Are you a Halloween hater?

Is there an event more polarising in Australia than Halloween? I swear, the iVillage Facebook followers were in a right state about it yesterday.

Melissa wrote: “I’m concerned that we still encourage out children to knock on strangers doors and ask for lollies….. I don’t know about anyone else but I teach my children all year not to accept lollies (or anything for that matter) from strangers… Yet one day a year this is forgotten???? We aren’t American and I don’t know why we have to follow American traditions…”

Although this did lead to quite a few people getting all historical about the origin of Halloween and how it WASN’T American ,,,

But there was no stopping my kids celebrating the occasion, no matter how antsy it was making the grown-ups. They’ve been looking forward to it for weeks – planning their costumes (the eldest chose to go as her favourite literary character – Skullduggery Pleasant, skeleton detective; the youngest was a witch), excitedly planning their routes, salivating at the thought of the lollies.

Now I’m not a fan of the lolllies at all. Halloween or not. I confessed online that I’ve been stealing the kids’ lolly bags from the parties they attend all year and stuck all the remains in a bowl as my Halloween candy to hand out on the night (cheapskate). I don’t mind the kids having the occasional sugary treat, but watching them gobble sweets for days on end disturbs me, so I sneak it away and so far they’ve been none the wiser.

But the lollies aren’t why I’ve embraced Halloween. It’s the community spirit in our area. There are all these parties on front lawns. It was so much fun to walk the streets and stumble across familiar faces for a chat. What other time of the year do people do that? The gatherings are normally hidden away in the backyard. It was lovely.

Here are a few shots from our travels:

Did you celebrate Halloween yesterday?