Am I nasty/mean

funky-footprints

seven-day-weekend wrote:

funky-footprints wrote:

It is after all a bit of fun,

QUOTE]

One thing Halloween ISN'T is 'a bit of fun'.

Apart from other things connected with it, is it fun to train (and encourage) your children to demand money with menaces?

the children in our street dont demand money, and i wont be encouraging my son to demand money. Blimey i dont think my son has it in him to demand for money of a neighbour and if any of th ekids in my street were to ask for money i would march them straight home to thier parents ...

You obviously live in one delightful sort of place !!! remind me not to call through !

Stompa Quote:
Originally Posted by funky-footprints
It is after all a bit of fun, a responsible parent is out every year with the children here


FWIW I don't think over the years I've ever seen a parent with them - responsible or otherwise!

yes that is what it is like here. Im feeling mroe and more lucky that I am here as this post goes on !! I didnt have it down as a picture book perfect area to be honest !!

seven-day-weekend

funky-footprints wrote:

seven-day-weekend wrote:

the children in our street dont demand money, and i wont be encouraging my son to demand money. Blimey i dont think my son has it in him to demand for money of a neighbour and if any of th ekids in my street were to ask for money i would march them straight home to thier parents ...

You obviously live in one delightful sort of place !!! remind me not to call through !

!!

I've never given anyone anything for Halloween but I thought great hulking fourteen year olds who you've never seen in your life before wanted money, not 'sweeties'.

The little ones never have an adult with them. If they did, I'd explain to the adult why I was not giving anything.

What are they asking for then? 'We'll play a dirty trick on you if you don't give us anything?' That's what it means, isn't it?

It often frightens elderly people, that's why you can get notices to put on your door from the police station saying 'no trick or treat'. If it's that harmless, why can you get these from the police station?

It is NOT harmless fun IMO.

Having said that, I don't usually have much trouble with it as I always put one of these notices on the door and people don't knock.

And where I live now in Spain, it does not get celebrated. Suits me. They have a service for All Saint's Day instead.:T

seven-day-weekend

When I was young (I'm in my 50s) no-one celebrated Halloween anyway, at least where I lived. (With the exception of Wiccans and then it's called Samhain).

DianeM

I tell them all they are too early and if they call on the proper night they will all get something (Then I go out on that night - lol). No really then I get a bowl of sweets - yes I know it's not healthy but mostly the kids are having fun and that's what it is all about. Sometimes we dress the dogs up and it gives all the kids something to laugh at - it's better to laugh with them than have them damage your property.

evergreen

I am in my 50s too and we heard of halloween but that was about all. I lived in the USA in the mid eighties when my kids were small. They all dressed up but not only as ghosts and witches, but in any fancy dress. I thought that was great because from 1st of November all fancy dress was half price so my 2 had loads of cheap dressing up outfits!!! The Americans had loads of parties for Halloween, but it was only the kids in our appartment block that came around trick or treating.

tee_pee_2

kingmonkey wrote:

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

my dad locks the front gate with a chain, no one is getting in ther,I ahve to ring him before hand or even I am not allowed access. He also drawers the curtains and turns the outside lites off.

As I like it I do the op, outside light on and a pumkin in the window.

Just keep the house dark or even better go out for your tea and come back about 8.30. I don't answer the door later then that anyway cos it is older kids and I don't like their attitude.

Cinderella_2

I come from good old Europe, where Halloween has not taken off yet, so was very uneasy with letting my children go "begging for sweets" on that particular night. My friend and I however succombed under peer pressure, providing that 1) they make a real effort with the costume, real bandages for the mummy, face paint for the witch, none of that plastic mask stuff so awful noone knows who you are, 2) they have to come up with a little poem/song asking for a treat in a witty way, and chant it all together 3) We are ALWAYS in the background and make sure they walk on the path/ say Thank You/ do not go where they are not wanted, 4) get them to hand in a little Thank you note just to be on the extra polite side, 5) we tend to only visit people with children, and only go round between 5 and 6:30 pm. I feel we have got the right balance, the children are very excited about Halloween and look forward to the trip and the little party in the garage afterwards, and as the years go by more and more neighbouring children have joined our little gang. The accompanying adults even got dressed up last year to get into the swing of things! Of course we then wait for the rest of the street to ring our doorbell, and I have a basket of single sweets for them, even though some of the children are rather rude and don't say a word, just stand there waiting for handouts. I think there should be an age limit, surely a 14 year old feels stupid when handed a lollipop? Money is simply not an option in my mind. I must admit, though, that the novelty has worn off for me, and would love to see a Street Party where every kid goes and have fun , and leave with a party bag that would fulfill his craving for sugary stuff without the need to knock on doors.

Savvy_Sue

tee_pee wrote:

my dad locks the front gate with a chain,

I was going to padlock the front gate once we were all in ... but then I realised I've got a group of people from church coming round! :rotfl:

Cinderella wrote:

I must admit, though, that the novelty has worn off for me, and would love to see a Street Party where every kid goes and have fun , and leave with a party bag that would fulfill his craving for sugary stuff without the need to knock on doors.

Where we used to live, our local church ran a "Hallelujah Party" which was open to all children, not just those who went regularly. NOT a place for dressing up as a vampire, but good wholesome fun - and lots of sugary stuff!

So might be worth seeing if there is anything like that happening near you.

jackieb

I don't mind the little ones coming round all dressed up. But none of my 4 have ever been out 'guising' (penny for the Guy it was round here, now it's definately more trick or treating). When I was a child I never went round doors either. Never wanted to. It felt like begging to me. I used to feel bad enough going round doors collecting for the Earl Haig fund and handing out poppies lol. But as I said, I don't mind the children coming round to my door.

Lillibet_2

Hi there, I am Lillibets' Husband. Having studied the origins of Samhain, to give this festival its proper name, its amazing how little people know about it nowadays.
Firstly the exact origins of it are unclear but we are talking at least a couple of thousand years BC - so it and all its associated traditions are definitely NOT American, though it has unfortunately become overly americanised. Even the Romans were so impressed by it when they invaded us that they incorporated it into their calendar of festivals.

The festival was originally held by those people we generally refer to as Celts and is thought to have come to our isles from mainland Europe where the Celtic peoples thrived i.e. German region.

Trick or Treating again is overly americanised. Kids should certainly not be asking for money and should only be out on the night itself.
Trick or treating is not originally a Samhain tradition but was introduced by the early mediaeval Christians as 'Souling' around the 14th Century. The idea being that the poor went round door to door offering prayers for the dead in return for Soul Cakes.

Samhain has nothing remotely evil about it despite what the church might tell you. The festival was held as the celebration of the end of the 'Celtic' pastoral and calendar year, and was also a time to remember dead family members and folk heroes as this was a 'thin' time of the year when the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead were at its thinnest. At this time restless spirits were thought to come back to the world of the living so people used to dress up in whatever brightly coloured clothes they could find and parade through their settlemets and villages making lots of noise to encourage the spirits to go back to the world of the dead.

I am not anti-church (I even go now and again myself) but when you look at what the Church (mainly RC) has done over the centuries to this festival in the name of converting people to Christianity, it is no wonder so many poeple hold it to be an evil thing. Even the name Hallowe'en is an invention of the church, and don't get me started on the whole devil worship codswallop. The Devil is a creation of Christianity the imagery of which is a montage of three non-Christian deities. These being, Cernunnos - horns (Pagan), Pan - cloven hooves (Greek), and an Indian deity, whose name I can't recall but, who provides the red skin and pointy beard part of the typical modern image of the Devil.

Personally it makes me fume when people who should know better do this festival down. Any other religion and there would be one hell of an outcry.

Rather than summising that Samhain/Hallowe'en/TorT etc. is American because someone saw it on ET or that it is evil because someone wants you to believe it is, I suggest people should try typing Samhain into a search engine and learning about its true meaning and origins. There are plenty of websites out there.

As for modern-day kids, I encourage them to take part in trick or treating. The best way to discourage them if you don't agree with it all is to put a polite sign up in your window - as my dad used to say, "Politeness costs nothing; soap and water costs a few pence."

Samhain greetings and blessings to you all. May your God, whomever you hold that to be, go with you.