We were down quite a bit this year, back into the range we were at in 2006 - 2007. Again, it was a school night, but Halloween being on a Monday, we weren't coming off a weekend (like last year when Halloween was a Sunday). It's looking like when Halloween is in the middle of the week, we get a dip in visitors. Last year I mentioned I thought we'd be down this year and I was right.
Cumulative data:
| Time Blocks |
| 6:00p - 6:30p | 6:30p - 7:00p | 7:00p - 7:30p | 7:30p - 8:00p | 8:00p - 8:30p |
| Years | 2006 | 52 | 59 | 35 | 16 | 0 |
| 2007 | 5 | 49 | 39 | 25 | 21 |
| 2008 | 14 | 71 | 82 | 45 | 25 |
| 2009 | 17 | 51 | 72 | 82 | 21 |
| 2010 | 19 | 77 | 76 | 48 | 39 |
| 2011 | 31 | 80 | 53 | 25 | 0 |
We shut down at 8:00p this year rather than running until 8:30p for a couple of reasons:
- The visitor count was really dwindling. The majority of the kids in that last half-hour block showed up closer to 7:30p than 8:00p.
- Phoenix needed to go to bed. She goes to bed around 8:00p and if we have people ringing the doorbell and knocking, she'd never get to sleep.
The costume this year was The Mad Hatter. Phoenix was Alice, and Jenn was The Queen of Hearts.
My biggest peeve this year was one I already mentioned last year: "If your kid can't walk and/or talk, they're not old enough to trick-or-treat."
I actually declined putting candy in the bucket a parent waved in front of my face that was intended for a sub-two-year-old sleeping in the stroller. They already had four kids with them, and then this fifth bucket pops out. "Who's this for?" I asked.
"It's for him," said the mother, pointing at the sleeping kid.
"What? Is he really going to eat this? Really?" I held up a Snickers bar from the candy bowl. The mother stared at me with this guilty look on her face but remained silent. "Yeah, I didn't think so. Happy Halloween!" I put the Snickers bar back in the bowl and shut the door.
I'm the Candy Nazi.