[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.

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.

 

[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?

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? 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? 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. 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.

 

[Death's Door]

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.

 

[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]

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!