Halloween, should I?

As a childe I would have been absolutely terrified to see a witch with a green face. I used to have nightmares about green witches after seeing The Wizaed of Oz. But then we didnt go trick or treating in those days.
I dont mind children dressing as witchs or ghosts but some of the costumes you can buy today are most unpleasant like axe murderers etc. Apparently there was even an Ann Frank costume but it was withdrawn after protests. Really appalling taste!

All this 'how to have fun at Halloween' has restored my faith in fellow GNs.

I have a were-wolf hand/glove that I wear when I hold out the basket of sweets to the children. It gets some interesting reactions!

Yes all our little visitors have grown ups with them if they don't I ask them where they are! They wait at the gate and we put porch light on when we answer the door so everyone can see. If any big ones turn up I give them a sweet each as their handfuls would empty my basket of goodies quickly! Then either when sweets run out or at 7.00 I turn off all the decorations in the windows and that's it, don't answer the door anymore.

Somewhere I have a large, green, bumpy, warty witch's nose that I have been know to wear while answering the door to trick or treaters. The only person ever to be freaked out be it was our dog, RIP, bless her.
She was frightened of pumpkin 'faces', too - once found her barking furiously at the large grinning pumpkin left on our garden table.
I now buy a relatively small one and turn it into Thai style pumpkin soup next day - with chilli and ginger and coconut milk. Pumpkin needs something to liven it up! Waste not want not...

Yes, JanaNana. You've described exactly what happened in the North of Scotland in the early 50's. We loved dressing up (not always scarily) and we had great fun rehearsing our songs or poems. There was nothing scary about it and it is still more or less the same nowadays except that Mum or Dad is usually hovering in the background to make sure kids are safe.

phoenix do it the kids will love it and so will you. I hope you have a lovely time.

me neither , not a festival I celebrate.
As a retired professional in the child protection area it has always concerned me that all year we train our children about 'stranger danger' then on one dark evening a year we actively encourage them to knock on strangers doors demanding sweets!

Im not keen on trick or treat since the time we were away and had eggs thrown at the door which dried and was difficult to remove and took off all the varnish ( it was a new door!) however only children we know, with their parents ever come these days so I try to have some sweets ready. The trouble is,sometimes so many come I run out of sweets and other years hardly anyone comes and I have loads left over ( only buy ones I dislike to avoid temptation!)

We certainly did have halloween in England in the 1950s- ghost stories, bobbingfor apples (in water) then eating a current bun in a bowl of flour with hands behind our backs so tge glour stuck to wet faces. We thouht it hilarious. No trick or treating though, or elaborate dressing up.
I think we adopted this in the 1970s from the USA when the powers that be were trying to discorage fireworks on acvount of injuries. .in my childhood Bonfire Night was much bigger than Hallowe'en with firewors in the garden and bonfires followed by baked potatoes, toffee apples and parkin.

I was brought up near Pendle Hill in Lancashire, Pendle Witches were in fact just ordinary women who were tried as Witches & executed at Lancaster Gaol.

Halloween was always celebrated in the traditional way, apple bobbing, dressing up, parties long before "Trick or Treat".

Mischief Night is also a Northern Tradition (4th November), day before Bonfire Night. Harmless tricks were played on friends & neighbours,

Definitely go for it- they will love it. Let us know how it goes.

Oh yes !!! do ! the children will love it .......I have a battery operated pumpkin to sit on the gate past (it glows green and goes Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa as you pass by it ! Had a real one last year with a candle inside so the face glowed ...but then didn't know what to do with all the pumpkin insides .....and I have a spider web and bats to hang from the door.................I buy little halloween bags and fill them before the witches come round ......better that way or some will take handfulls from a larg bowl ...had to go to the late shop one year ....any leftover go to my neighbours for their GC when they visit !

1st November is a holiday here ..All Saints day ....and the tradition is that everyone buys, or grows an take, chrysanthemums to the graves or memorials to their late relatives ... there are queues outside every cemetery ......one year when we lived in Menorca, my husband went out to go shopping (I wasn't home) ...and came back complaining there were huge queus and traffic jams on the road to Alaior, and police stopping traffic ...he hadn't realised it ws 1.11 and all the shops were shut !!

The sailors on the nearby Naval married quarters hide in dustbins and really “play” the Halloween “fun” game, the children adore it although a few mums are ready to cuddle tiny scaredy cats who get a special hug from the sexy witch who lives on the estate. The more you play it up, the more special it is furceveryonev

I used to open the door but don't bother now. I was sickened one year when a group of lads kept coming back to the door time and time again. They would walk away , swap masks and come back again. They were not content to take 1 goodie from the bowl I was holding, but were grabbing handfuls. Now I just put the lights off and pretend there is no one in. Rotten spoil sport, aren't I?

ExaltedWombat in response to you comment, the local teenagers may of course enjoy Halloween, but not at my expense.

Also, as mentioned above, the "littleys" (your speech marks) are done and dusted by about 7pm, meaning we can then go through to the sitting room and relax.

Many thanks for all the replies.

When I was little, there was no trick or treating, but I remember going to bed absolutely terrified on Halloween

However, times have changed. I used to put up a "No trick or treat sign", but having seen the effort some of the small ones make and how much they seem to enjoy it, last year I relented!

Some good advice here, which I will heed, i.e put up a "Beware" sign, and also one making it (hopefully) clear that it's littlies only.

As mentioned previously, I have bought big bags of little bags of sweets (iykwim) and last year the children seemed to enjoy scrabbling for them when they were thrown (the sweets, not the children)

It seemed to be quite well organised, with all the mums and children going round in a group, so only 1 "visit" instead of being up and down like a whores drawers!

Also, they come round quite early, which helps. Locally you indicate if you are happy to be visited by leaving the hall light on or off, so once the smalls have been, the light can go off.

Fortunately when I have had to tell older ones that we don't give to them, there have been no "incidents"!

I will also post on the village facebook page, just to try to make sure that everyone gets the message.

A friend of ours dressed as a spooky scarecrow and sat completely immobile on his front lawn like guy. He frightened the living daylights out of each group as they left by moving suddenly.

I mistakenly thought this thread was supposed to be about scary witch costumes possibly scaring children on Halloween or about different ways to celebrate.

I also get that Halloween isn't for everybody and that's fine. Bashing Americans however, was both unkind and totally uncalled for. Not very nice!

I detest Halloween. When I was younger you didn’t get loads of children knocking at the door with or without parents. Awful American crap. Who knows what strange people may try to grab a child and pull them into their house. My mother had eggs thrown at her door because she wouldn’t open it and it set like glue and was very difficult to remove. She was old and living alone and it’s wrong to do that and scare people. I never open the door.

When our DGC were growing up, we dressed up and round their local houses with them. I still have the broom and hat. It was a big thing with their mother's family and we didn't want to be seen as the GPs who didn't join in. I've personally hated Halloween since my dear old mum who was 80, called me in tears, terrified that people kept knocking on her door. She was crippled with arthritis and struggled to get up out of her chair to get to the door and she lived too far away for me to go and reassure her. With the DGC, we encouraged them to only call at houses which looked welcoming - ie had some decoration up or a pumpkin by the door. If parents did this with their children it might not be so bad. One year when we were out with the DGC, someone sprayed silly string all over our brickwork as we hadn't been there to open the door and it took forever to get rid of.

grandtante I had heard the term Halloween, but then I grew up with Irish relatives.You are right, in England, it wasn’t really used, it was called Mischief night, and children did things like knocking on doors and running away ( which we all found hilarious and very daring.?)
Our main fun came from Plot night (Bonfire night) with fireworks, plot toffee , parkin cake, potatoes baked on the fringes of the bonfire etc.

As an American, I love that Halloween can be shared around the world. I didn't realize how much this holiday had taken hold in other countries, but I'm guessing it's because it's so much fun for young and old alike!

On Hallow's eve our porch is ready to go with a very large Pumpkin awaiting by the front door. Hubby hollows it out on Halloween day and does his best to give it a very 'spooky' face. At dusk we place a lit candle inside of it for 'effect'! As long as that candle is lit, everyone knows they are welcome to knock on our door for a treat.

Brilliant!

Hooray, it's not just me then - I thought I was being politely ignored ........