How do people know which house is OK to knock the door on Haloween?

Question

I heard that it is a manner that kids can only knock on other people's doors on Haloween if the doors or the yard have some Haloween decorations.

Is that true?

If someone does not want kids to come to the house, then, what does he needs to do?

Do people normally know about this manner?

Thanks.

Answer 1

spray paint the first kid to walk through the door

Answer 2

I normally follow the rule of the porch light being on. I love giving out candy. Halloween was always my favorite as a kid so its cool to contribute to the childhood of other people. But I better put up some decorations outside now that people are looking for those. I didn't know that.

Answer 3

In my area people are asked to leave their porch light on to let the trick or treaters know treats are available , though most go to every door and those that don't wish to hand out candy can put up a note or just ignore the occasional knocks .

Answer 4

If someone wants children to come to their door for Halloween, the house will usually signal that by turning on their front porch light. If the person does not want Halloweeners, they usually leave their house dark. I do not know what people do who have no light in the front of their houses.

Answer 5

I was taught that houses with porch lights on were the houses that indicated permission to knock. It is to my knowledge that this is true because whenever I stay home and I don't have candy to give, though my living room light is on, I turn off the porch light, and no one comes.

Answer 6

No it's not based on the decorations, look for the light on the porch--if it is on feel free to knock if it is off skip that house and move on. That's how we do it on our street and in my neighborhood. That's also how it was when I was growing up. There are numerous houses on my street that do not have decorations but we trick or treat there with our girls ever year.

Answer 7

ive never heard about the decorations, when i was younger if the lights were on they you could knock but if they werent or if there was a note on the door youw ould just walk by

usually people who dont want kids coming up can write a note on the door saying "no more candy" or something along those lines

Answer 8

The common rule is this: if the PORCH LIGHT is on, it should be okay to go up to the door. If they have their porch light on on Halloween, but don't want trick or treaters then they are idiots.

For safety's sake, children should NEVER go to a house if the porch light is not lit.

Answer 9

I always look for a porch light, and only let the kids approach a house that has theirs on. If you knock and no one answers, just move on to the next one.

Answer 10

NO lights, No decorations, means dont go near this house. Anyone with any charges against them, with anything to do with children can not decorate for Halloween or open doors to children.
^Its even been on the news ^
So if you dont want kids knocking dont turn on your front lights and dont decorate.
Kids know the dark houses mean no candy.
My kids still knock at houses with the front lights on and no decoration.

Answer 11

My family always went by the "porch light is on" rule. Maybe that was a local thing, but it generally worked-- if people didn't have any candy to hand out they would turn off their porch light.