Lab · Annual experiment
Halloween 2026: trick-or-treaters at our door.
After Halloween I made a one-page summary of our night for the neighbourhood: how many came to our door, when they came and what they wore.
About 128 trick-or-treaters came in 43 groups, with about 66 grown-ups, between about 17:30 and 21:30. The busiest half hour was 19:00 to 19:30, with 29. From 20:00 to 20:30 only one came, then 17 arrived in the half hour after. Half had come by about 19:10, and the typical wait between knocks was five minutes.
Film, TV and game characters were the most common costumes (26), just ahead of monsters (24) and animals (21). Among costumes seen with more than one group, dinosaurs and dragons led with eight, followed by bears, the Spider-Man family, skeletons, Ghostface and Pikachu.
The summary is about other people's children, so it follows a few rules: no photos, totals only, times rounded, and a costume named only when more than one group wore it. Every number on it is a best estimate.
Text version of the infographic
- Alpine Park, Halloween 2026, 31 October. Trick-or-treaters at our door. Thanks to everyone who came by.
- About 128 trick-or-treaters. Groups: 43. Grown-ups with them: about 66. First group: about 17:30. Last group: about 21:30.
- Trick-or-treaters per half hour: 17:30, 15. 18:00, 24. 18:30, 15. 19:00, 29 (busiest). 19:30, 15. 20:00, 1 (quiet). 20:30, 17. 21:00, 4. 21:30, 8.
- 32 an hour on average. 58 an hour at the busiest. Half had come by about 19:10.
- Time between visitors: a typical wait of 5 minutes between knocks. Wait before the next visit: under 2 minutes, 5 times; 2 to 5 minutes, 12; 5 to 10 minutes, 11; 10 to 20 minutes, 5; 20 minutes or more, 2. About 11 groups an hour, about 3 kids in each. The two longest quiet spells lasted about half an hour, both after 20:00.
- What they wore: film, TV or game, 26; monster or horror, 24; animal or onesie, 21; homemade and other, 15; job or uniform, 12; puns and jokes, 11; superhero, 7; princess or fairy, 5; witch or wizard, 4; hard to tell, 3.
- Crowd favourites, seen with more than one group: dinosaurs and dragons, 8; bears, 6; Spider-Man family, 5; skeletons, 4; Ghostface, 4; Pikachu, 4. Also seen more than once: rabbits, firefighters and vampires.
- See you next year, Alpine Park. Counted at our door on 31 October 2026. Numbers are best estimates.