What are you doing for Halloween/Samhain?

[VickyMcVities]

Interested to hear what people are up to, big or small! Also looking for witchy ideas for myself!

Closing the blinds and turning the lights off and hoping there are no problems.
Given what my neighbourhood is like it's a very worrying evening for me.

Absolutely nothing at all other than the same as above.....turning the lights off and ignoring any knocks on the door. Couldn't be less interested.

We always have the silent supper (usually stew) and serve up a portion for the departed who are invited to the table in remembrance.

My husband died unexpectedly a year ago on Halloween so the whole happy Halloween shite is even more upsetting than usual

Giving the kids 'banana ghosts' for pudding and then done.

Taking DD guising for the first time.

Bet you're glad you asked OP.

I have the kids tomorrow all day so going to do some bobbing for apples etc. Need to look up some other ideas as we have to wait in for a delivery so may as well get into the spirit (how's that for a pun!). We've already decorated but might do a bit extra to pass the time. Going to get a barm brack as well, maybe bring them out for lunch.

DH is bringing them trick or treating with a friend in the evening, it's dead (ba dum tish) around ours but I'll be waiting with the sweets for the few who call.

I absolutely hate Halloween where we live now. Our estate turns into a scene from some American movie, people everywhere...at one point last year I peeped out of an upstairs window and counted 50 plus people out in our street alone. We have a really anxious dog and we hide in the kitchen with music up loud so she can't hear all the toing and froing going on outside, and pray noone knocks or rings. We actually considered going away this year but couldn't make it work with work

It's a shame you don't like it, that sounds like a lovely community.

Just the standard Halloween night with all 5 kids as supposed to be going to a party but the older 2 don't want to so......

House is decorated
Will carve the pumpkins together tomorrow
Halloween shaped biscuits will be made tonight to decorate together tomorrow
Bobbing apples and apple on a string
Trick or treating with aims to find a chocolate bar, a sour sweet, a green sweet etc
Pass the parcel Halloween. Don't ask me why
I've drawn a witch and going to do pin the vroom on the witch
Then will probably put a 'scary' film on while they eat a load of sugar and then bed at a reasonable time preferably all before 9:30

So sorry about your loss.
It will be difficult for you.
My DH died at New Year. It was many years ago now but it still makes that a really sad time for me. So I understand how hard this will be for you.
Best wishes.

Teens are going to a party. We will put pumpkins out for an hour or so and answer the door. We took mine out when they were younger so feels like we should 'pay back'. Kids too old to be interested in decorating the house.

It is very much respected in our area that you do not knock if there are no lit pumpkins.

I'm intrigued by the the silent dinner, is that an all hallows eve tradition?

As DD is now an adult we don't "do" Halloween. We live very tucked away and often don't get any trick or treaters at all.

This year we are going out for a meal with friends.

DD still loves Halloween and is going to a Night at the Museum event.

Going to a local Halloween event with my adult DCs - I’m looking forward to it! I usually decorate the front of the house and give out sweets to the local kids but it’ll be nice to do something different.

Decorate the front door and give out sweets and bags of crisps, watch a horror film and eat chilli dogs and making a soup today and apple crumble for tomorrow as well.

Going on a ghost walk in York

@BarbaraHoward I'm not a total grinch (hrinch?) honest! It's a new-ish estate. The first few years were actually quite sweet with all the little ones going about for a couple of hours, and I left sweets out in a bowl with a sign as did lots of other houses who didn't want anyone knocking, and topped up throughout the night, there were always some left. A few people did open 'spooky' houses for kids to go in and out as well.

But the last couple of years it's become 'the' place to go for TnT and we get minibuses and taxis dropping older kids off from other areas and it's really changed the feel of the evening - last year was horrible, we had kids still knocking at 9pm despite having no lights on, they were clearing out bowls that people leave outside within the first 10 mins, trampling all over gardens, throwing away sweets they didn't want in the street after swiping bagfuls, swearing at people who'd run out etc.

I've noticed this year there isn't any chat at all on the estate FB page about 'how to do things', and very few decorations up compared to last year so far. I think a lot of people have got fed up with it.

Sorry OP I realise this was not what you wanted from this thread, I'll bow out now!!

I love Halloween! Will go trick or treating with the kids & all the kids in the road once it gets dark. Then home to play Halloween games.. bobbing for apples, grapes, coins. Hanging apples. The flour cake game with the coin on top .. everyone cuts a slice & the one to drop the coin puts their face in the flour.
Fireworks locally start at about 9, and they do an amazing display that we can see from our front door.
Then Halloween movie & bed. Can't wait

That sounds great. Please report back.

We like having the trick or treaters come to our door, and seeing their costumes. We put lots of candles and decorations outside, and seeing what Christmas decorations we can pass off as being for Halloween. I have a camping lantern with a flashing mode, which I put behind a ghost picture.

We like scary games, and were inspired by the skeletons in the book Funnybones frightening each other. In turn, each of us is blindfolded, led around the garden (weather permitting), and scared by the others for a few minutes, with things like squirting with a water pistol, putting hands in something slimy (e.g. eyeball grapes), ghostly noises, being touched unexpectedly. A timer is set for five minutes for each person: the brave winners are those who keep their eyes covered the whole time! (We take care not to seriously freak each other out.)

Another game we like is "zombies". The first zombie is blindfolded, and stands with their hand outstretched. In turn, the other players tap the zombie's hand; and the zombie tries to grab the hand. If anybody is grabbed, even by the finger, they become a blindfolded zombie as well. The others then have to tap each hand in turn. The winner is the last player left, who becomes the next zombie.

Decorating and waiting in for trick or treaters to call. No pumpkin no knock is well respected here so it's a nice community feeling evening. However I know they get a bit swamped on the nearby estate, when mine were little most of their friends lived there and we always went over leaving DH at home to hand out our sweets, it had a really good community feel up there but I gather it has got a bit out of hand now, I have seen FB posts asking for people from other parts of town to stay away. It's tricky though, not many people in our street participate so people do invariably go up the road to the estate.

I'm not into it personally but it's crazy where I live. A big housing estate full of kids, people are everywhere. I counted 150 callers one year. We get a lot of Halloween tourists which irritates me a bit. It's great fun for everyone but I'm a bit over it now. I'll be handing out treats for the evening then DS will be here with his friend having a party, I'll have to drop and collect DD from a friend's party, so it's very much Mum mode for the night. I'd love a few drinks but I'm on driving duty

I'll hand out treats until 7:30 then we're off to the pub quiz 😄

Absolutely nothing. We live miles out in the sticks on a farm so no one around and honestly I don’t really like Halloween anyway. We’re going away for a night actually, but nothing to do with the date, that’s just when worked!

Nothing.

For years I went all out - several carved pumpkins, decorated my whole front garden (graveyard, crime scene, skeletons, blood puddles, chalk outlines etc, I really had fun!), my sons would dress up each year just to answer the door and hand out little bags of sweets.

Then that stopped for covid and we just never got back into it. I don't even see much about it on the village FB any more. I think lots of people just never started up again.