How to Keep Trick or Treaters Away? (Doing This Worked!)

Some people enjoy celebrating Halloween, while others prefer to avoid the holiday altogether. Whatever your reasons for not wanting trick or treaters knocking at your door, we’ve got some tricks of our own that’ll show you how to keep trick or treaters away for good.

The most effective way to keep trick or treaters away is to make it very obvious that you’re not partaking in any Halloween festivities. This can be achieved by putting a sign in your yard that says “No Trick or Treating” or “Sorry No Candy”.

If you don’t want trick or treaters showing up on your doorstep this Halloween, then keep reading. We’ve compiled a list of handy tips and tricks that you can use that’ll ensure trick or treaters will skip your house and move on to your neighbor’s door.

Here’s a Quick Pro Tip!

The easiest and quickest way to keep trick or treaters away is to put a sign in your yard letting people know you’re not celebrating Halloween this year.

Something like this huge No Trick or Treating Banner should quickly get the message across. You can hang some Sorry No Candy signs on your door to deter trick or treaters from coming to your house.

You can also find some pretty awesome (and affordable) No Trick or Treating Signs on Amazon!

Whether you prefer not to indulge in the Halloween festivities or will not be home on this popular evening, you will need to know how to keep trick or treaters away.

No one wants an endless parade of doorbells or little feet across your front lawn if there is no reason for them to be there. So, which methods will be successful?

11 Tips to Keep Trick or Treaters Away

Regardless of your reasons for wanting to keep trick or treaters away, these time-tested tips will guarantee a peaceful evening during one of the busiest holidays of the year.

Turn Your Lights Off
Leave a Note

Put Out a Sign
Use the Empty Bowl Trick
Ignore the Doorbell

Close Your Curtains
Do Not Decorate Your Home or Yard
Lock Your Front Gate

Hide Your Vehicles
Scare Away Visitors
Invest in a Motion Activated Door Greeter

1. Turn Your Lights Off

A dark house is one of the more universal signs that trick or treaters are not welcome. Turn off all your outdoor lights and do not have your inside lit if you can help it.

Try moving to another room in the house that isn’t visible from the street for the evening, so your evening television time does not invite Halloween visitors.

If you want to leave your lights on but don’t want people to know you’re home, head over to Amazon and grab a few sets of blackout curtains to make sure light doesn’t shine through.

2. Leave a Note

Families with young babies or even pets with animals do not want kids knocking on their doors or ringing doorbells all night. One terrific way to avoid constant disturbances is to leave a note on your front door or gate.

You can be as detailed or as vague as you wish when making a note. Children will often be out in the evening with their parents, so do not feel guilty about creating a message that says, Please do not disturb us:

We are sleeping

We have a loud dog who doesn’t like visitors
There is a new baby here who is sleeping
We are shift workers

We are not home
We do not celebrate Halloween

3. Put Out a Sign

One way to get the message across that you do not want trick or treaters is to invest in a lawn sign for trick or treaters when not home. Amazon has a terrific 8-foot banner that will grab the attention of anyone walking by and ensure they understand your reluctance to visitors.

You can also create a homemade sign for trick or treaters when not home so they will pass by your place without problems.

Some homeowners will be creative and print a pumpkin picture with a red circle and line through it, depicting that it is not allowed, while others may use words like “We Say No to Halloween Here”.

4. Use the Empty Bowl Trick

How do you turn trick or treaters away? Sometimes when homeowners are gone for the evening, they will leave a bowl of candy for children to take freely as the night progresses.

This task can be a terrific way to keep visitors from approaching your door, but it can still be costly to buy candy.

If you do not celebrate the Halloween holiday, you will not want to partake in the festivities of providing free candy for your neighborhood.

You can alternatively place an empty bowl at the edge of your property with a note that says, “Sorry, we’re all out of candy!”.

This empty bowl will keep any potential visitors moving on to the next house and away from yours.

Some homeowners may feel guilty about not supplying candy but do not want to make an effort for the sake of the holiday.

An empty bowl at the edge of your property with a sign that says, please take one will trick children into believing the bowl once held candy, and it is now gone.

This trick will have these kids effectively moving on to the next house and leaving you alone.

5. Ignore the Doorbell

Some people may wonder, can I ignore trick or treaters? Of course, you can, although it may be difficult during busy hours of the evening.

If you remain home with no lights on, try to ignore the doorbell so it looks like nobody is home.

If you have a doorbell that can be disabled easily, you may want to deactivate it for the evening. This way, if you don’t know what time trick or treaters stop, they will give up trying to get candy and continue down the street.

This simple task will keep children from disturbing you so you can relax at home on one of the busiest nights of the year.

6. Close Your Curtains

There’s no point in turning out the lights and ignoring the doorbell if people can clearly see that you’re home because your curtains are open. Make sure to keep your curtains closed (at least the ones in the front of your house).

One great option if you want to leave your lights on, but want to still make it look like you’re not home is picking up a set of blackout curtains over at Amazon. This way even if your curtains are closed, you can still have lights on indoors.

7. Do Not Decorate Your Home or Yard

How do I stop trick or treaters coming to my door, you may ask. One sure way to have children visit you for candy is to decorate your home or yard, so by leaving your front entrance space free of decorations, it will seem that you are not partaking in the Halloween festivities.

Much like leaving your lights off, having no decorations will let everyone know that you are not participating in Halloween.

8. Lock Your Front Gate

Someone may say, what if I don’t want trick or treaters? If you have a secure fence and gate surrounding your property, one of the easiest ways when figuring out how do you get rid of trick or treaters is to lock your front entrance.

This way, they will be unable to access your property and disturb you at your door.

9. Hide Your Vehicles

If you don’t know what time trick or treaters start and stop, you can hide your vehicles to give the illusion that no one is home.

If these candy-seeking visitors believe no one is around, they will skip your house and move on to the next one for treats.

10. Scare Away Visitors

One way to keep trick or treaters away is to scare them from even coming to your home.

No, this is not by using Halloween decorations or tactics, but rather a more direct approach. Purchase or create a large Beware of Dog sign that says Guard Dog on Premises or something similarly negative.

These signs are a sure way to keep anyone from coming near your front entrance and bothering you on the busy Halloween evening.

11. Invest in a Motion Activated Door Greeter

If you want to automate the entire process of keeping trick or treaters away, you should invest in motion activated door greeters.

Something like the SierraTeck Motion Activated Door Greeter will allow you to record a message of your choice to let visitors know that you’re not partaking in the Halloween festivities and to move along.

When trick or treaters approach your home, the motion detector will sense their presence and play your recorded message to them. You can even plug these into an outdoor speaker system to really make sure everyone gets the message loud and clear!

For outdoor speakers, we recommend something like the Polk Audio Atrium. These speakers will definitely make sure everyone that comes by know that you’re not up for trick or treaters this year.

What Time Do Trick or Treaters Start?

Trick or treaters usually start their festivities on October 31st in the late afternoon to early evenings. This can sometimes be as early as 4:00 pm, depending on your neighborhood and the age of the children.

What Time Do Trick or Treaters Stop?

Most trick or treaters stop and go home by 10:30pm to 11:00pm at the latest. You can expect the continuous stream of evening visitors to start slowing down around 8:00 pm if your area has many younger children.

When older kids participate in Halloween, they may not stop until much later, around 9:30 or 10:30 pm.

How Many Trick or Treaters to Expect

The number of trick or treaters you can expect depends on where you live. If you live in a neighborhood with a large influx of children, you may see more trick or treaters than someone living in an apartment building.

One easy way to avoid trick or treaters is not being home when you expect these visitors to come beckoning at your door. Instead, go out for the evening, take in a movie, spend time at the gym, or visit friends rather than learning how to avoid trick or treaters.

How Late Do Trick or Treaters Come By?

At the latest, you can expect trick or treaters to come by around 11:00pm. Most trick or treaters have already finished trick or treating by then. There may be some older kids still out later than that, but generally, most have gone home already.

In general, this can vary depending on your location and the average age of the children in your neighborhood.

Some visitors will start as early as dinnertime and dwindle around 7:30 to 8:00 pm when it is around their bedtime, while older children have more energy and stamina to stay out later.

So how many trick or treaters to expect in the later hours will reduce significantly, making your job of hiding from visitors easier.

The Repercussions of Trying to Keep Away Trick or Treaters

If you’re concerned that using some of these tricks and tips may spark revenge in visitors, you aren’t alone. Many homeowners are sometimes afraid of the repercussions of not handing out candy by the retaliation of toilet paper through their trees or broken eggs on the house windows.

This type of aggressive behavior is typically the work of older children, so this may not be a substantial concern if you live in a neighborhood with young kids. However, suppose you are worried about this behavior. In that case, you can use tactics that are not as forward, such as leaving out a bowl of candy, so they believe they missed the opportunity for treats rather than you refusing to hand out candy.

Do Not Feel Guilty About Not Wanting Trick or Treaters

Some individuals don’t want to celebrate Halloween, while others may have social anxiety that amplifies when strangers are constantly bothering them at home.

You should not feel guilty about wanting to hide from trick or treaters or trying to keep them away. Not everyone wants to partake in the festivities, and for some individuals, it can be a big hassle and is unnecessary.

Remember that you as a homeowner have every right to do as you please, and if you do not want to hand out candy, that is your individual choice.

How to Keep Trick or Treaters Away? (Doing This Worked!)