30 Oct The Science and Sweetness of Giving
Halloween is a night built on both giving and getting, a small ritual of exchange that plays out one doorstep at a time. Porch lights flicker on at dusk, bowls of candy appear at front doors, and the neighborhood hums with movement. Strangers open their doors to superheroes and skeletons, dropping candy into outstretched hands and wishing one another a happy night. Next to some front doors, unattended bowls wait with signs that read, “Please take only one.”
Even the older kids take part, lifting their pillowcases at each door, part of the same current of giving and getting that carries the night forward. For homes with bowls left outside, it’s often these older trick-or-treaters who are the intended recipients of the gentle reminders to take just one piece and move along.
But it’s the cameras by the door that catch what really happens next to these unmanned bowls.
In one neighborhood, a silent group of teenagers trudges up a walkway toward a porch, the glow from their phones lighting the steps, their heavy pillowcases swinging at their sides.
“It’s empty,” one says, peering into the bowl sitting on the stoop.
“Seriously? It’s only seven,” says another.
They stand there for a moment, kicking at the doormat. Someone sighs. “Lame.” Another nods, “We should just fill it up.” “Yeah,” another agrees. “We can donate.”
They start pulling candy from their own bags—fun-sized chocolate bars, peanut butter cups, sour candies—dropping them in the bowl one by one. “Little kids love these,” one says, tossing in a pack of glow-in-the-dark bracelets. “Don’t put candy corn in there. Gross,” says another, fishing a packet out of the bowl. Someone laughs. “I threw a king-size Snickers bar in there. Some kid’s gonna be happy when they see that.”
When the bowl is full again, they look at it for a second, one of them nudging a candy bar into place. Someone laughs—an easy, surprised kind of laugh—and it spreads as they head back down the street. There’s a kind of lightness about them now.
That lift isn’t imagined.
Research shows that generosity activates the same parts of the brain that light up when we experience pleasure. It releases dopamine and endorphins, lowers stress, and strengthens our sense of connection. But the science only confirms what we already know: giving feels good. It steadies us. Joy grows when it’s shared.
The teenagers keep walking, their footsteps fading along the sidewalk, the glow from their phones moving softly through the night.
It’s a reminder that some of the best things we’ll ever get are what we give.