When Waukee sixth-graders Avi Curtis and Liam Ireland noticed a house's trick-or-treat bowl sitting completely empty on Beggars' Night, they didn't just shrug and move along. Someone had taken all the candy and run off, leaving nothing for the costumed kids still working their way down the block. So the two boys did something about it: they refilled the bowl with their own candy and stayed put to hand it out themselves, as reported by KCCI.
The home video doorbell captured the boys refilling the bowl and greeting trick-or-treaters, according to KCCI. The recording shows their response after the bowl had been emptied.
A Gesture Rooted in Personal Loss
What makes the moment resonate beyond a cute doorbell clip is where it came from. The station's report notes that the act of kindness was inspired in part by life lessons Liam learned from his late older brother. The dossier doesn't detail the full circumstances of that loss, but the connection between grief and generosity is central to how the story has been told.
After adding their candy to the bowl, the boys stayed to hand it out to arriving trick-or-treaters, according to KCCI. The video documents both the refill and the boys’ time at the door.
A Story Waukee Has Returned To Before
KCCI search records show the station first shared the story in November 2023, describing the boys notifying the homeowner after seeing someone take the candy. A later KCCI snippet referred to the same moment being captured on a Ring camera.
How Beggars’ Night Began
Beggars’ Night is a local tradition of trick-or-treating the night before Halloween. According to Iowa Public Radio, Des Moines leaders moved trick-or-treating to Oct. 30 in 1938 after a night of vandalism, encouraging children to earn candy with jokes, riddles and songs. That community-wide response predates the boys’ individual act. Iowa Public Radio also reported that the Des Moines-area custom was to be replaced with Oct. 31 festivities beginning in 2025.
The reported events are straightforward: after finding an empty bowl, Avi and Liam added their own candy and stayed to hand it out to trick-or-treaters.
