To find Halloween utterly tedious?

[TheGigglingGazelle]

Just that, really. I get why it's fun for kids, but grown adults getting excited about it, and the way everything that happens any time around Hallowe'en has to have a 'spooky' theme? casts a sidelong glance at Strictly while typing Each to their own, but... I just don't get it.

Is it just me?

The tacky side of Halloween I’m not a fan of but the history of Halloween dates long way back in England’s history

In the olden days before it was Americanized, it was literally visit grandparents, watch male relatives competitively open a coconut and dress up for an hour or so
How a pagan festival has gotten so out of of hand is beyond me. If you said ‘Samhain’ , who would know what you were talking about??

What a judgemental, sour thread. We have just waved the last of our friends off after a Halloween party, everyone dressed up and looked amazing. We had zombie cocktails and I dressed the house in Halloween decor, it looked great. Everyone had a fantastic time. You are probably one of those bitter people who hates Christmas, or any kind of fun come to that

People in the UK,didn't used to make a big deal about Halloween many years ago. I went to live in the USA for 3 years in the mid 1970's and it was a very big thing there then. People there went crazy doing their houses up, and the commercial aspect was way over the top.

Then later,when coming back to the UK, we were following suit here, and now it's just the same as the USA here.

I live in a village here. and parents come round with a group of children, knocking on doors, but I never answer the door, but whatever, if they like the night, so be it.

I absolutely cannot be arsed with trick or treat. I'm rather relieved that my children have long ago outgrown it.

So I no longer do a pumpkin and haven't for years. Most people don't knock at houses not displaying one.

Oooh yabu op. I love spooky stuff and have always pulled out all the stops for my kids. My DS used to say he preferred Halloween to Christmas.

Our street makes a big effort at Halloween. Literally, if there's a lit pumpkin in the window, trick or treaters are welcome, and they leave the other houses alone. I think it works really well. You know you're not disturbing anyone.

Personally think its strange that adults dress up and go round town etc or get excited for it but don't see anything wrong with trick or treating to doors with decorations.

My DD is 3 and is more excited for halloween than she is Christmas 🤣

I think its a lot different down south tbh and not really celebrated , were I live north west every other door has big decorations on it and at least 2 pumpkins!

Same here, was fine when dc were little but I now have no desire to spend my entire evening from 5.30-9pm answering the door every few minutes. We seem to attract hundreds of trick or treaters so we have taken to going to the pub every year!

I'm Irish, mid thirties, trick or treating was definitely a thing when I was growing up. My parents are in their sixties and it was a thing when they were growing up.

Not new, not American.

Obviously Ireland isn't Britain, but I'm guessing most Scottish posters would say similar about guising.

Google candlemas Those who want a febuary celebration

Oh great. Same thread we get every year where the ignorant idiots bleat about it being an American ‘import’ seemingly oblivious to its longstanding Irish and Scottish heritage.

Teach your kids begging from door to door. Disgusting.

Way to be a dick about other people’s long established customs. The rules of engagement are clear. You don’t knock on doors of those not ‘participating’ by decorating their house. Are you always this dismissive of other people’s cultural traditions?

LaurieMarlow
Your rules of engagement are similar to the rules when I was a child but because we were unaccompanied, we also only went to houses of people we knew (which was quite a lot of people in a close community)

We had thrifty costumes, not mass produced crap
Decorations were a pumpkin or turnip carving
It was mainly younger children trick or treating with parents and then older children up to 11/12 on their own.

What I don't like about it now is that there's a much more commercialised market for it, banners, plastic tat, cheap mass made costumes that will never get used again. Plus, people don't seem to get the rules of engagement anymore. In our last area we would get groups of 15 year olds in normal clothes and masks turning up at 9/10pm trick or treating. No proper costume, just turning up at houses who are clearly not participating asking for sweets, and one year we had a group turn up 2 days before Halloween.

So now, I keep sweets in for younger kids who come round early with their parents and then I don't answer the door after 7ish. I'm not miserable, I just don't want to participate in this version of Halloween.

Are you always this dismissive of other people’s cultural traditions?

Probably just the Irish ones. I wonder if some of the posters on this thread also enjoy a thick Paddy joke . Ah but it's ok to laugh, cos their auntie Joan is irish and she laughs you see .

I have to say, we did not do trick or treating in my part of Ireland. We did something called Halloween rhyming where we went round and said a little poem for people who gave us pennies. Trick or treating where I now live in England is more like what you see in American movies. So I get why people would say "it has become Americanised". Much in the same way people would say that about big baby showers, 'gender' (they mean sex) reveal parties etc and also Christmas. But nobody says Christmas or having babies is an American import do they? It's the frequently wrong but never in doubt little Englanders who like to say Halloween is a new American thing. Even when it's pointed out to them, that they are incorrect they won't be told. It's a hopeless case really. Let's hope the next generation in this country are less thick headed.

It's nice in Belgium as it's about remembering your dead. Massive pots of crysanthamums appear in the shops about 2 weeks before, and on All Hallows Eve and All Saints Day, there are church services. All Saints Day (01 November) is a religious holiday, so a day off school, work, and the shops are shut. Even though All Souls is a day later, lots of people visit the churchyard and cemeteries on the 1st with their big pots of crysanthamums to place on the graves of their dead. The florist stall at the entrance to the municipal cemetery did a roaring trade.

Trick or treating was low level in the 13 years I was there. I ended up eating most of the sweets I'd bought.

We lived tucked behind a church and all the graves on 01 November would suddenly have crysanths in various colours on them. There were the war graves of two British soldiers killed in WWII in the churchyard, and they had crysanths,as well. We put poppy crosses on them later.

I enjoy Halloween - for me it marks the end of summer and the beginning of the winter season. I talk about the Celtic and pagan origins of the festival with my children and we talk about those we loved who have moved on.
We also do some traditions like apple bobbing and pumpkin carving and now they are getting older we also watch some scary/spooky movies. We don’t do trick or treating because we live too rurally to bother. To me this feels more like the starting point of a new year than New Years does.

What we do now as a family is watch Coco and carve pumpkins . If we can, we have family round for a meal.

Growing up, the traditions were apple bobbing, turnip carving (no pumpkins available), Halloween rhyming, apple pies baked with coins in them - it was good luck if you got a coin in your piece, though it sounds a bit of a choke hazard 😂. We usually had a meal with colcannon, which had some significance which I can't remember sadly. My mum died fairly young, so a few of our family traditions have been forgotten. We will remember her on Halloween, as is traditional. Anyone telling me that is "a new, tacky, American import, encouraging your children to beg - disgusting" is frankly, a sad little person and I feel sorry for you.

Just another opportunity for shops to sell tons of plastic tat no-one needs, along with tons of cheap confectionery. Was in Home Bargains yesterday and there were aisles of this tosh, nasty, cheap looking, disposable. It’s a huge and very clever marketing ploy. See also Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter, ST patrick’s Day etc etc etc.

I get why it's fun for kids

I don't, I think it's wasted on children. And they have their own Christmas, I resent this trend for letting them have Goth Christmas too.

Beatrice, your Halloween sounds great. Nothing like the parade of plastic tat it’s become.

DD (7) has somehow been convinced that vampires are real. Last Halloween she would barely sleep through a single night, as she was scared about them, & hated seeing any halloween stuff in the shops. I tried explaining to her that in all the books etc vampires can't come inside people's houses unless you ask them in, that they are afraid of garlic, sunshine, crosses etc. But most of all that aside from all that, she didn't need to worry about them because they're completely made up... a few days after Halloween she stopped worrying & I thought that was the end of it. Nope, again, this year, we have the sleep disturbances, the requests for garlic in foods (which she loves), etc. I asked her if she understood why we are so strict with her not running off in town, near roads, etc - because we want to keep her safe. And explained that if vampires were real, we'd tell her about them too, to keep her safe.

The only thing I enjoy about Halloween is the easy availability of pumpkins - I love roasted squash. Yum! I do think a lot of Halloween stuff is just supermarkets trying to make more money wherever they can. Obviously selling supplies for bobbing for applies & pumpkin carving isn't particularly lucrative, hence all the plastic rubbish. (FFS, I thought society was supposed to be reducing its use of plastics.)

I never got it until I moved here (still in the UK) a whole section of the estate I live on set up games and even a haunted house for the children and we only go to houses that have decorations. It has such a great community feeling and the kids love it.

I love the history of it. My kids were interested so we follow a few samhain traditions. I dont really see a problem with trick or treating either, it's a few sweets once a year to make some kids happy. My lot love making cookies for the kids that visit. Around here it brings the community together.

Humans love designated celebrations and festivals though. Across all history and culture that is a constant feature of human existence.

There is far more to it than ppl being convinced to buy plastic tat. The historical origins of Samhain are really interesting. And humans enjoy dabbling in things spooky/scary.

Was in Home Bargains yesterday and there were aisles of this tosh, nasty, cheap looking, disposable. It’s a huge and very clever marketing ploy. See also Valentine’s Day, Mother’s and Father’s Day, Easter, ST patrick’s Day etc etc etc.

Did you forget to.mention the aisles and aisles of Xmas decorations and food and 'gift sets' that's been on display in.most shops for a month already? Our HB has a tiny section up the back for Halloween stuff in comparison.

I love it!
Always been a huge thing in Scotland.
My gran would go "guising" ( trick or treating) dressed as a ghost or a witch when she was a child in the 1890s.

Even now my village is jumping on Halloween night- most houses are decorated, and the streets have dozens of children and adults out in costume.