To go trick or treating to strangers' houses?

As others say..if they have pumpkins and decorations they are welcoming trick or treaters

I didn't see any where I grew up but it's really common where I live now. It's not related to how 'rough' the area is, more what folk have put up with over the years.

Decorated only. You never know if someone vulnerable is living in a stranger's house. Or very elderly with Dementia. For some, a knock on the door is confusing and upsetting.

Our lights are on a timer which you need a PhD in electronics to change. We don't want visitors and don't decorate but the house is definitely not in darkness.

We decorate (well put a 🎃 out) and buy sweets, we live on a new build estate and normally get loads of kids.

My dd is 18 now but still likes to carve a pumpkin 😂

Yes, this! Are people not taking part expected to sit in the dark all evening? Or perch in the kitchen round the back?

@Daysgo said “Go to decorated houses! Anyone who doesnt want callers will be in the bqck of the house with no lights on in the front!”

We get loads of kids we don't know every year!
Seems to be the rule around here that you can knock on any house with decorations/lights on

For some reason this topic always brings out the paranoid and neurotic.

It's fine.

It's also fine not to do, but don't kid yourself into thinking it makes you somehow superior to others.

In 40 years, I have never seen an egged house on Halloween and I grew up in a really rough area.

We don't decorate and still get people knocking. We don't answer the door. A couple of years ago I came out the following morning to find the front door spray painted with graffiti. It never fully came off and we paid a lot of money to get it repainted.

Our area is well known for Trick or Treating, at one point people were driving across town to drop their kids here. People go all out for decorating and few houses even put on a bit of a show/trail. We are in a small cul de sac off the main estate so don't get as many but we get around 15-20 groups each year and some people on the main estate have been known to get around 50!!!
I got fed up of the constant knocking and the dog being upset so I now just put a couple of pumpkins out and a bowl of sweets (that I top up) with a sign asking people not to knock. I used to literally sit by the door between 6 and 8 becasue as soon as I got back tot the sofa someone else would knock.
The rule around here seems to be that no decorations mean you don't knock

People leave sweets out on my estate.

But then you kids taking loads. They still knock when the bowls are empty though. Bit cheeky really.

Not sure where you live but but nobody has ever egged my door on halloween wether we participated or not and we live in a deprived area.

When I was a kid we went to any house that had a pumpkin or decorations.

I think it's safe to assume that any house with decorations is expecting and ready to welcome strangers trick or treating.

Don't worry about it.

Nor do people where I live.

Some idiots might use Halloween as an excuse for their idiotic behaviour but that's not the majority and it's really not a foregone conclusion that if you don't decorate or give out sweets you'll be egged or harassed.

Frankly, as someone who grew up doing this, I’m more than happy to hand out the mini Haribo packs without listening to a succession of knock-knock jokes or small children dressed as pumpkins doing the Macarena.

We may have asked for a penny, but we didn't threaten to egg someone's door if they didn't pay up!

How isn't trick or treating begging?
Guising was different - those knocking generally performed a little song, told a joke or some other 'cute' or 'clever' act, and were rewarded with an orange or some chocolate.

I'm not sure making a guy out of old clothes and " begging " for money for it was any better then Halloween and " begging " for sweets and yes I am old enough to remember .

It really does.
Please don't be so naive.

Halloween's origin is based on All Hallows Eve, English folklore and rituals; yes, I do know that, thank you, so please do not call me ignorant.
However, trick or treating was not part of that - it is very firmly American
We used to place more emphasis on Guy's Fawkes and bonfire night; 'penny for the Guy' etc
But maybe you are too young to remember this country before the American crap began to take over

It's a slippery slope that trajectory from mini-Haribos to full-scale criminality.

Or people leave their lights on if they wish and people respect the lack of decoration.

Anyone who doesn't realise that Scotland, Northern Ireland and the NE of England* exist and and have long been part of the UK is unreasonable. Where do you think America got it from? It was emigrants who took it there.

In other news, Santa Claus isn't an Americanism either.

*And other areas that have long had the tradition.

Go to the new housing estates OP, they are always trying to outdo each other and their treats get more ridiculously elaborate every year. They’re decorations are always OTT too but the kids love it.