Bring Back Shit Halloween

[worldshottestmom]

Just seen this posted on SM and honestly refreshing to see;

"BRING BACK SHIT HALLOWEEN
Because when the fuck did it turn into Christmas with spiders?
A "Boo basket?" What the fuck are you talking about? You're not going to convince me that halloween now requires a hamper with spooky socks, themed snacks, a Halloween book and a cuddly ghost called Gerald.

Halloween was a black bin bag with holes cut in it. Your mum would stick some green eyeshadow on your face, back comb your hair and send you out looking like you'd been electrocuted. Costume sorted. Total expenditure: 37p.

Want a mask? Here's some hard plastic that smells like fish.
"Dad, I can't breathe".
"You'll be fine".

Some years you might get those cheap plastic witch fingers if your mum was feeling really flush.

Halloween decorations?
A pumpkin your parents have carved with a bread knife while swearing at it. Put a tealight in it and stick it on the doorstep. Job done.

There were no matching pumpkin pyjamas, no personalised wicker baskets, no £18 ceramic ghost mugs. You got a multipack of fun-size Mars bars and were threatened with your life if you opened them before 6pm.

And don't even get me started on Halloween Eve boxes. It's called the 30th of October. Go to bed.

I'm all for making memories with my kid, but consumerism has really got some of you in a pumpkin spiced chokehold. You can have fun on Halloween without buying a bunch of shit you'll never use again.

If you GENUINELY enjoy going all in, have at it ❤️
But for those who don't, please don't be pressured into thinking every occasion needs a gift hamper and a balloon arch.

Sometimes the magic is just putting a bin bag over your kids head and letting them terrorise the neighbours".

Now despite the obvious use of AI, I have to agree. I can't help but feel so nostalgic over Halloweens gone by, when it wasn't some big main event and everyone could just relax and enjoy. I think it does indeed feel like a second Christmas now, or a pre-Christmas if you will. Like there's a lot of pressure to make everything fun, themed, perfect. It just sucks all of the genuine fun out of it, idk. Feels like life in general these days. I think this is having a global impact on kids that is noticeable, in that they are all growing up to have expectations around these events and if they are not met then they are annoyed and disappointed. Or they think everything has to go to plan or else the whole thing is ruined. I also think it dampens their imagination; they don't think of fun things to do to pass the time because the whole evening is planned and structured. If they ever find themselves bored they run to mummy because she plans everything and comes up with all the fun ideas.

I have fond memories of literally wearing a bin bag while trick or treating with my cousins while my mum was at work. The fondest memories of my life. Now I'm flooded with videos here there and everywhere about the "perfect" DIY Halloween snacks and decorations I can make to ensure my Halloween is "perfect"!

Keep your boo boxes, keep your £20 ghost mugs, hand me the bin bags and the mars bars.

Our poor kids will never know the aroma of a turnip with a candle inside 🥹. Seriously though, the amount of consumerism has gone mad. My neighbours have had their front door decorated with HAPPY HALLOWEEN since 5th September. The shops have had Christmas decorations on sale since the same. There is plastic tat everywhere (and I'm not averse to a bit of plastic). I hear of people changing their interior for autumn now. I must be a miserable old git now.

“And don't even get me started on Halloween Eve boxes. It's called the 30th of October. Go to bed.”

Love this 😆

And Hallowe’en is already an ‘eve’ so… d’uh. Do people have any awareness of what they are actually celebrating?

But, fun for those taking part.

Yup. Same here. We were aware it was a date but people rarely did anything for it.

Bonfire Night was much more important and fun. Also where I lived we had Mischief Night on 4th November.

In fact I think even Whitsuntide was more recognised than Halloween when I was young. Traditionally you got a new dress for that.

That made me laugh.

Luckily where I live nobody knocks unless your house is decorated, when my kids were younger we celebrated with friends, you would never knock on the door of someone you didn’t know.

I find the consumerism and amount of plastic generated pretty depressing.

We used to make toffee apples and things like pumpkin soup. No extra money or landfill plastic involved.

Good to know!

Pumpkins? There were no pumpkins in the UK until circa 2003. It was turnips. Fucking AI fucks everything up.

I do wonder about all these seasonal accessories, it's quite mysterious. Like a pp says, surely most people don't buy them. UK houses are tiny - we don't have space for sixteen different types of basket/box for each of our children as the year goes on. I know that influencers say they buy them but they all live in bare shell houses with no bits and bobs lying around, so that doesn't make sense either. Although I guess they could be buying them, taking a picture of them and then binning them.

But there are several shops where they take up loads of floor space; places like The range and b&m Bargains and so on. Do they just write that space off as being mostly decorative apart from the odd influencer buying something to throw in the bin from it?

Turnip here too .
My Dad chiselled out the centre with a woodwork tool like a scooped razor sharp chisel.

Candle in the turnip , the smell of the burning flesh .

I really don't like pumpkin carving , digging my hands into the cold seeded innards , urgh . Luckily , I have a metal one

Candle in the turnip , the smell of the burning flesh.

Elton John's novelty Hallowe'en hit.

I wear rubber gloves for that but scrape the fibrous bits out with a spoon .I
I carved a water melon today so much easier , you can spoon the flesh out of them very easily and then eat it while you carve the face, yum!

It’s all shit if you’re not doing what you want for your own reasons. Have and old school Halloween or have the full on American deco if you want it. If your doing it down because you want to look cool or going big for insta or the neighbours then that’s just sad .

Your money do what you like

I'm 51 and it was a thing when I was growing up in Essex. I wonder if it was because of the American presence during the war and afterwards in the air bases near us, my dad had American lodgers growing up. And then when ET came out we were all like ooh, that looks fun
I remember a Halloween party at school when I was 4 or 5, we definitely had some trick or treaters and when we were old enough we did trick or treating on our estate, only the neighbours my mum thought would be OK with it though. And yes we had swede lanterns and homemade costumes and some people gave us nuts and apples not sweets.

My sibling is 5 years younger than me and it started to become a thing when I was maybe around teen age. But for little kids, not adults.

I’m in my 50s and it wasn’t until I was about 9/10 before I even took any notice of Halloween - I knew when it was but we certainly didn’t trick or treat. I can vaguely remember my DMs friend and her kids being round one Halloween and all us kids running around with a sheet on our heads but that was about it.

I love Halloween and go all out decorating the house. But I only do it on the day. I love seeing all the trick or treaters out, even the grumpy teenagers, they suddenly become kids again when they see all the decorations.

I don’t like it when people start decorating before Halloween, though it’s a lot of work for just one evening!

I also hate all the tat. I only ever buy stuff that can be reused, one of my decorations is about 30 years old now!

I happen to have a lovely whole watermelon right by my side , bought from Costco so it'll need a few days to ripen.
This is definately on my To Do list now

As an ex-neep carver, pumpkins are a very welcome update to the Halloween traditions!

Hear, hear. Halloween is horrible and shouldn't be celebrated or people should just have parties and activities in their own homes. Trick or treating should certainly be banned.

Surely the good old days were neepy lanterns - nae pumpkins.

My mom used to carve out swedes for our jack o' lanterns.

There were five of us, she must have had biceps like Arnie

‘Boo basket’ makes me bring up a bit of sick into my mouth 😬🤢

None of the Christmas matching PJs, Christmas Eve box, elf on a shelf, breakfast with Santa stuff is required either.

I can remember making witch”s hats out of black sugar paper while at was then called Infant School and sticking star shapes on them. That was pretty much all we did, IIRC. I’m 65.

The only true way is with swedes!