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We live in military housing, which has a pretty high number of kids. Our display is geared more towards the fright aspect than the little cutesy stuff. We live right on a corner, and its quite evident on Halloween night that our yard can be pretty scary.
Last yr my friend played a ghoul in our graveyard and could easily hear the conversations take place along the sidewalk. There were a few parents who felt the display was too scary, yet still sent their little ones down our driveway to my husband(dressed as Jason) to get candy.
This yr I want to place a sign in the yard basically telling parents to use their own judgement,that the haunt is probably not suitable for toddlers or kids who scare easy.
Anyone else have to do this? Thoughts?
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
Some kids don't scare easily and others do. If the parents think it is too scarey, they can be the judge...but as you saw last year...they still sent the children anyway. I think a child that is too scared, just won't come near or will pull back or start crying. Still the sign gives notice. Can't say they weren't warned.
I keep mine geared towards the little ones, the bigger ones will do both the cute displays and the scarey displays but the little ones might not. Around here the bigger ones don't even dress up anymore. Oh...excuse me...one did have a sign on him saying his costume was at the cleaners. I think it is just a spur of the moment with some of them...this house has lights...lets get some candy.
Then last year some of the parents were trick or treating with the children, I don't mean just walking around with the children and wearing costumes...I mean coming to the door, saying trick or treat and holding out their bags for a treat...and I am not talking teen parents, I am talking people in their 30s. 1 bunch even the grandparents had bags. I said something to my neighbor about this going on...she said she told them they were too old...and didn't give them anything...I told them the same thing but afraid they would key my car or something...just went along with the game.
The little ones should be done early this year...school night...lights are going off earlier than usual because I don't need the 40 year olds around here also deciding to come trick or treating.
Last year word got out about my display and the parents of some of the kids sent a messenger ahead asking if we would take it easy since their kids were frightened easily. We were happy to oblige and help these kids enjoy the evening instead of ending it for them.
If a parent specifically requests that we be nice with a young one we certainly honor that request. My husband is dressed from head to toe as Jason though so its hard for him to "play nice". We usually have someone else in the yard bring the piece of candy to the child.
Mary Jayne, one of the good things about living here is that the base has specific times for trick or treating, so thankfully we dont have teens or anyone else ringing our doorbell at 11pm.8:30pm is the cut-off hr and we might get some stragglers until 9, 9:15 but after that things get pretty quiet.
Hopefully the signs will help some parents take a little more notice. I cant tell you how many parents I saw last yr pushing their kids down the walkway when it was obvious the poor kid was scared. Shoot, we even had adults that refused to come down our walkway with their kids.
Thanks for the input.
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
LisaJ wrote: Shoot, we even had adults that refused to come down our walkway with their kids.
Thanks for the input.
Well if Jason were standing there...you could have been giving out money and I wouldn't have come down the walkway either. I would be looking at your display from across the street.
The bigger crew started coming around about 9 last year...so I think my lights are going off at 8:30. If I notice too many older people, and I don't mean teenagers...I mean older than that, coming around earlier...I am just going to shut them off. The little ones usually start around 6 and are finished by 8.
You are on base, so you probably also don't have the drive by trick or treaters. These are the ones that the parents take them to the houses with displays...the kid gets out of the car...comes and tricks or treats, here they come to my house and my next door neighbor because they also have a big display...and then the kid gets back in the car to go to the next house that has a display. This little trend started about 2 years ago. Drive Bys...what next, they will just beep the horn and we are supposed to go out and hand them the candy.
We have props that jump and make noise, these are all controlled by remote. We use our own judgement on smaller ones so we wont have to hear from parents about that child. A sign would work but it would almost have to be kinda large so it would stand out.
Mary Jayne wrote: LisaJ wrote: Shoot, we even had adults that refused to come down our walkway with their kids.
Thanks for the input.
Well if Jason were standing there...you could have been giving out money and I wouldn't have come down the walkway either. I would be looking at your display from across the street.
The bigger crew started coming around about 9 last year...so I think my lights are going off at 8:30. If I notice too many older people, and I don't mean teenagers...I mean older than that, coming around earlier...I am just going to shut them off. The little ones usually start around 6 and are finished by 8.
You are on base, so you probably also don't have the drive by trick or treaters. These are the ones that the parents take them to the houses with displays...the kid gets out of the car...comes and tricks or treats, here they come to my house and my next door neighbor because they also have a big display...and then the kid gets back in the car to go to the next house that has a display. This little trend started about 2 years ago. Drive Bys...what next, they will just beep the horn and we are supposed to go out and hand them the candy.
LOL. We had a few teens/adults that my husband and friends seriously messed with.One lady went running down the street screaming when my hubby and our friend dressed as a ghoul started walking out of our yard. I couldnt help it, I was sitting in the house laughing hysterically.
Oh yes,we get the drive-bys, which IMO is just insane. I live on a cul-de-sac that branches off the main circle, and its not like the units are spread far apart.The parents will drop the kids off at all the places that have lights on. They get their candy, get in their car and drive to the next unit. Call me old-fashioned but my kids trick-or-treat the way I did....walking!
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
techiesrule wrote: We have props that jump and make noise, these are all controlled by remote. We use our own judgement on smaller ones so we wont have to hear from parents about that child. A sign would work but it would almost have to be kinda large so it would stand out.
We're currently building a PVC fence to go around our graveyard this yr, and I was going to post a sign on each front corner of the fence. You cant get into our yard without walking by these 2 points, so it should work. My ghoul has said she will also be happy to point out the signs if she hears any comments from parents.
Overall the response to our Halloween display is very positive. We heard people talking about it for months afterwards, so we feel pretty good about what we've got going on. Its just the few that think its too much, yet still send their kiddos down the sidewalk.
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
The pvc fence is a great idea, i always have kids running through the yard and we try to redirect them to stay on the sidewalk. (Too Many cables and props in the yard that they could break something). We always have people talking about it, I wish the neighborhood gave out awards like what they do for Christmas displays, I know that I could have won a few by now.
techiesrule wrote: The pvc fence is a great idea, i always have kids running through the yard and we try to redirect them to stay on the sidewalk. (Too Many cables and props in the yard that they could break something). We always have people talking about it, I wish the neighborhood gave out awards like what they do for Christmas displays, I know that I could have won a few by now.
Thats what we have always tried to prevent, is kids running through the yard, or the people who walk with dogs and let them into the yard The last few yrs we just had some wood painted black stuck every few ft into the ground, with lights going between the wood(see pic), but that looked a bit cheesy.This yr we decided to make the PVC fence to go around the graveyard. This will definitely keep people out of this section of the yard and they have no choice but to come down the driveway and walkway leading to the door.Plus this fence will help us expand the graveyard.
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____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
LisaJ wrote: This yr I want to place a sign in the yard basically telling parents to use their own judgement,that the haunt is probably not suitable for toddlers or kids who scare easy.
I don't think I would put up a sign because it might invite complaints and/or legal issues. This was discussed in relation to strobe lights. See this thread: http://planetchristmas.mywowbb.com/forum13/6652.html
I think I would just have someone esle (maybe you?) stand near the street. That person could tell the parents that it might be too scarey for little ones to go up alone. They could also have candy to give to the ones that don't want to go up.
TED wrote:
I don't think I would put up a sign because it might invite complaints and/or legal issues.
So when you warn someone you can be in trouble and when you don't warn someone you could be in trouble. So this would be a no win situation.
You have to remember though, Lisa is on a military base. Usually military people are not the same as a neighbor who sues you because you accidentally ran over his dandelion crop with your lawn mower. I have a high respect (as I am sure we all do) for those in the military, have plenty of vets in the family, and feel they are a cut above most of John Q. Public (well most of them, like anything else there can be a few bad apples in the bunch). Beside military families know other military families make diddly squat for income and so there is really nothing there to sue over.
Maybe a sign that is made to look like part of the display. You know like an old weather sign that says something like...screams ahead...or turn back now as it is very scary where you are headed...warning tread in fear...you know something along those lines. Then that way if anything happens she can say...hey, it was just a part of the display or she could do the reverse and say, hey, can't say we didn't warn you. Either way she is covered.
Mary Jayne, we were actually discussing the other night doing a warning sign to fit in with the theme of the display like you mentioned,so I think that may be the best way to go.
Thanks also for the kind comments towards the military. I too think 99% of our military is a special bunch but I'm pretty biased
____________________ Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. ~Mary Ellen Chase
The last few yrs we just had some wood painted black stuck every few ft into the ground, with lights going between the wood(see pic), but that looked a bit cheesy.This yr we decided to make the PVC fence to go around the graveyard. This will definitely keep people out of this section of the yard and they have no choice but to come down the driveway and walkway leading to the door.Plus this fence will help us expand the graveyard.
.