To think Halloween is just another massive marketing ploy we've all fallen for.

[Blwean]

Reading this article today https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/oct/30/halloween-boo-basket-useless-clutter?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook&fbclid=IwAR1HhG1J-mqf1zU7ss8lxMCkNwsMJVTKudjgEt4auGVFrS8qwKuIUUUBmQc#Echobox=1698686636

Apparently Halloween spending is set to surpass £1bn in the UK this year for the first time and shops have been making a concerted effort since 00s to introduce more products and use social media influencers to push them.

Then there's pumpkin patches. Basically fields where people place pumpkins as there's none actually growing there and people pay silly prices to go and take pictures for Instagram. A friend of mine paid £50 to take her and DCs to one of these places then she's shelled out £20 on each of them for costumes and over £30 on decorations. It's her business what she spends on but just last month she was complaining about cost of living.

I'm all for celebrating Halloween but it's just about spending more and more money each year. The Instagramisation of it has ruined it and everyone just blindly spends loads on costumes they'll use once and other meaningless tat. Its the shops cashing in and we're all just like sheep who follow the marketing and influencers so we spend more

I had over 200 children knock on my door to night (groups - not individually) and it was great! Completely ran out of sweets early on😳
It was an amazing sense of community and was incredible - my daughter and her friends had so much fun.

I don't think you put a price on how valuable that feeling is so if a bit of 'tat' can help bring a very diverse community together then bring it on in my book!

You only knock on decorated doors, therefore the person behind that door is someone who has chosen to take part.

I think it's a lovely community event and great to get to know your neighbours.

I've not heard of a 'boo box' but the description of it sounded like it was consumables and things that would be kept and used such as mugs and decorations.

I did put a few things together in a bag for my daughter to keep her busy over half term - a Wednesday puzzle book, a pumpkin suncatcher to paint, The nightmare before Christmas book and also added a Halloween blanket I'd got for her. I suppose I could call it a Boo bag?!😉

My children's halloween in England in 2023 is much less of an event than my own in Scotland in 1993, which yes did involve pumpkins not neeps. Posters who don't want to believe Scotland has long gone in for Halloween, despite so many posts to the contrary, will continue to ignore this though. It's really for pre-school and primary age children - if you don't like it, don't take part but don't be a misery about it.

You call them strangers...I call them neighbours. Trick or treating is a lovely way to get to know your neighbours. And it's slightly different to have a stranger just randomly offering you sweets compared to knocking on neighbours doors who are partaking in a particular festival and you have your parents there supervising.

You find skulls on the beach? 😲

Halloween didn't start in America FFS!! 🤦‍♀️

It’s all sorts of wrong encouraging children to knock on doors and expect sweets. How can any part of that be right?

Every house we went to was decorated so obviously into participating, and everyone who answered the door seemed delighted by the kids’ costumes - asked questions and told them they looked great, often before telling them, “It’s fine, take more than one sweet!” My children thanked them and we left smiling. We probably walked about 3 km on a loop so my kids got some exercise and received probably around 20-25 sweets, which they’ll eat over the next couple of weeks.

What part of that seems wrong to you @Robotalkingrubbish ?

There's no teens doing anything anti-social in my area of the UK. My teen was handing out sweets to all the little ones who knocked while I took DD out. It is definitely a fun community thing here.

I agree Christmas is far more commercialised and Instagramified too now. We try to make it more about being with family rather than spending money as the Christmas marketing these days is just ridiculous. This year we're not doing presents but will be with loved ones on the day and I'm also hoping to volunteer the weekend before to help some people in local community

It is a Celtic tradition which the Irish and Scots brought to the states. Obviously the states makes everything bigger! Irish rivers were never dyed green.

I haven't fallen for it, I'm a marketing companies nightmare. I'm rarely swayed I know what I need and buy it when I need it.

I do wonder how many times it needs to be said that, while the term 'trick or treat' might be American, the tradition is not.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07scmx7

Same here, basically our whole village went out guising tonight, nursery-p3 go out 5-7pm p4-p7 from 7pm (and all the helpful elder sibs of course go along because they're of course too mature themselves 😆).
It's absolute fun, and while I grew up with a turnip lantern, I welcome the easy to carve pumpkin!!

Oh and no sweets without a joke or song!
Why didn't the skeleton go to the ball?
He had nobody to go with!

No one has to celebrate anything they don’t want to. However some people enjoy celebrating things and having fun so that’s ok too.

I suppose this is where the marketing bit comes in because celebrating Christmas/Halloween/Easter isn't the same as buying lots of stuff.
I mean I doubt anyone celebrates any of those without buying anything but the trend is towards buying costumes, decorations, plastic buckets together sweets in when Halloween has in the past (and might still be) celebrated without all of that.
Someone mentioned that the boo boxes contained things like a mug that would be re-used. Of course no one would throw away a mug after using it....but would they have wanted/bought one if there hadn't been a suggestion (by advertisers/influencers/retailers) that a "boo box" was a good tradition to start...? And what about next year...Will they need another Halloween mug in a boo box?
Some people buy matching Christmas PJs or a Christmas jumper every year but the reality is that an adults pjs or jumper are v unlikely to be worn out after a few months of wear ...so in 3 years time they will have 3 sets of pjs etc. That's the marketing bit.
Celebrating and spending are 2 different things!

This ^

I love a halloween party and if the children are only knocking on the decorated houses then I don't see a problem.

Yes, while the rest of us are all gullible fools 🙄Are you genuinely so arrogant as to suppose you are immune to marketing in a way most people are not? That we constantly buy things then regret it because we've been sucked in by advertising?

As a Scot of Irish ancestry it's part of my ancient culture, its something my people have celebrated for 1000's of years. Like many things it has been Americanised and commercialised but Halloween itself isn't some scam people have fallen for its as real and ancient as any other major festival.

When I was a child Halloween was a very low key thing that most people didn’t really bother with. Bonfire Night was the big one that we all really looked forward to.

Bonfire Night has now been largely eclipsed by Halloween, and IMO it’s very largely due to all the plastic tat in the shops - much of it made in China, that will ultimately end up in landfill. The only merchandise for Bonfire Night was fireworks.

However dds always enjoyed Halloween, and Gdcs love it, so I go along with it, but IMO the Halloween ‘explosion’ has largely been driven by millions of tons of money-making merchandise.

The Marketing ploy for any special day or event is that it will be more fun/better/more authentic if you buy .....<insert themed - often overpriced- item>
Mothers day
Valentines day
Christmas
Easter
Halloween

.....also weddings, hen do etc. (Why wear your normal dressing gown to get ready when you could have a new one that says hen/bride/bridesmaid etc?)

I’m still reeling from the trick or treaters a poster said told her “we’re not taking sweets any more, only money”.

If you judge it by the ratio of ‘happiness brought to children (and some adults)’ to ‘environmental damage, money wasted and stress’, then Halloween comes out way better than Christmas, it’s only costumes, decorations and sweets.
For Christmas there are also mountains of presents, a significant proportion of which will go straight to charity shops or be wasted, and masses of organisation, cooking and often family-related stress.
Halloween celebrations are optional, you don’t have to spend lots of money or time on prep and it’s just so much fun for the kids. Also a nice feeling of community.

You can tell if the children who are of Celtic heritage when they knock the door. They have all been taught to say a poem or sing a song at the door on Halloween.
All the others said "Happy Halloween".
Not one said 'trick or treat'