I was wondering.. what do you give to the kids who knock at your door? something you made with your business card or something from the store?

I give out store bought Gluten Free candies and chocolate. I also eat them while the kids come to the door. LOL

Most neighbours know I'm here. I do have a sign and ads on my car so if any parent inquires I give them a business card.

Also it is a problem these days to give out homemade treats. Most parents toss them out. when I was young homemade treats were the standard, not anymore. Homemade treats don't have ingredients listed on them and for people with allergies and intolerance's that is a requirement.

Take Care

We give kids candy like everybody else, unwrapped or homemade treats are usually tossed.

It might just be me, but using Halloween to advertise (especially handing out business cards to kids) seems a little tacky.

I tend to agree with Jason...I don't involve my business at all when handing out candy...I just hand out the store wrapped candy..Anything homemade usually gets thrown out by parents..At least that is exactly what I do when my kids come home with homemade goodies...I don't care if I know the business or not...

I do however offer a Halloween Special on my website.

Store-bought candy. As parent, I wouldn't want my kid getting something homemade (it'd go right in the trash).

ITA with everyone else. I also agree with Jason. Halloween is about kids and candy, not a chance for some biz owner to try and advertise themselves to my children. I hate that. Unless it's a magnet. I love magnets! I have 3 kids so I have a lot of things to hang on the fridge door.

One time my oldest got a coupon for a certain % off an oil change at a local car place Really? That's so lame. We do like the free doughnut coupons from the doughnut place or a free frosty coupon from Wendy's that some people like to give out.

If you want to do something with your store, how about a coupon for a free cupcake or whatever. That wouldn't be much different from the Wendy's or other type of coupons. Just like with the other ones, it will bring the adults in to your store.

I think there was a thread about this last year around this time....
The general consensus was that you should NOT give out a homemade treat. It is pretty much a waste of time and money.
Some thought it was a tacky way to advertise. You probably will not see an increase in business from this. It doesn't matter if you are already known as the "cake lady" in the neighborhood.

The biggest reason though was that almost everyone would throw away anything not packaged from a store for safety reasons.
For me personally as a parent of 3 kids, if it's not a securely wrapped Milky Way, Tootsie Pop, bag of Skittles etc. it's going right into the trash. I don't care if there's a business card attached to your adorable treat or not.

I was just wondering, I don't even live in USA yet! In Italy, Halloween is a pretty new holiday so no trick or treat thing here!