Trick or Treat - AIBU

[Doseofreality]

AIBU in believing that it’s an unwritten rule that you do not Trick or Treat houses that have no Halloween decorations up.

We’ve had numerous bangs (and yes they are bangs) on the door over the past hour, and quite frankly, it’s pissing me off!

You can't be serious. You expect people to sit in darkness in their homes just to not to be harassed by random kids that they don't even know?!

Yes that's fair enough - only ones with pumpkins or done up we go to.

I just don't answer the door.
Not had any this year... but we have no porch light and no decorations so aren't exactly inviting!

When did this rule become a thing? Because 10 years ago when I took my ds trick or treating not one house had decorations no one did!! The odd house maybe a pumpkin but even that was rare!! Not every one follows the trend of decorations my 89 year old nan buys plenty of sweets for trick or treaters but no chance is she hanging decorations up!!

Absolutely NOT always been the case of knock on every door. My kids are older now but even 15+ years ago it was decorated houses only.

I had this issue (whilst I was WFH this afternoon until 6pm). Bang bang bang every few minutes.

In the end I just shoved my dogs into the garden (it’s sort of a wrap around - you can see the front door from the side gate. The dogs can’t get out but can be seen and it runs almost parallel to the path to the front door) and let them just woof away for an hour. That stopped people coming up my front drive 😁

nobody decorates their houses round where I live, if you put a pumpkin out if would get pinched. The kids just knock where they see a light on, I give sweets and have had a flurry of little ones between 5 - 6pm which was lovely, all dressed up and with their mums and it was a pleasure to see them. All of them were pleasant and polite

We haven't bothered with pumpkins this year (we usually do) and have not had a single person knock, expect next door who we know really well.
We did buy a tub of sweets though, so DCs are happy that they have that to get through.

Decorated houses only here and we’ve had nobody , but I’ve not seen many people wandering about anyway .

We’ve had absolutely loads on our street tonight, so many houses went to town with decorations that people came from other areas. The kids were all brilliant, very polite and from what I could see avoided all the houses that weren’t decorated or didn’t have a lit pumpkin outside.

I blew my pumpkin candle out at 7.30pm as I’d ran out of sweets and had no more knocks after then.

Agreed. If you don't want any callers on Halloween, don't have any lights on at the front of your house. I don't and generally it works!

There was someone posting on a thread last night who decorated but didn’t do trick or treating. They didn’t get that decorating meant please knock.

I wouldn't be marking my house up as having a person with a disability in it.

Let me guess who the ones are who don't follow this reasonable unwritten rule. Children of parents who park their SUVs on double yellow lines or dangerous corners. Or those who never accept their child misbehaves.

Same here. Even with the decorated homes, if the pumpkin lights are off, you don't knock.

The kids around my area are very good. One group were a bit cheeky, rifling through the bucket (clearly displeased with the selection) and asking if there was any Dairy Milk, but they said thank you and Happy Halloween, so hardly anything terrible.

Decorated houses only.

I saw a video a shortwhile ago, was for comedy purposes only and it was a bloke who put an empty bowl on his doorstep, saying "only take one", once gone, they are gone! Perhaps try this OP! 😆

I do agree though that parents should teach their kids manners and not approach undecorated houses and no you should not have to sit in the dark and you really should not have to put out an empty bowl preceeding it's been emptied by previous trick or treaters!

When we came up to do bath time I left the remaining sweets on the doorstep in a bowl. Not had a single knock at the door since. From the ring doorbell notifications I've had I can see the kids saying the bowl is empty and walking straight to next door, who have no decorations up, and can hear them knocking! So hoy an empty bowl outside, works a treat!

Wow I was nine 30 years ago and noone decorated their houses so back then we did just knock on every house that looked like it had people home. We must have grown up in very different estates. Mine being benefit/working class council estate.

Where I live it has always been the rule that you only knock on doors where there are pumpkins and/or decorations. I don't understand why it's so difficult for some to understand as surely you can't expect to get treats from every single person in a town/village.

Around here the unwritten rule is to only knock on the decorated/lit pumpkin houses.
However, it has been really quiet this evening. I suspect it's because a lot of families went to organised events last weekend (saw lots of kids in costumes). The last few years I've had more than a dozen knocks. Tonight it's been four - and my house is heavily decorated!
As a child (mostly early 90s) it was a free for all. Most people didn't door knock on but if you did you tried every house where it looked like someone was in.

Never heard of that. When I was a child most people let us in. A few didn't. They either ignored the door or answered and turned us away. I remember it being said that a lantern outside the door meant they wanted us, but I never remember seeing one. Most people seemed to enjoy the experience and had stocked up on fruit, nuts, confectionery of all kinds and sometimes had made toffee apples or tablet. Of course the 'entertainment' we provided was probably terrible but they listened patiently. We went out as soon as it got dark, stopping at 9pm. We got round about 30 houses in that time. I remember once 2 American children didn't realise we had to sing a song or recite a poem, and they just said trick or treat but they were given their rewards the same as us. We called it guising and it was huge. If you don't want to let in guisers or trick or treaters as they're now called, just ignore the bangs. Only one night in the year.

Took my DDs this evening and only knocked on doors that were decorated or pumpkins.

Some went REALLY over the top this year. One had a smoke machine that went off just as she walked up to the door and my DD10 absolutely shit herself. It was hilarious!

To add she also found it funny once she got over the shock. I'm not a terrible mother I promise 🙈🤣

I think we must live with some very well behaved children - they all do their trick or treating between 5pm and 7pm and then it's silent outside and they only knock on decorated houses, leaving others (including mine which has the porch light lit automatically) alone.

With a barky, anxious dog, I am very grateful for their consideration!

I agree and I love trick or treaters! But some people aren't in a position to answer or just not into it. I wouldn't go on decorations really as sometimes we wouldn't have those, but if the door isn't lit up and curtains closed it's just a house to skip and onto the next.

I am no fan of trick or treating and, thankfully, it doesn't happen where I live.

However, as it obviously does happen in your area, I agree there should be no door knocking if you don't have any Halloween decs up. I would be inclined to have no lights on at the front so it looks as though you are out.