Am I just a 'Grumpy Old Woman' ?

I don't have much time for it. I feel that the trivialising of blood, death, horror, fear and cruelty for crass commercial reasons is bad enough, but when young kids are encouraged to take part, I regard that as little short of abuse. I'm certainly not a kill-joy, but it should never be forgotten that many of our cherished rituals have their origins in our dark and bloody past. I detest seeing the shops full of Halloween tat, and when I turned on the One show yesterday to see the presenters kitted out like ghouls, and then the same on Autumn-watch, I couldn't stand it any more and just switched over to a good old-fashioned war film. Much more acceptable!

Driving down a nearby road tonight, we saw a house with the most elaborate Halloween "decorations" - in the front garden, downstairs and upstairs (the whole thing must have cost a fortune). On the bedroom window - I think it must have been backlit - was a black silhouetted figure of a man leaning forward , his arm raised and his hand holding a large knife.

Given the number of women murdered in their homes, I don't understand why this sort of thing is is considered to be just a bit of fun.

Children will see enough of the real horrors of the world as they get older - why make an "entertainment" out of it?

Tonight , in the supermarket, I saw a woman in a witches dress with a cape pushing a trolley with a toddler who wore leggings and a T shirt. I thought she must be the child's mother but on passing her I realised she must be the grandmother, she looked absolutely ridiculous. Some people really do need to grow up.

The staff in our local Asda seem to dress up at the drop of a hat. One particular staff member is about 5' tall and almost as wide and she appears in all types of strange costumes most of which are somewhat inappropriate for her proportions (!).Her most recent piece de resistance was as a baby, sporting a very large terry towelling 'nappy' which I found a little off putting .
My children used to go guising to friends and neighbours and they always prepared a song, a joke or a poem. Tonight DD had some children at the door and they just wanted 'the goods' - no tricks, just the treats.

GS1 had his birthday party on Sunday so that was Halloween themed. It was great fun, he was dressed as the grim reaper and all his friends came in costume. DD had made a giant spider birthday cake and I made green iced cup cakes and chocolate witches hats (Thankyou Waitrose magazine)

Oh dear tiggypiro I do hope I am wrong (surely I must be?) but your post of 18.44 reads so very snobbish ! (Surely it's just me....) I love the little children coming to my house all dressed up for Halloween, perhaps I live in an area similar " to where you taught" but thankfully don't live [thigrin].

Jeeeeez honestly .

Where about in the UK did you Grans whose local towns celebrated Halloween live. Was it in what we might now regard as those with a strong Celtic or catholic traditions.

I'm with you Tiggypro I feel embarrassed with adults dressing up, but it's fine for children.

I have just watched over-the-road's firework display that they didn't warn us about. What happened to people warning others with pets? Or warning the neighbours? We always used to invite and inform everyone.

The reason Sainsbury staff were in costume a day early was to get you to buy one before the day.

my grandson has his birthday today (unfortunate boy ) so Halloween mayhem and dressing up is de rigeur at their house.
I am not bothered by T and Ters as I live down a muddy track at the mercy of roaming dairy cows (plus a bull) overnight and have 'lurch' dog to keep them at bay
when I grew up (rural Midlands) halloween was un-celebrated and Bonfire night (buying our own fireworks for our own bonfire of course) was the big thing
it was only when I lived in Canada I became aware of trick or treating and remain un-impressed.

Crossed posts maggiemaybe !

It always made me pleased that I did not live in the same area as I taught in. Mischief night seemed to be an excuse for very anti-social behaviour. Am I right in thinking it was mostly 'celebrated' in the north of the UK ?

It looks as though it might just be a Northern England thing, Eloethan. I never realised that.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8339617.stm

I've never heard of Mischief Night.

We're getting more callers than usual - I've had to smack OH's hand away from the cauldron with the sweets in or we'll be running out. So far they're all very young, very cute, and well supervised by mum and dad.

I know it's just my personal experience, but I don't believe trick or treating is anywhere near as threatening as Mischief Night used to be (the night before Bonfire Night). There were a lot of nasty tricks going on then and there was no chance of buying the little blighters off! We used to tie next door neighbours' door handles together with rope, which was fairly innocent but no doubt annoying, and one year we stripped all the flowers from a teacher's garden and sold them as posies door to door, including to one of her colleagues! A lot of egg throwing went on and bangers through letterboxes. My parents used to be sticklers for good behaviour, but we seemed to have carte blanche on this particular night.

I don't like fireworks being on general sale either, particularly since a huge rocket ended up slicing through the roof of my BF's car.

I am so pleased it is not just me who is a GOW regarding tonights antics. My own kids donned an old sheet (normally used when decorating) with 2 holes cut in for eyes and were allowed to go to the neighbours to frighten them. Lots of laughter as the neighbours played their part but not a trick or treat in sight.
Right now I have battened down the hatches, closed all curtains, locked the doors, switched off most lights and to all intents and purposes I am NOT AT HOME !! As others have said it has all just got out of hand.

henetha I'm with you on the cost of broomstick fuel, shocking that they put the price up at this time of year. Having fallen off a couple of times recently - even before a glass of witch's brew - I've decided to hang up my broomstick (never liked the cat anyway).

I must be the Worst Witch!

However, choccies are ready in the cupboard just in case and yes, I will have to scoff nibble them if no-one comes to trick or treat. DGC don't live near enough to visit but they are excited about dressing up.

The fireworks are the one annoying thing - they will probably start tonight and go on from now until the New Year. Ban fireworks except in organised displays. Bah humbug!

Who will be celebrating All Saints' Day tomorrow? Anyone on here have a saint's name?
www.timeanddate.com/holidays/uk/all-saints-day

As children we bobbed for apples, told ghost stories, and sat with the pong (thanks Jing) of our swede lanterns scaring ourselves, such good fun. It is a pagan tradition, and like every other christian/pagan festival, has been grabbed by the retail trade to boost their profits.

I've met a gorgeous witch in the supermarket, she was shopping for treats with her grannie. As I left, a skeleton and a ghost came in (with their parents) - it's great fun. We're lucky in only ever having children accompanied by adults, or much older siblings, roaming the local streets. I just hope we don't get yet more fireworks tonight. My dogs don't bat an eyelid, but many animals really suffer. Otherwise, I hope everyone enjoys the evening in the way they want to. I recommend a glass of something

Haven't read all these posts but yes Hallowe'en traditions are Celtic and def not 'trick or treating'. When my kids were young (and only in their late 20's now) they dooked for apples and went guising and they had to do 'a turn' - sing a song, tell a joke etc and be dressed up and carrying a tumshie (a swede lantern). It was great seeing the excitement of their face when they came back with their haul of penny sweets and even money from the neighbours. Things went rapidly downhill after Tesco discovered pumpkins. Although the year my son forgot about his lantern and we found it under a pile of his stuff in the grate in his room ......we thought a gull had died in the chimney!

Yes B - Quite agree about the landfill tat and hyped-up commercialism that surrounds events such as Hallowe'en. Wouldn't it be a fine thing if most of the trashy stuff were left on the shelves. #dreamon

The GOW in me has seen that this year Halloween tat in the shops has exceeded anything I've seen in previous years. As a child in England (came up to live in Scotland when I was 10), I knew nothing of Halloween. However, I did find it really exciting to go 'guising' with my new friends here. We dressed in our mum's old clothes and daubed soot on our faces (from the back of the fire ) and slapped some of mum's make-up around our faces and off we went to knock on doors. We had to tell a joke or sing a song and then we were given sweets or a few pennies. No commercialism, no cost - just fun!

That kind of event would also be perfectly fine with me, ffinn. It's the knocking on doors of people they don't know after dark that I don't like, plus all the "landfill tat" that someone else defined so exactly. The kind of tat that I, as a young mum, could not afford and didn't want the peer group pressure to buy, not to mention the build up of expectation in kids which I'd then have to disappoint. It's the pressure to spend that I dislike, nothing else.

I am a GOW regarding Halloween, but admit to having a tin of sweets by the front door. I used to teach locally and when I answer the door, small children shriek. I hope it's recognition and not fear that I must be dead as I am so old. I would feel very mean having nothing to give them. And they are always with parents. Your afternoon interlude sounds very touching Ffin. And a million miles away from supermarket/garden centre cash grabbing.

We have a very small children's home in our village and after returning from shopping this afternoon, three 5/6 yr old girls and one older boy (in charge) came into the garden. They were delightful. Faces painted up into animals, home-made costumes and carrying little baskets. I didn't have any sweets but did have some choc. pudds in the back of the fridge. I gave them those. Big smiles and kisses all round and off they went.
A lovely afternoon interlude.

Hallowe'en seems to have taken over from Guy Fawkes' night. Is it anything to do with elfansafety, I wonder? I don't like small children being out at night, knocking on doors but I suppose it was the same with Penny for the Guy. They are both forms of begging but Trick or Treat comes with a small hint of threat, especially with the bigger children who come on their own. I tend to ignore the doorbell but my OH bought a bag of lollipops a few years ago and has been handing them out ever since (the same ones!).