I still love the idea I once read for making some halflings settlements more like Hobbit inspired but with a sneaky hidden dark side to protecting the peace from outsiders

Basically, if a guest (or “guest” ) stays too long in their settlement longer than tolerated, they run them off with a Scooby-Doo style plot. 

Invading/occupying armies get a mix of that along with Home-Alone style traps.

Adventurers are an exception since they aren’t scared away by monsters, but attracted by stories  of them, so unfortunately they grin and bear their presence. (”Nothing worse than an adventurer.”)

Some elven adventurers would of course catch on eventually due to their , and might be asked by their folks back home to try and pressure the halflings to reveal their techniques to them.