Did you answer your door last night (Halloween)?

schlepcycling

Felt so Good wrote:

its a socially acceptable form of begging now is it?

Unlike that very British form of begging 'penny for the guy'

dmch2

Small kids, dressed up, with parents watching from end of drive - no problem.

Teenagers calling round - bgr off and buy your own (rather than spending your money on white lightning to drink in the park)

I just turned all my front room lights off once it got to 7 (little kids, mine included, are in bed by then).

spinndrift

I get into the spirit.
I put a pigs head on a pole at the end of the path, haven't fed the dog, haven't fixed the bell and have dressed up as Gary Glitter.

If they're still there after all that then they deserve a few cheap sweets.

plowmar

Andy162 said

Haribo multi packs seem like the way to go.

Wiggle has its uses then?

tlw1

I don't mind, but our steps & path seem to stop them!

Took the kids to a party & would have prefered the teenages causing hell - it can't have been worse!

inkyfingers

When we came home just before 6 there were loads of kids out (mostly little'uns with parents) but none have knocked on our door so the GF is now stuffing her face with the sweets we bought! I have resisted as don't want to waste the hour and a half of hell i had on the turbo this morning!

Stone Glider

There are some grumpy s*ds about :roll: A bag of cheap sweets and dole them out, one in each bowl. How difficult is that? When they are gone (about now) they are gone. The kids hereabouts have all made an effort with the dressing up and have parents in tow. We don't seem to get teens any more, the rule is no cash just sweets, not a great incentive and it has died away.

disquieting_museeuws

There are complaints about lads (sometimes dressed up as Robin Hood & his gang) using feast days as an excuse for extorting money from householders dating back to the middle ages. On Halloween however it was more usual to play traditional games, to take the mind off ghosties & goblins. I have an authentic witch's cat who protects me from the horrors of the night (that's what I tell myself, anyway).

singlespeedexplosif

A few years ago, my mate living in a rough area of Newcastle had a knock on the door from a group of men asking for beer or a trick (ie smashed car window). He gave over £2 instead. My mate watched out of the window as they knocked on a few houses. Mmm, what would you do?


move somewhere nicer.

Mr Dog

.... and Christmas is better? Shipping over tonnes of stuff we don't need frm surpressed workers in China. I'll celebrate the reaper with glee.

deptfordmarmoset

Skeltron wrote:

I have no money or sweets to give them. I doubt they'd appreciate a bowl of cereal (that's all I have in, I'm a poor dole boy) so I just don't bother.
Plus they don't deserve it, they're little sh#ts round here (Gorton, Manchester).

There was a little knock on my door this evening, and I had that realisation as I went to answer it that I had neither sweets nor cash indoors, and porridge would take a while.... And then, as I hid in the hallway, when there was no further knock and I heard parents' voices in the background, I started to feel terrible. I now feel like King Killjoy!

(Mind you, it's not all misery - last night I did one of those increasingly rare gigs and as it was the Saturday before Halloween, the Belfast-born guvn'r asked which songs we were doing for the event. ''Oh, Monster Mash, Bad moon rising, Werewolves of London, that kind of thing....'' ''Can you not do Gallstone?'' asked the gaffer. I looked at the band leader who looked back in bewilderment. ''You know, the song by the Specials'' he added when he saw us looking lost. And started singing ''This stone is coming like a gallstone....'' When we started laughing, we got accused of racism...)

OffTheBackAdam

I was thinking that mustard & soap sweets, plus Bluebi-doos from the joke shope.
Mrs OTB suggested Flying Saucers filled with Epson Salts! :twisted:

Mike67

plowmar wrote:

Andy162 said

Haribo multi packs seem like the way to go.

Wiggle has its uses then?

Yeah..I had to spend over 5 grand this year just to get enough sweets for halloween

Wheelspinner

We have a looooooong steep driveway, which puts most off anyway. Then the 55 kg Rottweiler / Rhodesian Ridgeback cross on a 50 metre rope gets the rest.

Any that make it past that are welcome to the Wasabi peas from the "health food" shops... soon sorts them out!

sheffsimon

Some cheery fookers on here.

Stewie Griffin

Never had our door knocked in all my life for Halloween. A friend not that far away had his Windows egged last year as he had no sweets when they knocked :x

plowmar

Sunderland?

plowmar

A few years ago, my mate living in a rough area of Newcastle had a knock on the door from a group of men asking for beer or a trick (ie smashed car window). He gave over £2 instead. My mate watched out of the window as they knocked on a few houses. Mmm, what would you do?


move somewhere nicer.

Sunderland?

Buckled_Rims

plowmar wrote:

A few years ago, my mate living in a rough area of Newcastle had a knock on the door from a group of men asking for beer or a trick (ie smashed car window). He gave over £2 instead. My mate watched out of the window as they knocked on a few houses. Mmm, what would you do?


move somewhere nicer.

Sunderland?

That's the land of Milk and honey compared to his old place. He lived in Elswick I believe. He moved soon after due to another incident. 2 lads/men knocked on his door and barged in. They hid a package in his house saying if he looked they'd shoot him. A few days later police raided a house nearby. The following day the men came back for the package. Strangely, it was wrapped like a sawn off shot gun :!:

My friend moved to my estate, that's how I know him.

Pokerface

Well - growing up in Canada, Halloween was always a big deal to us kids. It was all about the dressing up and the candy (never about money) until about the age of 10.

Later in life when I went to University - the open bar Halloween party that me and friends threw drew a crowd off 500 costumed people every year and was one of the big highlights of the year.

Now.... it's just another day.


After all that, no one knocked on my door tonight, although I did pop out to the gym during peak time. :oops:

bompington

American culture? Maybe that's how it's developed, but round here you still get a lot of kids out guising

Not that that will impress all the grumpy old gits here, who were clearly born at the age of 50 without ever having to go through that troublesome childhood stuff

Flasheart

Before I moved into the flat on my own, we always had some sweets ready. It would only be the little kids in costume with the parents standing at the end of the driveway overseeing.Never had any loutish teenagers exhorting money/sweets etc.
Although I just see Halloween as a money-spinner for shops (and these days who can blame them) I don't see any real harm in it.

Not feasable in the flat now. Locked iron gate to get through and I have a concealed doorbell. Pretty skint as struggling to make ends meet thesedays, but I'm sure a could afford a few sweets for the kids if they could actually get to me.

MattC59

Unfortunately, we were away for the weekend, so didn't have any sweets or anything to give out. The door bell anly rany 3 or 4 times, so we just ignored it.

Usually I don't mind the mums and toddlers coming around early in the evening (especially as there's a lot of yummy mummys around here ) it's the teenagers coming around at 9pm having made no effort at all, that p*ss me off.

Next year, I'm going to go round to their houses asking for cash.

BigG67

Hmmmmmm

"they can all get lost, bl00dy kids" to "them teenagers are all anti-social"

I'm I the only one who sees a cause and effect going on here?

I reckon the ones that are REALLY killing Britain are the miserable gits who say "...it's (insert Daily Mail headline) killing Britain".

mroli

Only one bunch of trick or treaters - some every polite girls under 10 with their parents at the end of the drive. We had some cheap sweets to hand out, but the "scariness" of the trick or treaters was ruined somewhat as our black 6 month old dog pushed past me excitedly and tried to lick all the trick or treaters. Cue one small child taking off screaming to her mum, our dog looking very confused, but trying to play with the rest of the trick or treaters and me trying to force cheap sweets on them to make recompense.

Can of worms Halloween....

Heckler1974

Weejie54 wrote:

Same here. Think yourself lucky you are not in Orkney. You might be missing a gate or two - or maybe minus a bike or some windscreen wipers.

Excellent article in this month's Fortean Times about the tradition of 'mischief night' oop north.

We had about four or five groups of very polite (they all said thank you) dressed up youngsters (about twenty kids in all) and we still had some sweets left.

Nothing wrong with it IMHO but it does depend on the area and the sort of kids you get I suppose.

Verbal

Having been a grouch these last few years by ignoring the dreaded knock at the front door, this year I decided to embrace it. I'm a fairly new Dad so I'm trying to take a softer, less cynical approach to things. Anyway, I went out and got loads goodies only to have just 4 kids turn up. Still, I now have a small mountain of chocolate and Haribos to work my way through so everyone's a winner really!