in it. I or the TOT would have to reach into it to pull out the treat. That could be fun.

[Hellrazor]

Well I ususally do the caudron idea too. Last year I was a witch with a cauldron of dry ice. That was a big hit. then i had a smaller cauldron with full size chocolate bars. I have done the full size thing for 3 years now - I buy them at the 88 cent depot when they go 2 - 4 for 88 cents. this year I was thinkign about treat bags, but the juice boxes do sound good....

Anywhoo- I am doing a yard walk Haunt this year and took in many of the ideas. I think I will have one of my Scareactors at the end of the haunt handing the goodies out in a not so scary themed costume. Kinda like a bring down after the fear we imposed on them so they can move on to the next house in peace.

[shaunathan]

back when we did the childrens hospital in 1994, we set up a room with seemingly 8 dummies, although one dummy was a real person in a costume, big salad serving bowl filled with candy on a coffee table and the dummies (including the living dummy) were seated arround it.

this made sure they never took too much candy because then the dummy would come to life and scare the candy out of them :)

we got the idea from watching The Goonies... I always thought that was so cool as a kid... all the skeletons seated arround the treasure.. if I get good at corpsing I'm going to re-create that scene someday..

[Hellrazor]

What a great idea!!! Thats too funny!!! Hmmm its got me thinking......

[Da Weiner]

we got the idea from watching The Goonies... I always thought that was so cool as a kid... all the skeletons seated arround the treasure.. if I get good at corpsing I'm going to re-create that scene someday..

I know what scene you're talking about. My nephew, Isaac, loves that movie so I am always watching it with him. That would definitely be a pretty good set up to do.

[TearyThunder]

I do the treat bags, popcorn, and those drinks (like Koolaid that comes in the little plastic containers with foil tops, I also did the Wendy's frosty coupons in the treat bags too. I got about 40 TOT's last year and it was my first year here where I am now.

I usually have a couple friends helping give out things. I gave out the treat bags last year while I had a friend giving out the drinks and another doing the porpcorn. One friend was sitting with the cooler of drinks with the bluckies around the campfire and tent dressed up in "hillbillie" garb. The other was giving out the popcorn in the graveyard as a zombie.

It was a hoot. The friend in the graveyard had picked out a dark spot to come out of and would grumble "popcorn" with his arms out with the popcorn bags in his hands. Kids would scatter when he would come out. They were completely caught off guard since they were focused on me on the porch and the other friend at the campsite.

[Empress Nightshade]

I have always given out candy! It's just something I must do. To me, our illustrious holiday without candy is like Christmas without presents. Going "Pro" hasn't changed my mind on this, either. This season, we have two opportunities for our customers to receive treats.

The first is in our VIP Lounge strickly for those who purchase a VIP Scream Pass. They can sit down, eat candy, snacks, watch classic horror movies and be escorted to the front of the line.

The second opportunity is close to the end of the haunt. A monster jumps out from no where, thanks them for coming to the haunt and tells them to help themselves to the candy on the table. Well, the candy is actually glued to the table, but by the time they realize this, a guy with a chainsaw is behind them. :devil: A chocoholic's nightmare! :eek:

[Hauntiholik]

Well, the candy is actually glued to the table, but by the time they realize this, a guy with a chainsaw is behind them. :devil: A chocoholic's nightmare! :eek:
That's just sick and wrong! I LOVE IT Empress!

[Dr Morbius]

Empress, Your video on your site made my day!..Scaring the crap outta people (in a good way), always put's and evil grin on my face....off topic, but I just had to mention it. Hope your haunt is around for MANY Halloweens to come!

[Empress Nightshade]

Hope your haunt is around for MANY Halloweens to come!
Doctor, that is just about the sweetest and nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Gosh...
THANK YOU! :D

[Sickie Ickie]

Unfortunately we have almost no TOTs. Last year= 0, year before = 0

When I was a kid we had 300+ TOTs, then it dwindled with the poisoned candy scares and then curfews. My town now has an event for the kids, but TOTing has all but disappeared. Traditions kaput. Fizzled.

Hopefully I can raise interest by starting a newbie haunt display in front of the house this year. A kind of "in -your-face" approach. Now that I have a kid (1-1/2 yrs), I'm trying to make Halloween come back to life again here.

[Michigal]

Unfortunately we have almost no TOTs. Last year= 0, year before = 0

When I was a kid we had 300+ TOTs, then it dwindled with the poisoned candy scares and then curfews. My town now has an event for the kids, but TOTing has all but disappeared. Traditions kaput. Fizzled.

Hopefully I can raise interest by starting a newbie haunt display in front of the house this year. A kind of "in -your-face" approach. Now that I have a kid (1-1/2 yrs), I'm trying to make Halloween come back to life again here.

Ya know, I haven't replied to this thread, because I have so few TOT's. Sickie Ickie, you've beat me. I had 5 last year, in two cars. :(

What I do is make up some treat bags (the ones you get from Wal-Mart), with several types of candy and a favor like a spider ring or whatever, and print off some labels to stick on them, hopefully to alleviate any fears about "pins in the candy."

With as few as I get, I can afford to put full size ones in, but I'd love to be able to have to buy the little ones and have hundreds of TOTs instead.

I do think the area where you live plays a big part of it. I'm rural, and isolated but on a main road, but this whole state (Maine) seems very slack on Halloween. My former state was very big on Halloween (look at all the haunters from Michigan), and we'd get 200+ each year, even in our small town. Sure miss those days.

[NecroBones]

Empress, Your video on your site made my day!..Scaring the crap outta people (in a good way), always put's and evil grin on my face....off topic, but I just had to mention it. Hope your haunt is around for MANY Halloweens to come!

What video? All I see is a 404 error. :)

[Dr Morbius]

I navigated through her home page, NB...Here is a direct link:
http://www.screamtonight.com/video.html

[Sinister]

My favorite way to dispense candy? Take those damn "Fun Size" wrappers off the Kit-Kat bars and dispense them into your mouth while you watch Horror movies. :D :jol:

[faerydreams]

I havent actually given out candy(take the kids TOT), but I would love to. I would eventually like to get to the point where I am the house that everyone remembers, and everyone has to go too. There was a house like that in my neighborhood when we were growing up, and we didnt care if we hit anyone elses house, as long as we hit her's.

[.id.]

In years past, we've gone to Costco and bought the 30 packs of full sized various candy bars (less than $.30 each). We usually didn't get many, but every year there were more...(I'd like to think that it was repeat business.) This year we moved so I'm wondering how many we'll get here. I guess I'll just have to buy a bunch of candy....Darn.... :D

[Empress Nightshade]

This year we moved so I'm wondering how many we'll get here. I guess I'll just have to buy a bunch of candy....Darn.... :D
id,
ask your neighbors, if you have them, how traffic is on Halloween.

[Hellrazor]

Sickie, Im proud you are trying to keep the Halloween dream alive in Maine...

[Gloomy_Gus]

I have a cauldron full of candy. Two years ago I bought one of the cheap guillotines from Spirit. I removed the center section so that it fits well on a tabletop without being too tall. I set the bowl on the other side so the TOTs had to reach through the hole to get to the bowl. I spray painted the blade with blacklight spray to make it stand out. It was VERY entertaining watching people react. My favorite was last year when a large family of non-english speaking adults were discussing who would be the first to reach in. I had no idea what they were saying but it was clear that none of them would volunteer. In the pic you will note that I put a small stool down for the younger TOT's. The ones that were really scared would get a treat from my 8 year old.

http://www.uploadfile.info/uploads/8540b5c6c6.jpg

[mrklaw]

We usually buy small toys like vampire teeth, superballs, stickers and candy and let the kids choose. The only problem with that is that sometimes they take forever to decide.

[Gothikim]

LOVE the guillotine, GG!

I've become a big fan of the goodie bag. It reduces the bottleneck at the door, and allows me to make sure the appropriate ages get appropriate goodies. The kids tend to come in big groups in our neighborhood, and the goodie bags really speed things up.

This year I'm doing 3 types of bags: premium bags for kids with costumes, kiddie bags for toddlers, and crappo bags for punks with bad attitudes or no costumes. The crappo bag will contain yucky candy, like those nasty Necco wafers & candycorn. I'm tired of giving chocolate to those little sh*ts!

[Gloomy_Gus]

I may consider the goodie bag idea. I usually buy a ton of candy because I want to make sure there is enough for me. Most of the kids just take one or two but some kids try to get huge handfuls. One bag per customer sounds pretty good. That way I can also regulate what goes in the bags and make sure that I give out all the Mr. Goodbars and Three Musketeers while I hold back on the Snickers and Special Darks.

[slimy]

Last year I stood in my drive way, motionless, looking very much like one of the props. I would wait until the Trick or Treaters would get close, then come to life and say, "come with me, I know the way" then take them through the little haunt past the animatronics and into the fog. When we got to the end and they were expecting a chainsaw welding lunatic my cute little wife would be there to hand out candy. And they would breathe a sigh of relief. Then I would chase them out. Anticipation, relief, horror.

We also haven't been getting the number of trick or treaters here that we have had before. I think we are losing a lot to the mall. We won a radio station contest for having the best looking Halloween yard in the city. When my wife was interviewed on the air she announced that we needed a lot of trick or treaters on Halloween. We got a tremendous amount of drive by traffic to look at our decorations the week leading up to the main event (we live on a dead end street). We just knew we were going to be slammed with tot's. Oct 31st came and went and we got maybe 60 kids. We planned for 400. My wife and I are on a health kick so we had a lot of chocolate to get rid of. Maybe our house was too scary to trick or treat it. Who knows?

[Big Howlin]

One of these days I would like to try CCs Idea for handing out candy. The magic mirror. I don't think I will be able to get it done this year, but maybe one year.

http://homepage.mac.com/nephilim/imagineerieing/magic_mirror.html

Yeah I really like that but would need another person to help me build that...sadly nobody I know would care enough to do it with me...

[ghostie]

Wow. This post really returned for me!!! We've decided that hubby is going to be the Reaper, I'm going to be his nemesis, an angel, so we can get some real acting in opposing each other. My sister, who's flying up from Key West for the event (he he) will be a witch. The three of us will each have a really good type of candy or toy(we only get 10-15 TOT's tops). The kids will have to go to each of us to get the candy. The witch and I will tell the kids, "the Reaper has PEZ!" and see how many dare to get it from him! Should be a ton of fun. And we'll have hot cider for the parents to keep them around for a while...I CAN'T wait!

[JohnnyL]

We have an extremely large wooden bowl on a stand that sits by the front door with a mound of every candy you can think of inside. The whole foyer is lit with candles, skulls and a chandelier dropping with cobwebs and old stripped fabric. The kids step in a bit and grab a few pieces of candy and get a view of "Love Manor" inside... muahahahahahaha!

[otherworldly]

I have LOVED reading this thread! What incredible ideas! I've just been handing out candy bags at my door; the Hallway is decorated behind me and they do have to pass through my front yard haunt to reach the door...but you have my imagination spinning!

[writer93]

For along time, i've just handed candy out through a big bowl, but this year i'm going to try to do something different. There are some awesome ideas in this thread!

[DeathTouch]

Maybe I should do it like the Chicago Bulls and get one of those air canons. Fill that puppy up with snickers and shoot them across the yard.

[lord_tici_taci]

I don't know if its been suggested yet, but this year I'm going to have tot's reach inside a half disected alien's stomach for some intestinal looking candy. I originally wanted some organs to jump out & scare the partons, ala John Carpenters "The Thing".

[writer93]

That is a WICKED idea! As long as the kids wouldn't be uncomfortable reaching inside an ailien's stomach. Lol nah I'm sure they would like it.

[lord_tici_taci]

I always have a back-up bowl of candy for people to afraid/grossed-out to finish my haunt trail, and a bowl of carrots for those who invoke my wraith.

[writer93]

LOL! Yeah I need to come up with a cool idea this year to dispense candy. I usually just throw it in an orange Halloweenie bowl and dispense it, but this year's going to be different.

[IshWitch]

I've decided to give out Capri Sun's and have bought them already. I usually give out my candy from a cauldron, but since I am having a Pirate theme I am thinking about making or getting some kind of treasure chest to put them in.

[HibLaGrande]

I was just wondering how everyone hands out candy? do you wait, Lurking behind the door peeking out to the front walk? hangout outside on the porch and hand out candy?

I sit on the front door step for two reasons, one the dog goes nuts when someone knocks on the door and two the front doorstep is kind of narrow and I'm afraid of kids falling off when I open the door.:eek:

[scareme]

I too sit outside, as long as it not raining. We get over 500 tots and its just not worth going in and out that many times. The dog does bark about the first 100 kids, but then I guess she figures the heck with it, my master knows someones coming, I'm too tired to keep this up all night. Some of the little ones are to scared to come through the yard, so I'll walk down and take them their candy. Talking about it makes me anxious, I can hardly wait.

[Johnny Thunder]

I was thinking about this yesterday - I have a bunch of skull whistles I'm giving out (courtesy of Vlad and Black Cat thank you very much), plus some other rings/plastic skulls/monsters/bugs/stickers, etc...... I was wondering if it would be better to just mix the candy and toys all together and just give each TOT a bunch of stuff, or whether my wife should hand out the candy and I'd hand out the toys.... Or I was thinking to have my wife give out the candy at the edge of the walk and if the kids "dare" come up to me, they could grab toys out of a second basket.

anybody have any ideas?

[Da Weiner]

JT - That sounds like a good idea to do to the TOTs for Halloween. Just might have them left over if you're in a scary costume.

Me and the hubby take turns giving out candy because we are both dressed up. Sometimes he stands behind me while I give out the candy and the TOTs usually look up and stare at him. Some back up real slow and some of them bolt.

[Johnny Thunder]

Thanks DW. Yeah, that's the problem - a lot of kids get scared of me for whatever reason and sometimes I have to retreat so they'll cross to our side of the street. Must be my face :)

[NickG]

last year I didn't give out any candy, my mom and sister did... (the good witch by the road, the scary witch on the porch you had to brave the yard to get to)

this year my sister is handing out candy in the garage (witche's lair) and our neighbor is going to have stuff for the not-so brave at our driveway... last year everyone was so busy at our house she wasn't getting anyone at the door so she sat at the end of her driveway in a lawn chair instead.

usually we have everything in one of the huge bowls and let the kids pick two items. this year they can have candy, or a glow-bracelet. I'm thinking of having the bracelets hanging off a section of dead tree I plan to "plant" in the yard, kinda like christmas ornaments in a leafless, branchy, scary way.

[writer93]

Well im 15, so last year I was out trick or treating. I helped hand it out when I got back. Mom n dad had some masks on and all that so this year im going to hand it out the whole time! Just me! Ill probably get a nice Cauldron to put the candy in or something and dress up good.

[Da Weiner]

OK - With all this talk of dispensing the Halloween goodies and what we have bought or going to buy - has anyone started eating the candy they have already bought for Halloween? It's OK to fess up!!!! :D

[Gloomy_Gus]

I'm going to try the goodie bags this year. I'm trying hard not to buy the candy yet because it will never make it to Halloween. My in-laws usually come over to help out with candy. If not this year, then probably by next year I will be 'the man behind the curtain' doing all the techie stuff.

[writer93]

Yes DW im already eating some of the candy! We havent got alot of Halloween candy just yet, havent had alot of time with my Grandfather passing. But we do have some Snickers Bars, Twix, gummy Savers, and all that good stuff. A bag of tootsie rolls as well.

[Dreadnight]

Since we are in a Pirate haunt mode right now, we have a large wooden treasure chest which sits on a low platform right inside our door. My wife usually is the candy passer-outer, so she just reaches into the candy pile in the treasure chest and hands out the candy bars. So, all the visitors are coming away with some "treasure"!

[Da Weiner]

Yes DW im already eating some of the candy! We havent got alot of Halloween candy just yet, havent had alot of time with my Grandfather passing. But we do have some Snickers Bars, Twix, gummy Savers, and all that good stuff. A bag of tootsie rolls as well.

I have been hitting the Almond Joys pretty regularly. Good thing I only bought one bag of them. I bought gummi body parts so I know they're safe. I think that's why I wait until the last minute to buy Halloween candy and also the weather factor comes into play for how much I need to buy also.

[writer93]

Yeah, we've just been buying candy for us for now. We're gonna wait a while to get the trick or treating candy.

[Long_Tom]

My favorite way of passing out candy was the year that I set up a cardboard box with a false arm around the outside, and a hole for my real arm to go in the box with the candy. The kids would come up, say "trick or treat," whereupon a disembodied hand would rise out of the box grasping a treat ("Thank you, Thing...") and drop it in their treat bucket.

For the slightly more skeptical, I also kept a second fake hand in the box, one of the battery-powered ones with the wiggling fingers. When one of them would make noises about "I know how you do that..." I would nod and agree, saying, "You're right, it's a fake hand. See?" and produce the fake hand out of the box, holding it in the real one, of course. About half the time I'd get a self-satisfied nod of agreement, then a double-take. :jol:

[incubus0]

This year I'm doing a maniac psycho-killer theme, so I'll be in a autopsy head mask, with an apron of faces and skin, when the door opens, I walk up towards it, dragging a little trick-or-treater body in one hand, and when I get to the door, raise the body up, the candy is in a plastic pumpkin bucket that's in the death grip hand and limp arm of the victim.

[Da Weiner]

This year I'm doing a maniac psycho-killer theme, so I'll be in a autopsy head mask, with an apron of faces and skin, when the door opens, I walk up towards it, dragging a little trick-or-treater body in one hand, and when I get to the door, raise the body up, the candy is in a plastic pumpkin bucket that's in the death grip hand and limp arm of the victim.

That sounds friggin awesome. Have you attempted this before or will this be the first time.

[incubus0]

That sounds friggin awesome. Have you attempted this before or will this be the first time.Thanks. This will be the first time.

We moved into the house a few years ago (first time home owners), and I'm just starting to get into really setting up the lawn for Halloween this year, but plan on changing up the way I dispense depending on the theme. I'll also have the little women dispense out to the really little ones.

[HauntedHacienda]

We have a 5 Gallon Bucket and hand out Candy by the Handfuls.

[Spooky1]

This year I'm doing a maniac psycho-killer theme, so I'll be in a autopsy head mask, with an apron of faces and skin, when the door opens, I walk up towards it, dragging a little trick-or-treater body in one hand, and when I get to the door, raise the body up, the candy is in a plastic pumpkin bucket that's in the death grip hand and limp arm of the victim.


I think you'll get to keep a lot of your candy. The ToTs will run screaming from that one. LOL

[Eon]

We don't get a lot of TOTs (maybe 30-40) so we try to get creative and have the kids perform a small "challenge" in order to get their treat. The past two years I mounted a small plastic plate inside our stirring witch cauldron, just below the fog level. On the plate we placed some Zots(tm) candies, along with a few rubber creepy-crawlies. The TOTs had to be brave enough to approach the witch and reach into the cauldron (while avoiding the stirring stick!) and grab a piece of candy. Once they completed this task, we let the choose an additional treat from the candy basket. This was a lot of fun. We're trying to come up with something new for this year.

[corner haunt]

I prefer the into my mouth method of dispensing candy! :jol: LOL

[Valhella]

For the last few years I have done full size candy bars for the kids and spooky shooters for the parents. I always loved this one house as a kid that had full size candy bars, and I found out that if you buy bulk it is not that much more expensive to do full bars. The spooky shooters can be anything, usually something cool looking using blue curaco or absynthe.
Last year I made Orange and grape layered jello shooters. They looked very Halloweeny and went over really well.

[GothicCandle]

last year I got a bunch of treat bags that we filled with three pieces of candy each. Each toter got a bag. This year, unless we go buy some bags we will give each kid two or three pieces. I prefer to hand out the bags like we did last year though because kids have a habit of wanting to pick which candy in the bowl they want. I find this annoying because its time consuming and the fact that all they care about is the candy and not my props!

[meltdown211]

Fast ball special...top of the driveway...multiple pieces, head shots are 10 points...Multiple hits = bonus....

[HauntedHacienda]

We have a 5 Gallon Metal Bucket that we give Candy by the Handful from.

[HalloweenZombie]

I like to throw candy into traffic and watch the kids run for it. The screams from their parents really add to the ambiance. Sometimes I'll leave a piece of candy or two in a rat trap on the front porch.

Alright...seriously. My wife hands out bags of candy that my kids put together. She usually dresses in a non-threatening costume because often the TOTs won't come up my driveway and she has to go to them.

[dflowers]

I am going to serve candy out of a real body bag. I am debating on get one of the autopsy props from alarming products, place it in the body bag and then place the candy in the body cavity. bwahahaha

[debbie5]

I love it when there is some schtick or business in order for kids to get their candy. And I can't stand it when they don't say thank you (I know they are excited,,BUT...) So hubby & I came up with this:

Our front porch is all creepy...hubby (vampire) will stand in the far corner of the porch, motionless, in his upright coffin (you can barely see him, as he is only lit by a glowstick). I am also motionless..people think I am a dummy. The best part is hearing the kids: "I'm not going up there..YOU go." 'NO, I'm not going- that guy is gonna jump out at me".
"No he won't- he's just a dummy vampire.."
So the kids come up on the porch and go to ring the doorbell...problem is, there IS no doorbell...we have taped it over. The name is there, but there is no button to press. In that split second where they think "Where is the doorbell?" hubby quickly steps out of the coffin and loudly yells "GREETINGS!" which scares the poo out of them. He will chat with them, and do his schtick & start go to hand over the candy. We have a severed head in a basket (a beauticians doll head, with gory ping pong ball eyes)..before he hands the kid their bag, he will say "SEE THAT GIRL!?? She didn't say "thank you". Naturaly, they all say thank you & he then hands them their bag.

Our candy & stuff is all bagged to keep the kids flowing on & off the porch. We have a reaaaaalllly tight budget, so I l have to look & shop for stuff allyear. I have some miscellaneous things from a few county fairs (Cabot Cheese notebooks, nailfiles)...a few clip on mustaches and lots of clearance sale (90% off) H'ween toys from last year (spider & bat rings, skellies, ghoul finger puppets, bouncing ball eyeballs) as well as little school supplies also 90% off (little keychain notebooks, pencils with a replaceable tip). But the best thing I found last month was 2 big boxes of Freeze Pops (those plastic tubes of liquid crap)....100 for 99cents! AND there was a rebate on the bottom of the box for 99 cents. FREE! I also picked up individually wrapped Twizzlers for a ridiculous price last month at a local drug store. Oh, and I have lots of glow bracelets from Target. It's a really good thing I have all this stuff ahead of time, as our budget is empty. So we have LOTS of stuff to give out...I usually mix it up- a Twizzler, a Freeze Pop and something else. We also offer a limited number of Trick bags...we usually give these out to the quieter, nice kids who are amusing or funny or just..well, nice. We ask if they would like a trick as well as a treat...most say no at first, then get a glint in their eye and say yes. This year, tricks are earplugs, trial sized tubes of Desitin & Bacitracin and rocks.(Last year was sippy cups, pacifiers, hemmarhoid cream trial sizes & Desitin...can you tell I get a lot of free samples in the mail and from my doctors?)
Every year, I want to make a candy cauldron (the fake arm holds the cauldron, while my hand is in the cauldron,like above) and every year I just never get around to it.
I usually make up my bags on a rainy night, when I just need a break from making props & setting stuff up.I will sit on the couch & watch tv while doing my Bag Factory & put everything in. It really gets me psyched for TOTers.

d5

[pyro]

my daughter will be handing out the candy ---if they want a toy they must get it for themselfs----which when there hand goes for it another hand goes for theres :D