Maximizing the candy haul on Halloween

Through the ages, trick-or-treaters have plotted their candy-plundering routes and quests for the Holy Grail of Halloween: the houses that give out full-sized candy bars.

This year they have a new tool.

Zillow Inc. on Thursday named Minneapolis one of the nation's best Halloween cities and released a list of its top five trick-or-treat neighborhoods.

The key: affluent residents and high-density housing.

"The walkability and density [are] key," said Lauren Riefflin of Zillow, a real estate website. "You want to cover the most ground, in the fastest time, to collect the most Halloween loot."

While the list is mostly a marketing gimmick (it didn't even examine St. Paul or the suburbs) it nonetheless raises an intriguing etiquette question: Is Halloween supposed to be a neighborhood celebration -- with kids sticking to their own streets -- or is it OK to transplant children to the "best" locations for the evening?

"I don't think anybody gets too uptight about that," said Lesley Lydell, who serves on the neighborhood council for Linden Hills -- which Zillow rated as tops in Minneapolis for trick-or-treating.

Next on the top five list: Cedar-Isles-Dean, Lynnhurst, Fulton and East Isles -- all in southwest Minneapolis. Overall, Minneapolis ranked 11th on Zillow's list of top trick-or-treating cities.

Len Schmid's Minnehaha neighborhood didn't make the top five, but he hopes to make it a destination for trick-or-treaters.

"Bus 'em in from Iowa if you want," he said. "We give out full-size candy bars in hopes of building a neighborhood reputation, and we've been encouraging our neighbors to keep their lights on and give out candy. I mean, if I were a kid and I walked by the end of a block and only saw two or three porch lights on, I'd probably give that street a miss.

"It's about efficiency when you're on a candy mission," Schmid added.

Chia Lee offered a more guarded response to a Star Tribune request on Facebook.

For rural Minnesota parents, of course, taking the kids to other neighborhoods is a necessity. Heather Meuleners lives in rural Cologne, with the nearest neighbor three football fields away, so she is taking her 1- and 3-year-old kids to a friend's neighborhood in St. Bonifacius.

"We don't have a 'neighborhood,'" she said. "We have to have an adopted neighborhood every year."

Jeff Stites expects another busy Halloween in Linden Hills, which puts on a Halloween night party at a local park. The nearby historic trolley also provides "ghost rides" in days leading up to the holiday.

He agreed with the Zillow assessment; his two kids usually don't have to walk far.

"Many, many people have candy out," he said. "Even going out two or three blocks, [the kids'] bags are usually pretty full."

And when he had exhausted the neighborhood, Schmid said, his parents would drive him to the governor's mansion. There were always full-size candy bars there.