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 )

This is very true, these traditions always have origins since the US itself isn’t that old! I think I’m going to edit what I originally said as it was a bit of a sweeping statement and I didn’t really specify what I meant very well 😂
Oh gosh, don’t worry, I apologise for the ignorance! Until this thread, I had no idea about turnip guising or anything like that! I have nothing against the American style Halloween celebrations either, really (aside from when teenagers egg people’s houses, I don’t think that happens as much nowadays but I know that used to be an issue when I was younger), I just haven’t been involved in it much aside from a vague memory of some sort of Halloween party as a teenager. It's all in good fun 😌

Your pal sounds great, why not enjoy these things?! 🎃

I apologise, I didn’t mean to exclude Scotland in any way when I made that sweeping statement earlier! When I was talking about Halloween there, I meant the version that you get in the shops that seems to get more and more elaborate in one way or another every year! I am very poorly educated re. the origins 😭

Yes it is annoying that because it didn't happen in middle England it's not a thing. Late 80s early 90s I remember dooking for apples and monkey nuts, dressing up but we weren't allowed to go guising.

Bonfire night isn't that big or do we do penny for the guy in Scotland but we all know that it happens

Yes yes, I know! I apologise, I meant the way that we celebrate it as nations nowadays is very much inspired by the American take on Halloween. I didn’t word it very well at all. Would just like to point out though, there are four nations in the United Kingdom and we seem to have forgotten that you don’t have to be English to not have grown up celebrating Halloween! I am Welsh 🥲

70s born kid, and yeah, it was a real highlight for us! We had carved turnips, not pumpkins.
My mum was a witch so there were fun rituals too.

Exactly! It's really interesting how Puritan culture had influence on it too - Salem witch trials had quite the impact on how Americans celebrate now, and also partially why (in certain places) they go a bit more all out. I am a huge history geek married to a historian, I could ramble about it all day. 🤣 Same with Christmas haha!

No need to apologise at all, I shouldn't have had my snippy hat on! So many of these threads descend into a lot of snooty comments so I was being a grouch. The egging still happens, sadly! I lived in Leeds for a wee bit and oh my goodness, teenage lads out being right cranks. Tesco banned the sale of eggs for mischief night, if I remember correctly! 🤦‍♀️

It is all good fun though! I've been supervising the party food making today so ready for a nice spooky time. 👻 I hope you have a lovely one too!

Just went looking for my original comment and spotted yours and wow! This sounds like such amazing fun and I’m wishing that my Irish ancestry wasn’t as distant as it is!

No, we were not allowed to Trick or Treat (was told it was begging). Never opened the door to them either.
We were allowed to get a plastic witch hat with the green hair from our local shop, and pair it up with a bin bag. Only to play dress up at home.

It's never too late to start! There's loads out there if you look up some traditions, and they're all super adjustable! We do a turnip still (but save your wrists and stick with the pumpkin 🤣), and colcannon is lovely - we'd stick a coin in and whoever found it was rich! Maybe not the best for kids now though. 😁

Dumb suppers are where you set the table for the dead and eat in silence. We don't do that, but we leave a place at the table still, some people I know add a skeleton! Mumming is basically an early trick or treat! Games with apples were popular, and also peeling the apple without breaking the peel, throw it over your shoulder and whatever letter it resembled was the name of your one true love. 😁 Loads of silly stuff but you can always mangle it up and make it your own!

Yes, and 'Penny for the Guy'. Kids would have an actual Guy sat up outside a shop. Old clothing stuffed with more old clothing, and a Halloween mask.
Now you just get kids asking for money with no costume and no Guy. Takes the piss. I have not seen a Guy in years. But way back when, the same Guy did get put on a bonfire in the local park that the whole neighbourhood would go and see.
When I did welcome Trick or Treaters, I would get the occasional group of teens turn up with no costume, and just ask for money.

The history of these traditions are absolutely fascinating and I don’t blame you for wanting to talk about it! Especially having read of your experience of Halloween, it honestly sounds like the best time and to have those memories growing up must be incredible.

Snap, I lived in Leeds for a bit too and up there yes, I would say they’re definitely still egging 😂 Egging and then fireworks through postboxes a week later (I lived in Hyde Park 🥴 IYKYK). My current area seems to be a bit less insane for it though, thankfully.

Awh thank you, mine won’t be half as lively with a teething toddler at home but I will find a good spooky film to watch 😂 Have the best time! 👻🖤

Yes it was and I still love it. We went out guising, had to do a “turn” ie tell a joke/sing a song or similar before being given sweets. Kids still do their “turn” at the door.

We carved turnips so very happy to adopt the American pumpkins!

London, 1970s
Some rudimentary dressing up. Witches in black bin bags, ghosts in old sheets etc.
various party games, that largely used apples.

No. It meant nothing.

Can’t stand all the plastic tat in the shops. Straight to landfill.

They make for great reading even if you never do them! If you ever want to know about any kind of seasonal celebration, feel free to PM me and I'll bore you with links and facts. 🤣

Ohhh, Hyde Park. 🤦‍♀️ I definitely know. I'd like to think it's changed but who knows?! Liverpool was much the same, I felt like a country bumpkin haha!

Awww, I remember those days. Get them a cute little costume so you can look back and sigh over how cute they were (there's a photo of me holding DS, dressed as Dracula, mouth open aiming for the boob he was currently gnawing at 🤣). Nice spooky film and a good slice of cake, you deserve it! Hope the trick or treaters don't disturb sleep time! ❤️

Yes because my mum was Canadian. We didn't go trick or treating (SE England in the 60s), but my mum hosted a children's party for us and our friends every year with dressing up and games. Lovely memories.

That's so cool! Thank you for the pic
🎃 👻

I dressed up for Halloween every year when I was a kid and went trick or treating and in my house, we had a pumpkin with a candle in it. I did that from when I was 3 to when I was 15.

I don't do anything for Halloween now, and I didn't buy any sweets, so of course, if anyone came to my door, I wouldn't answer.

If I was invited to a Halloween party, I would go and I would dress up but I wouldn't organise anything myself.

My apologies, nothing worse for Celt than to be mistaken for a sassenach 😉 😂

Not really for me growing up in 1970s England but I now live very near Derry in Northern Ireland so for all my grown up children and now grandchildren Halloween is huge everyone dresses up every year

No. We made more of a deal about November 5th. I don't remember Halloween being made a big deal at all...and I don't remember feeling deprived or left out while others went trick or treating so it clearly wasn't a thing in our area. We might have had a couple of ghost stories but that was it. The first I heard of trick or treating was through Peanuts!

For context, I was born in the 60s and come from London.

Yes I remember ducking apples but wasn't sure if I was remembering Halloween or Guy Fawkes. If it was Halloween, it was one of te few things we did.

haven't RTWT, but sounds as if you're English, OP. My 1960s Aberdeen childhood included Halloween - neep lanterns, apple ducking. I was aware of guising but too shy to do it. My mum remembers my Granda carving neep lanterns for her in the 1940s too.