[Frank Richards]

Has the topic already shifted away from the perceived "decline" of Halloween ?
Oh well, lol, because even though I'm late to the discussion, I have quite a few opinions.

In my area, people seem to be getting very excited about Halloween. Most of my friends are planning costume parties, buying tickets to horror film festivals, and gathering groups to attend haunted houses and/or forests. Meanwhile, my friends with kids are looking into fun and scary activities for their kids to attend. While I haven't seen too many decorations on display yet, that's not uncommon around my area, since most people here typically decorate about 10-14 days before Halloween.
So, here in the deep deep dirty south, Halloween is still a big deal. I'm sad to hear that the spirit of Halloween has diminished in some areas, but I honestly haven't experienced any of sort of decline in the holiday here.

However, I have noticed a huge paradigm shift over the past few years. Even in my neighborhood of young middle class families (with kids and disposable income) no one trick or treats. And, it's been that way for the past five or six years. The families here tend to attend neighborhood or family parties, as well as events sponsored by the community, schools, or churches instead. From what I've gathered from friends and family members with kids, not just in my area, but nationwide, this is the new status quo.
Skoob and Trivial Psychic did a great job of presenting reasons and sharing opinions about these changes, so I won't repeat those same reasons, since I agree with much of what they both said.

But anyways, to be quite honest, and I know I'm opening myself up to some HUGE criticism here, lol, I never cared for trick or treating anyways, and while I recognize that it was once an important aspect of Halloween in the US, I honestly don't mind that the tradition is slowly disappearing.
Don't get me wrong though. I LOVE Halloween. As a child, my parents (uncharacteristically for them) helped me design some impressive and fairly elaborate costumes. However, trick or treating, in and of itself, just seemed tedious and like a waste of an amazing costume. It wasn't until middle school, when the average kid is deemed "too old" to trick or treat (in this region anyways), that I REALLY began to enjoy Halloween. At that point, parties replaced trick or treating, so I was still able to construct an awesome costume, but I then had the opportunity to hang out with friends and show off my costume to my peers, rather than have disinterested strangers feign interest while throwing the requisite bite-sized Milky Ways my way.

A lot of you are lamenting the drastic changes in this holiday, and even perceive it to be slowly fading from relevance, but rest assured, at least here in south GA, it's still widely celebrated. It's just changing, and I, for one, honestly prefer the changes.

EDIT:
DAMN, that's a long rant
Sorry, it didn't seem that long when I was typing it !