Halloween... Do kids have it too easy these days? 😒

[Catsup]

In my day and age (many moons ago) my Scottish parents would balk at paying for a pumpkin. They'd then risk a finger (and several hours) hollowing out a turnip, bunging a stumpy candle inside, pulling a bin bag over my head (with head/arm holes), and setting me off on my merry way!... Aibu to really feel my kids with their fancy pants pumpkins and actual costumes haven't actually lived?

We hollowed out swede - think DM did that cos we would then actually eat the inside (yummy with roast beef).

We weren't allowed to trick or treat as it was considered to be begging/threatening. So we just went to a few pre arranged friends' houses.

What is Mischief Night? That’s one I haven’t heard of

We couldn't afford a turnip one year and resorted to using a potato 🤣🤣😏

I loved Halloween as a kid - the challenge of carving the Halloween swede (like trying to hollow out a bowling ball), duck apple and Monster Mash on the radio. Didn't know pumpkins existed outside of Scooby Doo until one became POTUS.

I remember my bin bag costume and I drew stars on it with chalk, donned a witches hat and put some dark lipstick on. Every year. Cue obligatory photo taken whilst sitting on the stairs waiting for the doorbell to ring prior to heading out, to be developed months later into that very early 90's bleached out and stark looking scene, only recognisable as a teal green carpet, shiny crumpled bin bag, messy hair and unsightly lipstick!
A couple of houses on our road did a "trick" too, with firecrackers. Good days!

We had a pumpkin but we certainly weren’t allowed to trick or treat. Our house regularly got egged by the kids who were allowed though

I’ve always hated it and tried to resist my DCs liking it. So of course, they love it. I was going to finally change my stance and relent this year and then 2020 happened. 🤦‍♀️🙈

The smell of burnt turnip will live with me forever!

We always went guising and I remember, aged 10, being very indignant when told I was ‘begging’ by some English people who had moved to our village... I was performing a very beautiful tune on the recorder in exchange for my sweets, thank you.

Turnip all the way. The jealousy at a girl in our class whose granny made her a Holly hobbit costume - all sewn and beautiful and the rest of us in bin bag witches...😂

@1forAll74

We did not really do Halloween in the 1950 era, or even later than that. But when married with two children, we as family went to live in the USA for three years, in 1976. Then Halloween was a massive thing in the USA, the whole land seem to be covered in massive Pumpkins and all the the gaudy crap surrounding Halloween.

We lived in an affluent area, and the whole streets were full of entire families, all the family, with aged grandparent too, all dressed up like one big pantomime show everywhere, It was all very very noisy everywhere, big Halloween banners strung up. dogs dressed up in scary costumes. The Americans do things big style.

A couple of years after we came home to the UK, I noticed that lots of this big time Halloween stuff was coming to the UK shops, as we tend to follow suit here, with all this razz stuff from the USA. So now it's just the same here in our little island.

Yes and it's definitely something we can do without.

I'm glad there is no trick or treating where I live, the entire thing seems quite bizarre to me.

I remember trying the hollow out a swede and wouldn't wish it on anyone again.

No pumpkins in Stockport either.

We weren't allowed to trick or treat either as my mum thought it was akin to begging.

I think we just sat there in costume looking at our swede.....

We had to do a turn as well, I can still remember practicing “I’m a long-legged chicken, I’m a knock-kneed hen” in the garden for weeks beforehand.
Mind you, I think the people opening the doors have it easy today as well because they don’t have to listen to this stuff. I think we did “Polka dot bikini” one year.

and it was called “guysing”
Trick or treat is an American thing, I think.

[quote Catsup]@Oysterbabe I think they just weren't a 'thing' in the UK, probably also really expensive. I had a US pen pal at the time too, and I can recall being in awe of the photo she sent me of her 'massive house', umpteen (3)carved pumpkins on the outside steps, and her awesome costume!... By contrast the sad little photo returned of me sporting my bin bag, and clutching my turnip after the garden twine holding the lid up had snapped? 🙄 Probably made me look like we lived under a rock and were yet to discover electricity. [/quote]
😂😂😂

Ah those rigid plastic masks. With the tongue hole that would scrape 10 layers off your tongue with its sharp edges. Living the dream.

We did not really do Halloween in the 1950 era, or even later than that

THose of us on the Celtic fringes of the UK certainly celebrated Halloween then, and long before.
My gran was born in 1890 and told me tales of her Halloween celebrations, guising around houses dressed as a witch or a ghost, for sweets or fruit, having small parties, doing divination for fun, dooking for apples.

Guising was never begging.
Even now ( apsrt from Covid) children coming to doors are required to perform in return for a reward. So a song, a rhyme a joke, then sweets are given in return.

Tell the kids you're going retro this year

Witches costume of the late 80s / early 90s 😂

Or black tights, black leotard and a tail made from another pair of tights stuffed with newspaper. Some pointy ears made out of black paper stuck on to a headband + nose and whiskers drawn on with mum's kohl pencil et voila a cat costume.

My mum didn't really agree with Halloween so we didn't do anything, much to my disappointment. It looked such fun on Snoopy.

I remember one year deciding to make a "pumpkin" myself but the only thing available and orange was a tangerine. It actually worked quite well until I put a candle in it. Burning tangerine peel stinks!

Grew up in 60s/70s and Halloween was a non event in our house. Of course I was aware of it but we didn’t do anything special at all.

I don’t like the way Halloween and Bonfire Night have merged into one long event.

No, not the kids have it easy, parents have it easy these days. It's other way round I think. We parents can easily buy costumes from supermarkets, we don't have to make them. Even my local charity shop has many costumes for sale, for a few pound too. There are hundreds of easy craft ideas online to make it special for children without spending a lot of money.

We had to wear bin bags and a witches hat with colourful tights, although my mum made me a cool catsuit, we had pumpkins though , early 90s.

I had a turnip but very much had a good costume. Homemade in those days but always really good and imaginative. I can't relate to the bin bag thing.

I never had that when I was little. My parents were never into Halloween. No decorations, no pumpkins, they didn't answer the door, I wasn't allowed to go trick or treating until I was 10 and wore the famous bin bag witch costume.

Bin bag, hair back combed, my mums eyeshadow round my eyes to make me lol zombified and a witches hat if I was lucky

@ShirleyPhallus

We used to also hollow out a swede when kids. Sad, sad, wrist aching, stinky times.

Stinky times, indeed!

The acrid stench of cremated turnip lingered round the street for days.

We weren't allowed to knock on doors, though - we could only run around the streets shrieking like loonies. Great gangs of over-excited kids screaming in the darks as much as our neighbourhood could cope with, without the little buggers banging on the doors demanding sweets.

One year my sister set her hair on fire fnnying about with her turnip. I smacked out the flames with my hand and the little sht ran to our mam and said I'd hit her on the head for nothing! I got dragged in and given a welt for hitting her - mam wouldn't listen to the explanation. It was only later before bed when we all came in that the great burned lump of hair was noticed.

I said "I told you - you wouldn't listen - you just hit me!" and got told - "Well it'll do for the next time"

For the record, it didn't "do for the next time" - I got brayed the next time as well. (This happened fairly often. I learned nexer to try to cash in on my smacks)