Any other Mums refusing to take the kids out trick or treating?

[Theboulderhascaughtupwithme]

Just wondering if I totally mean/unreasonable. We do a lot for/ with the kids, clubs, weekend days out, doing stuff at home etc etc but I just cannot muster any enthusiasm for taking me out trick or treating. I find the whole concept of trawling round the houses letting them beg for sweets cringe worthy.

Strangely I have no problem with other kids coming to ors and always have some sweet etc ready for them which makes me feel I am being a bit unreasonable.

Also I don't want to fork out on costumes and I am totally not able or into making them.

So I guess I am giving myself permission to just not do even tho my eldest particularly has been keen and asking to go.

What's other people's stance?

Between my disabilities and being busy preparing (and not wanting the kids to mix Halloween up with) Dias de los Muertos, I've always refused before. They finally convinced to take them this year (my oldest is ten and we've never done it before).

We found 1 house that was lit and decorated in the several blocks around our house (their pumpkins were awesome while we just used a ceramic pumpkin/skill candle holder). As my 7 year old put it, it was "a total bust". I felt so bad we hit the corner shop on the way home. I think we'll stick to our parties and cultural stuff from now, at least then it makes sense that no one else around us is doing it.

We do Bonfire Night TheReal always have done - past 49 years

It is a ghastly American import and 'celebrating' evil is rather dubious in my book! I always explained this to mine from when they first became aware of it and they accepted it and now as teens hold the same opinion! Prom nights on leaving school is a rather nice US idea tho'

We'll plenty of parents taking kids out round here as we've run out of sweets. (£17 worth!)

Protego - I think you'll find we exported it to the US. Its a myth that Halloween is American.

Pumpkin carving
fancy dress costumes
Lots of sweets which are normally restricted
Scary films (Ghostbusters!)

Oh course we do Halloween!

6yo and 3yo LOVE it

But it helps that lots of houses take part with fantastic decorations and go out of the way to give the dc a friendly scare.

Lots of fun all round.

"We"
Not sure who you are referring to as "we "?

No one in my family or any one I know has ever celebrated Halloween.

There are certain roads round here where virtually all the residents go all out

We have only trick or treated as a family a handful of times but they were a lot of fun

In this area where people don't knock unless lit pumpkins are out and nobody seems to trick

Wonder if there are any american families saying

"Bloody British, wish they would take halloween back"

I didn't do it with DS1 and DD because I disapprove of the macabre-ness of Hallowe'en and cringe mightily at knocking on doors.

Then

a) I got over myself re Hallowe'en

and

b) I learned that there is an etiquette, namely you ONLY knock at houses that have something displayed, where we are usually a lit pumpkin outside the door. So knowing that people wanted us to knock made me feel better about knocking on doors.

My hatred of the macabre has rubbed off on the DCs and they tend to dress up as fairly innocuous things. DS2 was dressed in something non-scary and totally bizarre tonight.

I find it OK to do now - and wish I had done it more with the older ones - but I do not look forward to it and nearly turned a cartwheel when DS2 wanted to come home this evening because he needed a wee.

(Note to self: give him lots to drink before we go next year as well).

It isn't a "ghastly American import" in Scotland. I am sixty years old and I went out every Halloween as a child - we called it "guising" - guisers being an old word for actors.

It has been resurrected big time in our neighbourhood- more kids coming round the doors than we have had for about 15 years - supervised by parents and older siblings. Great costumes and jokes.

I am so glad some of you are not my parents

That said, quite a few do actually sound a lot like my parents. They refused to let us celebrate because they thought it was evil and begging.

None of their children share their view and we all enjoy trick or treating with dc. Just a shame our childhoods haven't got the happy memories because of our boring parents

I can't understand when people don't go for it really. Birthdays, Christmas, also a load of boghersome nonsense if you choose to look at it that way.

Halloween round our way is brilliant. We spent the afternoon decorating the house and making costumes and then went out trick or treating - half of our neighbours are out doing the same. My kids are tiny but they absolutely love it and I think it's really exciting for them to be out in the dark doing something so fun and different. I also think, with my judgy knickers hoiked right up, that it builds great community spirit and it teaches our kids (somewhat paradoxically) that they don't have to be scared of people. Even when they're dressed as axe-wielding zombies.

Go on, do it next year. You will love it, honestly.

Never taken them before but took them out this year. The local "rules" are that you only go to the houses that have jack-o-lanterns burning outside the front of the house -- I'd estimate that's around one in ten houses on the streets we explored. And of those about 50% of the householders were homesick American expats . People who don't want callers in search of sweets can relax in their own homes unmolested without having to hide behind the sofa (we've been living in this area for 18 years and never had unsolicited trick-or-treaters (except once, in a restaurant, two weeks before Halloween )).

This morning we spent time at our local playgroup with all the babies dressed in funny babygrows doing messy play with a Halloween theme.

Anyone that walked into the group and used the word 'evil' would have been looked at like this .

Nothing could have been less harmless.

This afternoon I was at a local playscheme with the older dc doing halloween craft. We painted, played with clay and made lots of wonderful decorations. If that is evil - so be it.

Interesting story my Scottish colleague had no idea what I was talking about today.
She has lived in Glasgow and Edinburgh and on Skye and has never heard of it!

I think those who do it tend to over egg the importance.
I went out to get supplies earlier - not one sign of Halloween in our village.

Trick or treat is begging with menaces

"can we have some sweets"
"sorry, we do not do halloween"
"can we have some money then"

Fur Cough
I'll keep all my lights off thankyou

the English Autumn celebration was guy fawkes

I've said this on another thread but I think Halloween is great as kids from all backgrounds can get excited and join in. It's unifying in a way that Christmas/Eid/Purim isn't.

I suspect this is why the Americans took to it with such gusto.

I have never asked for money or been asked for money.

What a load of nonsense.

Halloween is getting bigger and bigger every year. Ask the retailers.

squoosh
a few years ago I opened my door to "trick or treaters"
10 huge teenagers in balaclavas
I did not give them sweets so they airgunned my windows during the night

if you put a pumpkin out, you invite them
if you do not, they should stay away

Interesting story my Scottish colleague had no idea what I was talking about today. She has lived in Glasgow and Edinburgh and on Skye and has never heard of it!

Never heard of Halloween? Hmmm, I suspect you may be fibbing. If you're not fibbing I can only conclude that your colleague is very dim, uninformed and unobservant.

outherelil
the request for money was from a 6 year old at 5:45 this evening - his mother looked mortified so she effing should

I don't get how Halloween is celebrating evil. I've heard many people say it, and I get that marketing for things has connected Halloween to anything dead or undead or frightening, but I still struggle to wrap my head around that perspective. Even my extremely right wing US-Christian relatives go on about the goodness in laughing and mocking death to take away its power and sting (even if they dislike all media about it and find the way the rest of my family and everyone else remembers it too heathen ). Mocking death isn't evil, to me it's one of the most human desires to wish to be able to really do so.

We live close to a brilliant road where lots of people join in with the Halloween fun.

This evening Ds dressed as a pirate, dd1 was a spider and dd2 a witch. We went out as a family and only knocked on doors that had pumpkins / Halloween decorations up. We saw lots of people we knew and there was a fun atmosphere. We went out at 5.45 and returned home at 6.45 to start on the sweet collection!

I would recommend giving it a go before deciding against it.