TORONTO – A new poll suggests 80 per cent of parents with kids old enough to trick-or-treat will participate in the door-to-door ritual, but only half of respondents plan to dish out candy.
The online survey from Leger asked 1,513 people aged 18 or older about their Halloween habits between Oct. 24 and 26. Of those, 419 were parents with kids of trick-or-treating age.
Among those parents, 13 per cent said their kids wouldn’t trick-or-treat and another seven per cent preferred not to answer.
Of all respondents, 48 per cent said someone in their household would hand out candy, while seven per cent said they weren’t sure.
That leaves 45 per cent of respondents who said they wouldn’t give out candy.
The survey also suggested just 37 per cent of households would decorate for the holiday.
Meanwhile, the poll indicated nearly one-quarter of respondents believed there should be no age limit for trick-or-treating.
The Canadian Research Insights Council, an industry organization that promotes polling standards, says online surveys cannot be assigned a margin of error because they do not randomly sample the population.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2026.
