Was Halloween a big thing when you were growing up?

[BiggyJ]

As in - did you carve pumpkins/turnips, go Trick or Treating, have themed parties etc?
I can't say I did, or can't recall it being a big deal as it is now for my own teen DCs.

(Born mid 70s so was a kid during the 80s )

Yes, my mum would take me around the estate in a black bin bag and witch mask with the other kids 😁

Not at all!
I never went trick or treating, the closest thing I got to it was the corner shop once put on some sort of “trick or treat” event where I donned a plastic witches hat and they gave out some sweets.

Yes, grew up in Ireland. We didn't go trick or treating, but we carved turnips, dressed up, played games and watched public fireworks. My aunt used to throw a party for me, my siblings and my cousins every Halloween.

No - but I’m old 😂
As far as I recollect it wasn’t a ‘thing’ in any sense other than musing about that ‘weird American tradition’

Yeah, huge, trick or treating or Halloweening as it was called then was something that all the kids did and the evening was incredibly busy. We're lucky if we get ten or so knocks on the door now.

N.E England, fwiw.

Nope.

I was born in 81, and it was a big-ish thing for me because my birthday is close to Halloween, so I always had a Halloween-themed party. I remember there were often kids parties for it, and trick or treating, but it was never a thing adults did, and no-one did any decorating except for carving pumpkins.

Also, our costumes were always cobbled together from things in the house, usually bin bags. The smell of black bin bags reminds me of my birthday and Halloween.

We always had a pumpkin and would go trick-or-treating. My brother's birthday is on Halloween so his parties were always Halloween themed with fancy dress, apple bobbing etc. This was in the 80s.

No. Same as you OP, born in 1970s. As a young teen me and a couple of friends ONCE took ourselves off trick or treating. but no houses had sweets ( as no-one ever trick or treated) but we got enough cash from bemused but kindly householders to buy ourselves some chips and curry sauce from the chippy.

Yes always had a Halloween party. Dressed up and house decorated. Apple dunking, Apple on a string, toffee apples, apple pie with 5p pieces in them. No fireworks as live in NI so they weren't allowed. Grew up in the 70's so trick or treating wasn't a thing yet. Bonfire night wasn't celebrated here at all but Halloween was and still is a big thing.

Guy Fawkes Night was a bigger event, generally. Sometimes we had a bonfire and fireworks at home, sometimes we went to the big Rotary Club one in town.

Nope, never

The fact that so many people think that this is an American tradition is really telling. It's like none of you ever bothered to see what anyone else was doing in the country beyond your insular patch.

No, bonfire night was much, much bigger. We used to have kids knocking on the door asking for coppers doing penny for the guy. Does anyone do that anymore??
I seem to remember the only thing that happened for Halloween was BBC1 would put a scary film on and that was after the nine o'clock news. I'd read about apple bobbing but never did it. This was in the Midlands in the 80s.

I’m a similar age and I loved Halloween but it wasn’t anywhere near as big as now. We had to carve swedes and then I looked forward to the Guides Halloween party. It was basically games in Halloween costumes and some treats and sweets, I loved it! Everyone was either a witch or a ghost! No zombies/dolls/cheerleaders etc.

The scariest one ever was the year I babysat and Ghostwatch (with pipes) was on the TV!!!

Kid in the 80s and early 90s, working class Northern city.

Dressing up and doing Trick or Treat around the estate yes, but I don't recall anyone having pumpkins, no Halloween parties, no mention of it at school at all, nothing like I see today.

A bit more fuss for Guy Fawkes. Bonfires and fireworks (public displays), sometimes a party at a pub or social club with bobbing for apples, always Parkin. In fact I might make some Parkin this week.

There was always the toilet paper mummies too. Always a good option for a kid without a costume, albeit, not a very robust one and a fucking fire hazard if you had a tea light in your turnip.

No, I never carved a pumpkin or went trick or treating until I had my own DC. I remember going to one Halloween party at my parents’ friends’ house and we sometimes dressed up at Brownies and Guides.
Grew up in the 80s and 90s in the midlands.

Not at all. Occasionally we did apple bobbing. But definitely no trick or treating - it was considered to be begging (which, of course, it is!).

'The smell of black bin bags reminds me of my birthday and Halloween.'

That really made me laugh! Yes, big in Dublin in the 70s - many many black bin bag outfits.

Not for my house in the 1970s. Irish Catholic brought up in Nottingham. I was aware trick or treating was a thing but it was always something that other kids might do, and we might get the odd naughty child at our door who we’d do our best to ignore and hope didn’t trick us.

It was definitely not a fun activity that my parents would want to celebrate or participate in with us.

TBH, Penny for the Guy was a much more popular concept where I lived.

Yeah it was pretty big, I'm 40 and Irish. We went trick or treating, had costumes that were a mix of home made and shop bought elements. We had loads of decorations that came out every year to decorate the hall and front window for the trick or treaters.

Bigger and more commercialised now, but only in the same way that Christmas is. My kids' Halloween is actually pretty similar to mine except that we do a pumpkin patch trip to a local farm.

So many? Unless I've missed something there is exactly one mention of America in this thread?

Never! But the worst witch with Tim Curry seemed to get broadcast every year.

Yep, massive. Halloween was the major event in the young person's year that could guarantee a supply of sweets that would last till Christmas time.

Guising was huge. Most costumes were home made (not just the bin bag and paper witch hat type, paper mache was a common feature in some of our costumes) and everyone went out guising, but not with our parents. The parents stayed at home to open the door to guisers.

We had to learn a turn though in order to get the sweets. No song/poem/joke/dance then no sweet.

After a night collecting sweets, nuts, 5ps and apples, it was home for a party of sorts- apple dooking, eating a pancake off a string that was doused in treacle/golden syrup and then grabbing a marshmallow from a tray of flour with you teeth. Ah, the JOY.

Decorations weren't as showy, but it was a big deal.

Chat about costumes, turns and who you were going guising with went on for weeks leading up to it.

And my poor Dad had to carve the neep lantern. Triangle eyes and a jaggy mouth was as far as you could go with a neep. Then inside was the stump of a candle, string through the top and off you went (in your flammable bin bag costume) in the cold and dark. The smell of burnt turnip is the smell of Halloween to me!