Halloween.....

[Alison]

Not a problem for me, am off out in about half an hour leaving OH to hide in the lounge in the dark...............

[jayne&tony]

I have had lots of little ones knocking tonight and what stands out for me is they have all said thankyou it has been an absolute pleasure to give sweets out to the little darlings

[HappyMouffe]

Lots round here tonight, but many of them, when given the choice of chocolate or apples, have taken apples! We've nearly run ou of apples, but have plenty of chocolate left (oh dear.... )

[nick the grief]

Give em ex-lax HM

[Flummery]

Not had any at all tonight. Mr F delighted as he wants to eat the chocolate!

[ugly gourd]

we had 3 groups of kids all very polite put OH in charge of treats but then overheard him
No bag no treats and the ones with bags he was asking for swaps Dont think thats quite the idea!!!

[Hazel at the Hill]

I've just been over to my brother's to give him his pressie for his birthday tomorrow and was greeted at the door with a basket of lollipops (which were quickly retracted once he realised it was me!) and I saw a couple of groups of tiny witches (and fairies, interestingly) accompanied by parents on my way back home.

I'm all for this if it adds to the community spirit (as one or two on this thread have said) but am not keen on the idea of even smallish children knocking uninvited on doors of old peeps living alone (let alone gangs of teenagers) - I hope the 'pumpkin at the window' idea catches on as that seems to suit all parties, those who want to join in, and those who would prefer not to.

Quite a good article on the 'tradition' on the bbc website today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7067804.stm

[MrsC]

i always take the kids trick or treating, we're lucky where we live in a cul de sac, all the kids are the same age and every1 makes an effort, they always say thankyou and we never allow them to knock on the door of ppl we know don't welcome the halloween antics, we had 6 adults for 30 children 2nite, ranging from 2 to 10 yrs old, the neighbours welcome it now, we had a gd night

[shirlthegirl43]

We had lots of visitors last night - the only night for a change. I have spent years sending them away if they arrived before Halloween. Following Nicos' suggestion at the head of the thread, they were all asked to 'earn' their treat by burping loudly or if they couldn't do that, blowing a huge raspberry!! All in all it caused much hilarity. It is nice to see Halloween taking a bit more hold in this area and wonderful to see the kids properly 'guised' as I used to do as a child. Maybe over the next few years I shall encourage the reciting of a rhyme or singing or dancing (doing a 'turn') as was the way when I went guising as a child in Argyllshire.

People know they can knock at our door as the whole house was covered in Halloween lights (must take a photo tonight and post it).

Hope everyone had as good an evening as we did.

[Headfry]

Mr H and I had a lovely evening, we don't have children, so we ARE the children! had 13-14 round, all polite, all dressed up, mums and dads in the background! All visitors followed the 'pumpkin rule'
We watched 'The Village', but i have to say it was not at all scary....just a nice little romance film- clever though!

[Winged one]

OH was in charge last night, as the toddler and I got caught in REALLY bad traffic. It was so bad that I stopped, went into a shop, and bought cheese, tomatoes, cooked chicken, bread and milk for toddler to have a picnic tea in the back en route, as it was already past her tea time. Which was a shame as there were a few callers, some of them asking for her.

There were only about 18 littluns this year, compared to about 40 last year and over 60 the year before. So loads of choccie left. OH reckons it's because we didn't decorate the house, that lots of people are starting to only call to houses which are decorated. But we did see a good few while we were sitting in traffic - lots of witches, skeletons and fairies this year. And 1 pumpkin.

I didn't get apples this year, forgot them. But I usually have some apples, tangerines or grapes in the bowl, with the nuts and sweets. And it is usually the fruit that goes faster which I always like to see (except that I have too many sweets to face).

[HeyWayne]

We had about 4-5 calls last night. Lady HW answered the door (I was cooking), but I heard all. When Lady HW said "take a few" (sweets), the most common response was "are you sure?" - which I thought was nice. Also, every single one said "Happy Halloweeeeen" when they left, and said thank you.

Then drove out of the village round to brother-in-laws to "help" (I actually ended up doing it for him) fit curtain poles, and as we drove out, it was like Night of the Living Dead as groups of trick or treaters were wandering through the village streets - it was great.

I'm looking forward to having kids of our own and really getting involved!

[moggssue]

Didn't get a single knock last night. Walking down the road later in the evening, I did notice just two houses with pumpkins, so maybe thats why we didn't have any callers? I didnt think that idea had arrived here yet - will have to do it next year.

[Alison]

Don't think any turned up at ours in the end which is fine by me, it's not a celebration which I have ever followed (no probs with others "doing" it so long as it doesn't get as hideously commercialised as Christmas), always thought it was a bit american (ie the dressing up bit, pumpkins etc, not the original theme). Didn't see any houses dressed up although a couple of people at work mentioned that they'd done pumpkin lanterns (don't know how much they paid though!).

[pigletwillie]

The American bit suprises me as they preach that they are bible thumping Christians and "celebrate" halloween with pumpkins and ghoul masks in a big way.

The Americanisation of halloween that comes knocking at our doors has very little in common with the pagan Halloween. Call me a grumpy curmudgeon but I wish the pumpkin signal was establishd here, it would have saved me answering the door a dozen times.

Like you Alison, its not something that floats my boat, I prefer something more light and joyeous but each to their own. Diversity is the spice of life.