When we first moved to the new house, we didn't get a lot of kids at Halloween. It was sort of to be expected: we were at the very edge of the suburb, and our street was only maybe 60% complete when we moved in. There were a few kids that first year; we ended up keeping a lot of candy, and eating it over the next few months.
And over the next couple of years, we had a consistent 25 - 30. The street was done, but the neighbourhood wasn't. The field north of us was just starting to get developed into a crescent, but it took years between when they started laying sewer and cabling and when people actually started to take possession of their homes. So it was us at the fringes, and people from elsewhere weren't taking their kids to the far end of the suburbs for candy. Why bother, when there are more houses nearby?
Then COVID hit, and that first year, we had I think four kids. Better than our previous low - two kids at the old house, on a year when there was exactly one other house on the street that had its lights on - and under the circumstances, we understood. It was the abundance of caution era. It was the people weren't tired of caring era.
Last year and this year, it's rebounded. Seventy kids or so? We ran out of candy both years (we give out full-size chocolate bars), turning our lights off around 7:30 this year. Lots of stunned toddlers in snowsuits with their parents, lots of seven-and-eight-year-olds, lots of teenagers even. They get candy, too. It's Halloween, and who am I to judge? If it gives you joy, you can have a Coffee Crisp.
My partner and I had our usual routine: picked up Chinese food early, and watched Nightmare Before Christmas while the kids rolled in. Once they were done, and once the lights were off, we ditched our costumes, made a pot of tea, sat down, and watched A Haunting in Venice. Honestly, for what it was trying for? Pretty decent. We're purists (David Suchet is the only real Poirot, everyone else is a pretender) but Branagh was great, the material wasn't terrible given what it was adapted from (Hallowe'en Party, which is pretty poor), and it was a great movie to watch in the dark on a snowy Halloween. And I ended up predicting the murder weapon correctly, though not the murderer. I guess there really is only one Hercule Poirot.