Halloween! Will you answer the door?

I won't be answering the door because I have a big, anxious dog who doesn't like people! I don't even have to put a sign up as no one has actually come to my door for about 5 years...... I can't think why?!!

I always loved Halloween.We moved into a particularly unfriendly village in Devon,on one Halloween my children and I were not in in the evening and our house was savagely egged and floured. I cried as I cleaned it up next day.

I haven't been put off. My children always enjoyed our hallowen celebrations and even now I always have sweets ready and wear a witches hat when groups of children come to my house wearing their wonderful costumes. Greed is rare, most little ones choose one item carefully and go away happy.

It's a good idea to indicate if you want to take part. Most decent people will recognise a house that isn't interested.

If there isn’t a pumpkin lit up in the window then you don’t get anyone calling

No

Our children never did Trick or Treat. We got together with two neighbours and used our gardens for all our children to have fun. We all dressed up. One garden was used for games like ducking for apples. One was used for food (our neighbours had a barbecue). One was just for standing around chatting. Most of the children from the road came and just went from garden to garden, as did adults. The adults managed the games and food and everyone contributed the decorations, lights, pumpkins, etc. It started at 7 pm when it was dark and finished by about 9 pm.

No, we have never celebrated Halloween. I think it's a pointless event hyped up just to make parents spend money. Our village also has the 'No pumpkin - Don't knock' rule and it seems to be obeyed. We live on the edge of the village so they probably can't be bothered to walk this far anyway. There is a pumpkin carving competition in the village every year and a costumed lantern walk for those who like Halloween.

When we lived in London our house was 'egged' several times, our car was keyed and plants pulled up because we wouldn't answer the door. Even young children were rarely accompanied by an adult. An elderly neighbour always had a bucketful of sweets for the children, until one year a boy of about 14 wrenched the bucket out of her hand, twisting her wrist, and demanded 'Where's the money then you old **?' She said she would press her emergency alarm (she didn't have one) if he didn't go away and he said 'We'll be back' and threw the sweets all over the ground. She never opened her door again on Halloween to anyone.

Sorry, to answer the question - probably not. Children round here seem to only go to specific houses. One year we had to eat two boxes of Roses that the children never came for ?

I live in a road where we get hundreds of children on Halloween. All the houses are decorated and it’s a lot of fun. I took my children out when they were young and enjoy seeing the costumes and excitement that evening. It is quite an expenditure for all the candy, though. One neighbor solved that problem by having their own adult gathering that evening and asking each guest to bring a bag of candy! ?

I will. Children have had a hard time over the last 18 months or so and I like to see them having fun. We always decorate the downstairs windows, DH grows pumpkins in the allotment for us and for the DGS, and I've already bought the spooky sweets ready to put in the cauldron. We've never had any negative experiences - if we had, I'm sure I'd have a different outlook. But most of our callers are littlies with their parents, and the few older ones have always been polite.

Hallowe'en isn't an American invention (though trick or treat possibly is). I remember ducking for apples and walking the streets with my smelly turnip pumpkin back in the early 1960s, and it goes back way before that. Mischief Night was 4th November in North East England, and we got away with truly awful behaviour that I'd never have let my own children indulge in! Fortunately it didn't seem to be a thing in our bit of 1980s Yorkshire.

I'm expecting things to be the same as last year - as we're still in the middle of a pandemic. Normally, I'd decorate the porch and hand out the sweets - to organised groups of small kids with parents. Last year I didn't and the road was quiet, with nobody out and about.

We live at the back of our house and turn off all the front lights and have never had any trouble. However, I am not a complete misery as I always buy some sweets for the children in our close and give them out earlier. I never allowed our daughter to go trick or treating but she was often invited to Halloween parties. My DH also has an allotment and he grows pumpkins which we put out the front of our house with a notice to say 'help yourself or give a small donation to the local hospice. Each year we raise £20 -£30. When we look after our little granddaughter (now four) I decorate the house and she dresses in her witches costume. This year we are planning to take her to a local animal park that puts on Halloween activities.

I'm now living in a residential street rather than a remote house on the edge of the village, and realised I might get children coming. We did have one young couple knock there about twenty years ago - with a six month old baby. Quite a strange event!

I'm too lazy to carve a pumpkin so I've bought a metal one, must remember the oven gloves when I remove it.
I'm going to put on top of my hedge at the front, along with a bowl of sweets. My sheltie is now old and infirm and I don't want him upset by people knocking at the door.

Allowing/ encouraging small/ish children to go wandering around at night making demands on people they might never have met, seems possibly extra-ordinarily dangerous. .... even if within the community they live in. Modern day society seems more aware of potential problems

When living in a block of flats, the doorbell went at about 7pm. A 5? yo old girl stood anxiously outside and whispered .Trick or treat ' ( I had not even known the American custom prevailed there nor was I particularly aware of the day)
i said ' I am sorry I have no sweets but can give you a carrot'
There was a loud Humph from within the lift when I asked ' Does your mummy know you are here'

It seemed to be the parent's idea as the child had been scared. The mother would not speak to me again for some weeks

My mother insisted my brother go back to every house he had visited with his very quickly thrown together Guy Fawkes to return all the money neighbours had given him.
'We are NOT beggars'

Ah me... elder daughter wanted a Halloween party and invited all her friends. Some were petrified?! when they saw the spider decorations we had put up and too shocked to try Apple-bobbing etc

Not a success! It might have been better to wait for the 5th Nov and make some parkin and bake potatoes in a bonfire so they could participate in a more recently established custom

Yes, I was once egged but never open the door when dark anyway

widgeon I think you are being unduly censorious. It is a harmless custom, a very recent one that seems to have displaced Bonfire night - and no bad thing.

In my village, the children are always accompanied by parents and you can show you are taking part by putting a loghted pumpkin outside your house. If you do not want to take part, you do nothing and no one will call.

When children today are so often 'cabined cribbed and confined' I think it is fun for them to experience being outside after dark, doing something not usually acceptable and having that wonderful sense of danger, that is such an important experience in childhood.

No young children in my little village in the sticks. Peace, perfect peace! I do enjoy my pumpkin though!

AmberSpyglass

It sounds awful, but I’m sad I can’t put decorations on my door because it will look like I’m open to trick or treaters - aside from my absolute second hand cringe at guising (definitely a me problem!) if we keep opening the doors at night the cat will get out. I would like an autumnal wreath on my door though!

I always put an Autumnal wreath on the door ( nothing to do with Halloween though.) Surely you could do that?Can it be seen from the roadside?

highlanddreams

My gate will be locked at the back & tied at the front,curtains closed lights off. We never used to get any and then one year (and every year since) a bus began turning up at the bottom of the road and kids of all ages and a few adults would be trick or treating but mostly running up and down the street screaming at each other, this goes on until 10.30 ish pm which isn't fair around sheltered housing and an old folks home,especially as they don't even live here.The kids that actually do live on this street aren't very pleasant, and this year they're old enough to join in, they're thuggish destructive little girls that hang around on bikes & take flying kicks at my fence, that's when they're not hitting it with sticks or throwing stones at it in order to torment my poor wee dog into barking. Their parents don't care - out of site out of mind, they're enjoying the peace and quiet no doubt. I hope the weather is awful and then they won't hang about for as long.I know I sound like a grump & I won't apologise for that because in my view if having a good time depends on setting out to make others lives a misery in their own homes there's something wrong there.

Sounds awful! Where in the UK is this? Are you in a city?
Have you let the police know what things are like in your road on Halloween?

If you are troubled by antisocial behaviour during Halloween, please report it to your local police. I’ve been advised by our local Police Liaison chap (PCSO) that the police want to know how much trouble is being caused in a neighbourhood. Statistics matter! Please report it.

lemongrove

highlanddreams

My gate will be locked at the back & tied at the front,curtains closed lights off. We never used to get any and then one year (and every year since) a bus began turning up at the bottom of the road and kids of all ages and a few adults would be trick or treating but mostly running up and down the street screaming at each other, this goes on until 10.30 ish pm which isn't fair around sheltered housing and an old folks home,especially as they don't even live here.The kids that actually do live on this street aren't very pleasant, and this year they're old enough to join in, they're thuggish destructive little girls that hang around on bikes & take flying kicks at my fence, that's when they're not hitting it with sticks or throwing stones at it in order to torment my poor wee dog into barking. Their parents don't care - out of site out of mind, they're enjoying the peace and quiet no doubt. I hope the weather is awful and then they won't hang about for as long.I know I sound like a grump & I won't apologise for that because in my view if having a good time depends on setting out to make others lives a misery in their own homes there's something wrong there.

Sounds awful! Where in the UK is this? Are you in a city?
Have you let the police know what things are like in your road on Halloween?

No it's a small village in Scotland so everyone knows everyone & if we were to report it, things would likely get worse, they certainly wouldn't improve. They'll soon out grow this phase and then they will be far too busy in their bedrooms making duck faces at their phones for their instagram followers.

Slightly off topic but I’m surprised by people saying they don’t open the door after dark. It’s not something I have been concerned about, especially in winter when it’s dark by late afternoon. I happily open the door but do use a security chain after about 9 o’clock when I settle down for the night. But I do keep my doors locked all the time which I guess not everyone does. Maybe I have been lucky to have lived in a “safe” area?

I'm planning to do something similar to last year. We had gone into lockdown in Ireland so it looked like children wouldn't be able to call to houses. However, I decided to set up a 'spooky trail' outside, leading to "witch's lair" in an old shed. I had great fun making and decorating the trail and put up sign at gate advertising the event. I'm in a rural area and know the people around, so knew it wouldn't attract unwelcome guests.
I didn't know if anyone would turn up, but it was very popular.
Feedback afterwards from children was that it was the best Halloween ever!

That sounds fantastic, Farmor. How kind of you to organise it all.

It is a harmless custom, a very recent one that seems to have displaced Bonfire Night-and no bad thing.

Well, I had never heard of Halloween or Trick or Treating when I was a child, 60 odd years ago, but I have extremely happy memories of November 5th. We lived in the country, we had ten acres of land, Dad made a big bonfire, and a few simple fireworks, sparklers, Roman candles, Catherine wheels. No rockets or anything similar.

Think we had toffee apples sometimes that mum made, the toffee much nicer than the apples.

It was just our own little family, no one got hurt, Dad let off all the fireworks at a safe distance, can’t remember the dog or the farm cats being at all spooked,

And then, weeks later, it was Christmas, which seemed so much more fun and exciting than nowadays, when it’s just another commercial hassle.

Bah humbug!

Bought a lovely plastic pumpkin which lights up ( John Lewis and Waitrose) quite a good size, to put outside the door ( it certainly amuses me anyway.) ??

Highland ? duck faces, haha, yes very true, and not much you can do if everyone knows everyone else in the village.