Reflective tape
Two strips on the front and back of a costume make a child visible to drivers from about 150 m in low beams, five times the distance of dark fabric.
The math of the perfect route
A traveling salesman with a sweet tooth
Choosing which porches to visit, and in what order, before the curfew is a classic hard problem: the orienteering problem, a cousin of the traveling salesman. With 60 houses there are more possible routes than atoms in the observable universe, so we let physics do the searching.
01
Map the streets, not the crow
Kids walk along sidewalks, so every distance is measured on the street grid: along your street to the best cross street, then along the next one. We assume 60 m per minute in costume and 1.2 minutes per doorstep for the knock, the "trick or treat" and the thank-you.
02
Score every candidate route
A route earns the treat value of each porch it visits. If it runs past your time budget it pays a penalty of 4 treats per extra minute, so overtime routes can be explored but never win.
03
Shake it, then cool it slowly
At each step the planner tries a small change: add a porch, drop one, swap one for a better one, or reverse a stretch of the walk (a 2-opt move). Better routes are always kept; worse routes are kept with probability e-Δ/T. As the temperature T falls, the route stops wandering and freezes into a near-optimal tour.
04
Why slow cooling wins
Cool too fast and the route quenches into the first decent walk it found, like glass that cracks instead of forming a crystal. Try a cooling rate of 0.85 in the planner above and watch the score plateau early and lower.
Safety tips · built into every route
Be seen, stay on the sidewalk
The planner already avoids crossing mid-block and prefers lit streets. Pack these four things and the rest of the night is about candy.
One flashlight each
A 200 lumen headlamp or flashlight per walker, with fresh batteries. Our route lights the porches for you, your lamp lights the curb.
Cross at corners
Every route bends only at intersections, never across the middle of a block. Teach the rule once and the map does the rest.
Respect the curfew
Many Quebec towns suggest 6:00 to 8:30 PM. Set the time budget and the planner brings everyone home with a five minute margin.
Deals · checked every morning until October 31
Gear up for the route
Every deal is tested on a real walk by our team. Prices in Canadian dollars, links go to partner stores and may earn us a small commission at no cost to you.
Lights · rechargeable
LumaWalk 300 headlamp
300 lumens, red night mode, USB-C, 6 hours on high. Fits a costume hood without slipping.
$18.99 CA$29.99-37%
See the deal →
Bags · reflective
Glow-stripe treat tote
Holds 4 kg of candy, reflective band all the way around, reinforced handles that survive the big houses.
$11.49 CA$16.99-32%
See the deal →
Candy · bulk for hosts
Mini bar mix, 150 pieces
Peanut-free assortment for porch hosts. Light your porch, list it on our map and climb the leaderboard.
$24.97 CA$34.99-29%
See the deal →
Deals updated October 28, 2026. Prices may change at partner stores.
Neighborhood leaderboard · updated hourly on the 31st
Which streets shine brightest?
Porch hosts register their lit doorstep, walkers rate the treats, and every neighborhood gets a "treat density": treats per kilometre of optimal route.
| # | Neighborhood | Lit porches | Treats / km | Glow |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maple HollowSherbrooke, QC | 74 | 212 | |
| 2 | Lantern RowGatineau, QC | 68 | 197 | |
| 3 | Old Mill CrescentLévis, QC | 61 | 183 | |
| 4 | Birch LaneLaval, QC | 57 | 166 | |
| 5 | Harvest CourtTrois-Rivières, QC | 49 | 151 |
The crew behind the map
Cartographers of candy
A small team in Sherbrooke, Quebec, who think optimization should be fun on the one night a year when everyone walks their own street.
CL
Camille Lévesque
Founder · operations research
Spent ten years routing snow plows for the city. Applied the same annealing code to her own street in 2021.
TN
Thomas Nadeau
Maps · street graphs
Turns open street data into walkable graphs, sidewalk by sidewalk, corner by corner.
AB
Amira Benali
Safety · partnerships
Works with municipal safety teams to keep curfew times and lit streets up to date.
JP
Julien Poirier
Deals desk
Tests every headlamp and bag on a real rainy October night before it reaches the deals fold.
Last Halloween, by the numbers
One night, a lot of steps saved
48,210
routes optimized on October 31, 2025
31 %
fewer steps than the "just knock on every door" walk
1,940
neighborhoods mapped across Quebec and Ontario
96 %
of families home before their curfew
Reviews from the sidewalk
Parents, hosts, and one math teacher
★★★★★
"Three kids, three opinions, one 75 minute budget. The route skipped the dark cul-de-sac and hit every full-size-bar house. Home at 8:12 with zero tears."
MG
Marie-Ève G.
Parent, Laval
★★★★★
"I used the cooling rate slider in class to explain why slow annealing gives better crystals. The students finally got it. Then they asked to go trick-or-treating."
PD
Philippe D.
Physics teacher, Lévis
★★★★☆
"I registered my porch as a host and got 140 visitors instead of 40. Next year I am buying the bulk bag on day one."
SR
Sophie R.
Porch host, Gatineau
Plans · prices in Canadian dollars
Free for walkers, fun for hosts
Walker
$0 forever
- One optimized route per night
- Time budget and curfew alerts
- Tonight's route challenge
Family Pass
$4.99 per season
- Unlimited routes and re-plans on the go
- Up to 3 kids with different walking speeds
- Allergy filter: skip porches with peanut treats
- Offline map for weak cell signal
Porch Host
$2.99 per season
- Your lit porch pinned on every nearby map
- Live visitor count on the 31st
- Leaderboard badge for your street
Light the porch, plan the path
Enter your postal code and get your neighborhood map, the lit porches already registered, and an annealed route before the first knock.