Avoiding Halloween

[ArmyBarmyMummy]

I am so glad Halloween is in half term and we're away this year.

I hate the masses of children bordering on youths who come knocking at the door with one shop bought mask between them. [hangry]

I hate the whole begging dressed up as 'trick or treating' to be honest [hblush]

I hate the whole commercial aspect, supermarkets cashing in on loads of confectionary, dressing up stuff etc

I hate the guilt trip. We're a Christian family (Army bit in nickname is The Salvation Army) but I've always taken the "It's just a bit of fun" rather than "celebrating evil" line. Which is right I'm not sure (views please) but I never want to deprive DC of some 'harmless' fun.

I do love smileys tho' and have no qualms about using the halloween ones [hsmile]

i have no problem generally with trick or treaters. but its the trick or treating two weeks before Halloween or the older kids who have a 10p mask on and only want money. there is a lot of young kids in my area and i love it when they come round. they are probably about 5 6 and 7 now and its so sweet. you are more than welcome to come to my door on Halloween with a bit of effort in your costume, sing a wee rhyme and you are happy to get sweets other wise go away.

Val, how about putting up a sign that says "Trick or Treating upsets our dogs please don't knock. Thanks" I expect most people would not knock then.

Nowadays we put a pumpkin in the window and always have some sweets in, but some years kids have had to make do with cheapo biscuits and one year, slices of fresh pineapple. We only get a couple of groups calling though as our road is very dark and creepy.

We don't give money to carol-singers who turn up early - anyone before Dec 20th gets sent away and instructed to come back a couple of days later.

Its been mentioned before, and I second it.
If you are willing to do the whole 'trick or treat' thing, then leave your pumpkin in full view, when fed up with it, put the pumpkin away.
That way it is certainly not begging.

All the children here only go to houses that have decorations up. We have never had a problem.
They all dress up, all say thank you, bring their dogs for a dog treat too.
Usually parents are lurking in the hedge anyway.

Glad to have stired the pot - or should it be cauldron [hgrin] ?!

Didn't realise u didn't get bonfire night in Ireland.[hsad] Obvious really, just never thought. Perhaps u could adopt it? like we have adoptied 'trick or treat' and other americanisms?

Love bonfire night. DD1 born 5th Nov (after 21hrs had ECS so she needed *** explosive to get out!!!)[hsmile] however...... hate loud bangs going on 4 whole month with a very petrified cat not daring to go out 2 poo, but thats a whle new rant.....

Trick or treat works really well where I live. Folk put out pumpkins if they want trick or treaters. I tell my ds's not to knock on houses with no decs. but often old dears come running out if we walk past and insist on giving them sweets. Parents usually accompany. Some fab costumes. It's a really nice atmosphere and you get to speak to neighbours that you don't usually see. Lots of parties going on. Everyone seems to feel the same way about it round here.

I like Halloween, i even dress up as well lol.
Must admit my neighbours think i go a bit mad, i decorated the garden last year with a grave, flying witches and ghosts. Local kids loved it.

Halloween to the commercial extent nowadays is horrid, whole sections of shops devoted to tacky crap! However I love a little apple bobbing tradition and an excuse for a party.

Loved Halloween over here in Ireland too. I find it sad though, that the kids are now saying 'Trick or Treat' when they knock at the door. When I was a kid, we always said 'Help the Halloween party!'.

And sod getting enough sweets to last for a fortnight, we always got fruit and peanuts(if we were lucky, we'd get a few brazil nuts, hazelnuts or almonds).

YANBU Armybarmy - I too am in Ireland and dread Halloween, even though this year its the Sunday before kids go back after their mid term so may be a bit quieter

Kids get overloaded with sugar and cranky and tired for the rest of the evening! Plus I'm not very creative on the costume front so that an added stress I could do without!!

Dont tend to answer the door to any kids I dont know, and especially teenagers!!

Who remembers dunking for apples and the cherry on top of the pile of flour game???

raises hand Me!

Another thing I'm not fond of is that the kids seem to start letting fireworks of earlier and earlier every year. I won't say what I'd like to do to them when they wake DS3 with 'em, but it's not painless. [hangry]

I just don't answer the door for most of October unless I know someone's coming round (or if I've seen chuggers or door to door salesmen in the area). Then the carol singers start - although it's more of one line of "we wish you a merry christmas" mumbled at the ground and a hand shoved in your face for the money.

Had one deliciously amusing moment when some kids from the school I worked at decided to trick or treat ridiculously early - and knocked on my door (think it was about October 5th or something) - went along the lines of "trick or... oh shi... hi miss." Was the quietest October ever after that one and word got round they'd mucked up and banged on a teacher's door!

I always do Halloween (very rural village, lots of 'littlies' coming around). I dress up, which gives credence to the saying "that Old Witch in the corner house" !!!!

I don't buy sweets, but give out additive-free Freeze Pops (Witches fingers).

Only drawback is my dog barks on and off for 2 hours with all the knocks on the door!

One of the funniest callers I ever had was when a local teenage lad knocked on the door, dressed up like an extra fron Jerry Springer; hooker wig, fake boobs, laddered tights, the lot. After I'd stopped laughing, he admitted he's only done it because his friends dared him to before staggering off in his mum's stiletto heels.

we have taught our kids to only knock at houses with decorations up too ... and we only allow them to go with us - not alone.. I do like Halloween as its a chance for a bit of a celebration without the huge consumerist drive of christmas .. we also celebrate easter with a party for the children and an egg hunt...

however I think the reason most people are annoyed by trick or treaters is that it has become an excise for teens to beg for sweets - we had a group a couple of years back asking for money - not sweets ! [hshock]

one of the few benefits in living in small flat in a block of 15, is no trick or treaters, no Jehovas Witnesses, no door to door salesmen. Sadly no bedroom for DD either!

YANBU.

I'm amazed at how big Halloween has become. When I was younger (and I'm only in my early 20s), the only people who went trick or treating were the very 'rough' kids. I always looked down on them. We were told at school that we would upset elderly people by knocking on their doors in scary costumes.

I get fed up of seeing all the tat in shops as well.

YANBU

I really do not do Halloween. Asda this year were selling a metre high skeleton in a torture cage as a Halloween decoration - amongst some other pretty gross stuff. Please someone explain to me in what way this is a simple bit of fun...?!

I am a Christian too and find Halloween unpleasant, alarming and misguided. I work for my church as the Children's worker. This year we are having a Light Party. To those of you who may love Halloween it may sound a bit twee, but there will be apple bobbing, there will be the cherry on top of the flour cake game, there will be sweets and hotdogs, things to make, treasure hunting and a carved pumpkin display. Just no monsters, ghosts or evil spirits.

Hope you all have fun, whatever next week brings for you. MPD

I don't like it particularly. I hate the way it is now an excuse for begging, for shops selling vile plastic tat, for mindless petty vandalism and harassing neighbours. In previous years (like Val, we've got three large dogs) we've put up polite notices asking people not to knock but these are ignored. We don't answer the door in that case but I am not happy about it, nor about the way many elderly people are frightened and bothered by idiots.

This year, thankfully, we'll be away. I don't see anything Christian about pelting passers by with eggs or flour, or demanding chocolate with menaces. Am happy to be grumpy old gimmer.

Think the Church light party sounds lovely.

I love it. But I'm am old pagan. The local church is having a candlelit service to pray for the souls of the dead. I like to think of the ones who went before us in my own way.

Trick or treating is a depressing development. When I was young (late 70s/early 80s) we went "Guising", which involves going round the neighbours and singing a song or reciting a poem or telling a joke, any sort of "party piece" really - in other words, you had to do something for your treat. (depending on the talent of the performer, this might have been worse than trick or treating but at least the principle was sound!). We'd dress up in costumes which my Mum would make form things we already had in the house - no pre-bought stuff - and she loved planning them. The Geisha girl in My Dad's silk dressing gown was a memorable triumph..

Also, being Scotland, we didn't have carved pumpkins, we had turnips (Swedes to you) and the smell of the candle burning the flesh is absolutely my abiding memory of halloween. My Mum told me that they were seriously difficult to carve though.

I haven't lived in Scotland since I was 18 - cam hoping someone can tell me that Guising is alive and well and hasn't been overtaken by T or T but I suspect I'm in for a disappointment...

Thank you for the encouragement Scuttle - I am hoping that it will go well. This is the first year we have done it!

Many churches around the country will be holding this service, kitty as Oct 31st is the closest Sunday to All Souls Day (which is actually on November 2nd) when those faithful Christians who have gone before us are remembered. It is held every year on the nearest Sunday to the 2/11 or sometimes on the day itself. It immediately follows All Saints Day which is on November 1st - a day which celebrates and marks a thanksgiving for all 'Saints' (a more Catholic thing) or faithful Christians, known to us or unknown. Hope that however you mark the day or this remembering in your own way is good for you.

MPD

I'm with Kitty and thourghly looking forward to Samhain the pagans biggest celebration of the year. I will be lighting a candle for each of the family members passed before me to guide them home. I will be giving treats to the trick or treaters to keep the bad spirts from my home. I will also be attempting to scare them shitless and teach them that Samhain is not an evil celebration.

I open the door, whisper that the baby is asleep upstairs. I tell them that we don't celebrate Halloween and that they look beautiful/scary. I also tell them not to go scaring any old ladies.
We keep the front of the house fairly dark so don't expect many and try to be friendly.
My sister and her children visit other families in her area rather than knock on strangers' doors.