How to Give Good Halloween

Four days to go and little pirates, ghosts and goblins will be knocking on doors so how can you provide a really good Halloween experience?

Be Home Early

There is nothing more depressing than walking through a neighborhood of homes where people have their lights off (and pretend not to be home). Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, so get ready for some trick-or-treaters early and make sure to leave the porch lights on. The evening will be about making children happy. Find some joy in the innocence of Halloween and don't be a Scrooge.

Buy Small and Unique Candy

While every child loves a big handful of candy, the most memorable doors are always those people who have some sort of cool candy parents would probably not buy at home. Think of items like a cool Halloween Pez dispenser or Spooky Goblin marshmallow pops. You can bet most homes are giving out mini KitKat bars or other generic types of candy. Try to be the cool house.

Skip Coupons

Anything paper is no fun when it comes to Halloween candy. The first thing kids do when they get home is throw all the coupons to the side. While free ice cream sundaes are cool in theory, how you would feel if your spouse gave you a gift certificate? Don't be the person who gives a coupon. Halloween is all about instant gratification of what candy a kid can get tonight!!

Partake in the Show

What child wants to see you coming to the door in sweats to give out candy? While it's true that Halloween candy is the primary goal of any child, why not have fun and dress up? Change your voice, turn off the interior lights and put up a sign "Trick or Treaters only." One is never too old to re-live Halloween.

Buy Candy you like

I know this sounds selfish, but do you ever remember a Halloween where you didn't have extra candy lying around the house? While it's a good idea always to buy kid-friendly candy, it surely doesn't hurt to purchase some candy you can treat yourself to once the trick-or-treaters are gone.

Halloween only comes once a year. Light a pumpkin, put on some makeup and be the cool person even it means pretending you're someone else.

Alan Dunn is a Licensed Mortgage Broker and serial entrepreneur. Purchased his first domain name in 1998, struck gold in the mortgage industry, crashed like everybody else and quickly realized trees with money do not exist. Coupons and savings are his new favorite things thus he's committed to educating people about saving a buck until someone is nice enough to buy him a yacht. Currently he is the Managing Editor of HowtoSaveMoney.com.