Will you eat (or let your kids eat) homemade Halloween trick or treats?

Oh my god, I think you should probably be happy if people are putting effort into a Halloween treat and its anything rather than just straight up candy. Yes, I’d dig right into it. If I feared there was a RAZOR BLADE in everything I ate I would cut a year off my life stressing out about it every time I put ANYTHING into my mouth. You know, there could be a razor in that pre packaged snickers bar that some deranged employee at the plant put in too. So I say don’t live in fear, it’s a waste of time. Then again, I don’t have children. But I am a child, so I eat candy, so I think that’s relevant too.

Not unless I knew the maker. Sadly.

You can inject cat pee in to almost any candy with the right imagination. I’d probably be against the idea of eating candy from strangers, there is just something about the term “candy from strangers” that sets off alarm bells for me.

I say get some parents together, and organize a trick or treat route, keep it among people you know.

I’d let my kids eat treats made by family or known neighbors but I wouldn’t chance them to munch that stuff from elsewhere.

My grandma used to half joke she was confident no one who knew our family would dare to tamper with treats because anyone who knew her knew she would kick their a**es. If my stepkids lived with us f/t then I would definitely make an effort to know our neighbors and they’d know not to mess with us. Oh gawds, I sound so hillbilly right now but I swear, it has it’s place.

Any time I have made homemade treats, I included my name, address, and phone number and pointed this out to parents. Never had an issue.

If anyone in our area made treats that would hurt children, they would quickly be run out of town (or arrested, of course). We live in a very small town and everyone knows everyone. Yes, I would eat the treats and I would let my daughter eat them too.

It’s too bad that parents have too worry about this. My answer would be, yes, especially from friends/neighbors I knew well.

I was a kid in the 60’s and I LOVED getting home made cookies, popcorn balls, etc. Those were the days.

Even in this day and age I think one can go too far with their paranoia. It is extremely RARE for kids to be harmed or poisoned by Halloween treats.

Absolutely. We did it for years. Sadly there are no more kids of age in the neighborhood any more. If the temperature is above freezing, I go around and leave candy at some of the nearby houses.
And maybe have a drink or two.

Friends and I handed out chocolate covered Milk Bones to kids when we were 16.
Yep, some pissed off parents, but hey…the “Trick” part of TRICK OR treat was a viable option in our opinion. lol

Only if I knew who made it.

@Coloma That would have been considered bad form in my neighborhood. Your parents would have gotten a earful. I hope you gave out double-good stuff later.
Halloween is supposed to be fun.

We had one neighbor who told me he planned on hiding in the woods to scare kids as they walked by. I actually armed my kids with AirSoft BB guns and gave them permission to shoot Mr W. if he tried to scare them. He didn’t.
The kids were younger than 10 at the time but behaved like adults with concealed carry permits. They kept them holstered and hidden under their snow clothes the whole time and never said a word to anyone. They understood the trust I had granted to them.

Not because I think there might be razor blades in it… but no. Not a chance, unless I actually know the people passing it out.

I probably would.

Considering how few people are handing out handmade treats, it would be so obvious who poisoned my kid, if it happened. That fact alone is enough to deter anyone from doing it.

And we have no food allergies.

And, I f*king LOVE popcorn balls.

I would after close inspection and a little testing on myself before I let any kids at it. People want to discard the razor blade deal as a hoax. I remember it happening at lease twice when I was a kid, that was before the poison Tylenol, and way before the Internet. Finding the proof, sadly, is not a mouse click away. When that happened all of a sudden the apples, candy apples, fudge, cookies, etc went away. Strange how you miss it when you can’t get it anymore. We kids bemoaned getting those homemade treats openly, but secretly they were still good to get. When you could no longer get fudge and it was just straight candy because that is all there was, the candy lost a little of its mystique.

People are so afraid of what they pick up out there, because they do not know who gave it. Think of this, if you went to a Halloween party, the goodies are out on the table as with the dinks, everyone is in a mask, it is easier for someone to sabotage the treats with something nefarious and blend into the crowd unnoticed. The potential to score many unsuspecting victims is quite good. No one would think twice about eating those cookies brought to the party by Mrs. Goodheart, they would never imagine someone walking by the table lacing them with a odorless, tasteless chemical that would harm them.

Yes. If your are concerned, inspect the treats yourself for safety. When in doubt, throw it out.

We go through the treats and separate it into small baggies, which they get to eat out of each week. Anything that looks suspicious gets thrown out.

The stories of razor blades and needles have been largely debunked, except in one or two cases where the parents themselves sabotaged their own treats.

Yes but at first I’d want to know who made the candy. I trust friends or acquaintances but not complete strangers.

And remember the worst trick is not poison but a strong laxative. You cannot know if it’s there until you have to go the bath several times .. I hope I’m not “helping” some of you to make hokes to others with this.

@worriedguy

It was all in good fun, kids tricking kids. :-)

The idea that someone in a neighborhood would poison homemade treats is just plain silly. How tough would it be to figure out who gave out the tainted treats? Does anyone actually know anyone that got a razor blade in an apple?

@captainsmooth That’s not what I’m worried about. What worries me is that some people make things that touch countertops their cats have sat on or that they wiped down with a bacteria infested sink sponge…. I’m worried about the sheer idiocy of some people and what the “treats” have touched, instead of poison and razor blades.

@WillWorkForChocolate that’s my husband’s big fear. He thinks everyone has a dirty kitchen and doesn’t want to get food poisoning. Me.. I can survive my kitchen’s germs.. so I would eat other people’s candy. I probably wouldn’t hand out my own stuff until I can do some deep cleaning.

I enjoy lurking on this and seeing what everyone says. I don’t think I’ve ever gotten anything homemade for Halloween—even way back in the 70s. I got an apple once, but I chucked it in the street to look “cool” to the big kids.

Huh, yeah.

Of course I would. I’d be thrilled to get some home-made treats. I think it’s rather sad that we live in such a guarded, fearful age.

Yes, because like @Seek_Kolinahr pointed out, the fact that the person handing out the treats would be so easy to track down would be its own deterrent. And also because I think people are only paranoid about this because most of us have grown up hearing about poison and razor blades. Even though we all logically know it’s just urban legend, it’s very difficult to ignore that part of your brain that insists Halloween candy could be dangerous.

Just to be safe, I personally sample a large portion of my kids’ candy each year. You know, it’s my duty as a mom.