Trick-or-Treat Locations

lucky760

lucky760

New member
Happy Halloween everyone!

This will be the first year my oldest son is old enough to actually have fun trick-or-treating, so we want to be sure to take him around fun neighborhood.

We live in Saratoga in Stonegate, but thus far it seems we are in for trouble if we expect to just stick with our neighborhood. There are almost zero homes with any Halloween decorations, and it seems most people probably just aren't into the holiday (probably because of cultural differences, since most residents are Chinese/Taiwanese or Indian).

In any case, we don't want to have a lame Halloween walking around somewhere only very few homes are participating and where there aren't many other people walking the streets.

Does anyone have any suggestions/experience about where we might want to go that's in or near Stonegate? We might end up just going to Portola Springs, as there were several houses participating there last year and tons of kids walking around, but I'd like to stick to our new village if possible.

Related question: are there any super-fun neighborhoods where we can go to just look at tons of Halloween decorations on most of the houses, sort of like there are for Christmas lights? I know we went through a really fun neighborhood like that in Woodbridge several years ago, but that seems to have ended because there are no more decorations there.

Thanks for any wisdom you might be able to provide. It'll be much appreciated!
 
lucky said:
Related question: are there any super-fun neighborhoods where we can go to just look at tons of Halloween decorations on most of the houses, sort of like there are for Christmas lights? I know we went through a really fun neighborhood like that in Woodbridge several years ago, but that seems to have ended because there are no more decorations there.
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When did you go by Woodbridge? As far as I know, the Landings II is still done up (including the Landings I to a lesser degree).

We passed by there last weekend and there was a whole street of people decorating their houses.

You can't even park in the tract because they block it off since so many people walk it on Halloween.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
When did you go by Woodbridge? As far as I know, the Landings II is still done up (including the Landings I to a lesser degree).

We passed by there last weekend and there was a whole street of people decorating their houses.

You can't even park in the tract because they block it off since so many people walk it on Halloween.
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Really? When did that start?

I have been going through there every week for the past few weeks. Our last trip through was last Friday, and there was exactly one house with a bunch of lights (on the first street with the cul-de-sac), and there were 2 or 3 others through the rest of the neighborhood with much fewer decorations.

We were figuring all the big celebrators must've moved away. Did everyone just wait until yesterday to start decorating? Weird!
 
Ah, you said they were decorating last weekend. I guess that's when they start?

Can you give me an exact location where you're talking about so I can be sure I'm looking in the same place? This is where I'm talking about:http://goo.gl/maps/nvSWY

Thanks!
 
Just did a drive-by... Landings II is already getting crowded.

Not every home is participating, some even put "Do not cross" tape around their front yard... bah halloweenbug.
 
irvinehomeowner said:
Just did a drive-by... Landings II is already getting crowded.

Not every home is participating, some even put "Do not cross" tape around their front yard... bah halloweenbug.
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Passing boot hill now. :)
 
Just wondering if you guys noticed any pattern with a "certain demographic" when you are trick-or-treating like we did.

Last night we noticed something. My little boy was coming back from some houses all bummed out, saying he only got 1 piece of candy. And when I say 1 piece, I do not mean a full-sized candy bar or anything like that. I mean 1 itty-bitty piece. We told him maybe the house is running low on candy so they have to ration it  or they're having hard times** or something. (** These are big and beautiful homes, some of the nicest in the neighborhood.)

It kept happening at "certain" houses.

Finally, we got to one of these houses and he came back crying. The people at the door said they would only give candy to kids who could sing / perform for them. (WTF). At first we just thought they were just being cute / funny, so there are those awkward giggles between myself and the other parents we were with and the kids. My littlest boy is super shy to sing in front of complete strangers so he let the other older kids go first. Those boys sang and were told it wasn't good enough! They tried again. Only 1 of them got candy -- again, 1 TINY PIECE. My older boy came back with nothing. My little boy tried but was super quiet when he was trying to sing. DENIED. Tears. Really?! Who are you, Simon Cowell? And you want a song and dance for your scrap of candy??

This is not the American way. It works like this: They say "Trick or Treat". That isn't a greeting. Those are your choices. You give them candy or you're asking for a trick - a prank - on you and your house.

Get it? Got it? Good.
 
We only went down the one little street in Woodbridge. The streets were not blocked off and there were thousands of people walking around, which was fun and exciting.

We stayed for maybe 20 minutes because it was already dark and we wanted to rush home so we wouldn't miss trick-or-treaters, and, again, ours is the only *very* decorated house in Saratoga and maybe even all of Stonegate.

We rushed home and immediately got the lights on and fog going and candy out, then we sat there in silence. All the streets of Stonegate and especially Saratoga were *completely* barren. It was like a ghost town. I saw one person walking on our way home and that was some lady walking her dog. So depressing.

We gave up and rushed to Portola Springs where not much as happening, so we rushed over to Woodbury and FINALLY success! Tons and tons of people and some insanely decorated homes (west side of the central park, across from the baseball field). It was a lot of fun there. Next year I'm not even going to try giving out candy. Pretty much no one in Stonegate seems to have any Halloween spirit.
 
@Lucky:

It takes time. Stonegate will be like Woodbury, maybe as soon as next year.

Once a hood is built out, the trick or treaters and the decorated homes will come.
 
lucky said:
We rushed home and immediately got the lights on and fog going and candy out, then we sat there in silence. All the streets of Stonegate and especially Saratoga were *completely* barren. It was like a ghost town. I saw one person walking on our way home and that was some lady walking her dog. So depressing.
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When we lived in Portola Springs, it was barren on Halloween, too. Each year the residents would remember what my kids dressed up as the previous year because they were the only kids who came to their house!
 
SoCal said:
Just wondering if you guys noticed any pattern with a "certain demographic" when you are trick-or-treating like we did.

Last night we noticed something. My little boy was coming back from some houses all bummed out, saying he only got 1 piece of candy. And when I say 1 piece, I do not mean a full-sized candy bar or anything like that. I mean 1 itty-bitty piece. We told him maybe the house is running low on candy so they have to ration it  or they're having hard times** or something. (** These are big and beautiful homes, some of the nicest in the neighborhood.)

It kept happening at "certain" houses.
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What demographic are you talking about? 

The loop behind us gets busy we walked over there last night.  At first we were like, damn, wish we were back here, we'd have so many trick or treaters.  Then as we walked through the neighborhood with the rampaging mob of kids vanned in and seeing several large groups of 15/16yo or older realized why half the houses were dark and out for the night.  Still would be fun, but that's the trade off.  I noticed most the houses had a 2nd if not 3rd tray of treats for the little ones/ones they thought were in the neighborhood.

Although I share my thoughts with you, if you're going to do the make them sing and dance, just leave the light off.



 
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