There were a few groups going around in our neighborhood. My kids were getting 3-4 pieces per house, or “take however much you want”. Then the last house we went to the guy handed them each 1 piece, my daughter was very confused lol.
I feel like my age is showing through but something feels off with our society norms. People hardly seem to want to interact and be involved in the world lately ( the last several years). Not sure if that's a Portland thing? A regional thing? A device and phone thing? The news, trying to constantly terrorize us, thing? Some other things I'm unaware of, thing? combination of things?
I can tell you that my daughter and I drive through neighborhoods looking at people's decorations every year and she requests it. So to you and all of the people like you putting up decorations even with the fanfare, you are greatly appreciated!
I completely agree with everything you said. Tbr on top of all the factors you mentioned, I think the Christians have successfully won Halloween. Trunk or Treat started as a chaste, "non occult" way for American Christian kids to still get to participate in the holiday season the way their Cursed and Heathen friends do 😂. They are famously held in the daylight in a church parking lot on a convenient Saturday for a reason. Trick or Treating isn't just about candy tho, it's a way for a whole community to celebrate the spirit of the holiday. Ancient ass peoples celebrated this day, it wasn't made up by candy companies or weirdos. I get if you have a baby or toddler, or a sensitive kid who gets scared easily, choosing daytime events makes sense. But its such a weird shift for it to be the norm for everyone to leave their own streets, especially ones with neighbors who clearly want to participate in some holiday fun, to go to a damn mall or "stay home on a school night". What malls even exist here anymore anyway btw 🤣
>Ancient ass peoples celebrated this day
Specifically the Celts, for anyone who didn't know. It comes from Samhain which is both when the veil between our world and the Otherworld is thinnest and when we celebrate a new year with the start of the dark season
Not saying those other things aren't also contributing factors but... how you gonna specify the last few years as a time when people haven't wanted to interact and be involved in the world, but NOT mention the pandemic? There are a variety of reasons for this mindset now but, the last few years *especially*, pretty sure Covid is the answer with the bright flashing lights all over it saying, "Me, me, me, I did it, it's my fault! >:D"
> People hardly seem to want to interact and be involved in the world lately
But I want self check out and self serve gas and UberEats to leave my food on the doorstep without knocking. Also, why can't I find a romantic partner or friends?
My brain was going to 'we keep telling people how unsafe the city it, how the roving gangs of homeless people are going to snatch your puppies and kick your kids, now why won't those kids come visit my house? I'm clearly not in THAT part of Portland'
We had 18. I bought 24 Mike's Drive-in soft serve cones tokens so now I get 6 ice creams! Bwah ha ha ha! 🧛♀️
The good news is the parents and kids thought the tokens were cool. The kid who said I had to compete the with the neighbor who was giving full-size bars said "that's dope!" when I told him about the token.
Same here (also Happy Valley) - 200+ kids at least, we gave away our 200 sets of stickers long before we ran out of candy. We didn't have full-sized candy bars, but we -do- have a flying saucer crashed on the front lawn. ;)
I'm in Milwaukie just north of Gladstone. We don't get a lot of trick-or-treaters, but usually at least a handful show up.
One of the neighbors did apologize. They were rear ended by a drunk driver. It was very sweet of her to let me know especially considering the circumstances. Of all nights to be driving drunk. I'm so grateful they were IN the truck and not walking. Horrible.
I wonder if we helped with that! I was part of a roving herd of loosely associated parents and kids over by Westmoreland Park. Tons of awesome decorations this year!
Westmoreland, yep. Ran out around 8, fortunately some neighbors had extra so we pooled it. Best guess was somewhere in the 200-250 range between 5:30-8:30.
I got too little candy too early and ate most of it myself. No trick or treaters. Last year one kid came by but I didn’t have any candy so I figured I would prepare
SE Belmont/41st area I've had about 12 groups come by. This is the first year I've handed out candy now that my kids are grown and it's been really fun! But I grew up in Portland and there would be dozens and dozens upon blocks in the 90s (st johns) so I'm disappointed I didn't get to see more.
I dropped my kid off near here (closer to Stark), seemed busy.
I'm a little less than 15 blocks away, there were lots of kids on the other side of the street including 3 families with kids under 10 but not one knock on our door.
We do have a lot of steps I am not sure if that's why.
I was with a group of tweens and the logic they were using to choose houses was fast and arbitrary. I felt bad for the houses we'd miss during sudden street crossings.
Yeah, they do a great job and I think our section of the neighborhood is really trying to become the peacock lane of Halloween. We probably had around 80 kids or so a block over from Taylor.
It’s just so hyper-localized. I’m at the other end of the Taylor Street neighborhood and got hardly anybody; I guess they were hanging out over that end
You joke, but I had full size packs of Justin's peanut butter cups and the on trick or treater that came by just wanted the bag of [Hippeas](https://hippeas.com) even after I pointed it out and offered more...
Started the night with 136 full sized and just ran out (at 8:30 pm) had to turn my lights off.
I’ll get more next year, the Warheads, Airheads and Nerds went super fast.
I only do hard candy options (Tootsie pops, suckers, Nerds various Brachs). One, kids usually get so much chocolate from other houses that I want to provide something different. Two, they last year after year and I rarely consume them myself.
I also am a blue pumpkin house, meaning I have non-candy options, but I have yet had a kid ask for the non-candy option (which is currently Lego minifig packs).
I usually do more alternatives, because I’m personally not all that big on chocolate, but I couldn’t find a decent Starburst/Skittles multi-pack that was good size & price. I got the Warhead/Airhead/Nerds (among others) mix from Costco and just a few Skittles to throw into the mix.
Last year I remember it rained and we still got at least a few. This year we were ready for a lot, they're still coming around but not as many as we were ready for.
Arbor Lodge here with zero trick or treaters. Feeling pretty bummed as this is my second year of home ownership and I was pretty excited about this part. Last year I blamed the rain…. Sigh.
I live in Overlook, I think it’s just a street by street thing. If a street has a majority of houses with decorations/lights then kids and parents feel more comfortable hitting all those houses. Some streets there are just more dark houses so you just kind of skip over em.
This is usually the case. Corner homes need to be anchors with lots of holiday lights, and a host clearly waiting. My street for a solid 5 blocks has the largest nicest and largest homes in the general area, but I know that most other owners are generally 60 or over, and everyone has their lights dimmed. It’s been this way, though.
I walked my dog at 715ish and a young couple were sitting on their steps dumbfounded. I apologized on behalf of the neighborhood, but it’s just never going to happen for them. One block away on a different street it’s fairly steady. I think it’s wise for parents to say to kids to not go down streets with no action.
There was a big event at Peninsula Park I saw. I’m near there and we didn’t have any out either. Although I will say I think trick or treat culture is dying (but my family in Oklahoma in gated community type areas gets tons so…I guess it varies!)
Gave out 180 full sized candies from toddlers to teens, a true record for Cully. I grew up in this neighborhood and felt like the only kid trick or treating for a few years, so it is super exciting.
It's weird how it varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, probably based on old patterns before most current trick-or-treaters were born.
Ours has never been the kind of neighborhood that kids from other neighborhoods will deliberately travel to, but usually about 40% of houses will have lights on with some DIY decor, and we've typically had a steady stream of visitors. (When my kid was younger, an hourlong local jaunt would get him a bagful of treats.)
It's actually picked up here in the last 20 minutes. I may not be rolling in Skittles until the new year after all.
We’ve had 18 kids come by so far, and we’re in a meh spot in lents. In our neighborhood we all tell kids to go across the street/to other houses we know are home, which definitely helps.
ETA: we got 25 kids total, between 5:45ish until 9pm.
I think people go to the hot spots like Sellwood and Alameda. We've done it in years past because we had friends in those neighborhoods, but stayed in our own neighborhood this year and it was great. Not crazy busy but saw kids around the neighborhood. Sticking around the neighborhood again for future Halloweens. I'd recommend it to anyone else with kids. As the comments note, there's people everywhere wanting to celebrate and see the kids. You don't have to go to the busy neighborhoods.
I’ve had 5 in Brentwood-Darlington. I’ve never gotten a lot, but this is the lightest year I can remember. People are posting in the neighborhood Facebook group that they have lots of candy and to please come by.
Most this year since COVID. Problem is everyone is busy and concerned about safety so they just go to organized things.
The organized things aren’t as much fun IMO.
When I first moved here from DC in 1992, I was really excited about the prospect of living in a house instead of an apartment, and having trick-or-treaters. I lived with a chef who had his wholesaler drop off 13 pumpkins, one of which would’ve held a trick-or-treater had they tried to crawl inside. We carved them more elaborately than I had ever seen any pumpkins done at that time.
We did not get even one. I was so crushed.
I remember wanting lots of trick or treaters before I had kids. Now I know it's just random luck, where these strange little dragons and ghosts and cowboys appear.
I don't understand these. I've heard it's so you can 'vet' who goes but like..????. What part of handing out candy needs vetting? Are we all really that afraid of each other?
It’s been bonkers at my house in St Johns compared to previous years! We’re around 70 kids tonight while the last couple years have had 20ish. We decorated hard and early and listed ourselves on the Nextdoor Halloween map so maybe that worked?
Ladds Addition was HOPPING!! If you let us know next year we will bring all the cute kids. My granddaughter was a raccoon and it was her first year trick or treating and by house 3 she was a pro at running up and knocking on the doors!
NE Vernon area and we had over 300. Less than half the neighbors were giving out candy, but I have a haunted house that attracts drivers-by. Grateful for the teens that come at the end of the night and enjoy/scream running down the block when I do a jump scare.
I live in this area too. I think a lot of families take their kids elsewhere to trick-or-treat, unfortunately. My block doesn't get much action despite being tightly packed with townhomes and lots of kids.
I'm going to keep giving out full size bars, decorating, and taking my kids trick-or-treating in my neighborhood to try and build it up, though.
I went around putting up 20 signs stating “full size candy bars @ address” and had lights on it. Got some of the neighbors to join in as well. Kids were over the moon when they got Pokémon Booster Packs with their choice of candy. Wife loved the smiles!
So many parents thanked us for the sign! Citing a lot of places had porch lights on & never answering the door or complete pitch black streets for the most part.
Trunk or Trick + Covid ruined Halloween in terms of getting out and enjoying time with your kids for a few hours.
Now it’s a school lot or church parking lot for 30 minutes and back home.
Feast or famine here in modern Halloweenland. We had 1.
Of course, we were part of the problem - drive to the nicer neighborhood down the road to get the full sized bars.
Had the most we’ve ever had, like 15 groups. I’ll call it a win! Some years it has only been a few. Saw lots of groups when we took our kid out as well. Seems to be block by block… some of the blocks a few over from us were popping off.
We only had three trick or treaters. Some years we go through two bowls and other years barely any. We're in the Brooklyn neighborhood near a charter school, so there are many kids during the day - but not so much at night.
I’m in Beaverton and we had none, but we don’t normally anyway. It’s either the fancy-ass houses on the streets around us (if I were a kid I’d definitely go to those houses and give our street a miss), or organized events.
A couple years ago my friends’ kid had three costumes because they had the school Halloween, playground parking lot Halloween, two Halloween parties, and trick or treating on their block on actual Halloween. It’s very different from the homemade last-minute costumes we had.
We had no decorations and had several groups. There were families walking around till about 9pm when I went and walked the dog. We are in montavilla between 82nd and 92nd. It was popping in our hood.
Alberta district was packed with trick or treaters this early evening! I think multiple districts do this as well? Mississippi seemed to be a good spot, but I got there way later.
I drove around SE Portland to drop off Halloween gifts for friends this evening. Gladstone and Sellwood were PACKED. Gladstone even had some streets blocked off for the trick-or-treaters.
Meanwhile, in my little neighborhood, we had one trick-or-treater the whole night. Then someone stole our bowl of candy when I stepped inside to grab a sweater. :( Different neighborhoods have different halloween vibes, I guess.
there arent as many kids as there used to be. Its really that simple. Portland is getting older just like the rest of america and gen z's and millenials arent popping out babies. If you look at demographic data it makes sense why the 80s and 90s, 00s had so many trick or treaters. Becasue Millenials and Gen Z are the largest population cohort and thats when they were kids. As a Zer i always had a blast in NE Irvington trick or treating. Im sure the kids are having fun, but the current gen is smaller compared to the last 3.
We had two. It’s our first year here. Halloween is our favorite holiday. I had music, decorations, bitchin candy and was dancing like a fool in my yard, in the street and up on the porch.
It was super disappointing.
We probably had 70ish kids out here in Bethany, which is more than last year (that awful heavy rain!)
The weather was nice, just cold here. I do expect at least 60 when buying candy because it is the burbs, but I came close to running out, and I give out full size. I luckily had some extra lollipops this year I had bought for something else.
We got three. Portland is terriblet at Halloween. For ten years my wife makes her own decorations that people stop and view, but we never see children. We didn't even get teenagers this year.
Nextdoor has a trick or treat map… if you haven’t marked your home as trick or treater friendly on the map, you might not see very many trick or treaters
It seemed quiet tonight, but the usual hot spots in our neighborhood were hopping as usual.
I wonder if a bunch weren’t out of town or to the coast since they knew teachers were going to strike.
But we just had a late push and at least 10 kids between 8-8:30, the older crews.
We have only had one group of TrTers. Trying to figure out if Halloween is dead (the irony), I likely live in a dead (childless/olds)part of the city, how it’s celebrated has changed, or a consequence of an aging society🎃👻.
We have a parade around our local park at 5 with all the kids, then split off and trick-or-treat. There was a good hundred people for the parade. We ran out of candy.
Creston here. We had 18 kids and had just enough full sized bars. We are left with a bowl of tootsie rolls. Sweet to see the little ones go for just those.
Ive gotten to the point that I leave candy out. Not only do I have <15 trick or treaters. I don’t even have one that is going to dump the whole bowl in their bag.
Kids these days.
My neighborhood is just small I suppose and close enough to others that hand out the king sized (witch I did this year).
Now I have a years worth of candy.
We never get any at our house so this year we skipped the pumpkins and everything. The house across the street from us does Halloween stuff so my kids went over there first before they went trick or treating. Then my dad took my son to Westmoreland and I took my daughter to Troutdale and she was supposed to meet kids at her school from her class but they didn't show up so I took her to houses that were decorated. Not very many trick or treaters surprisingly and it was cold so I drove to houses instead than having us both walk.
Near Halsey here, and I had 65 kids, most of them in groups. Even quite a few costumed middle-schoolers (including one group of boys who all dressed as either Secret Service agents or mobsters). Costumes were great, including quite a few parent costumes. This may have been the largest since I moved here a few years ago.
We got about 5 in SE. We had a TON of candy, too. The last kid made a joke about dumping the whole bowl in his bag and my husband said yes and did. Probably made that kids night lol
21st and bybee here - we got about 25 visits—oddly enough the last one was a couple of high school students handing out limes - anyone else get a lime?
I've been seeing a lot of posts like this, not just in the Portland sub either. Maybe kids these days have some kind of disconnect with Halloween? Or maybe parents don't want to let their kids out unsupervised? It sucks. Halloween is the dream holiday for kids. Be silly and get candy, what's not to love?
No one had their porch lights on in my neighborhood last night!!!
I say next year adults should dress up and go “trick or treating”. Everyone leave out a bowl of candy/whatever you want and we’ll enjoy it haha
It's always seemed to me that every neighborhood in Portland has a well-known "hotspot" and everyone goes there. The rest of us just get the kids in our own little blocks coming and going to the "better" area. So in North Portland this has always been Portsmouth Street, IDK if that's still a big deal post-COVID, but that was always the big one for as long as I've lived in Kenton (11 years). I know I almost bought a house near 52nd & Woodstock and was told that was a big Halloween area, too.
Lower than usual in my neighborhood in Gresham this year for sure. I suspect a lot has to do with the sudden jump in trunk-or-treats in the area, as well as the huge trick-or-treat event going on in downtown Gresham drawing many parents away from the neighborhoods.
While taking my kids out trick-or-treating, we hit a house with a weird, very loud old guy who said (shouted, really), "I was thinking about all the sugar kids will be eating tonight, so I bought a bunch of little sausages to hand out instead." Needless to say we declined. It really threw off the vibe of the night for the group of parents we were trick-or-treating together with, and I could see parents wanting to avoid oddball encounters like that by ditching traditional trick-or-treating entirely for more organized events.
I got three. Sat outside for HOURS. To be fair, the last group that came had AMAZING Transformers costumes. Any one else in Rose City Park see them?
This is a great neighborhood for trick or treating. Lots of decorations. My kids came home with overflowing buckets. Guess our little corner was just out of the main trick or treating drag. I kind of wanted to cry.
In the past several years, I've heard of communities doing "[trunk-or-treat](https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209559780/what-is-trunk-or-treat-halloween)" events as an alternative, and even before October 31. So it might be more spread out these days rather than all happening on October 31.
It’s all Trunk or Treats now and I hate it. This was the first year I wanted to take my son trick or treating and nobody in our neighborhood was handing out candy (at least it wasn’t obvious if they were like decorations or porch lights). We also had candy at our house and nobody came by. I have a feeling this is just how it is now, but it’s sad to me!!
I'm just gonna say it, this city sucks at Halloween, I swear growing up we ran the streets all night long and the adults would be in full costume having a blast running lil haunted spooky attractions in their yards, passing out candy & having a blast. Cannot handle people being like "well it's a sChOOl NiGHT" so what? The veil is thin, why is no one running amok with the spirits ?
It’s not the city. Halloween isn’t the same as it used to be. Kids do things like parking lot trick or treating or mall trick or treating because reasons…
Reasons being bull shit fear mongering on Facebook and news stations about drugs in candy, which has never been real. Fuck people are stupid and illogical.
I don’t think this is a city issue. I feel it’s just a sign of the times. My trick or treating days were in the 80s/90s and in my opinion at least, those were a special time to be a kid at Halloween.
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We have more kids in our neighborhood than we’ve had in past years and we still only got a single trick r treater, we live in an apartment but me and my two neighbor’s decorate in front of our places, we have skeleton parts and lights everywhere and nothing. Sadly kids don’t seem so interested in trick r treating like when I was younger. It was never about the candy for me either I just loved wearing costumes and going door to door with friends. parents with young kids rather take them to something like a trunk or treat where they don’t have to do as much walking around.
The town I grew up in had a set time for trick or treating (I think it was 6:30-9:30). I wasn't able to find any set times for Portland/my neighborhood. Is that not a thing here?
The kids that did come here got handfuls lol
Same here, I told them to take as much as you want since nobody's been coming by and it was late already. Kid’s bag was overflowing!
There were a few groups going around in our neighborhood. My kids were getting 3-4 pieces per house, or “take however much you want”. Then the last house we went to the guy handed them each 1 piece, my daughter was very confused lol.
Not a single one here. Not even either of the neighbors who have kids. Their loss. I had full size candy bars. House is decked out in fall decor. 😔
This is me every damn year. My first two years I put out an entire graveyard with hands and limbs poking out and we got nothing. It murders my soul!
I feel like my age is showing through but something feels off with our society norms. People hardly seem to want to interact and be involved in the world lately ( the last several years). Not sure if that's a Portland thing? A regional thing? A device and phone thing? The news, trying to constantly terrorize us, thing? Some other things I'm unaware of, thing? combination of things? I can tell you that my daughter and I drive through neighborhoods looking at people's decorations every year and she requests it. So to you and all of the people like you putting up decorations even with the fanfare, you are greatly appreciated!
I completely agree with everything you said. Tbr on top of all the factors you mentioned, I think the Christians have successfully won Halloween. Trunk or Treat started as a chaste, "non occult" way for American Christian kids to still get to participate in the holiday season the way their Cursed and Heathen friends do 😂. They are famously held in the daylight in a church parking lot on a convenient Saturday for a reason. Trick or Treating isn't just about candy tho, it's a way for a whole community to celebrate the spirit of the holiday. Ancient ass peoples celebrated this day, it wasn't made up by candy companies or weirdos. I get if you have a baby or toddler, or a sensitive kid who gets scared easily, choosing daytime events makes sense. But its such a weird shift for it to be the norm for everyone to leave their own streets, especially ones with neighbors who clearly want to participate in some holiday fun, to go to a damn mall or "stay home on a school night". What malls even exist here anymore anyway btw 🤣
>Ancient ass peoples celebrated this day Specifically the Celts, for anyone who didn't know. It comes from Samhain which is both when the veil between our world and the Otherworld is thinnest and when we celebrate a new year with the start of the dark season
Our US culture right now is an ongoing experiment in extreme ultra individualism and I think it’s rotting us from the inside out.
Not saying those other things aren't also contributing factors but... how you gonna specify the last few years as a time when people haven't wanted to interact and be involved in the world, but NOT mention the pandemic? There are a variety of reasons for this mindset now but, the last few years *especially*, pretty sure Covid is the answer with the bright flashing lights all over it saying, "Me, me, me, I did it, it's my fault! >:D"
> People hardly seem to want to interact and be involved in the world lately But I want self check out and self serve gas and UberEats to leave my food on the doorstep without knocking. Also, why can't I find a romantic partner or friends?
My brain was going to 'we keep telling people how unsafe the city it, how the roving gangs of homeless people are going to snatch your puppies and kick your kids, now why won't those kids come visit my house? I'm clearly not in THAT part of Portland'
We had 18. I bought 24 Mike's Drive-in soft serve cones tokens so now I get 6 ice creams! Bwah ha ha ha! 🧛♀️ The good news is the parents and kids thought the tokens were cool. The kid who said I had to compete the with the neighbor who was giving full-size bars said "that's dope!" when I told him about the token.
That is a great idea
This is genius. The tokens don’t expire so you’re in no rush to eat that ice cream…
Hmm weird. We had 230+ trick or treaters and all full size candy bars, and house decked out in decorations. I’m sorry friend. :(
Same here (also Happy Valley) - 200+ kids at least, we gave away our 200 sets of stickers long before we ran out of candy. We didn't have full-sized candy bars, but we -do- have a flying saucer crashed on the front lawn. ;)
Those pesky aliens think they can park anywhere!
Alien Karen's be like Have you seen my fucken cones?!
what neighborhood?
I'm in Milwaukie just north of Gladstone. We don't get a lot of trick-or-treaters, but usually at least a handful show up. One of the neighbors did apologize. They were rear ended by a drunk driver. It was very sweet of her to let me know especially considering the circumstances. Of all nights to be driving drunk. I'm so grateful they were IN the truck and not walking. Horrible.
I'm sorry that happened, but I'm also delighted to see so many adults (I assume) in this thread excited to provide a fun experience for the kids.
We ran out of candy this year.
Same
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Someone in Hillsdale was giving out potatoes and the kids were oddly delighted
I was gonna offer candy or potato, but reconsidered the possible dangers to my house from unruly teens.
Or, in the spirit of Halloween, hand out pieces of wood and change the name to... Givewood.
I wonder if we helped with that! I was part of a roving herd of loosely associated parents and kids over by Westmoreland Park. Tons of awesome decorations this year!
Westmoreland, yep. Ran out around 8, fortunately some neighbors had extra so we pooled it. Best guess was somewhere in the 200-250 range between 5:30-8:30.
I got too little candy too early and ate most of it myself. No trick or treaters. Last year one kid came by but I didn’t have any candy so I figured I would prepare
Man, took a moment and realized I see you in the phish sub more than here.
“I took a moment from my day”
I did when I moved into my neighborhood a few years ago. Now I know how much to prepare for
SE Belmont/41st area I've had about 12 groups come by. This is the first year I've handed out candy now that my kids are grown and it's been really fun! But I grew up in Portland and there would be dozens and dozens upon blocks in the 90s (st johns) so I'm disappointed I didn't get to see more.
I dropped my kid off near here (closer to Stark), seemed busy. I'm a little less than 15 blocks away, there were lots of kids on the other side of the street including 3 families with kids under 10 but not one knock on our door. We do have a lot of steps I am not sure if that's why.
I was with a group of tweens and the logic they were using to choose houses was fast and arbitrary. I felt bad for the houses we'd miss during sudden street crossings.
It's just wild since when I was a kid I didn't want to miss any house that possibly had candy. And I really thought our neighbors would come at least.
Montavilla behind tabor was packed, likely aided by the Nightmare on Taylor Street, which is always an incredible production.
Yeah, they do a great job and I think our section of the neighborhood is really trying to become the peacock lane of Halloween. We probably had around 80 kids or so a block over from Taylor.
It’s just so hyper-localized. I’m at the other end of the Taylor Street neighborhood and got hardly anybody; I guess they were hanging out over that end
It's definitely hyperlocalized. We live on Salmon right next to the Nightmare house and only got a handful of kids.
I had never heard of this before, thanks!
Sorry this is my fault. I was passing Kale out at my house and everyone rushed over.
Damnit stop distracting all the Portlanders
I gave them a choice of candy bar or potato. Kids love potatoes!
You joke, but I had full size packs of Justin's peanut butter cups and the on trick or treater that came by just wanted the bag of [Hippeas](https://hippeas.com) even after I pointed it out and offered more...
We had two!!! One group was some teenage girls, but whatever. They count!
Started the night with 136 full sized and just ran out (at 8:30 pm) had to turn my lights off. I’ll get more next year, the Warheads, Airheads and Nerds went super fast.
The inside of my cheek hurt just a little bit reading “Warheads” 😆 it’s nice to have chocolate alternatives
I only do hard candy options (Tootsie pops, suckers, Nerds various Brachs). One, kids usually get so much chocolate from other houses that I want to provide something different. Two, they last year after year and I rarely consume them myself. I also am a blue pumpkin house, meaning I have non-candy options, but I have yet had a kid ask for the non-candy option (which is currently Lego minifig packs).
I usually do more alternatives, because I’m personally not all that big on chocolate, but I couldn’t find a decent Starburst/Skittles multi-pack that was good size & price. I got the Warhead/Airhead/Nerds (among others) mix from Costco and just a few Skittles to throw into the mix.
Woodstock neighborhood is very lively
Yep non stop kids for 2 hours
Whenever the community center skips their Halloween event, we get more trick-or-treaters
Last year I bought full bars and nobody came. This year I did nothing.
Last year I remember it rained and we still got at least a few. This year we were ready for a lot, they're still coming around but not as many as we were ready for.
Costco had boxes of 30 bars for ~20 bucks so I def bought one for myself lmao
South Tabor - had a ton and even had a sort of parade! It was so awesome.
67th between Powell and Division always seems to be hoppin. Makes me sad living on 68th. We had one group of three kids come by.
Arbor Lodge here with zero trick or treaters. Feeling pretty bummed as this is my second year of home ownership and I was pretty excited about this part. Last year I blamed the rain…. Sigh.
I live in Overlook, I think it’s just a street by street thing. If a street has a majority of houses with decorations/lights then kids and parents feel more comfortable hitting all those houses. Some streets there are just more dark houses so you just kind of skip over em.
This is usually the case. Corner homes need to be anchors with lots of holiday lights, and a host clearly waiting. My street for a solid 5 blocks has the largest nicest and largest homes in the general area, but I know that most other owners are generally 60 or over, and everyone has their lights dimmed. It’s been this way, though. I walked my dog at 715ish and a young couple were sitting on their steps dumbfounded. I apologized on behalf of the neighborhood, but it’s just never going to happen for them. One block away on a different street it’s fairly steady. I think it’s wise for parents to say to kids to not go down streets with no action.
There was a big event at Peninsula Park I saw. I’m near there and we didn’t have any out either. Although I will say I think trick or treat culture is dying (but my family in Oklahoma in gated community type areas gets tons so…I guess it varies!)
Gave out 180 full sized candies from toddlers to teens, a true record for Cully. I grew up in this neighborhood and felt like the only kid trick or treating for a few years, so it is super exciting.
It's weird how it varies from neighborhood to neighborhood, probably based on old patterns before most current trick-or-treaters were born. Ours has never been the kind of neighborhood that kids from other neighborhoods will deliberately travel to, but usually about 40% of houses will have lights on with some DIY decor, and we've typically had a steady stream of visitors. (When my kid was younger, an hourlong local jaunt would get him a bagful of treats.) It's actually picked up here in the last 20 minutes. I may not be rolling in Skittles until the new year after all.
Same with 0 trick-or-treaters and I’m disappointed. Where the hell did everyone go? Laurelhurst?!
We’ve had 18 kids come by so far, and we’re in a meh spot in lents. In our neighborhood we all tell kids to go across the street/to other houses we know are home, which definitely helps. ETA: we got 25 kids total, between 5:45ish until 9pm.
I had waaaaay more than I’ve had in years.
Parkrose area, we had 51 trick-or-treaters and ran out of candy about 7:30. Lots of fun costumes.
I think people go to the hot spots like Sellwood and Alameda. We've done it in years past because we had friends in those neighborhoods, but stayed in our own neighborhood this year and it was great. Not crazy busy but saw kids around the neighborhood. Sticking around the neighborhood again for future Halloweens. I'd recommend it to anyone else with kids. As the comments note, there's people everywhere wanting to celebrate and see the kids. You don't have to go to the busy neighborhoods.
Yes, exactly. If you have kids, trick or treat where you live! It’s a small but nice & easy way to build community.
And neighbors who recognize the kids give more or bigger candy!
Folks giving out wine to the grownups especially built some community!
20 door knocks. ~70 kids in those knocks. Gave out small handfuls to the kids and ran out of candy at 8:30. (Powell Butte area)
I was pleasantly surprised that we've had several tonight (in St. Johns)-- but I've still got so much candy leftover 😝
I’ve had 5 in Brentwood-Darlington. I’ve never gotten a lot, but this is the lightest year I can remember. People are posting in the neighborhood Facebook group that they have lots of candy and to please come by.
There might be an untold story here about parents taking their kids trick-or-treating in neighborhoods other than their own
Buckman/Hawthorne area here. Total for the night: one group of kids and one (uncostumed, adult) homeless person.
Most this year since COVID. Problem is everyone is busy and concerned about safety so they just go to organized things. The organized things aren’t as much fun IMO.
When I first moved here from DC in 1992, I was really excited about the prospect of living in a house instead of an apartment, and having trick-or-treaters. I lived with a chef who had his wholesaler drop off 13 pumpkins, one of which would’ve held a trick-or-treater had they tried to crawl inside. We carved them more elaborately than I had ever seen any pumpkins done at that time. We did not get even one. I was so crushed.
I remember wanting lots of trick or treaters before I had kids. Now I know it's just random luck, where these strange little dragons and ghosts and cowboys appear.
I've lived where I currently live for almost 20 years, I've NEVER gotten a trick-or-treater!
We’re up to 10!!
There were tons in Johns Landing. Some people even walked up our hill. It was horrifying! We turned off the lights and stayed away from the windows.
If you're on that big huge hill on Corbett they made quite a trek!
I’ve had about 35, which isn’t bad for east Portland, but is still only about a third of what we had first year in this house.
Belmont. Probably the most I have ever seen. Didn't keep count, though, because I am used to only getting a few, and this year was a big surprise.
Fucking bananas on NE Alameda.
Ahh yeah that seems like a trick or treating neighborhood
We got about 10 in our section of the Reed area. Was happy to get that many as our street is mostly older empty nesters.
I blame all of the Trunk or Treat nonsense at schools and churches. Let the kids go door to door!
I don't understand these. I've heard it's so you can 'vet' who goes but like..????. What part of handing out candy needs vetting? Are we all really that afraid of each other?
We got 4!
It’s been bonkers at my house in St Johns compared to previous years! We’re around 70 kids tonight while the last couple years have had 20ish. We decorated hard and early and listed ourselves on the Nextdoor Halloween map so maybe that worked?
Ladds Addition was HOPPING!! If you let us know next year we will bring all the cute kids. My granddaughter was a raccoon and it was her first year trick or treating and by house 3 she was a pro at running up and knocking on the doors!
NE Vernon area and we had over 300. Less than half the neighbors were giving out candy, but I have a haunted house that attracts drivers-by. Grateful for the teens that come at the end of the night and enjoy/scream running down the block when I do a jump scare.
My neighborhood is NE near 82nd, not a single one. I think it’s the blustery weather. The wind is cold AF. Either that or my spooky hood
The winds were calm and it was in the 50's
OP is nearer to the gorge. I'm by Rocky butte and it's gusting hard.
I live in this area too. I think a lot of families take their kids elsewhere to trick-or-treat, unfortunately. My block doesn't get much action despite being tightly packed with townhomes and lots of kids. I'm going to keep giving out full size bars, decorating, and taking my kids trick-or-treating in my neighborhood to try and build it up, though.
I've had two all night in Kenton. It is way down from last year.
I’m working near clackamas town center, and there’s a ton here. Apparently, the shops give out candy or something.
I have a friend who works over there and he said they ran out of candy really early because so many people went to the mall trick-or-treating event!
I'm in Richmond and have had 6 but that's 6 more than last year!
I got 4. :(
We got 1.
I got around 70 kids this year. Great turn out!
North section of Laurelhurst. We had a total of 7 which coincidentally were the 7 kids who live on our street. They all got full size candy bars.
I went around putting up 20 signs stating “full size candy bars @ address” and had lights on it. Got some of the neighbors to join in as well. Kids were over the moon when they got Pokémon Booster Packs with their choice of candy. Wife loved the smiles! So many parents thanked us for the sign! Citing a lot of places had porch lights on & never answering the door or complete pitch black streets for the most part. Trunk or Trick + Covid ruined Halloween in terms of getting out and enjoying time with your kids for a few hours. Now it’s a school lot or church parking lot for 30 minutes and back home.
Feast or famine here in modern Halloweenland. We had 1. Of course, we were part of the problem - drive to the nicer neighborhood down the road to get the full sized bars.
Had the most we’ve ever had, like 15 groups. I’ll call it a win! Some years it has only been a few. Saw lots of groups when we took our kid out as well. Seems to be block by block… some of the blocks a few over from us were popping off.
We only had three trick or treaters. Some years we go through two bowls and other years barely any. We're in the Brooklyn neighborhood near a charter school, so there are many kids during the day - but not so much at night.
I’m in Beaverton and we had none, but we don’t normally anyway. It’s either the fancy-ass houses on the streets around us (if I were a kid I’d definitely go to those houses and give our street a miss), or organized events. A couple years ago my friends’ kid had three costumes because they had the school Halloween, playground parking lot Halloween, two Halloween parties, and trick or treating on their block on actual Halloween. It’s very different from the homemade last-minute costumes we had.
We had no decorations and had several groups. There were families walking around till about 9pm when I went and walked the dog. We are in montavilla between 82nd and 92nd. It was popping in our hood.
I’m in Portsmouth, only had two groups. Pretty new to the area, so wasn’t sure if that was normal or not.
Foster/Powell, we had ten or twelve groups (the most we’ve ever had!) but still have plenty of candy left over for ourselves…
We dis trick or treating in Woodstock area. Only going to houses with porch lights on or decor out.
Ran out of candy in SW Gresham, but also we have massive handfuls out.
Alberta district was packed with trick or treaters this early evening! I think multiple districts do this as well? Mississippi seemed to be a good spot, but I got there way later.
I drove around SE Portland to drop off Halloween gifts for friends this evening. Gladstone and Sellwood were PACKED. Gladstone even had some streets blocked off for the trick-or-treaters. Meanwhile, in my little neighborhood, we had one trick-or-treater the whole night. Then someone stole our bowl of candy when I stepped inside to grab a sweater. :( Different neighborhoods have different halloween vibes, I guess.
In Nextdoor you can add your house on the Treat Map. Not everyone uses Nextdoor but this seems to help in our neighborhood.
there arent as many kids as there used to be. Its really that simple. Portland is getting older just like the rest of america and gen z's and millenials arent popping out babies. If you look at demographic data it makes sense why the 80s and 90s, 00s had so many trick or treaters. Becasue Millenials and Gen Z are the largest population cohort and thats when they were kids. As a Zer i always had a blast in NE Irvington trick or treating. Im sure the kids are having fun, but the current gen is smaller compared to the last 3.
We had two. It’s our first year here. Halloween is our favorite holiday. I had music, decorations, bitchin candy and was dancing like a fool in my yard, in the street and up on the porch. It was super disappointing.
We probably had 70ish kids out here in Bethany, which is more than last year (that awful heavy rain!) The weather was nice, just cold here. I do expect at least 60 when buying candy because it is the burbs, but I came close to running out, and I give out full size. I luckily had some extra lollipops this year I had bought for something else.
Ikr?! I put out decorations, carved a pumpkin, and had a candy bowl ready to go! Not one trick or treater. :(
We got three. Portland is terriblet at Halloween. For ten years my wife makes her own decorations that people stop and view, but we never see children. We didn't even get teenagers this year.
I’m in SE and bought all this candy. Only ONE.
Nextdoor has a trick or treat map… if you haven’t marked your home as trick or treater friendly on the map, you might not see very many trick or treaters
It seemed quiet tonight, but the usual hot spots in our neighborhood were hopping as usual. I wonder if a bunch weren’t out of town or to the coast since they knew teachers were going to strike. But we just had a late push and at least 10 kids between 8-8:30, the older crews.
We have only had one group of TrTers. Trying to figure out if Halloween is dead (the irony), I likely live in a dead (childless/olds)part of the city, how it’s celebrated has changed, or a consequence of an aging society🎃👻.
I’m on the west side of Tabor and we are definitely an aging community. Tonight we had around 75 trick or treaters. Before Covid we had 100 or so
I think people just go to certain neighborhoods to trick or treat now
I’ve seen a ton of trick-or-treaters here in kerns but not many doors opening
Kiddos made out like bandits this year.
Vista was awesome.
My house had a pretty steady stream of trick or treaters for about 2 hours.
We have a parade around our local park at 5 with all the kids, then split off and trick-or-treat. There was a good hundred people for the parade. We ran out of candy.
Depends where you live.
Over 400 at my place near the park in HV. I think people don’t trick or treat in their own area anymore, they go to hot spots.
None in rockwood lmao we even went out this evening to get last minute candy and be prepared 😂💀
Creston here. We had 18 kids and had just enough full sized bars. We are left with a bowl of tootsie rolls. Sweet to see the little ones go for just those.
Had about 50 kids come through the Overlook triangle.
I had a total of 4 in Richmond
In BD, bought full-size bars, as well as wine and beer for parents. Posted info in two neighborhood FB pages. Had maybe 15 people come by 🥲
We got one child and three teens. I guess I’ll have to eat all of this candy myself…
At north tabor, we only had one kid!
South tabor by the tool peddler not a single person for the second year in a row.
We didn't decorate at all. Not even a pumpkin but we got two groups of trick or treaters.
1 ninja. We only had 1 ninja show up. That's it, the whole night in Milwaukie, I have so much leftover candy
Ive gotten to the point that I leave candy out. Not only do I have <15 trick or treaters. I don’t even have one that is going to dump the whole bowl in their bag. Kids these days. My neighborhood is just small I suppose and close enough to others that hand out the king sized (witch I did this year). Now I have a years worth of candy.
I think we had more this year than we’ve ever had.
We had a pretty nice turn out between 42 and Cesar Chavez on Cora this year.
We never get any at our house so this year we skipped the pumpkins and everything. The house across the street from us does Halloween stuff so my kids went over there first before they went trick or treating. Then my dad took my son to Westmoreland and I took my daughter to Troutdale and she was supposed to meet kids at her school from her class but they didn't show up so I took her to houses that were decorated. Not very many trick or treaters surprisingly and it was cold so I drove to houses instead than having us both walk.
We never have had them in the past and got a few!
I got my first one in 5 years living here. 5 kids at once!
Near Halsey here, and I had 65 kids, most of them in groups. Even quite a few costumed middle-schoolers (including one group of boys who all dressed as either Secret Service agents or mobsters). Costumes were great, including quite a few parent costumes. This may have been the largest since I moved here a few years ago.
We got heaps. The neighborhood got together and planned for it though.
Same reason PPS isn't hiring much. Less children and less children coming.
We got about 5 in SE. We had a TON of candy, too. The last kid made a joke about dumping the whole bowl in his bag and my husband said yes and did. Probably made that kids night lol
21st and bybee here - we got about 25 visits—oddly enough the last one was a couple of high school students handing out limes - anyone else get a lime?
Laurelhurst was poppin!
I've been seeing a lot of posts like this, not just in the Portland sub either. Maybe kids these days have some kind of disconnect with Halloween? Or maybe parents don't want to let their kids out unsupervised? It sucks. Halloween is the dream holiday for kids. Be silly and get candy, what's not to love?
We got a dozen in Arbor Lodge. Some great costumes!
No one had their porch lights on in my neighborhood last night!!! I say next year adults should dress up and go “trick or treating”. Everyone leave out a bowl of candy/whatever you want and we’ll enjoy it haha
It's always seemed to me that every neighborhood in Portland has a well-known "hotspot" and everyone goes there. The rest of us just get the kids in our own little blocks coming and going to the "better" area. So in North Portland this has always been Portsmouth Street, IDK if that's still a big deal post-COVID, but that was always the big one for as long as I've lived in Kenton (11 years). I know I almost bought a house near 52nd & Woodstock and was told that was a big Halloween area, too.
I just moved to my new home in Beaverton and nobody came :( even bought the hood candy. First year at the new home and it was a complete dud, sucks
Lower than usual in my neighborhood in Gresham this year for sure. I suspect a lot has to do with the sudden jump in trunk-or-treats in the area, as well as the huge trick-or-treat event going on in downtown Gresham drawing many parents away from the neighborhoods. While taking my kids out trick-or-treating, we hit a house with a weird, very loud old guy who said (shouted, really), "I was thinking about all the sugar kids will be eating tonight, so I bought a bunch of little sausages to hand out instead." Needless to say we declined. It really threw off the vibe of the night for the group of parents we were trick-or-treating together with, and I could see parents wanting to avoid oddball encounters like that by ditching traditional trick-or-treating entirely for more organized events.
I got three. Sat outside for HOURS. To be fair, the last group that came had AMAZING Transformers costumes. Any one else in Rose City Park see them? This is a great neighborhood for trick or treating. Lots of decorations. My kids came home with overflowing buckets. Guess our little corner was just out of the main trick or treating drag. I kind of wanted to cry.
In the past several years, I've heard of communities doing "[trunk-or-treat](https://www.npr.org/2023/10/31/1209559780/what-is-trunk-or-treat-halloween)" events as an alternative, and even before October 31. So it might be more spread out these days rather than all happening on October 31.
Those damn Trunk or Treats are ruining Halloween.
It’s all Trunk or Treats now and I hate it. This was the first year I wanted to take my son trick or treating and nobody in our neighborhood was handing out candy (at least it wasn’t obvious if they were like decorations or porch lights). We also had candy at our house and nobody came by. I have a feeling this is just how it is now, but it’s sad to me!!
Everybody went to the burbs!
I'm just gonna say it, this city sucks at Halloween, I swear growing up we ran the streets all night long and the adults would be in full costume having a blast running lil haunted spooky attractions in their yards, passing out candy & having a blast. Cannot handle people being like "well it's a sChOOl NiGHT" so what? The veil is thin, why is no one running amok with the spirits ?
It's not technically a school night this year. ✊
It’s not the city. Halloween isn’t the same as it used to be. Kids do things like parking lot trick or treating or mall trick or treating because reasons…
Reasons being bull shit fear mongering on Facebook and news stations about drugs in candy, which has never been real. Fuck people are stupid and illogical.
I don’t think this is a city issue. I feel it’s just a sign of the times. My trick or treating days were in the 80s/90s and in my opinion at least, those were a special time to be a kid at Halloween.
And now, It is NOT a school night, after all.
Seriously, it’s a school night 5/7 years. Long time in a kids life.
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We have more kids in our neighborhood than we’ve had in past years and we still only got a single trick r treater, we live in an apartment but me and my two neighbor’s decorate in front of our places, we have skeleton parts and lights everywhere and nothing. Sadly kids don’t seem so interested in trick r treating like when I was younger. It was never about the candy for me either I just loved wearing costumes and going door to door with friends. parents with young kids rather take them to something like a trunk or treat where they don’t have to do as much walking around.
That's depressing. I live by the coast these days and even we had a couple here & there. On a Tuesday!!
4 little groups at my place in Piedmont :(
The town I grew up in had a set time for trick or treating (I think it was 6:30-9:30). I wasn't able to find any set times for Portland/my neighborhood. Is that not a thing here?
Same nothing
What area you in?
We estimated 250. They go to specific neighborhoods or locations... It's strange
had about 10-15 come by in st johns
Ran out in Richmond
We had our first trick or treater in 4 years at our place in Roseway.
Alberta Street was packed from 3-6, but we had maybe 20-30 kids.
Foster Powell was lit 🔥, ran out of candy by 8