Halloween generosity takes many forms, and this year I found myself thinking about what we actually give away when we hand out candy—or something else entirely.
In my Lafayette neighborhood, the streets glowed orange with porch lights, candy, and jack-o’-lanterns, each one an unspoken invitation: trick-or-treaters welcome here. I sat by the door with a bowl of the usual chocolate bars, but beside it I kept a small tin of shiny coins and another of non-candy treats. The idea came from years of watching small faces light up for reasons beyond sugar. Some kids can’t have candy. Others simply love the surprise of something different—like a sticker, a marble, or a gleaming quarter that feels like treasure.
There’s a quiet art to the give-away. Candy is quick joy. Toys are memory. Coins are wonder. One little vampire looked at me with round eyes and whispered, “A real quarter?” before tucking it away like gold. A parent smiled and mouthed “thank you.” For me, that’s Halloween at its best—an exchange of joy disguised as sugar and sparkle.
As the night went on, the candy went first, of course, accompanied by the rare coins. The Sacagawea the rare coins. But the treats that lasted longest were the smiles, the careful thank-yous, and the older kids who brought their younger siblings back just to say hello. Whether you hand out chocolate, crayons, or coins, the real treat is sharing that moment when the world feels safe, playful, and connected again—one doorbell at a time. To add to the playfulness, we add a fire pit and hot apple cider every year. We’ve done that for decades. Even on warm nights the cider is welcome. Halloween is truly a holiday designed around “giving.” What could be more fun than giving candy? Well, in fact, giving rare coins like Sacagawea and loved coins like “Kennedy Halves,” has proven to be even more fun…