Anyone else not putting up Halloween decorations this year or participating in trick or treating?

[thegrinxh]

I was talking to a neighbour down the road and he seemed surprised when I mentioned that I won't be decorating the front of my house for Halloween this year/ participating in trick or treating.

None of the other neighbours on the estate say hello or are friendly and I have had issues with kids throwing footballs at my car and fence etc.

I don't really want to be spending money for other peoples kids on sweets and decorations.

My own kids are way too young to participate anyway.

My neighbour said "Oh well I think your house will be the only one not celebrating and people may get even more funny with you".

AIBU to lot went to participate or is this the norm if you have kids/ live in area with a lot of kids?

I live in the UK.aibu

That's crazy about your neighbour, it's still almost 2.5 months away! For me this is what makes the year seem to go a bit too fast because as soon as we hit August the Halloween hype starts and within weeks all the Christmas stuff will be in the shops. When you think about it, in the UK the Christmas hype starts early September in the shops and doesn't stop until the last die hards take their decorations down in mid January! That's a long time for a 3 day event!

It did my head in last year because on Halloween, people were posting online that they had the Xmas decs out the loft ready to put up on 1st Nov! There isn't many houses that decorate for Halloween round me and we seem to one kid that dares himself to come down out dark cul de sac. People moaned last year about not enough decorated houses to take their kids to see but I think it's because shops are pushing Halloween out by already pushing Xmas down people's throats.

Yes it's one of my favourite nights of the year and we loved the voluntary interactive participation that came with decorating to get visitors and then being other people's visitors.
I also like how it marks the season change from summer to autumn.

There is a style called "primative Halloween " which is all about pumpkins ,witches hats and legs and brooms, cats and bats etc . Absolutely non of this awful slasher stuff at all.

I decorate the house thus....and because it's a small house I like to change our decor to give us a break from the same old and same old.

After the summer we have had this time im going to relish this autumn feel even more

I saw quite a few people posting online last Halloween that they had Xmas decorations out of the loft to put up the next day! It's ridiculous! Some people are fully decorated before it's even been bonfire night or remembrance day.

Nope. The current celebrations came here from the 80’s USA.
We had absolutely centuries years ago all manner of festivals, true.
But we did not have Halloween and trick or treating as it is today. I would have remembered it. It didn’t happen.

Yes, you can. Quite why you would I have no idea though.
Many people follow anything if enough people do it too.
Supermarkets must love you. And laugh.

My kids hated me because I refused to buy into it. Now the planet is trashed.

the voluntary interactive participation

Eh?

I am pleased it's a Saturday this year as I can decorate then have time to clear away .
I make decorations or I re use mine so minimal plastic tat landfill.
One year I bought some small pumpkins but didn't use them so they were sliced and roasted on their skin for soup ( it was delicious)
I don't like digging my hands into the innards of a huge pumpkin ( and they're not so good for eating )
My adult DS hopes no one comes so he can get a lions share of the sweets little swine.
We do only a couple of hours for small children luckily we don't have teens coming round .

And have we all been chastised enough? It's AUGUST.
I think the message has been hit home .
But I don't care . I love Hallowe'en . I will think about it in August in 30c heat if I want to .

Last year a lot of teens were coming round more then once and grabbing handful of sweets which I don't think is right (saw it on my ring door bell).

I had left two massive bowls of sweets/chocolates/ mini party bags out.

Perhaps not where you are. Definitely where I'm from and I'm 62

Where did I say we do it? I said people can choose to if they want to (which many people seem to) and other people don’t have to if they don’t.
I’ve never bought anything from a shop to decorate my house for Halloween. We go pumpkin picking, carve our pumpkins and leave them on the doorstep to signal that we’re open to trick or treaters. When we’ve ran out of treats, we bring the pumpkins inside.

We celebrate at home. We have a movie night and watch Halloween films with snacks and/or a takeaway. I never decorate for Halloween. Curtains closed, door locked and lights off and I never answer the door. I'm of the era of "don't take sweets from strangers", so it baffles me when people take their kids round knocking on strangers houses for sweets.

@Monty36 Trick-or-treating originated from ancient Celtic festivals, medieval practices of “souling” and “guising,” and evolved into the modern Halloween tradition of children collecting treats door-to-door.

People would go door to door offering a prayer or a song in exchange for food (souling). In Victorian times the food often given was a type of pastry called a soul cake. Something resembling a biscuit, or a cake. In modern times has that tradition evolved into sweets and chocolate.

So, the origin of trick or treating is not American. Americans have developed the tradition further. That’s all.

@RampantIvy Wouldn't class "Guising" as medieval. Gunpowder plot was 1605.

I'm not, but mainly because it's August.
I might at the end of October though 🤷

I'm not sure what it has to do with the gunpowder plot. Guising derives from the word disguise, and is based on the notion that people dress up at Halloween.

Perhaps I should have put why one would do it ? Although people would probably comment on that if I put it.
It wasn’t literally referring to you personally.

I know all that. I really do. Centuries ago people did that.
In the 60’s and 70’s nobody I knew did any of that. Nor what happens today. Nobody went offering prayers in modern times.
But quite a different beast from that is celebrated today. Which is all about horror and scary stuff.
Today’s Halloween marlarky has come from the USA and largely came here in the 80’s.

In Scotland, kids went "guising" in disguise. Not 'Penny For The Guy" type .
And you had to do a song or joke for your sweet. Not just roll up and shout Trick or Treat
Ahhhhh. Back in the day

It was the use of ‘you’ that made me think it was aimed at me, I guess.
‘Supermarkets must love you’

I was talking generally. Replying to your point but not being personal to you.

Repeating this many times still doesn't make it true.

Trying to explain it is draining that much is true.

Do you live in my village OP. Halloween round here is bloody massive! We have Halloween committee and nearly everyone goes all out. I’ve actually got the week before Halloween off so I can prep our house and decorate. (Also I need a recovery week from being in a theatre show the week before) We give away hot chocolate, babies get stuff, doggies, little ones get sweets or toys depending if they’re allergic or diabetic or something. We “go big or go home” in our village. Some people choose not to decorate at all (my 80+ year old next door neighbour doesn’t decorate) but everyone, even “awful” teenagers respect that. I’m so excited, I’ve started ordering things already (cups for hot choc and got a pre order slot at Tesco and Morrisons to make sure we have enough milk to do hot choc without taking everything off the shelves)
I completely appreciate though that you don’t feel up to it this year. If you’re moving, I doubt anyone will notice, and as you said, you don’t feel like part of the community, so that’s fine too. Honestly, my kids would go “oh X house isn’t decorated, let’s go next door”

Halloween hadn't crossed my mind yet, we never have decorations or give out sweets