Halloween in England, especially at school?

[inkstainedwretch]

We just moved to England from Canada, so this will be our first Halloween here. I know North Americans make a bigger deal out of Halloween than Britons, but what should I expect out of Halloween here? What, if anything, would normally be done at school for Halloween? Should I expect to send my daughter to school in costume or not? She's in Reception at a non-religious community school. Also, how common are out-of-school Halloween children's activities? Community Halloween events? How common is trick or treating? We live on a very busy street with little sense of community.

I never trick or treated as a child, neither did my friends. It's a bigger deal now. Still, my dd is only young so we don't go crazy we just do fun stuff. We trick or treat in the village and only approach houses with pumpkins or decoration and with lights on. She dresses up for that. People seem to do it early around here, about half 4ish.

Oh and generally people only dress up as spooky things, not any fancy dress as I gather Americans do? Sorry if I'm wrong...I only know what I see on TV and that's usually inaccurate!

Fellow Canadian here

What birdofthenorth said re costumes - DH insists they have to be scary, I say it's about not being recognised!

Trick or treating - ask a couple of your neighbours if trick or treaters come round. It varies a lot by area. Where I have lived in the UK T&T'ers have always come round quite early in the evening. I always buy lots of candy just in case, but we've never had more than a few. (In fact I think there is some dried out Haribo in my cupboard from last year!)

Yes to what exexpat said re party - your DD might really enjoy sharing that with her new friends.

Definitely check out what bonfire night activities are happening around you. Fireworks seem to be much less well regulated here than in Canada, so again depending on where you live you might have 6 weeks of various neighbours letting off fireworks at random hours. It's worth finding out where the good displays are.