No Trick or Treat signs?

When I was a child my dad forbid me to go Trick or Treating. He said it was nothing more than begging. We used to get little children knock on our door, but there was always an adult standing nearby. I dread Halloween night. The constant door knocking drives me mad.

of course its not begging its a very old tradition ,pagan.that has continued in Scotland in spite of the American trick or treat influence.
This was posted on my daughters FB page this morning by her neighbour who is in her mid 60's .

This year I am open to Guisers as usual,treacle scones from pulley,dookin for apples etc etc. BUT this year I want a bit more theatre from my guests . There will be a £5 prize for the best "turn" lets try to get away from a one line joke...a bit of imagination ,a trick a ghost story, something scary!!!! ANYTHING. Remember Bea with her lion jumping through the burning hoop last year..lets aspire to that. If possible. All welcome though,even the one liners.

Sme of us are delighted the old traditions are being kept alive .

I really don't like this Trick or Treat thing - just something else 'imported' from USA. We never did it in the south when I was a child. Fortunately I will be at one of my clubs on Wednesday evening so it will all be over by the time I get home.

Aepgirl 'the south' missed out then! It is NOT imported from US... Halloween /Day of the Dead etc went to the US from UK Europe and Mexico . I agree it has been taken over by the commercial world and people think they need to buy stuff.. but that goes for all sorts including Christmas and Easter!

I don't often get visitors in the evening so if the doorbell goes on Halloween I guess it is children trick or treating. I open the door preparing to look scared and offering sweets. There is always an adult standing close by. I don't think many parents would allow their young children to knock on doors unaccompanied these days. As long as the children are safe I have no objection. It's strange I always seem to buy too many sweets and have to make the supreme sacrifice and finish them off myself!

Trick or treating wasn't around when I was a child but I do remember standing outside the garden gate with a "guy" and asking passers by for a penny!!

Halloween is not yet a big thing in Portugal although retailers are now selling outfits,masks etc and I saw a few pumpkins on doorsteps last year. Here the children have always celebrated All Saints day and indeed November 1st is a public holiday. I jad no knowledge if this 10 years ago and 3 sweet young children knocked on the door. They each had a beautiful home made drawstring bag for any goodies. We only had packets of biscuits to give which they were surprised to be given. The next year I bought little drawstring bags and put sweets etc in and put them in a pretty basket but no one came. Now all those children have grown up and there are very few babies being born so I doubt we will be having little visitors again.

The signs don't sound like a good idea to me, especially if there is an orange pumpkin on them. Around here we too seem to have an unwritten rule that children only knock at decorated houses and certainly all the young cjildren are accompanied by adults, as were my children when that age. My DGD is a bit young yet to go out but she dresses up and is ready to hand out treats to the callers.
I have no empathy with the anti Halloween movement which was prevalent at my children's school a couple of decades ago.

I do think the fun element of Halloween ( guising in Scotland) is being taken out of it now. As I said earlier of when I lived in Scotland it was completely different to how I recognised it when I came back to live in England. Not only did the children earn the sweets etc by doing a little bit of entertainment but they actually made their own costumes as well...with a little help from a parent or grandparent. I still remember having to get some grey wool to make long plaits and hair to attach to a witches hat that we made from cardboard and black crepe paper for my daughter and gathering some twigs from the garden to bind to an old length of brush handle to make the broomstick. How I had to forego one of my good white cotton bedsheets as didn't have an old one for my son to be a ghost, and find the sheet was useless after that as he decided to enhance his costume further when I was not looking by cutting out to very big eyeholes!
However these were really something the children and parents all looked forward to and lots of effort was put into everything.
It has so much commercialisation attached to it now that the original simplicity of it all is being lost.

It's a lot better than the old Bob a Job week when young boys were encouraged to ask to do jobs inside stranger's homes!

Luckily in our road -which is a friendly cul de sac & we all know one another well -the parents go round with the children & they dress up too. They all come round en masse so we only get a couple of knocks during the evening. I love seeing them all dolled up.
However I do see the problem of this American event & I understand why my sons will not let their children take part-they say it is just a form of begging.
When I was small we had great family Halloween parties but then Gran was Scottish & it was more of a tradition there.

Our town had its annual Halloween day today The shops all have buckets of sweets on the counters, and dressed up little ones go round with mum or dad with their baskets It seems to work well and the shops only give to children accompanied by an adult so no hoards of youngsters grabbing handfuls There were a few (town organised) witches floating around too I think this satisfies the little ones who may not be going out at night time
Do other towns do this ?

still get apples and nuts and a few sweets in my bags,I make them up in advance usually 30 or a bit more if they are particularly entertaining a 50p piece is their bonus

Afraid I am not looking forward to it. My own daughter is going to her brothers house and I will be on my own (she can’t push my wheelchair to get me anywhere). 4 years ago I was ill and one affect of it is my speech is not good so never answer the door myself,no one would have a clue what I was on about lol. We always used to decorate the house right up and everyone wore costumes as get the door knocking from about 6pm onwards. Tried leaving a pot of sweets out last year with a note saying just to take a packet or two,next day sweets were all gone and so had the pot ?

We always get inundated with “trick or treaters” every year. I always have a vast amount of treats ready ( would hate to run out) and have a special bowl with a grabbing hand that reaches out randomly and says “steal my candy would ya” in a scary voice .DH stays at work extra late so he can be sure it’s all over when he finally comes home .

I used to have a ghost that lit up and wooohed when anyone came near,the wee ones in particular loved it .Though one wee guy wanted to g get his dog to sort it out.Great fun .

they say it is just a form of begging.
LOL yes, many a street begger started on the slippery slope by "gateway begging" at halloween...


As for kids not performing
Oh COME ON... the very people who are "bah humbug" about Halloween are the exact same people who would be the first to complain if kids went back to the rude songs/rhymes and scares we used to do for our treats when I was a kid LOL.

I spoke to DGD2 on the phone today - she asked me if I'd got my Hallowe'en decorations up yet

Oh dear, no, I haven't.

Can't stand Halloween in its current form! When we lived in Hong Kong the strong US influence introduced us to the concept of trick or treat but mainly it was children being brought round by the Filipina domestic help and holding up a bag for goodies!! One night, when we lived in a large apartment complex, a little lad of about 7 rang our bell and stood there holding up his goodie bag!

Where we live now we are in a small community, no young children and our house is a bit spooky to get to! So no trick or treaters!!

I concur with much of what has been said, but while on the subject I thought you might enjoy the "beef wellington" my son and his daughter prepared for their dinner yesterday.

Wouldn't mind a slice of that Persistentdonor.
I've got a piece of beef for my dinner today. Hope it isn't tough ! You could sole your shoes with some of it.

I take my daughter and her friend. The rule is, no decorations, no go.

It'll be " penny for the guy " soon ! Now this is a time I don't relish and stay firmly indoors with my cats.

I first came across Hallow'een or All Hallows Eve in Northern Ireland when we moved there in the 1960s. Bonfire Night wasn't celebrated really. I was in the Brownies and we all made turnip lanterns with a little tealight candle in the bottom and a string handle so we could carry it to the pack meeting. I dressed up as a cat in a black polo neck and thick black tights - my mother made me a tail out of a black stocking stuffed with paper and cardboard ears attached to a headband; then drew cat's whiskers on my face with eyeliner. We played games like bobbing for apples and there was a prize for the best lantern. Then we went outside and a bonfire was lit and a few fireworks were let off - to scare away the evil spirits apparently! Great fun!
However, I agree with you Lancslass 1 what we have now is just a commercialised import from the USA. The supermarkets are full of ghastly costumes, plastic and real pumpkins, expensive carving kits, decorations etc. etc.
I also worry about the gangs of older kids who go round demanding money with menances! Elderly people can get quite anxious when confronted by such a group threatening to trash their house if they are not given money.

We have had a poster delivered that says "no callers" on one side and "please call" òn the other side. I'll display the "no callers".

On a lighter note my two GDs were discussing costumes and the 7 year old states very seriously,
"I don't like Halloween. I'm a good Catholic girl". She couldnt understand why her parents and I laughed.

I wonder where she got that one from?

The rhyme we used as kids.

Halloween is coming, the goose is getting fat, please put a penny in the old man's hat. If you haven't got a penny a halfpenny will do, if you haven't got a halfpenny, God bless you!

As I said before, my dad didn't allow me to go to people's houses, but I would follow my friends around.