Want any Guisers?

[1reason]

Showing my age here!
31 October tradition which has changed since 70s/80s!
Who else remembers getting dressed up (accompanied by the carved out turnip lantern) and going to neighbours doors and asking if they wanted any guisers?
If they did, we used to go in and perform a party piece( sing,dance, tell jokes). We would then be given some treats or small change.
Neighbours could refuse with no comeback. Maximum age was about 10 then.
Happy days!

This perfectly describes my memories 😁

Halloween was much better when you had to suffer a bit for it.

I miss the days of guising with the smell of candle wax mixed with burnt neeps, aching wrists, bent spoons, apple dooking, treacle scones hanging from the washing pulley and monkey nuts. And there would be no Halloween shite in the shops. Bin bags and old sheets all the way.

I'm from Edinburgh and the tradition in my bit was to go and do a turn for our more elderly neighbours or people who lived alone. Everybody knew everyone of course but the neighbours would pretend they didn't recognise us from under the bin bag. The only sweets we ever got would be the odd mint imperial or piece of crystallised ginger. But mostly it was apples, walnuts, monkey nuts and coppers.
And no parents out on the street. They left us to it and the bigger kids would look after the wee ones and make sure they didn't burn themselves too badly if their neep got a bit hot and smoky 🤣

Good times 🫜

That’s exactly what happened last night in our wee hamlet in Perthshire.

That's great to hear. So glad to know proper nice old magical Halloween is still going on in places 😊

Tesco had neeps the size of your heid last week. Biggest I've seen in years.

I was almost tempted, almost.

I've really enjoyed reading experiences past and present of those who have posted...thanks very much.
I forgot about dooking for apples( felt like drowning!) and trying to eat treacle scones which were hanging from strings ( no hands allowed! )

Thank you for starting the thread. :)

Ah yes...Memories of being walloped in the face by a treacle scone! I remember Mum setting them up on the indoor washing line for me.

Great thread, bringing back happy memories.

My 5 year old learned a good few jokes for guising yesterday, and we did buns on a string and apple dooking. I draw the line at carving a neep though - I value the use of all our fingers so it's pumpkins all the way here!

It was a joy to see the bairns.

I heard one wee lad saying "Oh, I remember this house from last year!"

I'm hoping that was a good sign. It is nearly all oldies here, and I think that I was the only older person to put up a decoration to signify that it was all right to visit.

There are young families down the bottom end of the street and some of them have gone all out - decorated hedges, skeletons and lights. I think that the lights just stay up until New Year now.

Yes thank you for starting this thread.
It's brought back lovely memories for me.

Top guising joke of the night: what do you call a Scotsman who's halfway home?
.
.
.
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Hamish

Brilliant!

😂

Kids are generally taught now only go to doors with pumpkins or Halloween decorations and don't knock on anyone else's door.

That's a nicer Fifer tune than my one. My first 6 years of life were in St Andrews, then Cellardyke. Our parents let us go out guising with the teens next door when they were working late one halloween....

Cue 4/5yo us coming home singing
Johnny had a parrot
A parrot, a parrot
....
It flew through the day
It flew through the night
And when it came home it was covered in shite
....

Thankfully the parents found it amusing and really should've known better than entrust the next door lad with us!

We had a wee boy come round with his sisters last night, must've been about 2 or 3. Dh asked him if he had a joke, "yeah", ooh what is it? "good!". Was hilarious, he was so chuffed with himself and was so damn cute.

Neepy lantern =sair hands and bent spoons🤣

Pumpkins are definitely easier to carve than neeps! Some things are an improvement!

I'd be happy to have bairns at my door but can't be bothered to decorate the house. Kids round here seem to chap regardless.

we had 21 years of living on estates where you needed 200+ bits to give out. the last estate folk used to basically "bus" kids in from quieter streets 🙄

we now live up a spookily long and dark driveway so have had absolutely nobody the last 3 years, and I much prefer it TBH.

when we were wee there were only a few folk who would open the door to us - but we always had to do a party piece! normally got cash though because they only every saw us 😁

We had over 100 at the door, from teeny tiny little things to big teenagers.

All did a turn and were impeccably polite. I loved it!

Its going strong in new estates with lots of young kids, then as the kids get bigger the parents stop doing it.

Dookin for apples is still a thing although often its done with a fork dropped from teeth, marginally more hygenic than kids mouthing loads of apples in a bowl.

Treacles scones on string i have never seen. Doughnuts yes. And they even have a hole to make life easy.

My dd loves guising, especially a chance to sing or tell a joke to someone, and get a sweetie.