Yep, love it or loathe it, Halloween, or All Hallows’ Eve, is just round the corner.
A time of the year for family fun and festivities…..
……. if you wish to celebrate or participate that is.
Many people view halloween as a celebration of evil and the occult, and therefore refuse to recognise the occasion.
But I believe it’s becoming more popular. Less frowned upon, and more accepted as a celebratory festival. Each year companies large and small are promoting the festival more and more, and as a result and as the well behaved and obliging consumers that we are, we fall in line willingly and play along!
Personally I rather love the idea of everyone playing along with such an event. It seems like a fabulously fun way to spend quality time as a family and with friends.
Halloween’s a tough one isn’t it?
It really does divide so many opinions in all manor of areas.
There are:
– those who want to join in the fun
– those who regard it as against their religion
and
– those who are concerned (and rightly so) for the safety of their children and the public
To be honest, I suppose I kind of sit on the fence a little.
I can see and understand all points of view.
As with many other things, I’m just trying to find that happy medium I suppose. One where my family and I can still have the excitement, but respect other peoples views and wishes at the same time.
And now that I’m a mummy, to my two adorable little girls, I want them to join in and have fun too. I love to see them dressing up in cutesy little witch or pumpkin costumes; to watch the wide eyed expressions on their faces as they see their made up faces in the mirror; their excitement of getting ready and attending the parties and their enjoyment as they participate in all the games.
They love it, as they have no idea of the concerns we adults have.
The one thing I’ve never done with them is ‘Trick or Treating’
I’d never grown up with it myself so I suppose it just doesn’t come naturally or even sit comfortably for me to go around knocking on random peoples doors in the dark.
Plus this brings about another argument.
Should we really go round and knock on unknown doors with our children?
Is this sending them mixed messages?
One minute were taught not to talk to strangers, even if they offer sweets; and the next we’re telling to go knock on Joe Bloggs door and actually ask for them!! Hmmmm! Confusing huh!
I won’t promote talking to strangers but equally I want my children to be able to play a part in the excitement of the festival.
Then of course there’s the element where you would hate to knock on someone’s door who is elderly or on their own. Many elderly are really scared to open their doors around this time of year for fear of being attacked and I really can’t blame them.
Because then of course you get the idiots. Ok, ok, so it’s called trick or treating, but this is where it can sometimes get nasty.
In the past I’ve heard about large groups of teenagers who’ve been going round knocking on doors, with no effort of fancy dress, just full of attitude, bad intention and aggression, who’ve even asked for money instead of sweets!!!!
Can you believe the cheek of it!!
I find these by far scarier than anyone dressed up in a zombie outfit or Scream mask!
Plus, if they don’t get what they’ve asked for, your likely to have stones thrown at your windows or your tyres slashed!
So anyway, as a family we do choose to participate, but in our own way, and in a safe but fun environment for our children.
What about you?
Do you celebrate Halloween?
And if so, what do you get up to??
Read how we participate here in my 12 Safe & Fun Halloween Activities for Families
I never went trick or treating as a kid – my mum reckoned it was like begging… Well, that’s rather extreme but it’s something I am not massively comfortable about doing with my daughter (she is too young at the moment anyway). But there were a few groups of lovely kids around us doing it on Fri night and seemed to be having lots of fun. Halloween has got a lot more popular and yes, we are becoming more Americanised. Fortunately we had no trouble the other night. I think the unwritten rule is only knock if there are pumpkins/decorations on display but still, it can be scary for some people. Whatever I do in the future, we’ll definitely still dress up!! And perhaps have a party in the comfort of our home – doing some of the more harmless activities I did as a child – like apple bobbing. It’s an excuse to do fun stuff with the children despite the evil & spooky history of the festival. This year I carved my first pumpkin! Check it out on my blog. #pocolo
Author
Oh my gosh I am so sorry for how late this response to your fabulous comment is!!! I really do think that in future we will have parties in the home – I love a good party, so I hardly need an excuse. I did one for adults once and used scene setters and big black drapes to dress the room. Would love to do one for all the children of our friends and neighbours. My parents disagreed with the whole thing too – but I think we live in a different age now, so as long as we do it sensibly and are socially aware, we should be ok. Thanks so much again, Steph xxxx
Having grown up in the US, I really miss the trick-or-treaters each year and I’m sad that my little girl won’t experience Halloween like I did. But the world is also a different place anyway, and I’m not sure it would be the same for her in America either.
We’re lucky now, though, as we live in a big block of flats with lots of kids. There are only a handful of families that take part, but those that do decorate their doors to indicate if trick-or-treaters are welcome. (I love decorating too!) Baby didn’t trick-or-treat this year, but we’ll take her around next year.
We do a sweetie treasure hunt around the living room instead of trick or treating. They still get to dress up and fill a bucket with sweets…. just in the warmth of our own home.
Author
I am so sorry for only just getting back to your wonderful comment – a sweetie treasure hunt for Halloween is a totally fabulous idea. I love a good treasure hunt – especially if there’s sweets or choccies involved!!! Thank you so much for commenting and apologies again for being so late in replying. Xx Steph xx
When I was a kid, we lived in a little scottish village and it was a big deal. We used to dress up and rehearse our act. Be invited in to perform and then get sweets etc. We didn’t just bang on the door and beg?! I think dressing up, celebrating and partying is all fine and dandy but as for the Trick or Treating, it is not for us xx
Really interesting to read this. I love the idea of kids dressing up and the excuse for a bit of a party. My husband loves pumpkin carving.
The trick or treating doesn’t sit right with me (fine if you have arranged to do something with neighbours beforehand) but going round to strangers and accepting sweets – with the threat of a “trick” if they don’t comply seems to go against what we try to teach our kids for the rest of the year.