Halloween in "Poor" Areas...(NRR)

GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
edited November 2005 in Strut Central
I grew up in the suburbs (Davis, CA) and had mad trick-or-treating game: I knew that the richest housing developments had the best (and most) candy. I'm grown now and now hand the candy out...but I can't help but compare my suburban experience with the more urban style I've become used to..I now live in a economically disadvantaged area (Richmond, CA) and have been living in such areas for the last 10 years (Richmond, CA/Newark, NJ/Houston, TX/Oakland, CA)...I've noticed somethings about trick-or-treaters from "poor" areas:(1) there are less of them...I think they have trick-or-treating game too and bus themselves to richer areas to get more candy...(2) less likely to have costumes on..."My boy is gonna get that candy but I ain't buying the costume!"(3) More likely to take a huge handful of candy than ask "how many?"...Is this a economic trend or a generational one?gNAT

  Comments


  • Reply. haha I was just talking about this.

    Round my way it's cars full of poor people that drive to nice places.

    The poor people are more ignorant though straight up.

    The parents/uncles/cousins/baby mommas... all pack in to a van and bring their kids ages 4 days to about 17 with no costumes on, then open the van door and they all roll up to your house and shove each other while grabbing your candy and not saying thank you.

    Jeans and hoodie is NOT a costume. I think the parents want candy that's why they bring them.

    Anyways, i'm not for stereotyping people but if i were, Halloween would be great day to reinforce biased views.

  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
    I just had a gang of kids come trick-or-treat and then the moms came through and said, "can old folks trick or treat too?" and then the grandma came up and said "and disabled people?"...NO JOKE! They all got whoppers and peanut butter cups...

  • No one is too old or too poor for candy at my crib. Come one come all. Costume or not.

  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
    okay taz...you're taking that higher ground...but when grandma came up with her cane and said, "and you let disabled people trick-or-treat too?" that was some funny shit...don't worry--she got whoppers AND a Kit Kat...

  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    reminds me of a story I heard last week on NPR. story here

    This is my first year ever staying at home handing out candy. I'm in low income apts.and I have only had one group of kids so far. I think most people roll to the richer parts of town.

  • (1) there are less of them...I think they have trick-or-treating game too and bus themselves to richer areas to get more candy...



    In some larger cities they leave trick-or-treating up to neighborhood/block associations. If you don't have a concerned group of citizens to put it together, then your neighborhood doesn't have trick-or-treating. That's how it is where I live, we always have to hunt them down.



    For example, there has been trick-or-treating Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and today in my city, all depending on which neighborhood it was in.



    That could be part of the issue. The assumption that trick-or-treating just "is" doesn't hold in all locations.



    Other places may not have it altogether or shuffle it around from when you would expect depending on the situation. When I was a kid I remember going trick or treating at night and it was fun. By the time I had gotten a little bit older, people had fucked around so much they moved it to like 2 pm. What kind of fun is that?

  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
    From that NPR story:
    "Over the years I had to re-invent Halloween. I handed out health pamphlets or voting information along with the candy. It seemed an insult to give people my own age a blow-pop or a hershey bar."

    Her sentiment is good, though I am not sure how that would be taken by folks...
    "Ain't that some shit...I wanted a blow-pop and I got this pamphlet on pregnancy...what's she trying to say?"

    gNAT

  • mylatencymylatency 10,475 Posts
    Sayin, I gave out handfulls of candy to kids tonight. It was fun and I saved my mom the hassle of getting up.



    Now I'm back at my pad, I didn't see a soul trick or treating on the streets.

  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    I agree. If grown folks want candy give 'em candy.

  • The parents/uncles/cousins/baby mommas... all pack in to a van and bring their kids ages 4 days to about 17 with no costumes on, then open the van door and they all roll up to your house and shove each other while grabbing your candy and not saying thank you.

    Jeans and hoodie is NOT a costume. I think the parents want candy that's why they bring them.

    Anyways, i'm not for stereotyping people but if i were, Halloween would be great day to reinforce biased views.

    Can't argue here.

    I make my kids say thank you every time. One old lady actually commented on it beacuse so many people are dicks or just inconsiderate about it. Like there is some sort of entitlement to candy or something.

    Oh, and best handout I saw this year: a lady gave my kids some damn pine cones. Not sure what to make of that one.


  • GnatGnat 1,183 Posts
    I agree. If grown folks want candy give 'em candy.
    Okay...but still...it's weird...really really weird when grown folks trick or treat...besides you only give them the whoppers because they're bigger than you....

  • edubedub 715 Posts
    I had only one kid come to my door tonight. Her dad was dressed as a cow, and was kneeling on all fours next to her - I'm not sure what she was supposed to be.

    Regardless, I now have 40 mini Twix bars left over. I'm gonna have a stomach ache for days.




  • then open the van door and they all roll up to your house and shove each other while grabbing your candy and not saying thank you.


    Fuck that noise.
    If you were to let the kids in my neighborhood just grab what the hell they want, you'd be out of candy within 10 minutes.

    Rule #1: No costume, no candy (and "I'm a thug" won't cut it).
    Rule #2: Hold out your bag. I'll drop the candy in.

  • GambleGamble 844 Posts

    Round my way it's cars full of poor people that drive to nice places.

    The poor people are more ignorant though straight up.



  • FlomotionFlomotion 2,390 Posts
    I live in a kind of rough area of London and last night we had pretty much nothing but sullen teens in hoodies and jeans banging on the door. One non-dressed up trio of stoney-faced 15 years olds made me laugh:

    Kid A: Give us some money or we'll egg your door.
    Me: Aren't you supposed to say Trick or Treat?
    Kid B: (rolls eyes) Jesus...trick or whatever..
    Me: So you went to town on the the costumes then?
    Kid A: Just give us some fucking sweets or something.
    Me: [grill face] You what?
    Kid C: [sensing things were going south] Er, so do you have any fresh fruit...please?

    They got an apple each and a Bob the Builder chocolate bar and went away swearing. Didn't egg the house though. That fresh fruit kid's not going to last a minute around this part of town.

  • BsidesBsides 4,244 Posts
    I cant remember what year i stopped. But I definitely felt too old at like 14. Still got candy though.

    Jeans and a hoodie was my costume too. I was the unabomber though i think.

  • No one is too old or too poor for candy at my crib. Come one come all. Costume or not.





    this is kinda how i feel. i can feel myself getting pissed at teenagers with no costumes that take a bunch of candy and/or don't say thank you, then I remember that just 10 short years ago I was the same way, so whatever. I mean it's one night a year, and it's a tiny piece of candy...not really something worth getting stressed about. We usually end up with tons leftover anyway.

  • white_teawhite_tea 3,262 Posts

    then open the van door and they all roll up to your house and shove each other while grabbing your candy and not saying thank you.


    Fuck that noise.
    If you were to let the kids in my neighborhood just grab what the hell they want, you'd be out of candy within 10 minutes.

    Rule #1: No costume, no candy (and "I'm a thug" won't cut it).
    Rule #2: Hold out your bag. I'll drop the candy in.

    I had probably close to 100 trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood, and I let a few non-customed high school kids slide by, but not without a "What are you supposed to be?" That put them in line!

    None of the customes really blew my mind. The party people my own age made more of an effort just to go out on Friday and Saturday nights.

  • Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts
    I definitely remember at like 14. I was still getting candy though.

    Jeans and a hoodie was my costume too. that was though


    The one thing I remember about Halloween growing up was getting harrassed by some asshole cops. Me and my peoples was coolin' on a stoop around the way and 5-0 roll up. Saying that we had to go home because of some bullshit curfew for that night. If you were under 17 (or 18) you couldn't roam the streets after a certain time. So this guy tells us to disperse. I told dude whatever, next thing I know he got me yolked up against the wall, searching my pockets for weapons. Halloween is drag in the hood.

  • DubiousDubious 1,865 Posts
    hmmm i think haloween does reinforce some negative stereotypes for sure.

    when i lived "in the hood" we got peeps.. they were almost always familys with children too young to understand (babies, kids in strollers etc) but we always gave em candy and babies in lil lady bug jammies are always good for an awwwshucks... of course you'd get the roving bands of high schoolers too.. but everyone was always very chill and good to go.

    when i lived in a better hood i found the trick or treaters to be WAAAAAY older like 15-18... surly and incredibly ruuuuuudddddde... very few parents around and very few costumes.

    now it seems to be a bit of a leap in logic for me to assume that the dicks in the better neighbourhood were bused in form the hood, cause we got plenty of trick or treaters in the hood. I think it has more to do with that in the hood trick or treating was a more controlled situation, peeps tended to go out earlier and with adult supervision... in the good hood parents just let the kids go out with each other since the neighborhood " is safer" ... this unsupervised youth are the kids that are ringin the door bell at 10:30pm... toilet papering peeps trees, egging cars and DEMANDING their candy.



  • Kid C: [sensing things were going south] Er, so do you have any fresh fruit...please?



    hahahahahahah

    Mexican kids are the troopers though. They'll stay out late as fuck, roaming the neighborhood and shit. I love it. Its like, after the initial rush was over I knew.... Only mexican kids from now on, and I was right. Goddam I love mexicans. And that I live in a neighborhood called South Park.

  • bluesnagbluesnag 1,285 Posts

    no adults trick-or-treatin at our house, but def some older kids. it was an odd difference between the little kids and the older kids, cause the little kids were REALLY CUTE and i had to be like "well look at you!" and talk all cute kid with them, but then the older kids i'd be like "what's up".

    i thought it was pretty much understood that if the porch lights are off and the jack-o-lantern ain't fired up then it means don't come knock at this door. isn't that a social norm for halloween now? we ran out of candy, turned out all the lights, and put on "the ring", and kids were still trying to trick-or-treat. that shit was pissing me off. lights out = no candy go away.

    i did notice that some kids were being dropped off door-to-door in cars, so i guess our neighborhood is good for the candy.

  • no, you are right. the lights off rule means no candy.

  • I live in a kind of rough area of London and last night we had pretty much nothing but sullen teens in hoodies and jeans banging on the door. One non-dressed up trio of stoney-faced 15 years olds made me laugh:



    Kid A: Give us some money or we'll egg your door.

    Me: Aren't you supposed to say Trick or Treat?

    Kid B: (rolls eyes) Jesus...trick or whatever..

    Me: So you went to town on the the costumes then?

    Kid A: Just give us some fucking sweets or something.

    Me: [grill face] You what?

    Kid C: [sensing things were going south] Er, so do you have any fresh fruit...please?



    They got an apple each and a Bob the Builder chocolate bar and went away swearing. Didn't egg the house though. That fresh fruit kid's not going to last a minute around this part of town.



    I would have been so fucking in their face if they tried that shit with me.

  • Mike_BellMike_Bell 5,736 Posts
    I live in a kind of rough area of London and last night we had pretty much nothing but sullen teens in hoodies and jeans banging on the door. One non-dressed up trio of stoney-faced 15 years olds made me laugh:

    Kid A: Give us some money or we'll egg your door.
    Me: Aren't you supposed to say Trick or Treat?
    Kid B: (rolls eyes) Jesus...trick or whatever..
    Me: So you went to town on the the costumes then?
    Kid A: Just give us some fucking sweets or something.
    Me: [grill face] You what?
    Kid C: [sensing things were going south] Er, so do you have any fresh fruit...please?

    They got an apple each and a Bob the Builder chocolate bar and went away swearing. Didn't egg the house though. That fresh fruit kid's not going to last a minute around this part of town.

    I would have slapped fire out their ass if they tried that shit with me.

  • gloomgloom 2,765 Posts
    a lady gave my kids some damn pine cones.



  • In brooklyn i had to be in the house by dark because kids would go buckwild. It was more about pranks really. People would put nair in an egg and throw it at your head and if you were hit, you would have to shave your head the next day. People would also throw batteries and other shit.
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