We used to make turnip lamps here but we’ve gone all 'merkin and have pumpkins galore.
Of course. That’s if we give out candy at all, normally we just pile a load of haggis into their outstretched little hands.
I’d be even crankier if I got soaked in sheep guts, too. And I’m cranky by nature. Perhaps I’m more Scots than I realized.
In the parts of the US where I’ve lived, having a porch light on means that you’re handing out treats. If the light is off, the little ghosts and goblins are supposed to know that you aren’t participating, even if the lights in the house are on. Having a lit jack’o’lantern on the porch isn’t mandatory, but is generally regarded as a nice touch. And I, for one, think it smells good, as long as the pumpkin isn’t actually burning.
Handing out Chick tracts might very well get your house vandalized, if you don’t hand out candy as well. Even Chick recommends giving out candy with the tracts, and he is the guy that claims that kids just love getting his tracts!
Usually, Halloween is just used as an excuse for vandalism. That is, the vandals want to vandalize anyway, and they get all revved up over the holiday.
Around here, you just turn off your outside lights and that’s it. I’ve been out of town for the last couple Halloweens and nobody vandalized anything, and in general we have very little hooliganism around the holiday here either.
I do get irritated by a few things – kids with no costumes, adults Trick or Treating for “sick kids at home” or tiny infants in a stroller, surly teenagers, that sort of thing – but in general, I love the holiday. I like being a house that gives out good stuff, like full size candy bars or one year I had individual things of Play-Doh as a choice. The littlest kids were thrilled by that, I expected more to choose the candy so I ran through it all pretty fast!
I absolutely loved Halloween as a kid too. I’d still Trick or Treat if it was socially acceptable, to be honest. Something about the conquest of it, planning your routes, remembering the good houses, warning other neighborhood kids about the houses giving out pennies/toothbrushes/raisins/tracts, going home and trading candy with your siblings and portioning it all out to last until the Christmas stocking… great stuff! I looked forward to it all year, and I still look forward to seeing all the kids in their costumes and running excitedly from house to house…
If you aren’t home, or the front lights are off and the house is silent there is much less chance of getting your house egged or toilet paper rolled in any neighborhood. But if you actually come to the door just to say ‘no treats for you’, vandalism will ensue in many cases.
I always appreciated the folks who would turn the porch lights on and put out a big bowl of candy with a sign that said “Please take only one” - this fulfilled their obligations under the Halloween treaty and prevented vandalism while still saying “Please don’t ring our doorbell” and I respected that.
I know they bus kids into our neighborhood on Halloween, we’re sitting outside the garage, when the candy is gone lights out and we’ll huddle in the back bedroom.
Haggis? You don’t know you were born. Back in my day we just got handed a load of unwanted entrails to eat. We had to mince them ourselves and stuff them into an old football. And you try and tell the young people of today that… They won’t believe you. 
No little critters tonight. And I’m fresh out of tracts.
I am thoroughly tired of the ol’ ToT thing, but will have a porch light on and candy to hand out.
The only reason I will do so because people do not pay attention when the porch light is OFF. Well, that and my dogs going nuts when the doorbell is ringing every two minutes. When we run out of candy (and I buy a lot), we turn the light off. Yet, still the urchins come to the door.
Most of the kids are good, but there are always some smartass or whiny kids who complain about our candy. I buy good stuff and a wide variety. No off brands, good stuff. Sigh…
I dunno, when I was a kid I always said thank you, even if I didn’t particularly care for what was being given to me. It was free, no right to complain, ya know?
Its an education in all the important American values.
In my case, I can’t turn off the light, since it’s inaccessible to me and on a timer (love apartment buildings).
Well, we were just given national self-loathing for Halloween. Entrails would have been luxury.
Actually, I thought of handing out self-esteem to the kids this year. You know, “Child, you are Scottish! Isn’t that reward enough? You have no need of candy.”
“It’s shite being Scottish!” (strong language)
Good movie, that. One of my favourites. But see, this negativity is what I would be trying to counteract. It’s wonderful being Scottish - the unicorns roam the glens, the rain is pure single malt whisky, and bagpipers occasionally fall arse-first onto very spiky railings. God is in his heaven, and the devil has been exiled to Carlisle.
I’m just proposing to help these kids understand their good fortune in being born in East Kilbride or Methil.
Is that an American-grown or Scottish-grown turnip?
American-grown, I think. Scottish grown turnips would look more…apologetic.
They’re trick-or-treating in China now, I just discovered last week. At least, it’s happening in the city where I live.
Back in the US, I’ve lived in a few places where the community always moved the trick-or-treat event itself to the last Friday or Saturday night before October 31 (unless, of course, the 31st happened to fall on said day of the week). A new(ish) tradition is for trunk-or-treat where the kids simply go to one parking lot (Camp Walker in South Korea designates one side of the commissary parking lot for the event) and go from car to car. Last time I was on the base the same day as that event, the cars participating were awesome. One looked exactly like the car from the Munsters.
Just remembered something.
For a number of years now, there have been Halloween events in South Korea, too. I just noticed it at the after-school English cram-schools.
The cool thing about the trunk-or-treat I mentioned above was that kids from the Korean community were escorted on base so they could participate also. Their costumes looked a lot better than the stuff available at the Exchange on base.
Sorry, I’m proud of myself. I’m American, grew up in TX and I have no Scottish heritage. And I knew what a tumshie lamp was!
It takes so little to make me happy these days! 
Or if they were very very good in a previous life - Cumbernauld.
I was dressed up in a costume on Saturday. That’s when the party was. In fact I saw tons of people in costume. A lot of people in my family, as well as scores more, were in costume Friday. Because that’s when the party was.
ToTing should only be on the 31st, but most Halloween parties take place on the preceding weekend.