To sit in the dark and pretend I am not in!

It is lovely that via the dressing up, from the littlest ones on children get to understand ceremony and effort . We do not have to give sweets, a packet of crisps, 20 pence pieces are another option, not much from one but if others gave it adds up. For special effort 50p? In my 70s, do not consider it 'begging' for did not many of us go Carol singing? Fight off the fear and curmudgeon creeping in, love life we only get one chance.

I hate it but made a pumpkin lantern and bought sweets as usual. This year no takers unless they came before 6pm when we were out.

Had lots of little visitors last night & really enjoyed their happy little faces. Much better than last year when 'yobs' egged my front door & stole my pumpkin with his candle lit that I had put out for a few years to let the Littlies know that they were welcome. Bought another pumpkin & was pleased to see lots of polite children with their parents all enjoying themselves. Prefer Halloween to bonfire night when my cats are scared silly with the noisy fireworks!

We have never had many callers and they have usually been teenagers. Last year however we had quite a few little ones, accompanied by their parents and I had nothing to give them. This year I bought a box of celebrations and made the mistakeof offering the box to the first two little boys who called. Both plunged their hands into the box and grabbed loads! I then had to ration them out for the others who called. A lesson learned for next year! All of them were lovely and polite and said 'Happy Halloween'.

Now we live in the country it’s not an issue anymore. Before tho, I would leave a bucket of sweets on the path and put a sign up saying “ please help yourself but no callers”. I didn’t mind a couple of callers initially but it just got silly and was going on all evening.

No callers, I think the word went around the schools etc that they only call at houses that decorate for Halloween. Could hear them going up the path until about 8pm then it all went quiet. The chaps were happy to see the sweets still here when they got back from watching footie lol.

The thing that I found funny was the houses we can see across the back from us were all in complete darkness, usually they have practically every light in them on (some all night) and outside lights on. Last night you could hardly see the houses let alone the lights, wonder if they were all in hiding lol.

Many years ago while living in the US TV programmes were advising parents which hospitals to take the trick or treat candy to in order for it to be checked ( x-rayed) for signs of having been tampered with. Never trusted Halloween since.

We had a little poster saying no trick or treat please. It seemed to work. Don't like the whole concept.

At the moment there are no youngsters in my vicinity but I still chose to have on fewer house lights and I wouldn't have answered the door anyway. Don't like this 'celebration' at all. Particularly don't like it on my beloved 'Strictly' but I rise above it for the routines. Really glad when it's over though.

We printed a poster from our local police website. It just says ‘Sorry No Trick Or Treat’ with an eye catching picture. Nobody knocked the door so it must have worked.

It’s not that we are mean-spirited, our dog is very nervous and gets very upset when anybody knocks the door.

My 69 y.o friend,who lives alone ,went to bed and closed all her curtains,when she was peeping out later, she saw a number of teenagers throwing fireworks at houses and pelting eggs at windows.
We used to knock on doors and run,laughing our heads off.No expense spared now.I am not against Halloween,it used to be Mischievous night.I only resent the huge amounts of oil used, to make the cheap plastic stuff,that will be nearly all put in the rubbish bins.

Yes, the lighted pumpkin outside the house is a sign - agree completely with other contributors that this works. Don't know if others have a local intranet/residents' group/facebook page covering your immediate road(s) but we find that a reminder on ours generally keeps callers (if you want them) to a specific time frame. This helps to provide the children with some opportunity but also protects those who want some peace and quiet. I also have my own rule that I expect the callers to do something rather than beg so I ask for a riddle or a song. If the little ones have made the effort to dress up they're exempt but the bigger ones know this is a contract, and not just a begging exercise.

Doesn’t anyone else knock on the door Jane43?

We didn’t celebrate Halloween ( back in our day) but it’s a chance to dress up and have fun for children and I don't think we should read too much into it all.Am sure that I would have loved it as a child.
We are a bit out of the way where we live, so no children visit, we go to a Halloween Party with DGC instead, nice things to eat, and we see children who come to their door.
Not many at all this year though we noticed, and hardly any houses who put out lighted pumpkins or skeletons etc.

I hate this trick or treat nonsense, imported from America! I always get something in for them, but now only the kids next door come round - and I don’t want to eat the leftover chocolate cos I’ve just started chemo and keep,throwing up!

The trouble with pretending to be out is that the local teenagers might think you are fair game for a trick such as egg throwing, which happened to us once!
But we only get tinies with their parents nowadays, all neighbours known to us so I don't mind.

Glad to report we had NO visitors last night!

We live in an isolated spot so don't have trick or treaters, thank goodness! I dislike this intensely and if I needed to would have one of those 'sorry, No trick or Treat Here' posters. I just don't like it and never let my children do it. I know there is a shift taking place with Halloween gaining commercial value, but I would definitely belong to the lights off and curtains pulled brigade!

In our community, 'treating' was limited to hours between 6 and 8 PM, which makes things much easier for everyone.

I enjoy Halloween costumes, festivities and all the fun in general. The children around here are polite and appreciative, so I guess we've been lucky in that respect. Our doorbell rang many times of course, and hubby and I took turns answering. Two hours worth of entertainment.....there were ghosts, witches, storm troopers and zombies of varied sizes and they did not go away empty handed....wouldn't have it any other way!

We were coming back on Eurostar last night and the announcements kept being interrupted by fearsome cackles. Some of the Japanese tourists on the train had had their faces painted rather gruesomely. I don't think they realised it was really just for children. Then the gremlins really got to work and spooked the poor train under the tunnel. We had to wait an hour outside the tunnel for an hour while they exorcised the gremlins or replaced the elastic and I think someone collapsed in another coach. We missed our connection by 10 minutes

Only had local neighbours children don't mind little ones with their parents . Had a lot of older ones one year stopped answering door after 9 that year

I hope the OP is reassured by all these replies that she really doesn’t have to sit in the dark and hide

The rule, which is generally accepted, is you only knock i there’s a pumpkin or similar on display.

I dislike Halloween, it just begging with the threat of menace. Give me something or I’ll get upur house. Don’t get me started on the teenagers who give it a go. The rule is a decorated house means you can call so thankfully we don’t get bothered any more. I sound like a right humbug

I don't agree with Halloween at all, just another American Import to make money. originally a Church thing, they seem to have forgotten about All Saints on the Following day!

Same here Maryeliza. No pumpkin outside means no door knocks. It's a good system that everyone seems to understand.
However, I went out this morning and spent ten minutes picking up sweet wrappers and half eaten sticky lollipops from the pavement outside my house. A sure sign of far too many sweets! The no litter rule needs to be enforced too by the parents who could carry a plastic bag to collect it.

Well I thought I'd prepared and put two big bags of sweets into a bowl. I was jumpy all evening expecting the doorbell to ring and nobody came! I have to admit the lounge light was on but no other lights. Maybe our house looked uninviting.