Trick or Treaters - the debate
Discussion
Afternoon folks,
I used to enjoy trick or treating - it's a bit of a rite of passage for a child in the West. However as an adult, I've started to become more and more frustrated by the annual brigade of begging children beckoning me to my porch with treats (junk food) for them. Especially as the dog goes skits every time the bell rings, and the blighters don't seem bothered about touching the cars obstructing their precious sweetie collection.
Yes I'm grumpy - I put that down to not having kids of my own yet, but am I alone? Does anyone else think this yearly home / driveway invasion is a bit of a faff - or is general consensus that we should embrace the season and give kids an experience unreservedly?
For the record, I do still partake if I'm home, albeit begrudgingly. Perhaps I could spice the situation up by playing pranks on trespassers instead / as well?
I used to enjoy trick or treating - it's a bit of a rite of passage for a child in the West. However as an adult, I've started to become more and more frustrated by the annual brigade of begging children beckoning me to my porch with treats (junk food) for them. Especially as the dog goes skits every time the bell rings, and the blighters don't seem bothered about touching the cars obstructing their precious sweetie collection.
Yes I'm grumpy - I put that down to not having kids of my own yet, but am I alone? Does anyone else think this yearly home / driveway invasion is a bit of a faff - or is general consensus that we should embrace the season and give kids an experience unreservedly?
For the record, I do still partake if I'm home, albeit begrudgingly. Perhaps I could spice the situation up by playing pranks on trespassers instead / as well?
lucido grigio said:
Bar humbug.
Halloween = unwelcome American import.
This along with school proms (what was the matter with just having a disco at the end of term?).Halloween = unwelcome American import.
My wife enjoys it & buys the family packs of Mars sweets for the kids so I let her answer the door to them. It helps its a gym night too.
matchmaker said:
lucido grigio said:
Bar humbug.
Halloween = unwelcome American import.
As a kid in Glasgow I went guising - that was in the 1960s. Trick or treating is a far more recent "tradition".Halloween = unwelcome American import.
In Scotland, guisers would 'earn' their treat with a song, joke or some other entertainment as they did their 'turn'.
I moved down south 12 years ago. I've no idea if Trick or Treat has taken over traditional Guising in Scotland
The concept of Trick or Treat (give me a treat or I'll play a trick on you) seems altogether a bit more malicious and that aspect is certainly an Americanism
feef said:
matchmaker said:
lucido grigio said:
Bar humbug.
Halloween = unwelcome American import.
As a kid in Glasgow I went guising - that was in the 1960s. Trick or treating is a far more recent "tradition".Halloween = unwelcome American import.
In Scotland, guisers would 'earn' their treat with a song, joke or some other entertainment as they did their 'turn'.
I moved down south 12 years ago. I've no idea if Trick or Treat has taken over traditional Guising in Scotland
The concept of Trick or Treat (give me a treat or I'll play a trick on you) seems altogether a bit more malicious and that aspect is certainly an Americanism
Winky151 said:
lucido grigio said:
Bar humbug.
Halloween = unwelcome American import.
This along with school proms (what was the matter with just having a disco at the end of term?).Halloween = unwelcome American import.
My wife enjoys it & buys the family packs of Mars sweets for the kids so I let her answer the door to them. It helps its a gym night too.
I don't mind carving a pumpkin...
...but the constant round of lemmings with their hands out?
Most of their parents work, too, so must be better off than I am. Would they reciprocate if I turned up at their door with a begging bowl, FFS?
Sadly my wife either enjoys (she claims to) or simply accepts the inevitability of it (as I suspect is really the case). Yet when it comes down to it, it's me or one of my (adult) children who gets sent to bribe the little s
ts to get lost. For the record I'd like to point out that my boys were NEVER taken "Trick or Treating" so there's no hypocrisy here.Some years we took the boys to organised events (Tully's Farm springs to mind), but I wouldn't inflict this crap on someone else so why should I accept it being dragged to my doorstep about 30 times in a night?
Oh, and the one year I did try to "join in with the spirit of the night" and wore a particularly scary Scarecrow mask and ran yelling at the doorsteppers carrying a plastic cleaver liberally painted with red gloss, well that year I was told off by neighbours (and by my wife) for "being too scary". Well in that case you ungrateful feckers, don't bother darkening my door again, eh? Your choice...
Mostly it's younger kids with their parents that go trick or treating, kids aged I'd guess 2-4 or 5'ish will come round from about 5pm til about 6,30
We get some older kids who'll still be out around 8,30 but the rough kids tend not to bother with it as much.
It's quite good fun, we dressed the little one up last year and sat our pumpkins out so people knew it was OK to call (the rule seems to be no pumpkin, no knocking)
We get some older kids who'll still be out around 8,30 but the rough kids tend not to bother with it as much.
It's quite good fun, we dressed the little one up last year and sat our pumpkins out so people knew it was OK to call (the rule seems to be no pumpkin, no knocking)
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