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

You obviously aren’t in a town centre. That’s the differentiator. You will probably in bed before the town kicked off. But even affluent areas, it did indeed kick off

If it hadn't been for the plastic tat in the shops you wouldn't have known the date round here.

It certainly didn’t ‘kick off’ in zone 2 London - which is very much a centre!

If you say so, The stats will confirm or not as to whether the night was any busier than usual zone two in London. We would probably notice even a one percent increase in the burbs a lot more than you would. I would imagine.

I grew up in an area that had Mischief Night in the 1960s/70s. North Lincolnshire bordering Yorkshire. Mischief Night was always the night before Bonfire Night, i.e. 4th November.

Some people would take it a bit too far and there was often tomfoolery with fireworks, but mostly it was innocent fun and quite enjoyable. As a young child I was allowed out to do a few local tricks but they were always fairly harmless things like knocking on doors and running away, putting jam on door handles etc. Mind you as a teen I did once sneak in to my miserable old uncle's outside toilet and put shoe polish on the seat!

Halloween was barely a thing for us. I think I remember a couple of parties, one in the school hall and one at Brownies, during my whole childhood. Nobody decorated for it and definitely nobody had even heard of trick or treat. In fact I didn't encounter anyone trying trick or treat IRL until I was an adult living in a different part of the country and thought it was just a ridiculous concept they had copied from American television. How times change!

I have no idea whether Mischief Night still holds sway over TorT in my home area but I kind of hope it does. It would seem a shame if an old local tradition got washed away by an imported idea.

Are you talking about being busy or about crimes being committed now?

I’ve never seen a crime in action.

What time were you inside your house?

Christ, where do you live?? Our streets were full of kids dressed up, and adults but no-one swore or shouted at anyone … including the teens.

Where I’m from in the U.K. Halloween has always been HUGE. Fireworks displays, parades and the works, trick or treat, parties - it’s not a new thing. Even my dad in his 70s now went trick or treating in masks.

I'm really sorry OP that's awful. I don't think this is typical though in fact I'm really happy reading posts from people talking about little kids dressed up and decorated houses and people being civilised.

It was similar round here, we were out but teen DD put some decorations up and we left a small bowl of wrapped chocolate bars out. When we got home there were two left in the bowl so people were even polite enough to leave some for others!

I'm outraged about the PP's cat being painted red though - that's just so sad to read.

It's a strange example of something that's actually got better and more civilised over time!

Nothing wrong with this at all, my teen dressed up and went out with her friends and to her grandma's who loves seeing them dressed up!

What does it stand for? It's a less commercial fun night than Christmas for example. I love spookiness

I’m not.

Most of the Christmas threads here are full of angst and drama about gifts, who visits who, rude relatives, emotional blackmail and manipulation, people grinning and bearing people they obviously dislike for the sake of a holiday when they would be better off just saying no, especially when the other doesn’t like them either, etc..

Halloween, dress up, go out with friends, get a bit of candy, go home.

There’s little pressure or expectation with Halloween compared to Christmas.

We go big for Halloween here too, always throw a bit of a party, decorate the house and give out tons of sweets. In all the years we’ve been doing it, we’ve never had any problems. It’s always fun and the kids are mostly all polite. We had lots of teens here last night and every one of them said please and thank you.
My kids are already planning for next year…😂

..we’re in zone 3 SE London

Where I am , it’s nice but definitely not posh .
Quite a few decorated houses , lots of kids going from door to door but had all been told only to knock at decorated houses .
Kids were excited and running round being silly but nothing else .
I didn’t decorate , been really tired lately but I did leave a very large tub of sweets out and told all the neighbours that kids were welcome to help themselves but not to ring doorbell as our dog would lose his mind

I know I’m in the minority but I hate it. The Americanisation of it all - the endless plastic tat, the sweets. Each to their own but it’s not for me.

I much prefer bonfire night which used to be a really big thing but no one seems to bother with that so much. To be fair I suspect a lot of councils would struggle to justify or afford a proper display these days.

It’s my least favourite time of year

We always have the group of irish traveller kids demanding cash and chucking the sweets back !!..They ask for £1 min.

I think there are a few trends coming together.

1. Post covid, teens are out of the streets again. They seem to be hanging about in huge gangs as well, and no-one is dispersing them yet. The police are bunkered into offices and stations, outnumbered.

2. Standards of public behaviour are shocking. I also got called a fat cunt by a passing druggie-looking cyclist. It was so nasty and aggressive I was taken aback.

3. Halloween has been rising in popularity for many years, and I think it is really good fun.

I must admit I think teens hanging about in antisocial ways were a real feature of my youth (80s/90s), but not in such enormous groups.

been getting more and more popular each year.
I was out trick or treating with DD (age 10) and her friend yesterday evening and it was nice, lots of families walking around everyone having a nice time. Didn’t see any bad behaviour and the kids who knocked on our house were all polite even the couple of groups of teens.
I don’t live in a particularly posh area.
I think you have had a bad experience but the whole country really isn’t like that!

Kids allowed to go knocking on doors asking for treats, just doesn’t make sense to me
the whole thing is horrible, why celebrate death …it’s sick and got out of all proportion…

It doesn't make any more sense than telling kids that an old man in a red suit sneaks into the house at night once a year and leaves them presents.

It's just supposed to be a bit of fun. My son prefers Halloween over Christmas.

I'm originally from Teesside and Halloween has always been shit there. Even the adults behave like absolute twats, dressing up in daft outfits, getting absolutely hammered and starting fights. Then again, in the part i'm from (outing but a town near Middlesbrough) no one seems to mature past age of 16....

Only been where I am currently (3 and a half hours away) 5mo so can't comment on the behaviour here, but I've mostly only seen students out and dressed up, no trouble. However, I'm currently in the city centre so haven't a clue what it's like in the suburbs (yet!).