2,000 Pieces of Candy. I Hope It's Enough.

I bought 2,000 pieces of candy for Halloween.

I still don't know if it's enough.

This year, our neighborhood is actually celebrating Halloween on Halloween. Usually, it's the Sunday before. I'm pretty excited about getting to do the thing on the actual day.

And around here, it is a whole thing.

Last year, we had about 800 kids come by. Eight hundred. We seem to break our own record every year. Kids literally get off buses to come trick-or-treat in our neighborhood.

And I love it.

My goal every year is pretty simple. Have enough candy for every kid, right up until the end. The neighborhood does its best, but houses start running out. It's hard to understand how much candy you need until you've watched that many kids come down the sidewalk.

So this year... 2,000 pieces.

That sounds like a ridiculous amount until you start doing the math. At two pieces per kid, that's 1,000 kids. Suddenly, my mountain of candy doesn't look quite so mountainous.

I always wanted to be the house that handed out full-size candy bars. Back in our old neighborhood in Colorado, we probably could have pulled that off. We'd get maybe 20 or 30 kids. Full-size bars there would probably cost less than what we're spending here.

Here? I might need a sponsor.

And man, candy felt expensive this year. I couldn't find any deals I felt great about, so I bought in bulk directly from candy companies to bring the cost down a little. Apparently, this is the stage of Halloween where I start thinking about who my candy supplier is.

Our trick-or-treating runs from 1 to 4 today, and I cannot wait.

I'm not really a guy who gets excited about dressing up. But watching the kids show up in their costumes, seeing how much fun they're having, and handing them something that makes their day? I could do that all afternoon.

Which is convenient. That's the plan.

Then there's watching my own kids head out and seeing what they come back with. I love that part too.

It's one of my favorite holidays. A whole neighborhood showing up so a whole bunch of kids can have a really good day. I'm happy to buy the candy for that.

What does Halloween look like at your house? How many kids do you get, and how much candy do you buy? And if you're the full-size candy bar house... I respect the commitment.

I'll let you know whether 2,000 pieces made it to 4 o'clock.

God, I love Halloween.

Halloween update: November 1

Well... I have my answer.

We had 1,200 kids. Twelve hundred.

The original 2,000 pieces of candy weren't enough. I had to pick up another 800, bringing us to 2,800 pieces. My wife also handed out individual Pokémon cards.

So much for wondering whether we'd break last year's record. We went from about 800 kids to 1,200.

We almost didn't have enough, but man... what a day.

The full-size candy bar dream may need to stay in Colorado.

Best year ever.