Pumpkins, witches, candy, ghosts… it’s all important. But Halloween just isn’t Halloween without some pint-sized trick-or-treaters. How does your neighborhood rate?
Playborhood cites Richard Florida’s concept known as the “Trick-or-Treater Index” which rates the child friendliness of a neighborhood:
The idea is simple: just count the number of trick-or-treaters at your door on Halloween night and you’ll get a measure of how child friendly your neighborhood is the whole year. Certainly, it’s quite simplistic, but I would agree that neighborhoods with lots of trick-or-treaters tend to have lots of children who are comfortable being outside in their neighborhood.
Tonight, count the number of rings and knocks at your door and report back to us with the details. What’s your trick-or-treater index where you live? What are your thoughts on this annual event as a measure of the child friendliness in your neighborhood?
Happy Halloween from all of us at the Creative Class Exchange!
October 31st, 2008 at 9:01 am
We’re celebrating our first Halloween in a single family home and are very excited about the prospect of a busy doorbell. Our place is only a mile from the condo where we used to live, but in the condo we never had one trick-or-treater at the door. Understandable, I suppose. But, according to our new neighbors, there are plenty of little ones in this neighborhood every October 31. I have witch’s hat and candy at the ready – hope we aren’t disappointed as the new kids on the block!
October 31st, 2008 at 12:48 pm
In general this works, but we see “volatility” in the number of trick or treaters year to year, between 50 and 150, depending partially on how well us and our neighbours decorate for Halloween.
Also, it is pouring rain in Vancouver today, which is not expected to ease. I suspect this will dampen enthusiasm among parents (not the kids necessarily, although the little ones will likely be wet and cold earlier than normal).
October 31st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
Though I live in a kid friendly part of city, I’m on a busy road and I delibertately turn my lights off. So my count, I can assure you, will be zero.
Indeed the less kid friendly the neighbourhood is, the high rating it’s going to get from me.
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:10 am
Halloween is not just a measure of kid-friendliness, it can be an engine for neighborhood friendliness in general. It is the one time of year that you can call on all your nearby neighbors to say hello. Or they come to you. Or you greet each other on the street between stops. Once you have met face to face, it is easier to start a conversation when you run into each other at other times of year.