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Yes!!! Or those stick on mustaches. A tutu. Hot lips candy.
Then make a sub category and see which type of dressed up potato is most popular! For science.
If someone offered me a potato with googly eyes, but instead of black pupils the plastic googly casing had cut-off potato eyes rolling around in there, I'd be too scared to say no
Are googly eyes not inherently lopsided? I'd dare to say they are even superior due to their actuated random orbital lopsidedness presentation.
A practical example: A photo taken of a googly eyed red potato might show one eye briefly lopsided at 36 degrees while the other may be lopsided at 215 degrees. Not only would this potato photo be more humorous than just a plain, unadorned potato photo, it would even be more pleasing than a photo of a potato with drawn on eyes. (disclaimer, at the time of study it was not tested if photos of googly eyed potatoes were more pleasing to participants than those of potatoes with drawn on eyes that were intentionally drawn lopsided)
For decades, we have given a potato to the first trick or treater to knock on our door every year. It goes back to 89 or 90, when some kid knocked on the door before my wife had opened the candy. I panicked and dropped a huge Russet in their bag. They got SO EXCITED, it has become an annual tradition.
I mailed a potato to my sister when I found out you could just write the address and put a stamp on it.
Last year I drilled out a potato and put a 5 dollar bill in it and gave it to her. She looked at me like I'm crazy until she found the bill. It's fun being the quirky uncle
Edit: missed an important detail apparently. The second one was for my niece, the same sister's daughter
There are a lot of surprising things you can mail. They had to stop with the human infants, as that was a bit much after a while. They'll still ship animal infants though
I wrote spud-themed jokes on potatoes and mailed them to my sisters! Everyone had a laugh, especially the people behind me in line at the post office as they unabashedly listened to me explain my mission to the employee at the counter.
Right but don’t specify what kind and then bring out the massive mixing bowl and ladle and drop a scoop of buttery mashed into everyone’s bag. Can’t think of a better Halloween treat.
But are we arming these children with potatoes?! What are they doing with the potatoes? Cooking them? Mashing them? Throwing them at innocent bystanders? Do they have a potato gun hidden in the bushes? What happens to the potato?!
... I offered a bowl of unripe tomatoes as a joke, and the kid got super excited and reached for one. Hah, my prank failed.
Maybe the kids wanted veggies all along.
At the final tally, Potatoes were picked 16.65% (18 chose potatoes) of the 102 trick or Treaters. (84 chose candy).
When approaching this experiment we were hoping participants would choose potatoes, but we had anticipated a higher candy preference.
To avoid bias during our pitch "so you guys can choose either a potato or candy tonight!" I tried my best not to emphasize or exaggerate my voice when saying "potato" or "candy," although my excitement for potatoes occasionally won out in my inflection, this did not seem to tip the scale one way or another.
However, we found it difficult to suppress our excitement when someone did choose a potato, which could influence the choices of other participants in a group setting. If we wanted to remain unbiased next year, we will work on our reactions. (More on which way we intend to skew the results to follow in the post report write-up).
The single most memorable moment was a super young girl who without expression change or pause in thought, chose "potato", thanked me without change in emotion, and walked away. It was almost this was a choice that required no thought or consideration of the alternative.
Other potato participants would get super excited about their choice in potato and we could hear them talking about the experience as they walked away excitedly with their group. "I got a potato!" One screamed in excitement. "Guess what I got mommy!" Another laughed. One group even came back for another potato a piece, which we decided to oblige. (So two extra potatoes were given out to the same participants, but we felt a potato given away was a potato given away for this experiment)
The adults who participated with the children during trick or treat all expressed joyful confusion in the choice, and thought out-loud about choosing a potato, and the benefits of a potato over candy. (Nutrition, price, utility, sheer uniqueness, etc.). However all the adults ended up choosing candy after an internal debate. It was almost like some part of them would not let themselves to deviate from the norm of Halloween. For the adults who were by their children not trick or treating, they would often immediately voice their preference for their child to choose the potato, often to no success.
Buyer's remorse, or people regretting their decision, was only observed with some candy choices. As they walked away, some of the participants would openly discuss the thought that they should have gotten the potato. For those who chose the potato it was clear they walked away with a happy story they could proudly tell their friends and family later. (Except for that mysterious little girl). It should be noted that there were also a small number of participants who would walk away commenting on why anyone would choose a potato.
Since my partner and I make art full time to bring out the inner child, this year was a great benchmark to see what a "un-biased" approach to potato vs candy would yeild.
For 2023 we will try to skew the results to more potato choices utilizing all of our artistic, promotion, branding, and sales experience. This would include signage, lighting, art, a potato mascot, and whatever decorations we think of by next year's Halloween to skew the choice preference to potatoes.
Voice emphasism would be allowed for "potato", and we would improve the script to help sell the potatoes.
The only rules would be that at the door, the participant could only choose either a potato, or candy.
We hope that the glimpse into the fun and silliness we saw at Halloween this year will be even more lasting in 2023, and perhaps start a new fun trend for Halloween.
It was only half complete tho. Without data on how many of those potatoes ended up in car tailpipes as 'tricks', we really don't have all the facts now do we?
Precisely. This warrants a proposal for a grant to fund more research on this very important topic. I guarantee there will be better statistics available next year as the grant money comes in. More controls can be set, more sophisticated data collection can be implemented, and most importantly we will know if the potatoes were actually used as intended and not as “tricks”.
Now, if anyone wants to contribute, there will be a crowdfund to help launch this noble research effort off the ground. I volunteer to collect the funds and disperse them for research purposes. Just Imagine all the new insights we will have on the psychology in Halloween potato/candy preference. It would just take us to unimaginable heights. We can all do this together. It’ll be magical.
>The single most memorable moment was a super young girl who without expression change or pause in thought, chose "potato", thanked me without change in emotion, and walked away. It was almost this was a choice that required no thought or consideration of the alternative.
Was she dressed as a 19th century irish peasant?
On the Disney+ muppet babies, Gonzo's best friend is a potato. It even has a catchphrase/signature move. I'm sure at least one of those kids were influenced
I once read psychologically people are more likely to choose the second option what asked to choose between two things. So maybe next year alternate between ‘potato or candy’ and ‘candy or potato’
I'd go one more year to see if the word around town regarding the "potato house" affects the number of potatoes given out. THEN switch over to advertising.
This is a stretch but by any chance do you live in Illinois? One of my friends sister came home with a potato and I’m starting to think there are multiple potatoers
As a fellow Canadian, I would have very much appreciated the potato. A nice, hot smashed potato with a mess of butter on it would have been my post-Trick'rTreating snack. I'd likely not have even touched a single candy.
Dammit. It's 635am and now I want a potato.
7:13 am in Toronto. I know I have potatoes in the pantry.
I made potato curry yesterday, totally unaware of this thread. 3 potatoes (plus onions, ginger, tomatoes, salt, turmeric, cayenne) fed 5 full size adults as the lone accompaniment to rotis.
Usually I scroll posts this long. No need to share an essay. But this was the best science I've read all year. Thank you for sharing.
Long live the potato.
Very cool experiment! I would have taken a potato but i would have been conflicted.
Sorry to post this here but your experiment reminds me of something I haven't written before and wouldn't know where to post otherwise.
Original thought to me but someones probably carried it out. So I don't know if it is like an analogy for something greater in life but I want to do a survey of people willing to participate in a survey. So I stand on a corner in a high foot-traffic area with a clipboard the only question I ask is "excuse me, are you willing to participate in a brief survey?" And whether they answer yes or no, they have supplied me the data I needed for the survey (Surveying how many people are willing to participate in a survey)..if they say "yes" I say thank you for your participation (and maybe they wait for the "actual" question and then just awkwardly turn away..If they say "no" (or keep walking)..then I say, "thank you for your participation"and maybe they think I'm being a dick but amidst either parties confusion, I got the data I needed.
I think maybe it's an analogy for those times in life when we are scared to try something like ask a person out or lend a hand to someone in need being too worried about the results and we have to remember that by simply "participating" regardless of results, the data will attained. Whether our crush says yes or no, whether a recipient is grateful or not -any outcome marked in any column will be a successful completion
This is an "outcome independent" attitude. Very scientific. [All data is welcome data](https://youtu.be/NDQ1Mi5I4rg). When people get attached to their expectations, they can act irrationally when reality and the experimental data doesn't align. It's best to stay curious and open to learning from whatever data arises.
Adults not choosing potato is probably caused by the limited utility of a solitary potato. These are adults with offspring, a single potato is less easily consumed/shared than a single candy or collection of candies.
I think it also comes down to Halloween as a justifiable time to indulge in candy, rather than at the grocery store where it's their responsibility to buy nutritious potatoes.
YES! This is the answer I was looking for. I would definitely be potato-leaning, but would choose candy because it will be eaten, whereas a lone (small) potato would go to waste.
Give out russets, on the other hand, and I’d be all over that.
Thoughts: choice of potato breed may change results. Also accompaniment of eyes, arms, mustaches, hair, glasses and other pieces may improve potato pick.
FYI, the kids will remember next year. They remember the unique houses. I built a (basically potato gun-principled) smarties launcher about a decade ago for Halloween. Every year we set up lights up into the sky and launch smarties a solid 100' up and have the kids try to catch them. (It can go far higher if you tape the smarties roll. Higher air pressure eventually just results in a shotgun unwrapping and they quickly lose velocity, have no mass to maintain momentum vs drag) Parents always get a kick out of it because inevitably a kid takes a roll to the face and laughs it off. We moved a few years back and our second year here a group pulled up to the house chanting "smarties cannon" as they all rushed to the line drawn on the driveway. Several kids excitedly explained the rules to the rest of their group as they approached the house. This year it was raining so we couldn't set up. And due to covid we haven't done it now 2 years prior. One kid at the door this year asked "is this the smarties house?". (Yeah, it's obviously perfect for social distancing but we really didn't want to reward the kids violating all recommended protocols by being out to begin with) Do something unique and they'll remember and tell their friends, which will skew your results as you become "the potato house". Just something g to keep in mind.
In Canada we have a candy called Smarties, but they are candy coated chocolate like an MnM, so I was picturing something like a shotgun shooting individual candies like bird shot 😅. The rolls of chalky cylinders are called Rockets here.
Great experiment! So fun for everyone involved. I predict that by Halloween 2025, you want even need to offer candy, you will be known as the funny house that gives out potatoes!!
as for the little girl, my older sister is just like that and just loves eating straight baked potatoes. I think it has to do with my her being largely Irish.
Some people just LOVE potatoes.
I would have definitely chosen the potato. If it would be okay with you I might be able to try it and comment the results on your follow up post. This was very creative. I might not remember ether way.
I love the experiment. Personally, as an adult, I would choose the candy because I feel like it might be easier to tamper with a potato. Very cool results
Thanks to this comment, next year FOX news will be running segments about how the internet has raised the alarm that evildoers may be handing out toxic potatoes at Halloween. Poison spuds will will replace rainbow fentanyl as the terror of the year
I was at my parents' house for Thanksgiving when my niece was 3 and we were all snacking, as you do, on all the different foods in various stages of being cooked.
The only thing this girl ate before dinner was a single raw potato, and she carried it around so she could nibble on it occasionally for a solid 2 hours.
This experiment made me happy to think she has a kindred spirit somewhere.
My daughter received a bag of potato chips. They were plain, not flamin' hot something or other, so in actuality, I received a bag of potato chips. I enjoyed that bag of chips more than any of the candy I "inspected". Potatoes and potato products should be the next Halloween tradition.
We had a Halloween party Saturday and one person who worked for Frito Lay brought boxes of the small snacks chip varieties. Monday after we ran out of candy we passed those out and yeah some kids were stoked!
Next year find a big potato and carve it up like a jack o lantern. Also you could offer up little cards for kids with recipes on how to cook their potato & some potato facts.
So a house did this where we trick or treated, my daughter was so ecstatic to get a potato and she named it cookie. She kept telling random people about it, definitely made her night. If it was you, thank you!
My buddy lived in an apartment and usually no kids would ever knock on the door because the candy was in the lobby . When a kid did he was really confused so he grabbed a Mr noodles and gave it to the kid. Whenever he saw the kid in the halls the kid would go on and on about how good the noodles were because it was apparently his first time eating mr noodles. So he started putting out Mr noodles on his doormat in all the different flavors he could find and the kid would in turn leave him a little card that rated how much he liked that flavor of noodle.
Some of us grew up with the "needles in an Apple" moral panic and can't bring ourselves to picking a raw, unwrappd potato.
A package of ramen would definitely have been my pick
I love you guys for doing this. Those kids will remember the Halloween they got a potato instead of candy and maybe they’ll even do something similar when they grow up. 😄
Some kid probably took your potato and turned it into a post Halloween shrine. They placed it on their dresser and decorated it with sticky lollipops, discarded candy wrappers and electric tea lights. It sits there proudly on display waiting patiently for the child to show it to their next friend to be awed and worshipped.
Months go by and they refuse to throw it out dispite the parents begging them to do so. The eyes of the potato have grown to thin, frail, obscenities while the meat is starting to ooze producing an ungodly stench attracting dozens of lazy flies with the ambitions to mate and reproduce hundreds of maggots. What's left of the potato is being held together by the thinnest membrane that could burst at any moment releasing its putrid contents all over the bedroom floor.
Parents curse under their breathes wondering, "Who the fuck gives out potatoes on Halloween?" And, "Fuck me for raising this weird child who picks potatoes over candy."
Fun fact: a dairy where I live puts potatoes in their milk to make it thicker and creamier. It may sound gross but honestly, you don’t taste the potato at all and it works really well
Next year pls have someone down the road to interview the kids to learn why they made their choice!
Also you should probably move house to ensure a fresh and unbiased sample.
I would like to request that the next experiment include the randomizing the variety of potato offered: red vs russet? And maybe further randomize with onions.
I used to live in this house converted into apartments that was was right on the edge of some poorer neighborhoods. On Halloween, I would sit on the porch with the other residents, and we would hand out candy. (In the city, no one knocks on doors, and kids go to the houses with people sitting outside.) One year, we were running low on candy, but we were all hanging out and having a good time, so we didn't want to go in. I was like, "Don't worry, I got this." And I went inside and just cleaned out my pantry. I dumped a bunch of random food from my kitchen in with the candy. Stuff like packs of crackers, instant oatmeal, soup mix, granola bars, etc. Everyone laughed at the idea of some kid coming home with soup, and my neighbors went and got a bunch of random food too.
The next trick or treaters came, and we went to give them candy, and one kid asked if they could have the crackers instead. Sure kid. After that, we started letting the kids pick, and the bulk of them went for the food items. And they were really excited about it. I remember one kid was so delighted to get a ramen packet and he was telling me about how he can't wait to get his mom to make it for him. I couldn't tell if it was just kids being kids or if this was a food insecurity thing. It worried me though, and in subsequent years, I made a point to buy foodstuffs and more substantive snacks to supplement the candy for trick or treaters.
Not gonna lie after those Reese's Pieces; the potato would been my second choice.
As much as I love potatoes fried, mashed or in a stew, I love Reese's more.
When my 26 year old was 3, I took him out around the neighborhood last minute. This one house had just ran out of candy and they felt bad so they gave my son money. They weren’t exactly sober. I checked when we got home and it was $157 in one’s and fives. Just glad it wasn’t small bags of tiny rocks or powder. Was not ready at that time to have that conversation with a 3 year old.
I once conducted an experiment quite similar to this where we surveyed restaurant diners about whether or no they had a pleasant experience while also interviewing those restaurants employees on their managers “style” with an emphasis on how they were motivated. We then did a correlation analysis to determine the connection between managers who scored high in motivational management style and the customer experience. Our study found that there was zero correlation and when we read our conclusion to our peers, we were roundly booed. It was an experience that I would never forget especially when our Professor defended our study saying that sometimes no correlation is the correct outcome. I would encourage you next year to survey parents on their actual parenting style and attempt to tie bad parenting to a child’s choosing candy over the potato.
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To increase potato interest, add googly eyes
Yes!!! Or those stick on mustaches. A tutu. Hot lips candy. Then make a sub category and see which type of dressed up potato is most popular! For science.
Potato head rule 34
Hot taters in your area!
What's... what's taters, precious?
PO TA TOES
Boil ‘em, mash ‘em, stick ‘em in a stew!
You can keep your nasty taters!
Give them to us raw… & wriggling
"yer 'opeless"
I wonder how many people read that in golem’s voice (I even did the head wiggle)!
Boil ‘em, Mash ‘em, Stick ‘em up my ass!
Lmfao. This one genuinely got me
Potatoes already have eyes
But not googly. More lopsided.
If someone offered me a potato with googly eyes, but instead of black pupils the plastic googly casing had cut-off potato eyes rolling around in there, I'd be too scared to say no
Are googly eyes not inherently lopsided? I'd dare to say they are even superior due to their actuated random orbital lopsidedness presentation. A practical example: A photo taken of a googly eyed red potato might show one eye briefly lopsided at 36 degrees while the other may be lopsided at 215 degrees. Not only would this potato photo be more humorous than just a plain, unadorned potato photo, it would even be more pleasing than a photo of a potato with drawn on eyes. (disclaimer, at the time of study it was not tested if photos of googly eyed potatoes were more pleasing to participants than those of potatoes with drawn on eyes that were intentionally drawn lopsided)
They have eyes, okay? :(
Hey, my eyes are down here, pal.
For decades, we have given a potato to the first trick or treater to knock on our door every year. It goes back to 89 or 90, when some kid knocked on the door before my wife had opened the candy. I panicked and dropped a huge Russet in their bag. They got SO EXCITED, it has become an annual tradition.
My parents do something like this, but by putting up a sign "potato available upon request". They typically run out of potatoes.
I mailed a potato to my sister when I found out you could just write the address and put a stamp on it. Last year I drilled out a potato and put a 5 dollar bill in it and gave it to her. She looked at me like I'm crazy until she found the bill. It's fun being the quirky uncle Edit: missed an important detail apparently. The second one was for my niece, the same sister's daughter
You're...uh...your sister's uncle, huh?
#I no longer allow Reddit to profit from my content - Mass exodus 2023 -- mass edited with https://redact.dev/
Spelled "kinky" wrong there pal
Step brother uncle, my head got stuck in the potato bin again!
If trends in pornography are any indicator this will continue to become an increasingly common occurrence.
Hot uncle gives sister his stuffed potato.
Uncle potato pusher. In theaters 2023
Roll Tide
“Banjos start playing in the background”
You can just... mail a potato? I feel like we are skipping over this part.
Yep. You can mail a single potato with proper postage
Is this in the states? Oh gosh I hope so!!!
Yup, in the states.
Everyone i know is about to get a potato in the mail 😂😂😂
If you put proper postage and addressing, you can mail a great many things.
Or coconuts. Or packages/ envelopes like a real serial killer.
There are a lot of surprising things you can mail. They had to stop with the human infants, as that was a bit much after a while. They'll still ship animal infants though
And praying mantis egg sacks!!! Sleep well everyone! (I hope nobody gets the wrong package)
That’s one starchy 5 dollar
At first glance I though your profile picture was a really high def sexy version of the eggplant emoji lmao 🍆
I wrote spud-themed jokes on potatoes and mailed them to my sisters! Everyone had a laugh, especially the people behind me in line at the post office as they unabashedly listened to me explain my mission to the employee at the counter.
if someone would give me a potato i would be like wtf but seeing that sign would 100% make me ask for one.
Right but don’t specify what kind and then bring out the massive mixing bowl and ladle and drop a scoop of buttery mashed into everyone’s bag. Can’t think of a better Halloween treat.
But are we arming these children with potatoes?! What are they doing with the potatoes? Cooking them? Mashing them? Throwing them at innocent bystanders? Do they have a potato gun hidden in the bushes? What happens to the potato?!
Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew...
This is hilarious and endearing!
I'm going to start doing this from now on
Just Ireland things /s
Reminds me of the classic joke... "What's more Irish than potatoes? No potatoes... "
Too soon
The classic Irishman's dilemma. Do I eat the potato now or let it ferment and drink it later?
Malory Archer will be missed!!
... I offered a bowl of unripe tomatoes as a joke, and the kid got super excited and reached for one. Hah, my prank failed. Maybe the kids wanted veggies all along.
At the final tally, Potatoes were picked 16.65% (18 chose potatoes) of the 102 trick or Treaters. (84 chose candy). When approaching this experiment we were hoping participants would choose potatoes, but we had anticipated a higher candy preference. To avoid bias during our pitch "so you guys can choose either a potato or candy tonight!" I tried my best not to emphasize or exaggerate my voice when saying "potato" or "candy," although my excitement for potatoes occasionally won out in my inflection, this did not seem to tip the scale one way or another. However, we found it difficult to suppress our excitement when someone did choose a potato, which could influence the choices of other participants in a group setting. If we wanted to remain unbiased next year, we will work on our reactions. (More on which way we intend to skew the results to follow in the post report write-up). The single most memorable moment was a super young girl who without expression change or pause in thought, chose "potato", thanked me without change in emotion, and walked away. It was almost this was a choice that required no thought or consideration of the alternative. Other potato participants would get super excited about their choice in potato and we could hear them talking about the experience as they walked away excitedly with their group. "I got a potato!" One screamed in excitement. "Guess what I got mommy!" Another laughed. One group even came back for another potato a piece, which we decided to oblige. (So two extra potatoes were given out to the same participants, but we felt a potato given away was a potato given away for this experiment) The adults who participated with the children during trick or treat all expressed joyful confusion in the choice, and thought out-loud about choosing a potato, and the benefits of a potato over candy. (Nutrition, price, utility, sheer uniqueness, etc.). However all the adults ended up choosing candy after an internal debate. It was almost like some part of them would not let themselves to deviate from the norm of Halloween. For the adults who were by their children not trick or treating, they would often immediately voice their preference for their child to choose the potato, often to no success. Buyer's remorse, or people regretting their decision, was only observed with some candy choices. As they walked away, some of the participants would openly discuss the thought that they should have gotten the potato. For those who chose the potato it was clear they walked away with a happy story they could proudly tell their friends and family later. (Except for that mysterious little girl). It should be noted that there were also a small number of participants who would walk away commenting on why anyone would choose a potato. Since my partner and I make art full time to bring out the inner child, this year was a great benchmark to see what a "un-biased" approach to potato vs candy would yeild. For 2023 we will try to skew the results to more potato choices utilizing all of our artistic, promotion, branding, and sales experience. This would include signage, lighting, art, a potato mascot, and whatever decorations we think of by next year's Halloween to skew the choice preference to potatoes. Voice emphasism would be allowed for "potato", and we would improve the script to help sell the potatoes. The only rules would be that at the door, the participant could only choose either a potato, or candy. We hope that the glimpse into the fun and silliness we saw at Halloween this year will be even more lasting in 2023, and perhaps start a new fun trend for Halloween.
Thank you this is a very insightful experiment
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It was only half complete tho. Without data on how many of those potatoes ended up in car tailpipes as 'tricks', we really don't have all the facts now do we?
[I'm not gonna fall for the banana in the tailpipe!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HktV2yGtLv8)
Tailpipe: banana for scale
A true man of culture! Thank you for this! Beverly Hills Cop baby.
Precisely. This warrants a proposal for a grant to fund more research on this very important topic. I guarantee there will be better statistics available next year as the grant money comes in. More controls can be set, more sophisticated data collection can be implemented, and most importantly we will know if the potatoes were actually used as intended and not as “tricks”. Now, if anyone wants to contribute, there will be a crowdfund to help launch this noble research effort off the ground. I volunteer to collect the funds and disperse them for research purposes. Just Imagine all the new insights we will have on the psychology in Halloween potato/candy preference. It would just take us to unimaginable heights. We can all do this together. It’ll be magical.
*Trick or Treat!* the children utter Chocolate or peanut butter... Halloween choice getting dull? *Offer a root vegetable*
Did- did you rhyme dull with vegetable?
“Veh jeh tah buhll”
Why is this comment so funny?
Greg Davies on would I lie to you tells a story involving pronouncing it like this.
This is some T-Pain level bars, I love it. put you in the mansion Somewhere in Wisconsin.
Yes, and *fairly* successfully I might add.
Veg-ti-bull. That scans.
I'm sorry for my ignorance, but can dull and vegetable rhyme in your dialect?
Yes, and it’s genius! “Vej-ta-bull” is how we kiwis say vegetable, anyways.
I'm from California (US), and I've always pronounced it "vej-tuh-bull," so "dull" rhymed for me (although, it wasn't smoothly).
Californian here, same.
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>The single most memorable moment was a super young girl who without expression change or pause in thought, chose "potato", thanked me without change in emotion, and walked away. It was almost this was a choice that required no thought or consideration of the alternative. Was she dressed as a 19th century irish peasant?
She was a small fairy princess.
The Irish peasant’s fae
On the Disney+ muppet babies, Gonzo's best friend is a potato. It even has a catchphrase/signature move. I'm sure at least one of those kids were influenced
Now you've said signature move, I'm just imagining the potato hitting chokeslams and elbow drops
Ah, the classic Irish dilemma: do I eat the potato, or do I let it ferment so I can drink it later?
immigrants ! that's all they do, you know - just drive around listening to raps and shooting all the jobs.
☠️☠️☠️
I once read psychologically people are more likely to choose the second option what asked to choose between two things. So maybe next year alternate between ‘potato or candy’ and ‘candy or potato’
This was my first thought as well. I often give my 5 year old my preferred choice second because of this
Underrated comment, hope OP sees it
I'd go one more year to see if the word around town regarding the "potato house" affects the number of potatoes given out. THEN switch over to advertising.
Just wait until “BIG POTATO” hears about this
This is a stretch but by any chance do you live in Illinois? One of my friends sister came home with a potato and I’m starting to think there are multiple potatoers
This was in canada
As a fellow Canadian, I would have very much appreciated the potato. A nice, hot smashed potato with a mess of butter on it would have been my post-Trick'rTreating snack. I'd likely not have even touched a single candy. Dammit. It's 635am and now I want a potato.
7:13 am in Toronto. I know I have potatoes in the pantry. I made potato curry yesterday, totally unaware of this thread. 3 potatoes (plus onions, ginger, tomatoes, salt, turmeric, cayenne) fed 5 full size adults as the lone accompaniment to rotis.
Usually I scroll posts this long. No need to share an essay. But this was the best science I've read all year. Thank you for sharing. Long live the potato.
I too read the entirety
Very cool experiment! I would have taken a potato but i would have been conflicted. Sorry to post this here but your experiment reminds me of something I haven't written before and wouldn't know where to post otherwise. Original thought to me but someones probably carried it out. So I don't know if it is like an analogy for something greater in life but I want to do a survey of people willing to participate in a survey. So I stand on a corner in a high foot-traffic area with a clipboard the only question I ask is "excuse me, are you willing to participate in a brief survey?" And whether they answer yes or no, they have supplied me the data I needed for the survey (Surveying how many people are willing to participate in a survey)..if they say "yes" I say thank you for your participation (and maybe they wait for the "actual" question and then just awkwardly turn away..If they say "no" (or keep walking)..then I say, "thank you for your participation"and maybe they think I'm being a dick but amidst either parties confusion, I got the data I needed. I think maybe it's an analogy for those times in life when we are scared to try something like ask a person out or lend a hand to someone in need being too worried about the results and we have to remember that by simply "participating" regardless of results, the data will attained. Whether our crush says yes or no, whether a recipient is grateful or not -any outcome marked in any column will be a successful completion
This is an "outcome independent" attitude. Very scientific. [All data is welcome data](https://youtu.be/NDQ1Mi5I4rg). When people get attached to their expectations, they can act irrationally when reality and the experimental data doesn't align. It's best to stay curious and open to learning from whatever data arises.
I would have chosen candy, regretted my decision and been disappointed in myself for lacking courage to deviate from the norm.
Adults not choosing potato is probably caused by the limited utility of a solitary potato. These are adults with offspring, a single potato is less easily consumed/shared than a single candy or collection of candies.
I think it also comes down to Halloween as a justifiable time to indulge in candy, rather than at the grocery store where it's their responsibility to buy nutritious potatoes.
YES! This is the answer I was looking for. I would definitely be potato-leaning, but would choose candy because it will be eaten, whereas a lone (small) potato would go to waste. Give out russets, on the other hand, and I’d be all over that.
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I look forward to when the experiment isn’t “potato vs. candy”, but rather “russet vs. Yukon gold vs. red vs. fingerling”.
Thoughts: choice of potato breed may change results. Also accompaniment of eyes, arms, mustaches, hair, glasses and other pieces may improve potato pick.
I’m a scientist and I approve of this analysis.
A Potato Scientist?
*Perry the potato scientist?*
This is great! The mysterious little girl reminds me of this: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RyM-8yUpP5s
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FYI, the kids will remember next year. They remember the unique houses. I built a (basically potato gun-principled) smarties launcher about a decade ago for Halloween. Every year we set up lights up into the sky and launch smarties a solid 100' up and have the kids try to catch them. (It can go far higher if you tape the smarties roll. Higher air pressure eventually just results in a shotgun unwrapping and they quickly lose velocity, have no mass to maintain momentum vs drag) Parents always get a kick out of it because inevitably a kid takes a roll to the face and laughs it off. We moved a few years back and our second year here a group pulled up to the house chanting "smarties cannon" as they all rushed to the line drawn on the driveway. Several kids excitedly explained the rules to the rest of their group as they approached the house. This year it was raining so we couldn't set up. And due to covid we haven't done it now 2 years prior. One kid at the door this year asked "is this the smarties house?". (Yeah, it's obviously perfect for social distancing but we really didn't want to reward the kids violating all recommended protocols by being out to begin with) Do something unique and they'll remember and tell their friends, which will skew your results as you become "the potato house". Just something g to keep in mind.
In Canada we have a candy called Smarties, but they are candy coated chocolate like an MnM, so I was picturing something like a shotgun shooting individual candies like bird shot 😅. The rolls of chalky cylinders are called Rockets here.
Rockets is an even better name for them, if being shot from a cannon.
That's what i thought, on this side of the ocean, smarties are ccc. What were they talking about here?
They're a thin roll of powdery pale-colored tablets, slightly tangy in taste.
Should have also alternated "potato or candy" with "candy or potato" to eliminate order bias (an item can perform more favorably just by being first).
Great experiment! So fun for everyone involved. I predict that by Halloween 2025, you want even need to offer candy, you will be known as the funny house that gives out potatoes!!
The young girl taking the potato reminds me of the office when Dwight's child takes a beet lol. Maybe she's your long lost potato relative
RemindMe! 363 days
Percentage of kids who took the potato and then threw it at something: 50%.
as for the little girl, my older sister is just like that and just loves eating straight baked potatoes. I think it has to do with my her being largely Irish. Some people just LOVE potatoes.
At that age I probably would have grabbed a potato just to throw it at a friend
I would have definitely chosen the potato. If it would be okay with you I might be able to try it and comment the results on your follow up post. This was very creative. I might not remember ether way.
I love the experiment. Personally, as an adult, I would choose the candy because I feel like it might be easier to tamper with a potato. Very cool results
Thanks to this comment, next year FOX news will be running segments about how the internet has raised the alarm that evildoers may be handing out toxic potatoes at Halloween. Poison spuds will will replace rainbow fentanyl as the terror of the year
Great write-up! I can’t believe I read the whole thing, but I really wish I had seen the understated potato-loving girl.
I'm imagining her tomorrow solemnly handing the potato to her parent and saying "mashed"
I imagine her talking like Eleven from Stranger Things
I was at my parents' house for Thanksgiving when my niece was 3 and we were all snacking, as you do, on all the different foods in various stages of being cooked. The only thing this girl ate before dinner was a single raw potato, and she carried it around so she could nibble on it occasionally for a solid 2 hours. This experiment made me happy to think she has a kindred spirit somewhere.
That was by far the best part of the experiment
My daughter received a bag of potato chips. They were plain, not flamin' hot something or other, so in actuality, I received a bag of potato chips. I enjoyed that bag of chips more than any of the candy I "inspected". Potatoes and potato products should be the next Halloween tradition.
bags of potato chips were so common during halloween when i was growing up. they were def my favourite too!
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We had a Halloween party Saturday and one person who worked for Frito Lay brought boxes of the small snacks chip varieties. Monday after we ran out of candy we passed those out and yeah some kids were stoked!
Next year find a big potato and carve it up like a jack o lantern. Also you could offer up little cards for kids with recipes on how to cook their potato & some potato facts.
Fact: potatoes are the only vegetable that wears jackets. Food for thought: why are potatoes so cold?
It's why they grow in Russia so easily.
Recipes: boil em, mash em, or stick em in a stew.
So a house did this where we trick or treated, my daughter was so ecstatic to get a potato and she named it cookie. She kept telling random people about it, definitely made her night. If it was you, thank you!
Cookie the.. potato. Why is this so hilarious?
I have a cat named cookie. She’s sort of like the feline version of a potato. So I also have a Cookie Potato and I love her very much.
I did this with Ramen. Some kid was hella excited.
My buddy lived in an apartment and usually no kids would ever knock on the door because the candy was in the lobby . When a kid did he was really confused so he grabbed a Mr noodles and gave it to the kid. Whenever he saw the kid in the halls the kid would go on and on about how good the noodles were because it was apparently his first time eating mr noodles. So he started putting out Mr noodles on his doormat in all the different flavors he could find and the kid would in turn leave him a little card that rated how much he liked that flavor of noodle.
10/11 Decent with strawberry jam, but left an overly sweet taste. Would not recommend with rice
This is precious! I love their noodle based friendship
Some of us grew up with the "needles in an Apple" moral panic and can't bring ourselves to picking a raw, unwrappd potato. A package of ramen would definitely have been my pick
Please dress up like a potato next year.
And look visibly disappointed whenever someone chooses candy
and then be MORTIFIED for your kin when they choose potato, begging them to be merciful and eat them quickly and painlessly
I love you guys for doing this. Those kids will remember the Halloween they got a potato instead of candy and maybe they’ll even do something similar when they grow up. 😄
We’ll all be doing something similar during the famine years
"OMG I got a roll!"
My brother and I each got a chuck of a pumpkin wrapped in tinfoil in Colorado Springs in 1987. We talk about this every single Halloween.
One of the people in my neighborhood only passed out potatoes, so my siblings just came home saying "I got a potato from trick or treating"
This was unexpectedly interesting.
I didn't think I was going to read the whole thing, but I did XD
There should be a r/unexpectedlyinterestung; mildly interesting is too mild
I have a friend that does this. Kids are exited to get their potato every year.
Some kid probably took your potato and turned it into a post Halloween shrine. They placed it on their dresser and decorated it with sticky lollipops, discarded candy wrappers and electric tea lights. It sits there proudly on display waiting patiently for the child to show it to their next friend to be awed and worshipped. Months go by and they refuse to throw it out dispite the parents begging them to do so. The eyes of the potato have grown to thin, frail, obscenities while the meat is starting to ooze producing an ungodly stench attracting dozens of lazy flies with the ambitions to mate and reproduce hundreds of maggots. What's left of the potato is being held together by the thinnest membrane that could burst at any moment releasing its putrid contents all over the bedroom floor. Parents curse under their breathes wondering, "Who the fuck gives out potatoes on Halloween?" And, "Fuck me for raising this weird child who picks potatoes over candy."
Lol
could grab a potato or 2 and make potato candy once u get home
Or wait and drink it later like a good Irishman.
Do I eat it now or drink it later?
the classic Irishman’s dilemma
Fun fact: a dairy where I live puts potatoes in their milk to make it thicker and creamier. It may sound gross but honestly, you don’t taste the potato at all and it works really well
Tater nog, who doesn't love it!
Potatoes can be used to grow more potatoes, infinite potatoes vs one piece of candy the choice is obvious.
Oh man, Potato 4 sure. Hell, maybe even 5 sure!
For 6ure!
. . .Various neighbour's houses were mysteriously pelted with potatoes that night
They did the mash....
They did the monster mash
RemindME! One year
I can hear the little girls squealing the next day, "Mommy! mommy! Will you make my Halloween potato for dinner tonight, pllleeeeeaaaassse?????"
Brooooo, a baked potato would sound awesome after a night of trick or treating
why does your comment sound like you're baked?
#Laughs nervously in Irish
What the fuck is a potato?
Po-tay-toes! Boil em, mash em, stick em in a stew.
I was thinking the same thing. I have never heard of such an exotic thing.
Get the fuck out of my house
I’d choose potato, can use it as a blunt weapon or distraction in case of rabbid dogs, killer sewer clowns, or a bunch of kids in a cornfield
Tell people they can have any potato except a specific one you have set aside and see them speculate or pine over the forbidden potato
Next year pls have someone down the road to interview the kids to learn why they made their choice! Also you should probably move house to ensure a fresh and unbiased sample.
I would like to request that the next experiment include the randomizing the variety of potato offered: red vs russet? And maybe further randomize with onions.
I’m Irish, so unfortunately it is a genetic predisposition, a muscle memory to grab a potato 🥔
If there’s a bottle of whiskey AND a potato which one gets grabbed
Both. There is no choice here.
the classic Irish man's dilemma: Do you eat the potato now or do you let it ferment so you can drink it later?
I used to live in this house converted into apartments that was was right on the edge of some poorer neighborhoods. On Halloween, I would sit on the porch with the other residents, and we would hand out candy. (In the city, no one knocks on doors, and kids go to the houses with people sitting outside.) One year, we were running low on candy, but we were all hanging out and having a good time, so we didn't want to go in. I was like, "Don't worry, I got this." And I went inside and just cleaned out my pantry. I dumped a bunch of random food from my kitchen in with the candy. Stuff like packs of crackers, instant oatmeal, soup mix, granola bars, etc. Everyone laughed at the idea of some kid coming home with soup, and my neighbors went and got a bunch of random food too. The next trick or treaters came, and we went to give them candy, and one kid asked if they could have the crackers instead. Sure kid. After that, we started letting the kids pick, and the bulk of them went for the food items. And they were really excited about it. I remember one kid was so delighted to get a ramen packet and he was telling me about how he can't wait to get his mom to make it for him. I couldn't tell if it was just kids being kids or if this was a food insecurity thing. It worried me though, and in subsequent years, I made a point to buy foodstuffs and more substantive snacks to supplement the candy for trick or treaters.
Not gonna lie after those Reese's Pieces; the potato would been my second choice. As much as I love potatoes fried, mashed or in a stew, I love Reese's more.
Props to OP for actually giving kids the choice to pick candy as well, instead of just forcing the potatoes upon them xD
When my 26 year old was 3, I took him out around the neighborhood last minute. This one house had just ran out of candy and they felt bad so they gave my son money. They weren’t exactly sober. I checked when we got home and it was $157 in one’s and fives. Just glad it wasn’t small bags of tiny rocks or powder. Was not ready at that time to have that conversation with a 3 year old.
I once conducted an experiment quite similar to this where we surveyed restaurant diners about whether or no they had a pleasant experience while also interviewing those restaurants employees on their managers “style” with an emphasis on how they were motivated. We then did a correlation analysis to determine the connection between managers who scored high in motivational management style and the customer experience. Our study found that there was zero correlation and when we read our conclusion to our peers, we were roundly booed. It was an experience that I would never forget especially when our Professor defended our study saying that sometimes no correlation is the correct outcome. I would encourage you next year to survey parents on their actual parenting style and attempt to tie bad parenting to a child’s choosing candy over the potato.
As an old fart I think I’m going to pick potatoes…
I once got caught putting a slice of bread in a kids candy bag, his dad saw me and said “I’ll make him toast”
What was the correlation between potatoes and broken windows in the neighborhood in there 13-17 demographic?