Halloween

chloeblue04

I love celebrating Halloween but to be honest with you I never attended a Halloween party in my life. I used to go trick or treat when I was a kid. I'm sure everyone is like that. 

Sandy_123

@leeCal it's the person asking who does the trick, if you don't give a treat then you get a trick, I'm not sure what as I've always given treats. 

Cress

Usually throw an egg at your windows....no imagination...lol

OverlyAnxious

Throwing eggs, toilet rolls, silly string, pumpkins...  If you don't give them the treat they're demanding, they're apparently allowed to deface your property... 

leeCal

they're apparently allowed to deface your property... 

That might be an improvement actually ?

Ross_Alumni

I like Halloween, but I find that kids don't do trick or treating as much these days, when I was younger the streets used to be packed with people going around the neighbourhood, but in the few years before the pandemic there were nowhere near as many.

Grinchy

I love halloween, don't get many trick or treaters as we used to, i used to decorate the front of the house, but illness stopped that, now i just watch films and enjoy the day/ night, heres a makeup i did on a friend from a couple of years ago 

Geoark

I love halloween and used to organise a small party on the estate, in the community room.

Spend a few hours decorating the room, orgnasing activities etc. One of my favourite was getting the children to wrap grown ups in toilet roll to make a mummy. Then to save me from having to clear up the mess I would hold a small competition to see who could pick up the most toilet paper

Boxes with different things in for them to put their hands in and guess what was in the box. Pumpkin carving, ghost stories, who can do the best halloween picture etc.

Sweets, cakes, sandwiches in different shapes, squash etc. 

Then to get the children to calm down a little I would give a special prize to the one who either got the exact number of skulls in the room right, or closest without going over. Tinsel with lots of skulls on them were a huge bonus for this. Just to catch the smarter kids out I would cut a little bit off the end of some, so if someone counted how many was on one, then multiplied the number around the room they would not get the right answer.

Halloween evening I would go trick and treating on my own. I don't think I got the idea right though, as my bag would start full and be empty by the time I got home. For children whose parents didn't want them having sweets I would have small cheap presents they could have instead.

As for who does the trick, I used to open the door with a bowl of sweets in one hand and a 'trick' in the other, one year it was a large water gun, so when they picked up the courage to ask I would smile and say 'you choose'.

I do understand what others are saying, but for me these things are what you make of them and for me they provide an opportunity to bring the community together, for neighbours to get to know each other. One of my favourite memories was not halloween but at an estate event when I organised a street art event, coloured chalk as the medium and pavement stones as the canvas. Seeing a child of 4 or 5 working with someone in their 80's they don't really know to create art was not something I expected but enjoyed watching.

Sandy_123

 @Grinchy great face art. @Geoark sounds fab

Grinchy

thanks @Sandy_123, And i'm glad you got into the spirit of the season @Geoark, sounds like a lot of fun!