Halloween by me seems to be dying out. Here I think parents are afraid to let their children go door to door, like when we were children. Towns sponsor safe parties and such. Times have changed.

I had a bucket of treats ready (things I wouldn't eat btw) bags of popcorn, lollipops, and toys...snap bracelets, little halloween puzzles, and some glow stick bracelets I had left over from summer camp.

Only 5 children escorted by 2 moms came by, and one of them said a lot of people weren't giving out treats, much to the disappointment of the kiddies. So she laughed, they might be back to see me and my neighbor, who had chocolate bars.

Once the sun went down, I figured that was it and just as I was dozing off on the sofa the door bell rang. It was one of the mom and two of the children. I emptied my entire bucket into their sacks....lol! bonus for them! The two little girls were dressed as Dorothy from Oz and Anna from frozen. The two girls burst out into a Halloween song. It was soooo cute. (and they could sing!) Turned out to be a better Halloween than I thought.

Nice to see the kids giving something back ie singing to you.
I read somewhere recently that there were a lot of warnings going out (mainly from local churches) in the US telling of the dangers of taking candy from strangers. Maybe that's why there's been a decrease in the number of kids going around.

Those warnings have been around since I was a kid. Never take candy from strangers, don't eat anything home made, parents check inspect the candy before your kids eat it.

When I was a kid it was razor blades in apples, this years warning was drug laced candy.

So sad. Little by little Halloween is dying out for so many safety reasons.

This year some towns in France were banning adults wearing clown costumes since there's apparently been a rash of nut cases dressed as clowns wielding bats and axes threatening people. The world has gone mad...

I knew my fear of clowns couldn't have been irrational!

I don't recall that we ever did Halloween as kids. Must be a modern invention :-/

Here, the kids will only go to the houses who have decorations.

And since it's getting dark pretty early, the evening is soon over for little kids...

I never decorated my lawn, and so never had any visitors. Good thing, because they would have been disappointed : I don't keep candy in the house.
Or is it that the candy won't keep?

Yeah, I have a sweet tooth!

Edited at 2014-11-01 12:14 pm (UTC)

I don't know how long it's been going on in the states, only that it was never an Australian thing. Canada was originally settled by British and French, wasn't it? It was never a big British thing, so perhaps that's why it wasn't popular in Canada too.

It was never a big British thing, so perhaps that's why it wasn't popular in Canada too.

I always thought it came here from the US, but a bit of research tells me it really came with the Irish and Scottish immigrants :-/

Since the Irish (Catholics) settled a lot in Québec, I guess we took it from them. The Scots must have spread it to the rest of Canada...

...a bit of research tells me it really came with the Irish and Scottish immigrants :-/
That's really interesting, I didn't know that!

The same thing seems to be happening over here (or at least it was back in Cambs.). Even in a village we'd sometimes get one or two sets of parents-with-children - and last year when I was chatting about it with Landlady she said that kids knew only to go to houses that were decorated (which I'd never heard before), so it looks like there are even social rules arising now! Meanwhile, I have no idea what's done with all the costumes the supermarkets put out for sale these days...

I really liked Halloween when I was in the States for it, and I suppose that was partly because it had been going so long as a big thing that various norms and expectations had grown up around it. I don't think I can really imagine it getting as big over here, though...

I haven't seen a single house decorated for it here, it's just never been much of a thing until recently.

I guess in the states it would be a big deal because it is as traditional as Easter or Thanksgiving.

Well, when Landlady said "decorated", she only meant that people had a lighted pumpkin lantern outside, actually, because that was all she ever did. Not quite the way they do it in the US! *g*

Typically understated British *g*.

We switch out our lights on the road side of the house! I don't think it's a great idea to encourage kids to go round demanding sweets from strangers, especially at their door!

Normally I do the same, and sit at my pc in the back room, but I planned to watch Dr Who with my sister on Friday night. And my downstairs outside light is motion-activated, so it's triggered by kids coming up the drive who then think it's an open invitation.

Walking home from the bus on Friday night I did see a few roving bands of trick -or - treaters, all of which were accompanied by an older child (late teen) or a parent which was good to see. Only one ventured up my stairs, but couldn't then access the porch so they left again.

believe it or not we didn't have any trick or treaters last night so i have a bag of sweets waiting to be eaten...never mind i'm sure they won't go to waste xx

That's odd, especially if you normally get them. Was it bad weather? I guess the sweets won't go to waste at all!

I grew up in the north-east of England and trick-or-treating was around in the seventies and eighties there. I think we had picked it up from Scotland, which is very near.

But most adults regarded it as begging and didn't approve. The one time I was allowed to go trick or treating, we got a lot of 'We don't do Hallowe'en here' and 'Don't give to beggars' and a very meagre amount of money. (I don't remember sweets. We asked for money. This is probably why my parents' generation regarded it as begging, of course.)

I don't think it's at all cowish (?) not to respond.

Social Justice Kittens sound splendid!

mrlnpndrgn just pointed out that the tradition came from Ireland and Scotland, which I hadn't known. I wonder when it switched from money, to sweets? No wonder it was seen as begging.

We didn't have trick or treating at all when I was a kid. My mother says it's caught on a little in the Cotswolds in about the last 10 years but but it's still not very many kids and they mainly go to the houses of people they know.

In the States it's a fact of life. Usually the only way you don't get them is if you life in student flats or the like.

Sounds as if the Cotswalds is about on par with here, having caught on only in the last ten. I think I'd be a bit concerned about my kids taking anything from people they didn't know; sounds like the people in your old area have the same concern.

In the US there have always been scare stories about things in sweets but it's another one of those urban legends where no one can actually prove it with a real story. The truth is most people just love to see the little kids dressed up, their parents usually lurk at the end of the driveway to keep a general eye on them and you hand out commercially produced miniature chocolate bars and lollies.

In England we had "penny for the Guy" in the lead up to Bonfire Night and that was begging for money so... *g*

I learned about "penny for the Guy" from Sherlock. See? Fandom IS useful! *g*