This Halloween, I want you to have TreatTracker (https://treattracker.skellyhouse.com/) open on your smartphone as you answer the door for candy-seeking children, and record the number of kids that come with each doorbell ring… with just a few taps on your phone.
More detailed instructions:
1) Go to https://treattracker.skellyhouse.com/. Register using your email (you’ll get a one-time confirmation code). Enable location (preferred but optional).
2) When you are ready to receive trick-or-treaters (usually when your city’s scheduled ToT hours begin), tap the “Turn lights on” button.
3) When a kid or group arrives, tap “Right now”, edit the “How many?” field, then tap “Add entry.”
4) If you forgot to do this, you can tap “Time range” and say how many children arrived during a timeframe.
5) When you’re done for the night, tap “Turn lights off”.
6) If you run out of candy first, tap “Ran out of candy.” (We assume you’re done for the night also if candy runs out).
That’s all you need to do! The full dataset, from all participants, will be edited and available later this fall. Note that if you participate in this, you are consenting to your anonymized data being released.
Big thanks to Seth Kelly for developing this mobile web app!
Please share this post to spread the word – we need as many people as possible, from as many places as possible, to make this a rich dataset.