Trick or treating is an experience like no other. After parents telling their kids not to take candy from strangers all year, on this one day, it’s encouraged. During Halloween, every kid is in a rush to get as much candy as possible. To help you in your quest, we’ve developed strategies to get more candy, with insider tips you won’t find anywhere else.  So, if you want to tell these to a younger sibling or you still think that you’re not too old for trick or treating, then keep reading.

Before anything else, you need to understand that in order to get as much candy as possible, you need to be ruthless. Whether it be manipulating people or leaving behind the one friend who just can’t keep up, you have to do whatever. it. takes.

Costume and Bag

Before you even start trick or treating there are a few things you need to do. First of all, you need a strategic costume. As fun as it may be to get the inflatable t-rex suit, you need something mobile that you can easily run around in and won’t sweat in either. Also, make sure your costume has a mask (you’ll see why later). Additionally, you need to get a bag for your candy. It needs to be something that has a lot of space, and that you can carry easily. The best option by far is the drawstring bag. You can carry it on your back, it has a good amount of space, and some of them even have water bottle holders, in case you want to take a quick break.

Timing

During your planning, you have to pick a time to trick or treat. You can’t go too early when not many people are ready to hand out candy, but not too late when all the best candy has already been taken. You don’t want to get to the best houses and hear they are all out of candy. You also don’t want to start trick or treating too late because it quickly gets dark out. So the perfect time to go trick or treating is around 1:00 p.m. However, if Halloween is on a school day, then go after you get out of school, around 3:30 p.m. 

Towns

You need to pick what town you’ll be trick or treating in. Personally, we think Alpine gives out the biggest candy bars and is always over the top with the candy selection. If Alpine doesn’t work, Old Tappan is a good second choice. Additionally, going to the town you or one of your friends lives in will always give you an advantage, as you’ll know which houses to go to.

Can I get one for a friend?

Another simple trick to get more candy is to manipulate the people giving the candy. Sure, it’s morally wrong, but like I said earlier, you need to be ruthless. One simple trick is to ask the owner if you can have more candy for another one of your friends, who isn’t there at the moment. Of course, this friend is made up and you only want candy for yourself. If the people see past that trick and don’t give you more, there’s another trick. Say that your “friend” couldn’t go trick or treating in the first place. Maybe their leg is broken or they have to go on a family trip. Whatever it may be, it’ll always make people feel bad and all the more likely to give you more candy. Guilt always wins.

Bowls

This final tip is by far the most important if you want to get more candy on Halloween. You need to go for the bowls. Whenever you see a bowl outside of someone’s front door, it means that they’re probably not home. In that case, feel free to take every single piece of candy. Nobody’s there to stop you, so why not? Well, people have developed counter strategies to this, but you’ve come prepared. The most common thing to stop people from taking the whole bowl is to have a sign saying “Take one.” Obviously, just ignore the sign and take as many as you want. Another common countermeasure is to put a camera at the front door, so the people will know who took the candy. But this is why you came with a mask, so it hides your face and nobody will know it was you.