Trick or Treating - A bit of fun or a pain in the arse?!

[Lynne33]

Hello again - can't seem to stop posting at the moment!!

Anyway, without wanting to insult our American Mumsnetters, does anyone detest Trick or Treating like I do?! Every year we get bombarded with kids (some are teenagers), knocking on our door and demanding sweets (and in some cases money) or else!! One year I just didn't bother going to the door as they rang when my kiddies where in the bath and the next morning my car was covered in flour and eggs. (Worse things have happened to my neighbours like getting their cars scratched down the side with a key!!) I am not a killjoy, but I don't like to feel threatened in my own house. I don't live in a particularly nice area, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Also, 9 times out of 10 the children are on there own without an adult in sight. There is no way, my two are going to do it when they grow up. It was unheard of when I was a kid.

We are having a little party with Halloween pumpkins, and scary games, apple bobbing and stuff. So I have got nothing against the day per say (sp?), I just HATE Trick or Treating. What do you all think?

I hadn't seen Forest's message when I posted mine - it confirms that I wasn't imagining my recollections of a Scottish childhood!

janh ? We had Mischievous Night when we were kids (not in Lancashire ? I?m a Yorkshire lass) ? it was Nov 6.

It was great fun ? door knockers tied together with string, as were the dustbin lids; and for some reason we always seemed to be very good at taking gates off gate posts and leaving them in a pile in the middle of the street. We played ?Knocking Off Ginger? all evening (knock on the door and run away ? no idea where the name came from!) It was harmless fun and the adults expected it so no one every seemed bothered.

I don?t have a problem with ?trick or treat? if the kids make an effort ? make up and costumes and the like ? but like others I resent the sullen teenagers who practically demand money with menaces. Not that I have to deal with them, I leave dh at home to cope while I?m off with my wicca pals celebrating Samhain the proper way

Ok sorry for offending people by calling them miserable. But my experience has always been positive - children have made an effort to dress up and I haven't come across sulky teenagers using it as an excuse to harras (sp?!) old folk and vandalise property.
Yes, I do agree puting out a pumpkin latern (did anyone used to make there's out of turnip?) outside if you welcome trick or treaters is a good idea.

Yes - my mum used to make us lanterns out of turnip, but again, I think that's a Scottish thing. Having tried to chop/peel turnips, I now know why my mum used to curse that particular tradition! I was also pleasantly surprised about how easy a pumpkin lantern was (yesterday was my first attempt). Pumpkin soup this weekend!

We turned it around this year, as my dds were given a "make your own Halloween chocolate" kit. So we made the chocs, far too many for my dds, dressed up (Big dd desparate to be a ghost!) and went and offered a choccy to our local friends. They had fun, gave away loads and came back with one sweetie each.So a good night was had by all!

Now that I do like batey - if they're bringing me chocs I'll answer the door to anyone, regardless of how sullen and teenagerish they are !

Think I might do that with dd next year actually - start a little tradition of my own !

What a nice idea - i might even try that one myself next year. Much more community spirited!!

Awwww I have been reliving my scottish guising childhood reading this thread.
My Dad used to make turnip lanterns - how on earth he ever did it I have no clue.
We used to have a halloween party in our house for all the kids in our street (think my Dad was behind that) when we would duck for apples and eat treacle coated scones on a string hanging accross the kitchen with our hands behind our backs. And then we all had to do our turn. It was great.

Forest - not everyone celebrates Halloween, miserable or not, it is against some people's religion. I take it a bit light-heartedly, although I would never allow my dd to go out TorT. After nearly running over some kids all dressed in black, plus being afraid of kids these days knocking on strangers doors, it's just something I would not do. I had some sweets for anyone who did knock, but we had about 7 kids all dressed in scream masks and cloaks which absolutely frightened the life out of dd. I have never seen her so scared! I do think parents should take a bit of responsibility for their kids and use common sense when dressing them up!

I know not everyone celebrates Halloween but I think it should be seen as a childhood tradition. Is there any religion behind it? I have noticed the Scottish people that used to go out guising seem to have very fond memories of it, myself included. I just feel it is a shame that people are frightened of kids knocking at the door and think it is pretty s**t world we live in if that is how it makes you feel.

I hate TorT (& - quick straw poll - so do most of my colleagues). I feel like a prisoner in my own home as our kitchen is visible from the street. Our area (north London) is a real mix of affluent & poor so you never know if you are going to answer the door to cute kids or scary teenagers (the same ones who break into our house & generally vandalise our property the rest of the year?) This year dh was working late so I was alone with ds, but luckily was upstairs bathing him when the door went.
I feel it's an American tradition which has been completely over-hyped over here.

& don't get me started on fireworks! (oh, okay then!) I strongly believe that fireworks should only be made available to bona-fide display organisers. We are talking dangerous explosives here!! Kids have been setting off FWs for weeks now round by us - some sound like bombs (no exaggeration). One was thrown into a busy road junction the other day, just in front of our car.

Forest, Just to let you know I loved Halloween as a kid, and still want to keep the tradition of celebrating it with my children but that does not involve trick or treating.

Maybe you are lucky enough to live in a nice area, but where I live in South London, the kids round here know more swear words than I do, you're scared to say anything to them if you see them up to know good for fear of getting abuse from them and then their even scarier parents. And the teenagers in our road aren't strangers to getting early morning wake-up calls from the police. So, unfortunately, my reality is - yes- it is a pretty shitty world but hey that doesn't mean it has to apply to my kids.

T or T, I think, is an American import, that's why I hate it so much I think. One kid last night knocked at the door with about 6 unsmiling adults with her!!!!!!!! Why??????

We had parties as a kid and I played games with my daughter last night (just the 2 of us, alone!!!!) but the door knocking thing gets on my t**s.

We used to celibrate halloween in Wales, as did my late father, when I was a child. There are some theories that T or T was exported to the US from Wales, so it may be unfair to dislike it because it is an American import. I can see that there are unpleasent aspects, but that is true of almost everything in life, not just T and T

Ok, looks like the origins are celtic. More info here if anyone wants to know more. Can you tell I have work I should be doing?

emmabee - for one glorious minute I thought you meant one of the kids...

Oh well. Next time, perhaps...

Emmabee, I'm with you on the fireworks thing. They've been going on - every night - for about a month round here. I find them extremely annoying, but for others it's worse than that. My parents only live in a fairly small village, but it still goes on for weeks. Their dog is absolutely terrified and has to be sedated to cope with them. It really shouldn't be allowed, it's noise pollution. They really should only be allowed in organised displays.

forest ? yes there is a religion behind Halloween. As mentioned on previous threads, it is a Christianised (believe it or not) version of the Pagan Samhain. I am a Wiccan and Samhain is our New Year celebration.

Trick or Treating has its history in the tradition of leaving out food and drink for the spirits who can ?walk? when the veil is thin at this time of year. The lanterns were carved from turnips and set out to guide the spirits. It then became part of the fun and games to dress up to represent these spirits and call at the houses for said food and drink.

Scotland and Ireland ? which maintain their pagan roots much more strongly ? carried this on as ?guising?. The tradition travelled to America with pilgrims and gradually changed ? like Chinese whispers ? into Trick or Treating and pumpkins for the lanterns, before coming back here in recent years.

Thanks for answering Snugs - I was invited to a Samhain ceremony today but felt it wasn't really right for me to go along as I don't know much about it.

My son went on an organised trick or treating expedition organised by the scouts. Everyone had to wear their scarf and woggle with their costume (guaranteed to take the bite out of any frightening get up!)and they were accompanied by adults. It worked very well.

Yes TorT is a pain in the arse, as is children opening christmas stockings at 5.00am in the morning, or eating easter eggs till they're sick.

No, my reason for not liking halloween is that the roots of these celebrations are not as well known as those for other events. If we are going to celebrate halloween I wish the reasons for it were more well known - TV programmes on it, halloween plays, children's story books. Not just vaguely scary ideas about ghosts and witches.

But what really gets me is this: the scouts combined trick or treating with a firework display, and at our local shopping centre, the christmas lights are being turned on by santa this saturday, again followed by a firework display.

Witches, Guy Fawks and Santa all muddled together in one evening. The blurring of traditions, that's what I hate.

Now I am with you on that point Tigermoth - I hate the way everything just blurs together. It annoys me that xmas decorations are up in October just to encourage us to buy. Do we really need these reminders, doesn't xmas happen at the same time every year?!!
I enjoy celebrating these events and hate the way they have been overtaken by rampant commercialism.

My four year old twins went for the the first time this year. The kids in our street all go together with their Mums. The Dads stayed in one house and organised a BBQ for our return. We only did our street , and only people who knew we were coming. They were ready and waiting with goodies for the kids. One very thoughtful person even had Gin & Tonics ready for the Mums !!!!
The kids had all been in and out of each others houses all week preparing decorations and costumes.The naibours having the party decorated their house with all the things the children had made.The people with no kids came and joined in the party afterwards. A great time was had by all!!!

Snugs, it's interesting that Scotland & Ireland maintain pagan traditions when they are generally more 'religious' than England.

Loads of my neighbours/friends etc go to curch in Scotland, while I can only think of MIL (and she goes to a spiritualist church) and a couple of others in England. You would think Christianity and Paganism were opposites but they seem to be linked, instead?