[Closed] Do you trick or treat?

Jesus!!! there are some miserable bastards on here. I thought I was a cantankerous arsey **** but I can't hold a candle to some of you lot!

The kids get to dress up and have a bit of harmless fun? We can't be having that now, can we?

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Oh.... and tazzymtb - that is ace. Hats off to you sir 😀

Penny-for-the-guy on bommy night ...

It makes me sad that all culture around bonfire night has died off

Has it?

The kids up here haven't been told that.

Halloween has come from nowhere in the last 10 years or so.

It's bigger now but hardly come from nowhere.

I'm not looking forward to being emotionally blackmailed into this bullshit when mine get to that age.

Actually **** that, the wife can do it.

Wow I'm glad you're not my dad 😯

[quote=eddie11 ]It makes me sad that all culture around bonfire night has died off and the crap around Halloween has come from nowhere in the last 10 years or so. In my kids eyes Halloween is up there with Easter and Christmas and I'm utterly baffled.

We still have bonfire night. I'm not sure what's so unhealthy about an occasion where kids dress up, people put out decorations, everybody has fun, nobody gets hurt now has greater prominence than an occasion where we set fire to things.

[b]I'm[/b] looking forward to it, and just trying to find inspiration for something more scary to do with my skull.

It makes me sad that all culture around bonfire night has died off...

To be honest there never really was much of a Bonfire night culture, not in the way Halloween is now. Build a Guy, eat some toffee apples, watch some shite Standard fireworks (apart from the Jack-in-the-Box!).

The main culture surrounding bonfire night when we were kids (early 80's) was to buy loads of Airbombs and Bangers and go around the village causing mahem, and trying to blow each other up!

We still have bonfire night.

...which is a celebration of religious persecution, terrorism, state-sanctioned torture and public executions.

But yes, let's get worked up about small children in costumes asking for sweets.

Most of the kids around here seem dissapointed with sweets, they're hoping for cash.

when I was at uni in manc the scallies would start wheeling the guy around in September

haha yeah i lived in Salford in the late 90's. Halloween started mid-September and there would be kids shouting 'Open the door or we'll put a firework through yer letterbox' for most of October (we gaffa-taped the letterbox shut and just hoped they tried).

i hate halloween because i pay no attention to it and sometimes unwittingly answer the door to see some happy kids who are inevitably disappointed when the most exciting thing i can offer is a tomato or possibly an apple 😆

Back in Pontywaun fireworks went on from now till New Year, it was like Fallujah sometimes, the dog was miserable when the house 4 doors across from you starts letting off air bombs at 2 in the morning and it all kicks off that is not much of a celebration

Jesus!!! there are some miserable bastards on here. I thought I was a cantankerous arsey **** but I can't hold a candle to some of you lot!

The kids get to dress up and have a bit of harmless fun? We can't be having that now, can we?

But, I'm not really interested in it myself. What's wrong with that? I'm not going to go out on the streets haranguing people out doing it. We won't have any decorations out, so there's no need for anyone to come to my door. Everyone's happy, right?

Except the fun police apparently.

Even the straw man is happy

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I was sick of getting hassled on Halloween so I started spreading rumours locally that I was a sex offender. Haven't had any kids turn up at the house since.

The constant bricks through the window have been a small price to pay.

all culture around bonfire night has died off

Not round here

This makes me very happy.

When I was a kid, not long after E.T. brought this idea into our cultral landscape, it was considered by my dad that 'trick or treat' meant give us a trick or a treat, and was a gamble on the part of the kid.

I thought that was a decent idea. One year he wrapped up a load of treats and some onions, stones and such, but some local little kids were distraught when they didn't get sweets.

So now it's just 'give us treats'. Which works out reasonbly because our kids come back with the same amount that we bought in the first place. Given that the kids from the street all go to each others' houses the sweets just get moved around.

Ok, question for the parents.
I'm planning on decorating my back garden with lit pumpkins, candles, spooky decorations/lights etc & having a few drinks/food around the fire that evening & I won't be able to hear anyone knocking at the front door.
So, I was thinking of making a trail of signs around the side of the house to where we will be & I can then distribute sweets to any liitle monsters that turn up.
Around here they are always with parents, but would you be comfortable taking your kids onto a property and following signs?

Ok, question for the parents.
I'm planning on decorating my back garden with lit pumpkins, candles, spooky decorations/lights etc & having a few drinks/food around the fire that evening & I won't be able to hear anyone knocking at the front door.
So, I was thinking of making a trail of signs around the side of the house to where we will be & I can then distribute sweets to any liitle monsters that turn up.
Around here they are always with parents, but would you be comfortable taking your kids onto a property and following signs?

to be fair, trying to persuade the kids to go to a place where you're cooking and eating meat could be a bit unsettling for them.

I'd suggest you add some additional signage along the lines of WE PROMISE WE WON'T BARBECUE YOU AND EAT YOU, HONEST, WE HAVE SOME DELICIOUS CHOCOLATE TO GIVE YOU to set their minds at rest 🙂

The local churches (various denominations) have been giving out cards, to put on your door, saying "Halloween is not celebrated at this house. No trick or treaters, please".
:/

So, I was thinking of making a trail of signs around the side of the house to where we will

Lol.

"Come into my garden, little children.. you can have a sweetie.."

Not sinister at all! 😈

Actually that might be fun for our house - but only because the kids all know our garden and it's easily accessible from the cul-de-sac

@muddydwarf - I'd hope you'd also have a surprise set up to scare them. Not a problem at all round here - several houses have stuff set up in back gardens for people to visit. Though the most infamous usually sets up some sort of scary passageway in the garage, complete with sound effects, video screens etc. - too scary for most of the little kids!

It'd be better if you were a real actual little person. Get it looking a bit dantes inferno/chapter of Marqui de Sade, you in a devil suit at the barbeque roasting a whole pig, hedonistic cavortings in the back ground and a cauldron of snakes/nightcrawlers and haribo.

Give the neighbours something to talk about

toxicsoks - Member

The local churches (various denominations) have been giving out cards, to put on your door, saying "Halloween is not celebrated at this house. No trick or treaters, please".
:/

Rather stupid and poorly educated churches then.

I now want a devil costume!
Hmm... I have a Cardinals outfit from a former fancy dress party, could add horns & burn a heretic!

Yep, standing in field to have a tuggy before turning a few tricks with the kids. All good healthy stuff.

Cheers @convert, g/f is very amused.

I actually like seeing kids having fun, I'm not really [i]that[/i] grumpy. But I'll be glad when the door-knocking is over ...

You're right, lets abolish Halloween and replace it with Back To The Future Day instead.

That seems more popular anyway.

The 'candy' aspect of it isn't too bad - I get to eat loads of the stuff myself, which is ok.

when I was a kid, not long after E.T. brought this idea into our cultral landscape, it was considered by my dad that 'trick or treat' meant give us a trick or a treat, and was a gamble on the part of the kid.

We only knew of it through Peanuts cartoons. "Dear Great Pumpkin..."

I keep a bucket of water just inside the door, just in case...

Booby traps are being dreamt up already. If I haven't made at least one five-year-old girl soil herself in sheer terror by 7.30pm, it counts as a failure.

I'm sure some adults have a lot more fun than the kids.

Only in the sense that I wear my slipknot 'corey' mask and leap out of the bin cupboard that's adjacent to my front door. Rarely do I ever give out sweets as the kids usually shit a brick and do a runner. 😆

Bloody hell, no pompous anti american diatribe?

Just park this outside your house 😀 [img] ?1254943371[/img]

Our little ones normally go out around the local estate with the Mrs, as it's a bit of fun. They are going to a party this year though.

MrSalmon - Member
Jesus!!! there are some miserable bastards on here. I thought I was a cantankerous arsey **** but I can't hold a candle to some of you lot!
The kids get to dress up and have a bit of harmless fun? We can't be having that now, can we?

This is the sort of fun fascism that gets on my nerves. The kids are quite welcome to dress up and have a bit of harmless fun- who's saying they shouldn't?
I'm certainly not going to stop anyone having any fun.
But, I'm not really interested in it myself. What's wrong with that? I'm not going to go out on the streets haranguing people out doing it. We won't have any decorations out, so there's no need for anyone to come to my door. Everyone's happy, right?

Except the fun police apparently.

<adds CZ to the killjoy list>

I've never tricked or treated in my puff. Went out of for my halloween though, involved getting dressed up in a back bin bag with cut out stars and moons and chapping people doors to either get a few coppers or a loads of fruit. geerally came back with 2 big bags of fruit and enough penuts to last a lifetime! Occasionally had to tell a joke. or got to dunk for apples.

This was during the early 80s when I was very young, loads of people did it round the scheme. still happens. I never got one bit of "candy" ever.

When I got a bit older we used the same chap door and ask for something trick on a regular basis, used to call it the ganjy run, which involved getting every ones on the streets empty bottles, with 8p each at the time, and trooping round to the shops to buy sweeties.

Most parents would probably have a heart attack if their weans did that these days! 😀

<adds CZ to the killjoy list>

& you can add me as well.

Kids can have as much fun as they like, as long as they don't bloody involve me.

We are going to Jonathan Ross' house this year. He lives a couple of doors down from London family home. He always goes for it!

We are going to Jonathan Ross' house this year. He lives a couple of doors down from London family home. He always goes for it!

on Hampstead way

Used to be surprisedly big in Switzerland but more the dressing up and spooky stuff. Some very nice witches!