To not want my children to take part in trick or treating?

[ValerieDavis]

Coming to that dreaded time of year again ... Halloween.

I've fairly strict with my children's diets and I really do not want to take them trick or treating this year. All those sugary sweets are no good for their teeth.

I've spoken with DH about this and he thinks that they've only young once and it's only for one night but the sweets tend to last a couple of weeks and I'm doing it for their own good.

I'm more than happy to buy them costumes and let them dress up and have fun on the day and will let them have a few sweets, just no trick or treating!

AIBU?

How old are the people who didn't celebrate Halloween as children?

I'm in my late 20's and we didn't celebrate it as children, I don't remember any of my friends doing so either. It's definitely come about in the last 10 years.

We didn't celebrate it when I was younger either marbles. It wasn't ignored as such, but you couldn't buy all the Halloween stuff you can now. I remember one year really wanting a pumpkin, after watching Charlie Brown .

My poor mum searched the county looking for one and ended up trying to hollow out a swede!

Bonfire night was always the big thing - and still is actually

This year DD is being an Alien, I am a devil (again) and the dog will be Alien Puppy (last year she was a ghost).

MuttDogs white bits will be dyed green to match DDs face.

We will trick or treat around our estate, stopping at all the houses with Pumkins / Lanterns / Halloween shite hanging up.

DH will stay at home with his scary mask and make as many children scream as possible.

Oh and I am going to attempt to copy the 'Puking Pumpkin' that I saw last year.

DD will no doubt get a bucket full of sweets, that I will eventually throw away the last of at the start of October next year. It's not about the sweets - it's about the fun for her.

I'm 28 aqnd definitely celebrated Hallowe'en as a child, I remember going to a party when I was about 4 with the other kids from nursery.

I never celebrated it as a child. My oldest son and his friends did trick or treating about 20 years ago [in the southeast].In fact it seemed much more common then, with lots of knocks on the door. I wasn't aware of it beforehand, so can't say for definite if it was around before that.

Oh and I'm 40, and went ToT'ing as a kid.

i am 33 and went to organised hallloween parties as a child, my parents didnt let us go trick or treating tho. we take the children, only knock on local houses with pumpkins/decorations and no tricks!

we also give out sweets and when the kids were little we would put a bucket of sweets by the front door and sign saying not to knock as babies were sleeping which works fine.

tho moaning about eggs etc i take your point but thats more bad behaviour than halloween, doesnt happen around here (tho interestingly all the supermarkets and shops i know have a policy that they wont sell eggs/flour to children around halloween! so maybe that helps?) halloween can be fun and i dont think you should let the bad behaviour of a few spoil that.

Mid 40's and Scottish. Halloween was one of the most looked forward days of the year. The whole neighbourhood would be out and about. We didn't do trick or treating though. You have to entertain or do a turn for your goodies which were mostly apples, tangerines and monkey nuts. Playing tricks was never a part of it.

No longer live in Scotland, it is it still the same and still as big?

We didn't have pumpkins (I think I remember hankering after a lot of the things I saw on Peanuts, Flumps!). We did have swedes though - they're traditional anyway.

And obviously you couldn't get all the fabulous tat that you can these days; but that's the same for everything - Easter, Valentines, Mothers Day. Even Christmas tbh; of course you could buy Christmas decorations 30+ years ago but it would have been far more difficult to find a fairy light reindeer for your lawn.

We used to chant "apples and nuts, cigarettes or butts".

I remember one man giving my brother a cigarette .

Now, that would be something to complain about on here.

Just wondering, how far afield do some people go when trick or treating? We stick to our street, where we know everyone. Our little kids go out trick or treating, or get chocolate at Easter, we sponsor older kids' cycle rides/school trips, we pay teenagers pocket money to mow lawn occasionally etc. All seems fine to me (and the other neighbours)

I think it's a bit off when people from other neighbourhoods come knocking, though I wouldn't actually send them packing.

My parents gets most annoyed if they don't get a steady stream of kids to the door. My mother's even gone all American and started bedecking her front garden with a carved and lit pumpkin.

She's so needy my Mum

You know, the whole idea of trick or treating always makes me a bit sad.

I think it would be lovely for the DC to do that if we lived in a community/street where everybody was friendly and knew each other and the streets were awash with little DCs in their costumes, etc....

Where I live it's more like everybody turns off their front lights and pretend to be out because most of the Trick or treaters look about 15, have no costume other than a crappy plastic mask and want money rather than penny chews

Depends on the area you live in. I live in a village and Halloween is a big thing. You only go to the houses with lit pumpkins so the kids are not bothering anyone who does not want to be bothered. They or I know almost everyone any way. The streets of the village are full of kids running around having a ball. The kids spend weeks thinking how we can decorate our house to be scary. It takes them months to eat the sweets they get (and some get thrown out). What's not to like?

I've never actually seen the scenario people describe on here: lit pumpkins outside houses, little kids in costumes out with their parents etc. If it wasn't for MN I'd have no idea that happens in the UK.

Around here most people live in flats, or, like us, have houses that are directly on the street, so I guess there's nowhere you could put the pumpkin except on the pavement. And maybe I'm just not home in time to see the smaller children, though I would be surprised to see it tbh. This is east London btw.

I'm not sure if/how Halloween is celebrated in countries outside the UK/US/Ireland though. We have a very high immigrant population here so maybe a lot of people just don't have the tradition?

I opened the front door last year to a chubby three year old in a bee costume. He said 'I'm a bee'. I said 'yes you are' and poured half a ton of chocolctae into his bag for being so darn cute.

It changed between my eldest and my youngest two. There was no bother with the eldest because we didn't get it in England but it caused yearly arguments with the younger ones because it was very common and I wouldn't let them do it. The change was sometime in 1990s. Both age groups dressed up and had parties-trick and treating is the change (for the worst).

My mother used to trick or treat in rural Ireland in the 1940's so to say it's purely an American tradition isn't actually true.

I hate trick or treating, and don't let my kids do it.

Do they hate it too?

There are lots of things my kids would like to do that I don't let them, because I don't think they should. It's called being a parent.

Oh do try and be a bit more po faced. Do!

Lily there are lots of things I don't let my DC because they might harm her or someone else but I don't stop her doing things that harm nobody and might bring her some pleasure "because I don't like them"

I'm 34 and we always went trick or treating on our road when we were kids.

I think all those against it are meany spoilsports tbh....