Same here. Mini play-doh is awesome though.
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I will look for that, thank you!
My kids LOVE those squishy things. They’re not terrible, won’t get mashed into your carpet (hopefully), and don’t get permanently stuck to windows on accident. They’re disgustingly attractive to hair, though.
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I always have a variety of non-candy options for trick-or-treaters.
The most popular in recent years have been
- squishies
- mini pop it fidgets
- mini stuffed animal keychains/bag tags
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Those all sound good! Sounds like play doh wouldn’t solve the allergy problem but any of these suggestions would and as a parent they all seem fine.
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We do bouncy balls and glow bracelets in addition to candy.
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How do you logistically manage all the different things? Multiple buckets? on a table? With a sign? Do you let them grab things or do you drop them in their buckets?
Sorry everyone for all the Halloween questions everywhere. It’s our first Halloween in a place where there are trick or treaties and my brain is fixating on logistics instead of thinking sad cat thoughts.
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We set up a table in front of our garage and spread everything out and sit out there. I tell kids that they can pick one thing when they walk up. Here’s a picture of last year’s table.
From left to right we have
- Squishmallow hair scrunchies
- light up hair scrunchies
- board books
- pop its
- a leftover squishy and unicorn stuffed animal from last year
- paracord bracelets
- flip sequin pens
- mini manga doodle keychains
- mini stuffed animal keychains
- a couple leftover plastic dinosaurs from last year
- various candy (full size or movie box type) (sour patch kids are always the most popular)
- a single raw potato
- more candy
About half the kids take a food item and half take non-food. There’s a definite shift to non-food items as the night goes on. Half the kids who pick candy (so 1/4 of kids total) pick sour patch kids.
I will say that we have a reputation in our neighborhood and most people don’t do this much. Since I offer lots of choices the table works best to be able to spread things out and let multiple kids see at once. I also really enjoy seeing their deliberations when they are trying to choose. 
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Holy shit this is cool
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I enjoy it all so much! I like shopping for the stuff, seeing kids’ reactions, analyzing the results, all of it. 
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I might steal this
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I’m coming to your house for Halloween.
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In case you are more of a grab bag type like me rather than an organized goddess like @RamonaQ, we just do two baskets: one candy and one with toys/pencils/stickers. There don’t actually seem to be many kids with allergies who even come around, but a lot of the kids, especially the very young ones, go for the toys over the candy anyway.
For real, that table is pure gold!
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Where do you shop for the little doodads? I’m interested in adding non food choices.
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Amazon, Dollar Tree, Five Below, and Target mostly. I also keep an eye on clearance throughout the year - like I found the Squishmallow scrunchies for 90% off at my grocery store one winter and cleaned them out.
ETA: I try to stay at $1 per piece or less, but will occasionally go a little higher if I’m really excited about something.
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My cousin uses Oriental Trading Company. She’s in a very popular neighborhood and found out doing small toys was cheaper per piece than candy. But she says to order early because the prices skyrocket closer to Halloween.
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Anyone on Verizon having issues today with calls? Like, complete inability to send and receive? Or just an issue here? (Husband affected, not me, same plan. But a 60 person line at the Verizon store says this is at least a local issue on their end)
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Yes! And my coworker said a bunch of people are complaining on facebook. I’m in Michigan. My phone says SOS at the top by the bars.
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I found articles (why I posted before googling 
) and it def sounds widespread!
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I didn’t even google, I just asked my coworker to fix it. And he can’t. 
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