Halloween is coming. That time of year that seems to polarise more opinions than any other festival . Ghosties, ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. And trick or treating. So BritMums are asking the question for their video blogging challenge this week – do you like or loathe Halloween? This is a subject that the geekdaddy and I have very differing views on, and I don’t think we’ve yet resolved how we’re going to handle this as the kids grow older. So I thought you might find it interesting to hear us discuss how we feel about Halloween…
If the above video is not visible for you, you can watch it on YouTube here.
There is a postscript to this video. Seeing as how I’ve now told you all about how much I hate Halloween, you really won’t miss the irony of the parcel I’ve received from Asda this week. When they asked me if I’d like to test their Halloween cake, I couldn’t say no. It’s one of those unspoken rules of blogging – there must be cake! However, what was delivered was not just cake, but what looks like an entire Halloween party in a box! So of course the geekdaddy has decided that we must have a Halloween party in order to test everything thoroughly. I have a feeling I may hate Halloween parties as much as I hate birthday parties… I’ll certainly report back and let you know how we got on with everything.
Trick or treat...?
Pumpkin image by zirconicusso / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. I have received a payment in order to make a video blog on this subject. The opinions expressed are my own (well, apart from the ones the geekdaddy expresses – those are entirely his!). Asda have provided me with free samples of their halloween goodies for review purposes.
Often you signal that you are handing out candy by leaving your porch light on, or by sitting in front of your house with a big bag of candy.
The best advice I can offer for not handing out sweets, is to tape a sign to your door that says (in big friendly letters) “No Candy” and then don’t answer the door.
I liked Halloween better when I had friends that celebrated it as a religious holiday. Now it seems more of an overly commercialized candy grab.
I loathe Hallowe’en. Partly because we have had eggs thrown at our front door in the past (before we moved to our current house)
But I did used to enjoy the spooky birthday parties that my school friend had (her birthday was at the beginning of November)
Yes, it sounds like Halloween is quite different between the US and UK. Over here we do all go out as a family until the kids are of a certain age that you’d trust them in a group alone but of course by then they’re getting kind of old to trick-or-treat so they may only get a couple of years to do it alone. I love all the dressing up but maybe it’s because I am a girl who was never much into the goulish stuff and have two little girls that we dress up cute. Charlotte is a spider (Charlotte’s web) and Penelope is Pippi Longstocking this year. So cute!!
One tradition you Brits MUST get- signaling whether you’re participating! Porch light off means no (unless you’re house is obviously staged as a scary haunted scene but then usually those folks have other lights or music on).
Come over and join us for a Halloween and we’ll show you how fun it can be!
One more idea from over here. Some people put a bowl of candy in front of their house with a sign “Please take one”. Sometimes they do this if they’ll be gone but still want to participate or if they just want to hide in the back of the house. Sometimes people put the bowl out empty with the sign so others just assume someone came along and took all the candy already. It’s a way to participate but not really participate.