Halloween 2021

Happy Halloween to all the peeps here!
Is anyone doing anything to celebrate this year?

At work on Friday, we had Halloween activities. I went on Saturday to the local brewery that was having their Halloween event - that was fun times. And then tonight we're playing D&D with my family in the US. If there's time, will probably try to watch a "scary" film.

I have some candy should anybody want to trick or treat at ours but the bigger question is what is the formality here with trick or treating? I have managed to either wimp out or not be home in the previous halloweens over the years. Now that Covid is here, there's an even bigger challenge. Do I hand them the candy or do they pick it up themselves? Are there any specific customary things you do here when you answer your door to trick of treaters that I wouldn't necessarily think about? hahaha so stressful over something so simple.

At work on Friday, we had Halloween activities. I went on Saturday to the local brewery that was having their Halloween event - that was fun times. And then tonight we're playing D&D with my family in the US. If there's time, will probably try to watch a "scary" film.

I have some candy should anybody want to trick or treat at ours but the bigger question is what is the formality here with trick or treating? I have managed to either wimp out or not be home in the previous halloweens over the years. Now that Covid is here, there's an even bigger challenge. Do I hand them the candy or do they pick it up themselves? Are there any specific customary things you do here when you answer your door to trick of treaters that I wouldn't necessarily think about? hahaha so stressful over something so simple.

Ya they still haven’t figured out the old “porch light on+pumkin = giving out candy house”
 
We just got back from Mallorca after 5 lovely days of sunshine, I managed to get one of the last pumpkins in Tesco, but my street is not that conducive to trick or treaters. 😩

Ya they still haven’t figured out the old “porch light on+pumkin = giving out candy house”
 
We just got back from Mallorca after 5 lovely days of sunshine, I managed to get one of the last pumpkins in Tesco, but my street is not that conducive to trick or treaters. 😩

I've got pumpkins carved and everything and am home this year, so I'm sure we're bound to get even just the few kids young enough on the close, but just not sure if I should be handing the candy to them or letting them pick it up themselves because of COVID. That seemingly tiny hurdle alone has be confused hahaha

I decorated the break area at work on Thursday with cobwebs, plastic spiders, and warning/beware/caution signs!    I'm not good with the cobwebs though.  No matter how hard I try, they just look like clumps of cotton wool instead of actual webs.  I also left black cauldrons filled with candy, and for some extra spooks, sprinkled in some rubber eyeballs and doll parts.  Be careful when taking a handful!    A few plastic skeletons of crows were left near the sink, and a lantern and plastic pumpkin took up residence near the kettles.

At home, I have some hanging ghost lights and rat skeletons guarding the DVD shelf.  I wanted to get a real pumpkin, but just wasn't up to it this year, so have a plastic pumpkin with an electric tea light for the glow.  I have a big bowl of candy for potential trick or treaters, but in all my time here, I've never had a single person ring the doorbell.    Not a one.

We did a pumpkin and had about 10 groups ring the doorbell.  They all said "Happy Halloween" of all things.  WTF?  It's trick or treat!  Some of our neighbours actually had pumpkins out yesterday, all lit up, one day early.  And we actually got egged since some kids in the park threw eggs and hit our windows.  Overall, a bit hit and miss on getting Halloween right. 

Our son still loves doing it and has his house decorated outside for trick or treaters. It rained quite hard for about 20 minutes at about 5 last night and I texted him after 6 to see if he had any takers. He said that it was very slow to begin with but he he had loads of visitors. He didn’t do it last year but the year before I recall him texting me to say that he had worked through all the candy he had bought and was now into the “good stuff”.

They all said "Happy Halloween" of all things. 

Oh no, that's not how it's supposed to go!

As expected, we got zero trick or treaters.   

So now I have all this candy left over, which will more than likely end up in the break room at work.  No one will mind though.  My manager is Irish, and he was joking that Halloween is actually HIS holiday that the Americans stole and Americanized (made bigger) before exporting it back out to the world.  Not untrue, haha!

Oh no, that's not how it's supposed to go!

As expected, we got zero trick or treaters.   

So now I have all this candy left over, which will more than likely end up in the break room at work.  No one will mind though.  My manager is Irish, and he was joking that Halloween is actually HIS holiday that the Americans stole and Americanized (made bigger) before exporting it back out to the world.  Not untrue, haha!

Hey it’s what we do! Look what we did with the croissant😂

We had not a single guiser this year.  The weather was absolutely awful (cold, peeing it down, dark) on Sunday.  I guess some kids went out Saturday, (apparently due to the church? traditions/respect??, and also still dark and cold and drizzly), but we never had any.  I was looking forward to some terrible jokes from the kids.

Awww.

On the bright side, DH and I got pizza and started watching The Terror series on iPlayer.  So far, we're both totally into it.  Can't wait to finish the season. 

When I was a kid, someone in the neighbourhood would play host and have everyone over, order several pizzas for sharing, and then the trick or treating would begin.  And of course, when we were finished, we all got together and started trading our candies.  I now associate Halloween with eating pizza.  Like, pizza is somehow traditional to Halloween. 

...  I now associate Halloween with eating pizza.  Like, pizza is somehow traditional to Halloween.

I love how those associations get made.

For several years of my childhood in a row, Christmas meant I got new rollerskates (my feet were growing fast, obvs, and we regularly went skating as a family), and my dad had a tradition that my sister and I could pick one present each from under the tree to open the morning of Christmas Eve.  I knew the size and shape of the box my skates would be in, so I'd go for those, and then I'd spend much of the day rollerskating in our garage to pass the time until we could open all of our presents.  To this day, I associate rollerskating with Christmas.