App shows which houses have candy on Halloween

Image 1 of 2

It's a night dedicated to pint-sized princesses, goblins, and ghouls on a crazed quest for candy and South Tampa's Prospect Road is an annual Halloween hot-spot.

Tiffany and Michael DeMarcay said they are ready with sugar and scares to go around.

"My son and I went this year and bought $200 worth of candy. And we thought it was enough," Michael DeMarcay said hesitantly.

But not every neighborhood promises the same punch as Prospect. The social networking neighborhood site Nextdoor is hoping to change that by linking neighbors together for the holiday.

The folks at Nextdoor put together an interactive map of which house will be dishing out candy on Halloween night.

"The Nextdoor Treat Map is the online equivalent to turning on your front porch light," Nextdoor's Kelsey Grady said Tuesday.

Nextdoor app users are asked whether or not they're be participating in the ghoulish good time. If they are, their address is adorned with a candy corn icon. The Treat Map only allows you to see the area surrounding your address, generally a 750-household radius.

Nextdoor promises this is a safe way for kids to collect candy.

"It is a private website, so to join Nextdoor you have to verify your address. So the Treat Map is only accessible to people who have verified their address and it's only shared within your neighborhood," Grady said.

So, if your specific street is looking bare, parents can map out an alternate route nearby to take in trick-or-treating. It's a tradition the DeMarcay's say is too precious to pass up.

"I think it's a great experience, a great memory for kids. Growing up, to get those kinds of experiences, you carry them through adulthood, you remember back when you were a kid," Michael DeMarcay said.

The Nextdoor app is available for hundreds of different neighborhoods in the Bay area. On every other night of the year, it serves as a community message board for neighbors.

For more information, visit Nextdoor.com.