“Spreading joy instead of fear through acts of kindness and connecting with people.” -The Joy Experiment

SmartGirls Staff
Amy Poehler's Smart Girls
5 min readNov 7, 2016

For most people, Halloween is all about going door-to-door and asking strangers for candy. But this year, a few hundred strangers got a pleasant surprise: visits from a group of “REVERSE TRICK-OR-TREATERS” who greeted strangers in four cities with thank you notes, handmade gifts and Halloween cheer!

The reverse trick-or-treating was part of a new non-profit effort called The Joy Experiment, which aims to create and share joy through a series of experimental projects, initiatives and events that build surprising, fun and personal human connections.

Last Monday, The Halloween Joy Experiment set out to discover what happens when people show up at your door to give a treat, instead of taking one. The results were palpable and kinetic, with the groups getting warm — and surprised — responses from everyone they visited!

Smart Girls joined one of the teams in Los Angeles for a very fun (and joyful!) night of reverse trick-or-treating… we talked with the teams after the Experiment was over, to see what they learned. Watch the video and read on to learn more:

Smart Girls: How did strangers respond to reverse trick-or-treating?

The Joy Experiment: Well, at some houses, we had to really convince them we weren’t there to sell anything! People aren’t used to strangers visiting just to make them happy. But at every house, there was a great moment when people realized what we were doing, and we all loved the looks on strangers’ faces when we explained, “Actually, we’re here to give a treat to YOU!” There aren’t enough kind surprises in the world, but it doesn’t take that much work to make more of them.

And the reaction was really encouraging. A lot of people said things like, “This is so awesome. We need more things like this.” Which is so much better than, “GO AWAY!”

SG: What made you decide to go out and do this?

TJE: Oh, gosh, there are so many reasons! The idea for reverse trick-or-treating came up as part of a bigger project we’re connected to, called “The Joy Experiment”, which was inspired by a book called The Book of Joy that came out last month. The basic idea is that with so much suffering and unhappiness in the world, it can be easy to feel afraid and isolated from other people. There are whole groups out there that exist just to spread fear and make people feel down. We wanted to become an opposite force — spreading joy instead of fear through acts of kindness and connecting with people. We get a lot farther when we believe in each other, when we see the best in each other.

So that’s what The Joy Experiment is about…experimenting to see what happens when we create new patterns. And on Halloween, most people are so generous — they spend their night giving, to make kids happy! The idea for reverse trick-or-treating was just, “What if we surprised people by returning some of that generosity and expressing some gratitude?”

SG: Any favorite moments of the evening?

TJE: There were so many favorite moments — especially because we had 8 different teams out! Here are some of the highlights our teams reported back:

  • “At one house, these two brothers (2 and 5 years old) stole the treat we gave to their mother and ripped it open in front of us. When they noticed it was more than just candy, they were really curious, and begged their mom to read the note to them. It was really touching to see the mother explain what we were doing to her kids, who got wide-eyed with amazement and interest.”
  • “This one older man started out making fun of us for being too old to trick or treat, but then when he realized what we were doing, he was genuinely touched and impressed. It was really fun to see the shift from ridicule and cynicism to appreciation and joy.”
  • “We were surprised to finally meet so many neighbors we’d never encountered before! We actually met a lot of people that have lived in our neighborhood for 30+ years, and a few of them were so touched that they invited us in for food, or to have a cup of tea.”

At each house, we also asked the people we met if they would fill out a simple card, answering the question What makes you feel joyful?, as their treat for us… and we just got some amazing answers. (We actually put all of the answers online, so everyone can read them.) Some people drew pictures, but everyone was pretty thoughtful about it!

And, one other wonderful thing has been the number of people who seemed to want to return the favor. In the last few days, a lot of the people we met have visited our website, and have asked how they can get involved in our next Experiment, which is the best response we could hope for. We feel like it really proved our hypothesis: that most people enjoy making other people feel good. So, we’re excited for our next Experiment.

TJE: Can we turn the tables? What was your favorite part of Reverse Trick-or-Treating?

SG: Yes, of course! We were humbled by seeing the ripple effects one small gesture can make and inspired by the commitment that each of the Joy Makers had to helping others. It was like seeing our motto, “Change the World by Being Yourself,” come to life. We believe deeply in the mission of The Joy Experiment and can not wait to partner with you guys again. Thank you for all that you are doing and inviting us along!

SG: That being said, when is the next Joy Experiment?

TJE: We’re working hard right now to prepare something for Election Day. No matter who wins, it’s been a long, painful and distressing election year, and we’re hoping that after people get voting out of the way, we can start focusing on all of the things that connect us again, instead of the things that divide us. So, our Election Day Joy Experiment will launch tomorrow morning.

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Published in Amy Poehler's Smart Girls

Founded by artist Amy Poehler and producer Meredith Walker, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls organization is dedicated to helping young people cultivate their authentic selves.

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