I'm the Halloween Grinch - do you follow the pumpkin rule?.

[Pancakeflipper]

I live on a small lovely street. Nice mix of ages.
The rule for Halloween on our street has been "pumpkin outside - knock here for sweets" . Allowing those not wanting spooky ghouls at their door to have a quietish evening.

Is this the rule near you?

In recent years our street is named on Facebook posts as the place to be.... (fucking stop it - we dont want everyone here) It's crazy on our street. Its no longer the local streets nearby - but driving miles for a fucking Chewit.

The pumpkin rule is ignored.
Guess its not a known rule..?

And that really pisses me off. There's lots of reasons why people don't want hoards of groups ringing their doorbell for the evening.

I salute my neighbour who diligently eats her Ferarocho chocolates, saves the wrappers, pops in cherry tomatoes and hands the box round.

Only did it once, in Leeds. Partner and I made our first pumpkins aged quite old. It didn't stop. Partner had to work and I was left feeding the 5,000 in chocolate. Vowed never to do it again, I don't even like many children!

Love the tomatoes and the raisins. Awesome :-)

Like many of my neighbors, I have actually taken to just setting up outside. It’s easier with pets. We also have long front gardens so it makes it faster for the children.

I'm American British and am currently sat outside my house with my child's toddler table, carved pumpkin lit on it, and wearing an orange long cardigan and orange witch hat handing out generic monster munch.

This year has more foot traffic but last year we sat at the crosswalk under the light which parents appreciated.

Our door is a dark side door and I didn't like luring them to it, so sitting out feels better!

My partner who is also foreign (and not American) had to be told what to do with the pumpkins as my son trick or treated last year in a small town near my parents and wanted to try here.

I'm curious how they get on. Can't be too long, no one uses a pillowcase for candy like we did in the 90s.

Same. The only good thing is that it delays the Christmas tat being everywhere for a few weeks. I do actually love Christmas, but at Christmas time.

I don’t think anyone would begrudge those poor DC a safe and happy evening.

I'd never heard this rule til I saw it on here a couple of years ago. Seems to be fairly widely accepted though?

I wish the fireworks would just stop. It has been going on for hours.

Yep! Just started here - off to go fid my now terrified cat. FFS.

Seems to be the rule here. I don’t decorate or put the porch light on and I’ve never had anyone knock but can hear lots of kids going around outside.

I’m not against it, I just have a cat who is terrified of people at the door and she’s currently snoozing on my lap. She takes priority.

Yes I thought everyone knew this? It makes sense!

No pumpkins or decorations = no knocking

driving miles for a fucking Chewit

That cracked me up 😂

I think they’re following the rules round here. No one ever knocks on our door on Halloween.

Is anybody able to make the connection between greed, mounds of land fill and the summer we have had at all?

People drive to where we live as lots of houses take part. We’ve had approximately 140 trick or treaters so far. One year it was bad weather and we had just under 100, another year we had 170 and my partner had to go to the shop halfway through the evening! We like doing it though and I quite like it when the teenagers come dressed up, it’s nice they can join in as well.

I think the pumpkin rule is largely accepted. Some people don’t realise and I find not opening the door works.

Some areas are completely dead though, which isn’t fair for the kids living there.

Sadly not 😂 That would've been amazing!

Round here it’s decorations and/or outside lights turned on, and I would say majority of houses obey those rules. We’ve got an ill kid at home very upset to be missing going out so haven’t put our decorations or put lights on and we’ve had very few knocks, when we would usually have dozens.

I am a Halloween grinch. I grew up in Canada and Halloween was and is a big thing. I really hate that we are aping yet another North American activity and have largely abandoned the British tradition of November 5th. That said, I helped my granddaughter with her costume, made a fuss of her and bought lots of treats for her party.
I was telling my granddaughter yesterday that we went out with our friends or on our own with a pillow case. No parents around. She couldn’t believe it.
I didn’t tell her about the people who would give out apples. We weren’t allowed to eat them as there had been razor blades found in some. This was the 60s.

We don’t have a pumpkin but have had so many I’ve run out of sweets

Same! The last year we participated, I made up 150 bags and they were gone by 6.30pm. My DD is 16 now, so we don't take part anymore, and I have tbh and say I dont miss it one bit! 😂

Doesn't every area do that? In every area I've lived in the UK, that's how it goes. It's an unspoken rule.

The only exceptions are those children just old enough to go in a group without a parent and not old enough to understand the niceties.

Halloween is not American originally. It’s been going on for generations in Scotland and Ireland, including Northern Ireland, so definitely not an American import to the UK.

Bonfire Night hasn't been forgotten at all. There's always loads of displays on round here.

Guising was big in Scotland and NI. Yes, it's massive deal in North America and has been forever, but areas of the UK also had a strong tradition of Halloween.

Growing up, did you collect coins for UNICEF alongside the sweets? I loved that part.