When did Halloween get like this?

[SoEasyToFall]

When I was younger Halloween was just about a school disco, and then when I was at uni it was a night out clubbing in fancy dress (or a flat party). It was never a huge thing.

Tonight while walking home from work there was masses of teens shouting abuse at everyone, smashing bottles and just being shits. More teens on the bus shouting abuse at everyone who wasn’t dressed up. I got called a miserable fat cunt because I wasn’t in a costume.

When did this happen? When did society get like this? I only left uni five years ago and it feels like it’s changed massively since then

I agree.
I remember having choir practice in our church last year on Halloween and a bunch of the little shits were messing about in the graveyard, being really disrespectful climbing all over the graves in costumes and terrifying our older members as they walked out at the end

Halloween is such a fun time where we live. Sorry you’ve been subjected to some awful behaviour, but it’s not like that everywhere!

I think it should be for kids not teens, I took my kids and made sure they said thank you and were polite. They had little witch dresses on and it was just fun for the kids and for the people giving out the “treats” as they also had smiles on their faces.

I agree with others it’s probably more about where you live than it being Haloween specific, but I also think life has generally got worse for a lot of people in the last 5 years, what with things closing in lockdown and not reopening and people having less money due to rising prices. Does it feel threatening out and about on other weekends where you are, or is it a big change this weekend ?

My son and his GF (mid 20s) have gone to a club this evening, for some strange reason they’ve dressed as the dragon and donkey from Shrek, and I’m really hoping someone doesn’t start taking the p!ss as he doesn’t look very Halloweeny.

The worst we had here was some little twats (teens, I think, going round on their own) taking the whole bowl of sweets when we put it outside to put the kids to bed.

Everyone else has been lovely and the highlight has been some adorably sweet toddling little pumpkins.

😆😆

Why shouldn't it be for everyone? If you come to my house, you're getting candy.

That's really shit, I've never understood why some teens go through a period of enjoying wrecking things for other people. I remember my peers doing it with various things when I was that age and I didn't understand it then either.

I'm in a village, where lots of people decorate and hand out sweets. People only ever knock on where decorations are up. Word must have got around that lots of houses here join in, because for the first time this year I saw several carfulls of teens - all dressed up - who've obviously driven here to go trick or treating.

Lots of people put out bowls of sweets while they go out themselves. As we were going around everyone was consistently taking just one sweet, none of the bowls had been emptied, all the teens (and the little kids) were all really polite, it was a lovely evening. I didn't see anyone misbehaving at all, and no graphic costumes.

My GDD dressed up as a zombie. A few children in costume out with parents going to known houses. No trouble. Mind, I have not set foot in town (but it's tacky there any Friday night).

I agree that it depends upon your area. This was my first time doing it in my current area, which admittedly, is a bit rough. Never again!

Where I used to live it was cute kids with parents or older siblings. Here it's mostly groups of teenagers- I don't mind this but decided I'd had enough at 7pm when a group of lads, probs about 13 knocked on the door. Gave them sweets and told them to take a handful. Polite, all was fine even though they weren't really dressed up. Then after I shut my door and turned around to put the sweet tub back before locking my door again they actually physically opened my front door by pulling the handle down and let my dog out whilst laughing and running off 😯I was a bit taken aback and grateful my dog has good recall, especially as fireworks are going off too. Locked the door and drew the curtains after that.

Next year I'm not going to bother participating and keeping the door locked which is a shame for the well-behaved kids!!

Not particularly big on Halloween and didn’t take mine out trick or treating this year due to poor planning on my part and shitty weather (they’re only 2 and 4) but all the kids and teens who came to our house were really polite, teens were all engaging with my son and chatting with him as he handed out candy so he absolutely loved it. Kind of restored my faith in humanity/the ‘youth’ I must say!

Why? I don't see the harm if teens want to ToT as long as they are well behaved.

I’m not a Haloween fan. Did it for DS when he was younger but don’t bother now. I do buy some chocolates just in case our neighbours’ DC knock but everyone seems to abide by the no-decorations rule so I just eat them myself! Have to say I hate the huge spider webs everyone seems to have outside their houses this year (the net ones). We do have a few fireworks going off - to the upset of my dog.

I went trick or treating tonight with little ones. I noticed A LOT more teenagers than usual. A) because Halloween is on a Friday night this year, and B) it’s half term still here. More families seem to be away, again due to half term.

Otherwise it’s the same as ever.

Today's been a bit weird here too (south Wales). The trains were all wonky this morning because of an "intoxicated person on the tracks." It was 9.40am!
The train staff were all "Halloween, what you gonna do."

Having said that, earlier this evening the only Trick or Treaters I saw were well behaved and accompanied by parents/adults.

The police have put section 35 dispersal orders in place tonight in my local area and very close by.

There has always been awful behaviour in my area even when I was growing up.

We have had no trick or treaters at all this year. The way I like it. I don't do Halloween at all.

Some teens have always had the tendency to be like this, but increasingly they don't seem to feel the social pressure not to act up openly.
Recently I saw some teens doing trolley racing at school kick out time, they were also openly smoking plus the usual effing and jeffing.
Did teens do stuff like this in the 70s 80s and 90s? - yes but most knew not to act up and to stub the cigs out and tone down the language when adults, particularly elder ones, were about.
I sound ancient 😂
Some years we get a few scary groups of older lads trick or treating, but this year its been groups of tiny trick or treaters or groups of polite teenage girls 😁

Why? It's just the end of summer/harvest and start of Winter celebration (Samhain) evolved to All Hallows Eve.

People have been celebrating it in the UK for over two thousand years.

It's one of the few British celebrations/traditions we have left.

Where in the country are you? In some parts of the North East they have something called ‘Mischief Night’ which sounds a bit like the purge where teens run amok destroying things. My friend used to volunteer to make sure teens would not destroy things. This has been going on for ages. I hope Mischief Night has not
spread. And you are definitely not a fat cunt OP x

It's not everyone. I'm sorry that happened to you. Most people would say it's become unacceptable over the last couple of decades to use fat as an insult (I'm not saying it was ever ok, just as homophobic jokes etc were never ok, but they sadly used to be common). But just as some people celebrated Halloween kindly in the nineties, and some caused trouble then, things are the same today. Yes, Halloween's "bigger" as in I don't remember whole aisles of supermarkets full of scary stuff/people over 21 dressing up when I was younger, but guess that's the same with everything really, think social media is one of the reasons.

Same here!

That's it in a nutshell.

It's an import from the US.

When I was a child decades ago all we did was make a pumpkin and wander round our road pretending to be witches or frighten someone (in a kind way.)
I stopped doing Halloween when I was about 10.

There were no costumes, no parties, nothing.

I despair at the amount of tatt and plastic people buy which is destroying the planet.

Dunno OP but what I hate most is the shite tat everywhere