Trick or treaters....?

[louandivy]

But if you only knock on doors of houses that have pumpkins then how is it scrounging?!Some of my best childhood memories are of Halloween celebrations, I think it's sad that so many people hate it. I guess it depends on the area you're in

 

[Tasha]

I thnk scrounging is a bit harsh a word to use.

 

[lindseymw]

I would refer it to scrounging tbh.

This is only because 90% of the 'kids' that are T&Ting are too old & want money instead of sweets. This has been my experience of Halloween for as long as I can remember. They don't knock on just the decorated houses, they knock on all.

I think it is more an area thing maybe. I do actually live in a nice town/area so J couldn't even it was limited to 'deprived' areas.

 

[shellie]

I take my son trick or treating. Round here if the living room light is off then people dont knock. Even if they have the tv on, the rule is if the living room light is off you walk past that house. xxx

 

[Mazzy17]

Me and hubby tend to sit in the back room with the door closed so no lights are on in the front...still get knocked though

 

[louandivy]

I would refer it to scrounging tbh.

This is only because 90% of the 'kids' that are T&Ting are too old & want money instead of sweets. This has been my experience of Halloween for as long as I can remember. They don't knock on just the decorated houses, they knock on all.

I think it is more an area thing maybe. I do actually live in a nice town/area so J couldn't even it was limited to 'deprived' areas.

What do you mean? Lots of really nice areas celebrate Halloween!

 

[Eleanor ace]

I love Halloween but I do get anxious when the door goes, especially if its later in the evening when its more likely to be older kids. But I do like seeing all the little children dressed up. I hate it when groups of like 4-7 year olds come to the door without a grown up, imo that is so irresponsible! They could get shouted at by someone who doesn't like trick or treaters, or kidnapped, or anything- but I am a worrier. We never went trick or treating as kids but had a little party and gave sweets out to anyone who came to the door. We'll do the same with DS. I'm not expecting many trick or treaters this year as we live in a "nice" area and round here it is only in the "rougher" areas that you get trick or treaters, I don't know what its like elsewhere.

 

[Tasha]

Eleanor, it isnt like that round here at all. In fact the opposite tbh, the areas me and Lou were discussing are very nice areas, much lower crime rates than the areas surrounding it and they are the ones that tend to do Halloween more. Probably because it feels safer to go to those areas.

 

[Eleanor ace]

Eleanor, it isnt like that round here at all. In fact the opposite tbh, the areas me and Lou were discussing are very nice areas, much lower crime rates than the areas surrounding it and they are the ones that tend to do Halloween more. Probably because it feels safer to go to those areas.

That's interesting, I wonder why it isn't like that here. I know a lot of people have Halloween parties (one more chance to show off, there is a lot of one-up manship here ) so maybe that's why. I would like it if we had more, as long as they were children and not 14 year old girls dressed in totally inappropriate cat/cheerleader/semi naked fairy costumes which is what we had one year in our old flat- I wanted to give them coats instead of sweets

 

[louandivy]

Eleanor, it isnt like that round here at all. In fact the opposite tbh, the areas me and Lou were discussing are very nice areas, much lower crime rates than the areas surrounding it and they are the ones that tend to do Halloween more. Probably because it feels safer to go to those areas.

I also think it def has something to do with all the wealthy Americans living in SW London!

 

[Tasha]

Eleanor, that is probably why then.

Yeah, agreed Lou. We use to love it. Plus I think I would prefer Barnes common at night over say some of the places in Hammersmith during the day

 

[louandivy]

Hammersmith station is full of CRAZY PEOPLE i swear. I always hated waiting for a night bus there as they played such creepy music at night, but if you can get to Hammersmith at 3am, then you can get anywhere from there!

 

[LittleBoo]

Hmm... I've always had a sort of issue with Trick or Treating, even when I was very, very young I would ask "you tell me not to take sweeties off strangers, then send me out to do just that?" and since I've grown and found out about spiking, poisons and the generally odd people that would happily do that and worse to young children, it's baffled me even more.

 

[louandivy]

The spiking thing is a total urban legend though!

 

[louandivy]

https://urbanlegends.about.com/od/halloween/a/Is-Halloween-Candy-Tampering-A-Myth.htm

 

[LittleBoo]

It's still a very strange message to be sending out not for me, but Halloween is a rather lovely time of year, all the wee ones dressed up and all

 

[CatStorey]

I've always hated Trick or Treating. I have lived in some really dodgy parts of London and I've answered the door to flour/eggs/water chucked at me many times! I stayed at a friends one Halloween and she pursuaded me to go trick or treating on her estate and I honestly shat myself the whole time. There was some real weirdos opening their doors. Way more scary than me in my whitch costume!!

I now live in a lovely place and Halloween last year was worlds away from previous years. Lovely little polite kids, all dressed up, with their parents. We had a great time decorating our house with pumpkins and can't wait for this year.

 

[Mrs Doddy]

we close the hall door , un plug the doorbell and turn off all the lights, we havent had many over the years, I dont like the begging

 

[CatStorey]

Also every year I felt so sorry for the old people round my way as its just so scary for them All these big teenagers hammering on their doors, throwing things at them. If you dont give money you get a lot of abuse! So intimidating. I always worried

 

[Eleanor ace]

Where I grew up the council gave these big orange pumpkin stickers to people who were happy to have trick or treaters. You stuck them on your door and the parents knew to take their children to those houses and not others.It was a town of about 80% over 70's and a lot of the older people felt scared having knocks on the door. Its a good idea