Combine door-to-door trick-or-treating with a block party for some grownup fun

Lyric shares the Halloween-cum-block party that happens in her neighborhood:

I'm in love with Halloween in my neighborhood! (This coming from a parent who dreads anything that takes advanced prep.) We've made it into an event the kids love and the grown-ups get to enjoy too! This is perfect if you live on a cul-du-sac or dead-end street but can be adapted for any neighborhood layout. We all get together for a hot dog dinner so the kids can run around and show their costumes to each other.  Then, the dads take off with the kids and the moms bring out their baskets of candy (or quarters, or pencils, or whatever) and a lawn chair and their lit pumpkin and we sit together in the middle of the circle, or street. The moms get to sit and enjoy each other's company, the kids just go down the line and pick something from each basket, the dads get to wander around playing with flashlights.

Much better than sitting by myself at the door!

More: Easy Halloween tips

Comments

[Jill in Atlanta]

In my sister's neighborhood each family has a "cauldron" with a nip of adult beverage for the parents. Now, that's my kind of trick or treating!

[teri]

we do this too! it has evolved into a party for the moms. we bring food & a portable heater if it's cold. sometimes we have themes for our costumes. we end up hanging out long after the trick or treaters have gone home.

[Kristin Overholt]

So our old neighborhood used to do that - I am not a fan. The whole point of trick or treating is that kids get to go door to door, not just down a line of buckets in one spot on the street. I don't enjoy my "solitary outpost" handing out candy every halloween, but it means something to the kids. Half the fun is ringing the doorbell.

[shirky]

so does it end up taking 3.2 minutes?