Tonight is Halloween in the States.

Being a traditional kind of guy, I've got my porch decorated American Spooky, and a big bowl of candy for the kids that might or not show up.

I've made a bunch of "bush goblens", several different batches over the years. Basically a super simple 555 circuit that turns LEDs on for several seconds, then off for slightly longer. I deliberately didn't use standard parts, they are all different. They have long wires with alligator clips, and antenna for the next set of alligator clips.

Add a glow in the dark skeleton and black lights to complete the effect.

I've notice that it is becoming politically incorrect to do this, which is a shame. I enjoyed it when I was a kid, and so I'll pass it on.

 

It would appear that brits aren't great halloween fans, at least where I'm living now. Nothing at all in the neighbourhood and no kids to knock at your door !!

I wish I were in the US right now

 

My neighborhood is relatively safe and has extremely little Halloween-related vandalism. It is just a great 2-hour period to meet all the neighborhood kids (and mothers) and give them candy. Most of the kids have great costumes. One little kid was so excited, "Halloween was finally here." He got a couple of extra pieces. His mother was Big Bird -- nice legs too. I just wear my usual gardening cloths, so I look like a bum.

It seems women tend to go into costumes much more than men. At work, costumes were/are allowed, but with the condition that they not scare customers.

John

 

... but with the condition that they not scare customers.

Well, that just takes all the fun out of it!

 

When I was a real youngster, I went trick-or-treating with my cousins in their neighborhood. We went to this one house with a dummy by a bowl of candy, as we reached towards the bowl, the dummy (actually a guy) screamed "Only One!" It scared me outta my pants.

Austin

 

we don't because we are in China.

But many TV programmes about this.

 

I think halloween parties are more popular in the UK than knocking at people's doors.

I went to a halloween party at a bar and the venue made every effort in making the place look like a dungeon. The outside of the place was covered with stone effect boards and a cage with a skeleton hanging from one of the signage posts outside. inside they got ultra violet reactive paints splattered up the walls to look like blood and stand out.

everyone made the effort too, the barmen had prosthetic masks on, and the customers were anything from the guy from sin city to arab terrorists, one who had a bomb strapped to his chest with an alarm clock (not very PC but hilarious)

 

My two little pirates came home with three large grocery bags FULL of candy... They could not even lift them by the time we were done. And, we only went around one loop of the neighborhood.

My two year old daughters' "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" ended up as "Happy Treats" by the end of the evening.

 

I make it a point to give two year olds extra, and teen agers less.

 

I do Halloween big time. Lots of animatronics, talking skulls and skellies, popups, animated coffins, chilled fog etc. I don't buy anything from the Halloween stores - everything in the haunt is built in my garage. We had a good-sized crowd in front of the house for about 4 hours this year and ~150 kids.

 

Next year you ought to make videos and post them. I like that kind of stuff. A trend is to try to kill the tradition around here, but I'm not going to cooperate.

One year I got it just right. You know when you've done it right is when the parents are telling their kids "It's OK, they've got candy!". I had my usual black light out, and outstanding homemade poster, and a flourescent chalk outline of a dismembered kid (CSI style) with glowing monster feet leading to and from. Along with the bush goblins and special sounds and in house light effects it was pretty spooky. Couple of my teens were lurking in the dark heard this.

 

I have not Helloween party this year... But the next year it will be great!

________________________
Life is a flower of which <snip> is the honey.

 

Today is Halloween again. Time to pass out the forbidden (to me) candy, light up the Bush Goblins, and pumpkins. What'all do on this day?

 

Absolutely nothing!

Halloween isn't a celebration in Greece, and I think it's not in most of Europe either.

We have our costume celebrations in the form of carnival festivities in the end of the winter, much like Mardi Gras, but with a more local touch.

 

I changed my avatar to a halloween theme, also unplugged my doorbell. It's not as popular here as in America but slowly seems to be catching on.

 

I live in a small town in Vermont named Thetford. I rarely get more than one or two trick-or-treaters on any one year. I guess nobody wants to drive on old, windy dirt roads just so their kids can get candy. I've gotten in the terrible habit of buying lots of candy anyway, filling a bowl with it, leaving it out during Halloween, but then digging into it myself when it's over There's usually 3-4 weeks worth of candy left after Halloween.
To be honest, my Halloweens have always been fairly boring. When I was a kid, carving pumpkins and giving out candy was just about all we did. Every now and then, my sister and I would build a scarecrow out of old clothes stuffed with leaves. I have a lot of memories from that time, but they are very different from other kids' Halloween memories. My mother was very anti-halloween, unfortunately. She was convinced it was purely evil and should not be celebrated. As I said, she still allowed jack-o-lanterns and trick-or-treating, but that was it. Even then, she refused to take us (her kids) around town. There were only 3 or 4 people whose houses she would take us to for trick-or-treating. It's really too bad, actually. I feel like I missed out on a lot.

This Halloween I'm not doing much. It's kind of quiet around here. I didn't even buy a pumpkin to carve (though I really wish I had). I can only hope next year will be better. I've been looking back on my life a lot lately, at things I used to do as a kid. I used to have so much fun, but I am finally starting to realize that I've grown up. I'm afraid I may never feel that way again.

Okay, I just read back through this and realized how depressing it sounds. I am very sorry about that. Have a GREAT Halloween, everybody!!!

 

Have you considered mud-fighting with a friend over no apparent reason? Guaranteed fun for all ages!

 

I do nothing much, except keep a bowl full of sweets (candies) ready to hand out. I have only had two callers this evening, and suspect that this custom may be on the wane. It probably did come to us as a bit of a foreign import, and in today's troubled times may be better done away with.

There has been some serious discussion about banning "trick or treat" here, especially as in some cases it may be associated with vandalism and even arson. This year's rioting and looting by young people has left a climate of fear and a less tolerant attitude to young people. Some people even think that nowadays a permanent curfew should be imposed on the young.

 

In the small town I finished growing up in there were teenagers looking for pranks. Nothing serious, but best to hand out treats.

You might be right about being on the wane, no candy takers here yet either. Last year was busy.

 

I did the trick-or-treat thing when I was a kid in the 1950's. About 99% of the people participated back then. Even in a city of half a million, people knew their neighbors well enough to let their kids go collecting candy.

I've only been to a couple of parties since then. In 1985, I went as a clown and won "best costume". Lucky me; I didn't know there was a contest. I showed up at another party (about 2004) wearing a cheap Arab looking costume with a sort of turban, a gas mask, sunglasses, and a carbine. As I was walking up the driveway, some of the people at the party were climbing out the windows! I felt like I won the best costume prize at that party, too