trick or treat

[citizentwiglet]

i'd be intrigued to know what "religious requirements" forbid certain sweets but allow participation in Halloween!?!

Happy Samhain/ Halloween/ Equinox/All Hallows everyone xxx

I was just thinking the same thing....

I must say, I don't mind the sprogs knocking our door; we do make a pumpkin lantern and they are welcome to knock. Most of them come with their parents and are very polite and do tell you a joke or sing a song. It's the teenagers who want 'cash or fags' then egg your house for your non-compliance that does my nut in.
Not many come to my house, though, because I'm one of the annoying people that hands out apples, satsumas and raisins rather than lovely sweeties.

I don't take my kids out - as someone else mentioned 'begging for sugar' doesn't sit right with me. Besides, I'm pagan (and a grumpy pagan at that) and I can't stand how commercial and crass the whole thing has become.

[Sinmara]

I bought sweets for the first time (well, the previous flats we lived in where so hidden that no one would have found us lol) - but no one came Oh well, their loss, my gain.

[Russian Doll]

next year just make sure you have sweets lain out in several baskets clearly labelled..for e.g

diabetic,muslim ,christian, sugar free and full of crap for the hyper

[Masco&Bongo]

I bought sweets for the first time (well, the previous flats we lived in where so hidden that no one would have found us lol) - but no one came Oh well, their loss, my gain.

If halloween happens during the week, we are out at work, however, since it was a sunday, we bought sweets, made sure the porch light was on etc, and only got 1 visit

However, the three kids that did visit were well-costumed (home-made), very polite, and had parents stood at the end of the driveway

Obviously, I've had to bring in lots of fun-sized chocolate to work with me today.... what a shame!

[MuddyWitch]

Like many of our traditions, Samhain/Hallow'een has been upsurped by the American commercial tripe! (Santa DIDN'T wear red 'till Coka Cola kidnapped him)

I grew up in a village in Nottinghamshire in the 1960s and we alway went 'Trick or Treating' with a mangl worzel lantern. We expected to perform our treat (a song, which with my singing voice was probably more of a trick!) before recieving our treats of apples or a home made cake,if you were really lucky. This was as it had been for as long as any one could remember.

We have a long drive & a side 'front' door so no-one ever comes 'trick or treating' or carol singing since the 'security' light died, in 2006. When they did, they were given fallen apples on Samhain...the Goddess choose if they had a trick, a wormy one, or a treat! (Carol singers enjoy home made mince pies and wished a happy Yule, btw)

If your offereings are not to their liking tell them you know an old Hag in Leicester who'll curse them

MW

[citizentwiglet]

My mum has just left a Facebook message thanking the little darlings who trashed her car last night. By the sounds of it, she wasn't generous enough with her treats so they've smashed the windows, done the lights in and scratched it all over.

[KathyLauren]

the mother of one child starts demanding that we supply sweets that are in compliance with her special dietary and religious requirements.

The bloody nerve! Has the expression "Beggars can't be choosers" lost its currency?

It's because of cr@p like that that I don't participate in Halloween any more. The standard here is that you put a pumpkin at the end of your driveway if you want visitors. No pumpkin, no candy. It works for me.

[Ellendra]

We handed out tiny decks of cards this year instead of candy.

[Islaskye]

We have a long drive & a side 'front' door so no-one ever comes 'trick or treating' or carol singing since the 'security' light died, in 2006. When they did, they were given fallen apples on Samhain...the Goddess choose if they had a trick, a wormy one, or a treat! (Carol singers enjoy home made mince pies and wished a happy Yule, btw)

If your offereings are not to their liking tell them you know an old Hag in Leicester who'll curse them

MW

heeheee, remind me never to get on the wrong side of you!, good idea about the apples though, might try that one next year....

[Russian Doll]

we took the boys trick and treating for the first time ever last night and they loved it..we only visited houses that had pumpkins or decs up and they all said thankyou without being prompted..i was proud of them

[Millymollymandy]

The one and only time I went trick or treating as a teenager we had to explain to 90% of the people whose doors we knocked on what trick or treating was all about as they didn't have a clue. To be honest I'd never heard of it before either (it was a friend's idea to do it). Where I lived (in Bucks) I don't think anybody was really aware of Halloween - to me it was some American festival that I didn't know anything about.

[Alice Abbott]

We introduced our hamlet to the joys of "trick or treat" on Sunday evening. Bearing in mind the two French households had no idea what is was all about (probably still don't...) we had fun.

We had a huge pumpkin which had to be transported in the trusty wheelbarrow and the twins were well wrapped and carried in their Indian scarf slings. The pumpkin was so huge we were able to use a proper tealight lantern inside it (lots of pumpkin pie flesh for us too). The kids made their own costumes from what ever they could find. Pia wore an old black lace slip pulled up under her armpits with pinned on ribbon straps, black crepe and wire coathanger wings (don't ask!) and rather clever crepe witch's hat. Luca went for the Goth look with just about every item of black clothing we possess piled on top of him, felt tip blood and stitched up scars and a black eye (genuine, he fell out of the apple tree picking the best one last week).

There are about 15 houses in the hamlet, two are permanently empty and six are summer holiday homes for families living in various cities. The four Brit and Dutch households knew we were coming so after duly being "scared" by a black woollen spider on a stick and having listened to their little poem gave them a chocolate bar each, a bag of satsumas between them, a toffee apple each and two sticks of licquorice.

Aristide listened to my explanation, gave ME a bag of lime flowers and Mack a glass of home distilled eau de vie and made it plain he was about to go to bed (it WAS 7.30 by then...) The final couple looked at pictures in the kids' Halloween story book, scratched their heads and then rummaged around and produced glasses of sticky sweet home-made damson cordial, insisted I let them cuddle the twins (both flat out asleep) and presented the kids with the ultimate gift for Halloween, a new home-made twig broom.

Just wait until the mayor hears about it. I can almost see the men in white coats coming along the drive...

[Archanejil]

I was lucky -- I'm a wee bit of a mongrel (half English, half American) thanks to my dad being USAF and marrying a local lass. Every halloween, we'd go to Lakenheath AFB (where my dad was stationed... we lived off base) and go to the houses there. Almost every house was up for it, and not only that, but because it was an AFB, no one got tricked either. Mind, we found that in our own off-base neighbourhood, we got vandalism for not getting the door on the Saturday before Halloween It does amaze me though -- when I was a kid, I was the only one I knew who went trick or treating. I moved to the states for a few years, came back and it seemed like between 1995 and 2000, Halloween had really caught on over here.

I blame The Simpsons, lol.

[MKG]

Trick or treating didn't exist here when I was very young (before the invention of the wheel). Then the night before Halloween was called Mischievous Night and all the kids would slink out, knock on various doors and run away. No-one expected that

It became an art form involving long threads tied to door knockers, and all the adults played along and pretended that they couldn't see us hiding behind the privet. Then they got clever and began gluing the knockers to delay us while they snuck round the back to catch us. Grown-ups eh? No fun at all.

Mike

[ina]

My mum has just left a Facebook message thanking the little darlings who trashed her car last night. By the sounds of it, she wasn't generous enough with her treats so they've smashed the windows, done the lights in and scratched it all over.

See, that's what I am afraid of. That's why I'm hiding in a dark house - can't go to the back room, as my house is tiny and has two "fronts". And I massively resent having to sit in the dark, because I'm afraid of what the little b*stards will get up to if I don't comply with the unwritten rules of handing out large quantities of junk, or better still, cash!

There may have been some nice, cosy idea behind the whole idea at one time (although I can't remember at the moment what it was - we had something slightly different in Germany, St. Martin's Day), but it's got to the stage where it seems to be just another excuse for criminal behaviour...