fill a water gun (one of those water BLASTERS would be better) with worchester sauce or something smelly and spicey and when the older ones come to the door and give hassle or are rude if they say "trick or treat" shout TRICK and spray them......then i'd recommend running back into your house and locking all doors and windows coz god knows what they might think as acceptable revenge...
....dont think i wanna go out on halloween now....or stay in.

Makes me grateful that I live in a first floor flat and nobody can access the communal door unless they have a key. And, even then, that door is up a flight of steps at the far end of a patio area behind a hairdressers which, in turn, is behind a large wooden gate.

Be pretty hard for anyone to annoy me

Having said that, I do like the whole concept of Halloween.

We aren't really bothered that much by Trick or Treaters.. a couple maybe.. and usually they've made an effort to dress up.. if they do, i'll give them either sweets or some change, but if they haven't, or are the bigger kids, i answer the door with my German Shepherd at my side, her bark can be rather ferocious and scary for those who don't know her

(Edited by Keenangel 09/10/2002 20:23)

alan partridge.

If i was home alone in Cardiff on Halloween, i'd usually be performing a Samhein ritual, so if the little buggers that come half arsed dressed and dont play fair came round to me, they ususally found me dressed in ceremonial robes or if notdoing anything id make sure i was gothed up in a long black dress, and were usually frightened off by the big pentagram in the front door window!
Now i'm in London in a flat that can only be accessed by a comunial locked door, they wouldnt usually bother, but then i'm usually never in on that day, i'm normally out doing wiccan stuff! usually scaring any little brats away in the process! (bless em)
I do like having fun around Halloween and doing something on Samhein!It is my new year after all

Cool! I've always been interested in that sort of thing, nemesis. Can you recommend any good websites/books/communities for a newbie?

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by Teresa
Aaaawwwwwwww yer big load of spoilsports Like I said we have a large US community near where I live so they all get into it, decorate their houses and such like...

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Yeah, it's really big time here in the U.S. After Christmas, I think it's the holiday people here spend the most money on for decorations and stuff. People have "ghosts" and fake spider webs hanging from trees in their front yards, decorations and jack-o-lanterns on their lawns, and lights on their houses. Not everyone. But lots of people. For me, it's just so much fun to walk around and look at the stuff, especially at night.

And--I'm definitely in the minority on this thread--I actually enjoy handing out the candy for trick-or-treat. I have a bunch of chocolate bars stocked up already for the kids, and the best part is, I get to eat whatever I don't hand out.

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by Lori
Cool! I've always been interested in that sort of thing, nemesis. Can you recommend any good websites/books/communities for a newbie?

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I'm a newbie too - a really good starter book is 'the idiots guide to wicca and witchcraft' sounds daft, but its a good background book, not too patronising and has some useful references in it

I like giving kids sweets too! You're not the only one Sandia. I'd rather give them sweets because if you give them money they just collect until they've got enough to split a packet of cigarettes between the 4 of them and then go and hang out in the bus shelter.

If they are particularly rude, when they say "Trick or Treat?" I go "Ummmm I think I'll have a treat please!" It's a classic taught to me by my dad. Its amazing how many kids you can get to actually handover some of their sweets!

LOL

I must remember that line this time

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by Sandia
I actually enjoy handing out the candy for trick-or-treat.

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I'm not saying I don't. If it was cute kiddies under the age of 10 knocking on my door, I'd have no problem with it, but I object to giving anything to nasty 14-year-old scallies who are using the threat of violence to get free stuff under the pretence of 'holiday fun'. My area is just different to yours, I guess.

Thanks to Syd for the tips

I think the difference is that in the US, Halloween is an ingrained part of US culture where the older teenagers and adults party and have fun and the younger kids go trick or treating and everybody joins in with the family fun.

While, in this country, it's a foreign concept that we have tried to adopt into out culture because we are obsessed with copying everything American. Unfortunately, because it is a foreign concept it will never be thought of as a family event like our American cousins do. And the bored teenagers who congregate on street corners and outside shops and have nothing to do use it as an excuse to harass local residents, especially the old and vulnerable, and spoil it for the youngsters who want to have a couple of hours of early evening fun.

Pity really.

(Edited by Whistler 11/10/2002 16:35)

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by Whistler
I think the difference is that in the US, Halloween is an ingrained part of US culture...While, in this country, it's a foreign concept that we have tried to adopt into out culture because we are obsessed with copying everything American...

(Edited by Whistler 11/10/2002 16:35)

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Isn't Halloween a custom that we in the U.S. borrowed from you in Britian? We may have carried it to another level and maybe we now observe it more than you do there, but I thought Halloween originated in Britain and Ireland? Does anyone know for sure?

I think you misunderstood what I was getting at. Halloween as a a celebration of the festival of Samhain did, no doubt, have its origins in Europe. But, I meant, the tradition of children dressing up and Trick Or Treating for 'candy' is something that, like you say, the US adopted and is now an ingrained part of US culture. Certainly, until recently (and by recent, I mean the last couple of decades), Halloween was largely ignored in this country. It is only now that we have started to celebrate it to anywhere near the extent that the Americans do. Pubs now do have Holloween theme nights and put decorations up and some kids do go get dressed up and go Trick Or Treating. But I would hazzard a guess that it is still nowhere near the level that it is across the Atlantic.

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by Lori
Cool! I've always been interested in that sort of thing, nemesis. Can you recommend any good websites/books/communities for a newbie?

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yeah sure a very good book i use a lot is Wicca, a guide for the soilitary practitioner, by Scott Cunningham. its very straight forward and deals with being interested in the craft but not needing a coven to practice. there are also very good books by Vivianne Crowley called A basic guide to Paganism and another is A basic guide to withccraft.

to have a look at website stuff, i would recommend UK wiccan sites as sorry to say the american ones are too ...fluffy and overdone, plus alot of what they talk about is really hard to get over here. just search under Yahoo uk, they have some good sites linked.

(Edited by nemesis 12/10/2002 18:58)

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by Whistler
...Certainly, until recently (and by recent, I mean the last couple of decades), Halloween was largely ignored in this country. It is only now that we have started to celebrate it to anywhere near the extent that the Americans do...

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I had no idea that was the case. Thanks.

Finaly worked out what im gonna be

I'm going to be a 'fallen angel'

i have fishnet tights, long striped socks, my goth boots, a big puffy net skirts and a corset, wings and a bend halo and vodka

all in black

and loads of glitter

i look damn sexy

WOW! sounds great Katie - /me thinks about stealing the idea for a costume party later in the year

i'll lend you me halo syd, you're just as 'fallen' as me

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by nemesis
I'm going to the London Vampire group halloween party .. last year i went as the absinthe fairy from moulin rouge, all green bodypaint and glitter!!! so i want to top that this year

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And you looked absolutely gorgeous hun All that body paint was worth it

Unfortunately we can't go on Saturday (Blackpool calls )
but we might see you on the 31st if we get sorted Shame we are going out that night, otherwise I'd be tempted to dress up and answer the door and scare all the *nice kids* Teresa reckons will be out


(Edited by Pegasus 21/10/2002 22:05)