To not be arsed with Halloween this year

[Dislocatedeyeballs]

I usually make a big effort decorate outside of house get pumpkins loads sweets and enjoy little monsters knocking on the door constantly however I have been a bit unwell stressed and cannot be arsed with it I am guilty of thinking that non participating people are boring mean and horrible in the past but thinking of becoming one myself shall I withdraw or carry on the tradition?

We love hallowen in our house but I can't be arsed staying in opening the door all night so we use decorating the house as an activity to keep the kids busy one day over half term. Decorations are only ever bought in the sale after halloween and used the following year as to reduce cost and then we stick a bowl outside the door for kids to help themselves as we go round the neighbourhood.
When we get home the kids answer the door a few times and when they are bored of that we just stick a bowl of sweets outside again. When they are gone they are gone!!

Oh look another thread about Halloween and some ignorant poster has popped up moaning about it being American.

Yep, Halloween bashing always seems to involve American bashing at the same time.
I really don't care how commercialised Halloween is in America. It's one of our oldest traditions and I intend to continue celebrating it.
Nobody is forcing anyone else to take part. If you don't like it, don't get involved.

A materialistic custom aquired from the US. Teaches children to beg and eat sweets

Are people not ashamed of being so god damn ignorant?

OP, if you don’t want to do it, don’t. It’s not compulsory.

My parents never did anything for Halloween and none of my friends really. It wasn't such a big thing 50 years ago. I've never done anything either. Living fairly rurally, there's not many people about, no pavements and minimal street lighting. We've managed all this time without it. Meh.

I have to admit I much prefer pumpkins to the original British turnip lanterns😂 That's what nightmares are made of

DH always goes on about pumpkins not being traditional and that when he was a boy (1960s) he used to have to carve turnip lanterns. Apparently, they were hard to carve and used to stink when lit.

The turnip lanterns are of Irish origin, not British. FWIW.

How far back? DH is from Lancashire.

Turnips started being used in Ireland in the 19th century according to Wikipedia

@SafetyAdvice0FeedWhenAgitated that turnip pumpkin is creepy indeed!

It seems that DH wasn't the only person in Lancashire celebrating Halloween with turnip lanterns...

" I’m always surprised to hear people say that Halloween is just an American thing, and a modern one at that. Growing up in Lancashire in the Seventies and Eighties, Halloween was always a big deal for us. It just wasn't in any way a commercial event. It was raw and grassroots, something that was largely ignored by the adult world, infused with a sense of menace and darkness, eminently suitable to the pagan origins of the celebration, lost in the mists of time.

We didn’t have parties, we didn’t have costumes, and we certainly didn’t have pumpkins. What we had was turnips. I hollowed out a Halloween turnip long before I ever saw a real pumpkin, before I even knew you could buy them in this country. And let me tell you something; carving a turnip takes real Northern grit. No mushy, fleshy interiors; you worked hard to hollow out a gnarled old woody root veg; you sweated for it. And – this being long before the first IKEA opened in the North – we’d never heard of tea-lights either. In your turnip you stuck the stub of a candle from the cupboard under the sink, where they were kept in case of the not-infrequent power-cuts. "

www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11966699/Halloween-was-much-more-fun-when-it-was-genuinely-scary.html

If you don't want to bother OP, then don't! I never have and never will!

Maybe have something ready for trick or treaters if it would make you feel better (as in some fun size Mars bars, Milky Ways etc, nothing elaborate), but no need to decorate the house. Or even bother with chocolate if you don't want to.

@hungryhippie such culture from the good ol' U S of A

@hungryhippie the Samhain is Irish /Celtic in origin. I cannot imagine the celts going from round house to round house shouting 'trick or treat' and stuffing themselves with food.

It's the Americans who have made it all about sweets and spending.

Our kids know to only go to houses that are decorated. I'm sure you won't be bothered much if your lights are low and you have no pumpkin out. Don't worry about it at all...

such culture from the good ol' U S of A

The US has contributed very significantly to world culture across many media. Literature, music, dance, fashion, film, art, I could go on and on.

The narrow minded English (they’re almost always English) too dumb and ill educated to see that are a particular affliction on this forum.

People shouldn’t be knocking if you haven’t decorated your house in some way (eg a pumpkin outside). We live rurally so don’t get any trick or treaters, I’d love to do it though!

The first trick or treaters were from medieval Europe
www.businessinsider.com/trick-or-treating-halloween-history-2019-10