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Post by sunnyirish08 on Oct 11, 2011 16:35:14 GMT -5
over here in ireland it's after becoming very commercialized, Halloween gear now being sold at the start of september, (in some shop next to the lone christmas stand, which i find funny to be honest, but that's a whole different story.) and there is now a bigger variety these days, when i was younger it was diy gear, now a days, parents have to buy the gear from shops which is fairly expensive. now don't mind the kids coming around to the house, i'm not home nether is my mum, we vanish out for a couple of hours. but what is getting on my nerves is the fireworks that are going off at the moment every night until 1 or 2 in the morning since the start of october, and there crap fireworks too, i don't know where this idea came from, but it's now becoming a bit of a "tradition" for the last ten years. so, wondering do you folks from the states have fireworks for halloween? because we pretty much take all your ideas, it just takes us about 15 years to actually catch up with yea.  |
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Post by margarine on Oct 11, 2011 16:47:14 GMT -5
Not in Texas we don't. Other than fireworks, what you're describing is pretty much par for the course here. Trick or treating has gotten weird, since there's no letting kids roam the streets by themselves like we did when I was little. Raggedy little organized bands, and I'm guessing most of them go to prearranged houses because so many people either aren't home, don't do Halloween, or the kids' parents don't like the looks of the place. Nobody would come to my door on a bet, since it's inside a tiny dark, raggedy courtyard and up a set of raggedy wood stairs. Fine with me.
But in any case it's become quite the grown-ups' holiday. House decorating has grown so it's second only to Christmas, and some people do very elaborate stuff. People have parties, and instead of ghosties and goblins for costumes, people get stupid and dress up as puns on something, or stick something on their heads and call themselves a penis. That stuff turns me off like nobody's business.
I miss when I was a kid, and you'd get cool stuff from the neighbors, especially if you were at your grandparents' house and their street would be other grandfolks who would make cookies and brownies. And after the trick-or-treating was played out you'd run around making a nuisance of yourselves before going home and eating tons of sugar. Fun!
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Post by runner on Oct 11, 2011 17:27:41 GMT -5
I would second everything Margarine just said. These days it's not safe for kids to be out, most go to church hosted Harvest Festivals, and lots of retail stores hand out candy so parents can just drive to the nearest shopping mall. Not too much of the traditional little kids going door-to-door anymore, unless it's just your neighbors you already know.
Lots of Halloween stores popping up in September, it's become a very adult holiday with costume parties and such.
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Post by Dannos Dani on Oct 11, 2011 17:53:21 GMT -5
House decorating has really gone up where I am in Canada. Used to be everyone had a pumpkin. Then it became more than one, and really artistic ones. Then if you had a tree, you hung something to decorate it, maybe put up lights. Now it's full blown, people have whole cemetery plots with body parts all over, moving ghosts, sound effects and lights. We have one house that's become famous for the decorations and the show they put on (the whole family comes down to help, and they start decorating around the first week of Oct), and the TV crews come to film it.
AND they give out excellent treats on top of it!
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Post by sportsmom8 on Oct 11, 2011 18:08:36 GMT -5
When we trick or treated oh so many years ago in Brooklyn, there was one house we always visited first - the man who gave out live goldfish in a dixie cup. My dad would get all annoyed when we put the goldfish in our tank and the darn fish died the next day, contaminating all the fish we already had in there. Seems like we always had a fish funeral on All Souls Day.
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Post by runner on Oct 11, 2011 18:33:29 GMT -5
Years ago, my mom one Halloween gave out candy bars. Not the 'mini' things or the 'snack size' things they do now, but real full sized candy bars. They were called 'nickle candy bars' back then, for obvious reasons. Once word got out in our small town, kids started trading costumes hoping to get a second one from mom. But, like I said, it was a small town and she knew all the kids, so their plan didn't work. She never gave out 'nickle candy bars' again.
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Post by Dannos Dani on Oct 11, 2011 19:45:49 GMT -5
I imagine that would get expensive!!!!!!!!!!!!! I noticed the last couple of years that the quality of the treats has deteriorated. Now the best you can get are the mini chocolates. The rest is all the really cheap stuff. But I can't blame people - halloween candy has gotten waaaaaaaay expensive.
Oh and yeah, we start seeing Halloween merchandise in September at the stores. Now it's half halloween and half Christmas. By November 1st, it'll be full blown Christmas.
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Post by twassbrake on Oct 12, 2011 3:17:51 GMT -5
Like in Ireland here in Germany Halloween has become quite popular too in the past years. The supermarkets are all over Halloween (and Christmas) these days. Costumes, pumpkins, treats where ever you watch. The adults will go partying, and the kids will walk the neighborhood. It is quite annoying I must say. Don't get me wrong. I do enjoy Halloween as well, but just a few days later we traditionally celebrate Saint Martins Day. Kids will go out in the neighborhood with their (hopefully home-made) lanterns and sing little songs to the neighbors, for what they would get little treats. So with Halloween becoming more and more popular, kids will either go two times collecting the treats, or they just do Halloween because it's earlier and less work to do. I'm a Grunch I know, but I just hand out treats on St. Martins Day.  I wanna see the lanterns lighting up in the dark and hear those silly little songs. I loved it so much as a kid and I would hate that tradition to vanish. |
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Post by Dannos Dani on Oct 12, 2011 11:05:53 GMT -5
I didn't know about that tradition, sounds nice. In mexico at least they just combine Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, which is all kind of connected anyhow. More reason to party, bigger party, it all works together.
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Post by margarine on Oct 12, 2011 14:32:30 GMT -5
I never heard about Saint Martins Day either, it sounds delightful. It's reassuring to know that somewhere people still do things for holidays that don't just exist so the stores can sell decorations.
Dia de los Muertos is still kind of a big deal in certain areas of Dallas where there are Mexican neighborhoods. I live near one and there are lots of stores and restaurants. One of the grocery stores is always bustling with people and has specialties for the holidays. There are art exhibits for Dia de los Muertos too, and some theater productions. Makes me wonder though, how the Hispanic families work it in with Halloween. Never asked. Hmm.
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Post by jox3347 on Oct 12, 2011 16:46:20 GMT -5
All of you have shared such wonderful celebrations from all over the world and then...pitifully where I live in Detroit, Halloween is celebrated by arson of abandoned buildings, almost 0 kids trick or treating, Xraying and inspection of candy through the police departments and overall general vandalism and street violence. Most schools have parties during school and most kids trick or treat at the shopping malls. So different than when I was a kid. We took a pillowcase and were gone for 3-4 hrs walking miles for all that candy. Last few years we've had less than 35 kids so I don't even hand out candy anymore.
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Post by margarine on Oct 12, 2011 18:39:12 GMT -5
Jox, that's totally depressing. My sympathies.
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Post by kbob on Oct 13, 2011 8:30:46 GMT -5
I live in a small town in Connecticut and Halloween is still nice here. Most people go to the downtown area of our little town. The fire dept has hot cider and doughnuts and there is a costume parade down Main street, then all of the trick-or-treaters hit all of the houses in the town area. Most of the houses are old and the town gets into decorating and everyone enjoys it. There is an old church which is now a private residence and last year they all dressed as the Addams family and they projected episodes of the show on a big screen on their porch. It was cool. It's a pretty fun holiday here.
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Post by twassbrake on Oct 13, 2011 10:08:01 GMT -5
Kbob, the description of how you celebrate Halloween sounds delightful. I can literally see a nice, little pitoresque town where everybody knows each other, kids running safely through the streets and everybody enjoying some quality time. You are truly blessed.
Jox, I'm so sorry that Halloween in Detroit has become so unbearable. It must be really hurtful to see the neighborhood and your childhoods traditions going down and not being able to do something against it. A big, big bearhug for you.
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Post by jox3347 on Oct 13, 2011 10:52:37 GMT -5
Thanks twassbrake. It's refreshing to hear about all these idyllic Halloween celebrations. When you're surrounded by all this gloom a person can get cynical. Say a prayer for those firefighters who risk their lives for these idiot arsonists.
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