Am I nasty/mean

kingmonkey

Anyone have tips for keeping trick or treaters away from your door?

BARGAINHUNTER!

er - sit inside all nite with the lights and tv off and don't answer the door?

seven-day-weekend

I just put a sign on the door saying 'no trick or treat' and don't get bothered.

siren13577

glen5213 wrote:

Is it just me or has halloween become more Americaised over the past few years
I remember going out on the 31st oct all dressed up and having to perform a song or tell jokes and whatever we got we were gratefull for

I do think it's more Amercanised, trick and treat isn't English, I don't mind giving the children something but don't often get a trick or treat!! Things have definately changed, when I was a child we played duck apple, told scary stories, watched films and maybe had a buffet dinner. I do like all the scary decorations and did decorate my house but I also nod to paganism and celebrate Samhain.

Lillibet_2

Oh please, when will people learn that Hallowe'en & trick or treating isn't American, it's a Christian ENGLISH custom dating from the middle ages when the poor would ask for Souls cakes on All Souls day (Hallowe'en is a Pagan celebration which the early Christians hi-jacked to try & convert Pagans to Christianity) & would say a prayer for the giver in return, the dressing up relates to it being All Souls day & spirits supposedly rising from the dead. The Irish took it to the USA in the Victorian era. Hardly suprising that our kids don't do it properly & ask for money when the adults don't know our own countries history!!!! Try asking some of the trick or treaters why they are doing it, some of them learn it at school (not sure what age group but I'd say late primary school age) as you may learn something!

Sorry, rant over:o

juliejim

My daughter brought a poster home from school saying 'NO TRICK OR TREAT' as her school try to discourage the kids from doing it (she's at primary school).

ariba10

There was no Trick or Treat untill a long time after the war.

Up untill then it was Ducking Apple night. A family gathering with a lot of games indoors. (as oposed to indoor games)

Athravan

Definitely not mean. The only night that children can get away with coming around and knocking on your doors to ask for things, is Halloween. Not a week before, or a week later, or any other time of the year.

I give out sweets and chocolate on halloween night, to those children who are actually in halloween costume, or with their parents. I NEVER give out money - and never will do either!

rio

October 31st is the anniversary of a death in our family, we certainly don't want to be answering the door to people dressed as ghosts and ghouls. Every year we put up a polite notice asking people not to call, and every year people ignore it.

pollyanna24

I don't think you're mean at all. I never give out stuff at Halloween, don't see why I should. Call me an old fogey (at 25), but I don't celebrate Halloween (okay, so I may watch a few horrors etc), but I don't believe in giving anything out for free. Only been in my new house 6 months, but at my parents, it was mainly older kids who tried it on. We either ignored the doorbell (if it was younger, genuine kids, they just carry on to the next door), or if they persisted, my dad, brother and boyfriend all went to the door together. That soon got rid of them!

Plus the way the news and Jamie Oliver are reporting these days, giving out free sweets to kids these days is absolutely the wrong thing to do!