Minding your Halloween Manners

photo cour­tesy of makems.com

Here is an arti­cle I was quoted in on Mind­ing your Hal­loween Man­ners.  Enjoy.…

Yes, Hal­loween is all about putting on the coolest pos­si­ble cos­tume and scor­ing the great­est amount of candy. But kids shouldn’t throw out all their man­ners dur­ing the mad dash.

“Par­ents need to remind their trick-or-treaters that reg­u­lar rules of eti­quette still apply on Hal­loween,” says Jules Hirst, an eti­quette expert in Cal­i­for­nia. “Their chil­dren should always say, ‘Trick or treat,’ when the door opens and ‘thank you’ after receiv­ing their treat.”

Kids shouldn’t be entirely in “gimme candy” mode, agrees Peggy Post, co-director of the Emily Post Insti­tute in Ver­mont. “Look at peo­ple when they answer the door and say, ‘hello,’” Post advises. “Try to engage them a lit­tle bit in con­ver­sa­tion, and always say, ‘please’ and ‘thank you.’”

A few more tips from Hirst and Post:

– Tell kids not to grab for candy but to wait for the bowl to be offered. If they’re with a group, they need to be patient and wait for the bowl to be passed around.

– Kids shouldn’t take more than one or two pieces of candy unless the adult encour­ages them to take more. If a piece of candy is small, a child can ask, “May I please have more than one?” 

– Remind older kids not to push smaller chil­dren aside in their quest to get candy. They also shouldn’t be try­ing to scare young kids.

– It’s polite for kids to take what is offered even if they don’t want it. Remind them that they could always give it away, trade it or even toss it into the trash later.  

– Hal­loween will always be a bit crazy and noisy, but kids shouldn’t feel they have free rein to yell, loi­ter on other people’s prop­erty or make a mess (no throw­ing used candy wrap­pers in the streets, for example).

– Adults who don’t want trick-or-treaters com­ing to their door should keep their porch lights off, as well as other lights in front of their house. “Par­tic­i­pa­tion in Hal­loween is vol­un­tary,” Hirst says. “You don’t have to do it. That’s fine, but let peo­ple know by turn­ing your lights off. To a kid, a dark house has no candy.”

– Adults also shouldn’t hand out home­made treats or fruit, because most par­ents won’t let a child eat unwrapped items for safety rea­sons. If you don’t believe in giv­ing out candy, you can get fun items such as super balls, glo-sticks and stick­ers from a dol­lar store.

writ­ten by: Ali­son Johnson
source: my tide­wa­ters mom.com
Filed Under: Childrens Manners, Halloween

Trick-or-Treat Etiquette Tips

Halloween Etiquette_Tips for Trick or Treat

Grow­ing up, Hal­loween is one of the great­est days of the year.  You get to dress up and pre­tend to be some­one else and peo­ple give you candy for it.  Fol­low­ing sim­ple eti­quette tips can help make this a great day for everyone.

In terms of Hal­loween eti­quette, your porch light and the lights in the front of your house say a lot about you.  Lights sig­nify that some­one is home and on Hal­loween that sig­ni­fies that this house is pass­ing out treats.   Candy Corn_Halloween-EtiquettePar­tic­i­pa­tion in Hal­loween is vol­un­tary.  You don’t have to do it.  If you were raised in an iso­lated com­mu­nity and never expe­ri­enced the joy of Hal­loween, you may not under­stand or want kids com­ing to your door.  That’s fine, but let peo­ple know by turn­ing your lights off.  To a kid, a dark house has no candy.  How­ever, a lit house where no one answers the door is sus­cep­ti­ble to the trick part of Trick or Treat.

Hal­loween eti­quette also says that you should not pass out home­made treats or fruit.  You could be the world’s great­est baker, but no par­ent is going to spend the time try­ing to fig­ure out your inten­tions. A good par­ent will go through their child’s candy bag and throw away all the unwrapped items.  Why go to all the work of bak­ing to have your cre­ations thrown out.  If you do not believe in pass­ing out candy, a trip to your local dol­lar store will pro­vide a wide vari­ety of fun, non-edible treats to pass out, such as super balls, pen­cils, and glo-sticks.

Par­ents need to remind their trick-or-treaters that reg­u­lar rules of eti­quette still apply on Hal­loween.  Their chil­dren should always say, Trick or treat when the door opens and thank you after receiv­ing their treat.  Chil­dren should only take one to two pieces of candy from the candy dish, unless they are encour­aged to take more by the home­owner.  Par­ents should also stress to their chil­dren that it is polite to take what is offered even if they do not want it.  Remind them that they can always throw it away later.

Eti­quette should also be con­sid­ered when select­ing a cos­tume.  Every­one wants to have a fun cos­tume but con­sid­er­a­tion should be given to the loca­tion where the cos­tume will be shown off.  If you are attend­ing a Hal­loween party, your cos­tume may be more appro­pri­ate than if you are wear­ing it to school.  Peo­ple may be offended by your cos­tume, and this could lead to a visit to the principal’s office.  Of course, get­ting sent home early from school does allow more time for trick-or-treating!

Filed Under: Blog, Halloween, Holiday Etiquette

Trick or Treat Etiquette

 

 

Trick or Treat EtiquetteHal­loween is an evening when a child can dress up and be who­ever they want, but no mat­ter who your child wants to be don’t for­get to take your trick or treat eti­quette with you. Here is a list of Do’s and Don’ts to remember:

For Givers:

If you are plan­ning on giv­ing out candy do leave your porch light on. Leav­ing the light on sig­ni­fies that you are in the trick-or-treat business.

 

Giv­ing out fruit, box of raisins or home­made treats, although done with the best inten­tions, is not a good idea. Par­ents are more than likely to throw away any­thing that is hand­made and/or open, plus kids are there for candy.

Trick or Treaters:

Only go to the homes with the porch light on. Knock or ring the door­bell once and stand back.

 

Do say trick or treat. Unless your cos­tume is deer in the head­lights, don’t stand there with your bag open with a blank stare.

 

Only take one to two pieces of candy and remem­ber to say “thank you” and never say “I don’t like that”.

 

Stay on the side­walk and off the grass and flowerbeds.

 

If you still don’t have a cos­tume Here are some ideas for no-sew Hal­loween costumes.

 

If you are the host­ess with most­ess tonight here are some ideas for easy Hal­loween treats

 

Don’t let poor eti­quette take away the fun on this All Hallows Eve.

Filed Under: Blog, Halloween, Holiday Etiquette