Does anyone else feel that Halloween is a dying "holiday"?

@SwaziSpring said:

@Animasta said:

really it's kind of a creepy holiday if you think about it. Not creepy in a halloween way, but creeepy in a "well maybe kids SHOULDN'T go out and get candy from random strangers"

I mean it always was, of course, but still.

Well you really have to think about the times. Just 20 years ago everyone knew who their neighbors were and a lot of people felt safe leaving their doors unlocked. The world has changed...

20 years ago I had no idea who the fuck my neighbors were beyond like 2 families.

well more like 15 years ago but same thing. It all depended on where you lived.

Those stories about poisoned Halloween candy and razor blades in apples are BS by the way. I'm pretty sure there have only been a couple cases of kids being poisoned on Halloween, and they were poisoned by family members not the creepy old man next door.

I do see fewer and fewer trick or treaters every year no matter where I move to. I feel like its because more kids take the easy way out and go trunk or treating or some other such nonsense. However I think adults are embracing the holiday more and more. Now Halloween is less about putting on a cool costume and getting candy with your friends, and more about grown ups dressing up in sexy costumes, going to a party, and getting drunk.

Not for the majority of kids, but for me yes. I have no real interest in costumes, never have. I love parties, but honestly I usually just dredge up a lame excuse for a costume if I HAVE to have one. I guess it's age.

@Animasta said:

@SwaziSpring said:

@Animasta said:

really it's kind of a creepy holiday if you think about it. Not creepy in a halloween way, but creeepy in a "well maybe kids SHOULDN'T go out and get candy from random strangers"

I mean it always was, of course, but still.

Well you really have to think about the times. Just 20 years ago everyone knew who their neighbors were and a lot of people felt safe leaving their doors unlocked. The world has changed...

20 years ago I had no idea who the fuck my neighbors were beyond like 2 families.

well more like 15 years ago but same thing. It all depended on where you lived.

Sorry, I meant to say 30 years ago and before. It's odd to think of the 1980s as 30 years ago...

@Sackmanjones said:

Isnt it already.....dead? Muuwahahaha

Ice cold.

Halloween is huge here in New Orleans and pretty much always has been. It's mostly just another excuse for everyone to put on costumes and engage in all sorts of debauchery, like we need one. I'm about to head out for round two once everyone gets done vomiting in my bathroom.

@Travissty

Also, not a "'merican" Holiday, sorry.

I have felt this way for years now. Not as many kids trick or treat anymore at least where I used to live, tonight I didn't see many while we went out to dinner. It isn't what it used to be as a kid I guess

Are you kidding? It seems like more people are celebrating it this year than in the last few years.

Starting to see some trends here. Seems like it's more about how parents have changed than kids.

Paranoid? Go to the mall.

Fat and lazy? Stay in the car.

Self absorbed? Slut it up at a party and dump the kids with someone else.

Kind of depressing. Hopefully this sort of stuff doesn't get worse.

Not at all. You go out on halloween weekend to pubs/clubs and there's tons of people dressed up and everyone's in a good mood because of it.

As an Aussie, I can tell you that it's growing in Australia.

Much to my deep, burning annoyance. Fuck 'merica and its holidays!

I think just going off of how popular tick-or-treating is in a few areas and then taking that to be reflective of the popularity of a holiday overall is a bad way to try and work things out. In the UK at least Halloween seems to have been steadily building in cultural significance as I've grown up and it's apparently worth more to retailers here now than Valentine's Day is. For us at least I think the popularity of the holiday is on the rise.

No one else thinks that ever.

@Travissty said:

As an Aussie, I can tell you that it's growing in Australia.

Much to my deep, burning annoyance. Fuck 'merica and its holidays!

Dude, I'm in America right now, Halloween is fucking amazing in College. Just walking around town and campus and seeing people dressed up all week is awesome, and think of the parties! I dunno if it's dying for the kids side of things, but I reckon it should be expanded into a Mardi Gras esque thing for the adults!

I hung out at my parents house giving candy to the kids in their neighborhood and its not here. A shit load of kids showed up, I think I was done by almost 8pm. I still think its fun and I usually sit in the driveway wearing this fucked up clown mask in a hoodie and jeans sitting still with the bucket of candy near me and wait till the kiddos get close enough and I'll make a sudden movement to have them jolt a bit. Pretty fun.

@TooWalrus said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

@TooWalrus said:

I certainly hope so. If I have to hear one more radio ad trying to sell me furniture in a god damn Dracula voice, I'm gonna lose my fuckin' mind.

Muting a radio commercial seems more reasonable than hoping a holiday goes under.

Yeah, because when I'm in the back room at a restaurant for 8 hour days, I'm clearly going to run into the office and tell the boss "Sorry, but I find your choice in radio stations annoying, I'm going to turn this down for about 30 seconds." every time an annoying ad comes on. ...I mean, trust me, if "just turn it down" was an option, of course that's what I would do. Come on now.

Because of course I knew you were working listening to a radio with that complaint, with all that context you gave. Halloween isn't the problem, it's shit adverts that are, that's all I am saying.

Man ya'll are some serious assholes. We had our fun as kids, so fuck the following generations.

I had like half a dozen trick-or-treaters. It's kind of bullshit to begin with I guess. It's not a national holiday and the only traditions it has is to get candy and dress like a slutty ___ zombie.

No, we're all just get older. It's sorta something you partially age out of with the lack of trick or treating and whatnot. It still makes a lot of people a lot of money.

I made this poll 3 years ago:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/off-topic/31/is-halloween-dying-out/269484/

So, yeah.

Halloween was literally non-existant this year, where I live in the UK.

At least the year before, I had my nephew to carve a pumpkin with. :(

People need to stop slipping on a proper holiday that's been getting sidelined more and more over these past few years. The 5th of motherfucking November.

I wouldn't mind so much, if people actually celebrated All Hallows' Eve properly.

Halloween, nah. Trick-or-Treating, yes. At least in the neighborhoods I've lived in as an adult. I've been giving out candy for close to 20 years now. Things like neighborhood events, and of course weather determine how popular Trick-or-Treating at a given year. That said, a decline in numbers as years go by has always been noted. The mall events and razor blade/poison scares go back to when I was a kid, so I don't think that plays a major role in the decline I've seen over the years. I believe, as already mentioned, it's a combination of kids growing up and it just not being a practice that meshes with today's generation of parents.
 
Kind of depressing, but hey, that's life. I love Halloween, and I loved Trick-or-Treating as a kid. It's sad for me to believe that the practice will eventually disappear, but I'm happy I got to experience it before it started to decline in popularity.

Nobody knocked on the door today. Not even one. Last year there were loads. THE END OF THE WORLD IS NIGH.

Halloween ain't dead. But trick or treating is being suffocated to death by shitty helicopter parents.

Yup. I only got around a dozen trick or treaters this year.

I blame video games. Kids can just play "Trick or Treat" games on their Xbox instead of going door to door the old fashioned way.

Maybe it's because it's a kiddie holiday and kids are becoming more grown up recently. (i.e. things "for kids" are being shunned quicker) But who knows maybe it's the exact opposite and parents are being more overprotective.

That said I don't think Halloween should be missed if it does go.

@TooWalrus said:

@BestUsernameEver said:

@TooWalrus said:

I certainly hope so. If I have to hear one more radio ad trying to sell me furniture in a god damn Dracula voice, I'm gonna lose my fuckin' mind.

Muting a radio commercial seems more reasonable than hoping a holiday goes under.

Yeah, because when I'm in the back room at a restaurant for 8 hour days, I'm clearly going to run into the office and tell the boss "Sorry, but I find your choice in radio stations annoying, I'm going to turn this down for about 30 seconds." every time an annoying ad comes on. ...I mean, trust me, if "just turn it down" was an option, of course that's what I would do. Come on now.

Because of course I knew you were working listening to a radio with that complaint, with all that context you gave. Halloween isn't the problem, it's shit adverts that are, that's all I am saying.

Seems like its an excuse for students to get drunk in the UK

I hope we can eliminate all these stupid holidays. Just give me more vacation days.

All this Halloween hate makes me a sad, sad panda.

Our street had way more kids this year than last.

@Fattony12000 said:

People need to stop slipping on a proper holiday that's been getting sidelined more and more over these past few years. The 5th of motherfucking November.

I wouldn't mind so much, if people actually celebrated All Hallows' Eve properly.

Fuck yeah, mother fucking Guy Fawke's day.

Can't wait for them fireworks

With the amount of girls I saw in skanky outfits and the amount I drunk last night I have to disagree

As someone who had no power last night due to the hurricane, we had 4 people come to our house. They are apparently changing the date for trick or treating to next Wednesday.

The times just changed.

I bet this has been said several times already in this thread, but that's the main thing. Back when we were growing up, it was totally fine to let your child run around the neighborhood asking for candy. Nobody really put much thought into the safety of it, or any of those issues, and it was at the very end of my childhood Halloween experiences that the whole razorblades in the candy stuff started coming out.

Nowadays it's group based, and more town centered, you are supposed to bring your children to the mall/village center/whatever and the stores hand out candy instead, making it "safer". I know here in Seattle each district has been putting up flyers for the various "trick or treat" spots for the last few weeks now, and everyone goes to that spot to handle it, because adults can get drunk and get various things at stores, while the kids get candy and pictures taken.

Insufferable fools will continue to take any excuse to dress up in ill-fitting attire.

We still celebrate holidays? I remember going to a birthday party at some point this year, does that count?

In the UK it's certainly dying, however in the US I'd assume it's still the same. Still my personal favorite holiday of the year.

I wish I was a dwarf so I could still go out trick or treating.

Traditional Halloween is dead for most. The "scary" part of Halloween is gone - now it's just "Cultural-Icon-Dress-Up" Day. It's "Cosplay Day". In 10 or 20 years, people will remember it as the day that "used to be about" monsters and ghosts and zombies and spook-houses and bats.

I'm not American, but I find the demise of Halloween to be very sad. No, I never celebrated it in Australia (almost no one does), but because of the TON of shows, movies, books and cartoons that came out of America that influenced my childhood immensely, I grew up with an image of what Halloween should be about, and now I see that idea dying.

When did Halloween become "Dress up as favourite movie-character" day? When did it become "20-somethings-dressing-up-in-lewd-outfits" day? When did it become Cosplay Day?

Neighborhoods change, while you were growing up there must have been tons of kids living in the area, whereas now there are fewer. Doesn't mean it's like that everywhere.

@SomeDeliCook said:

Less kids are going door to door but more girls are dressing slutty at parties.

Hmm, good or bad thing...

Sadly its the truth. I'm all down for slutty girls but I remember how hyped I use to be for Halloween. Going to haunted houses seeing craved pumpkins everywhere. Also this trick or treating in a car is bullshit. For much of my childhood I had to walk with canes and walker and besides my mom going up stairs for me I walked to the houses. It was so dumb seeing kids get driven yesterday.

I feel like this thread was created on another planet, personally. Everyone keeps saying "the spooky part is dead etc etc," but I've never seen it go anywhere. I guess it's just where you live and whether you choose to engage in it or not. Also, just to follow up on last night:

I don't think it is in general but it definitely is in my neighbourhood. When I was little there were usually about 75 kids a year that came to our house. Now they've all grown up or moved away and we only had 15 kids this year, 3 of which were from our neighbour so we gave them a ton of candy.  However, my brother and his girlfriend who live in a new area with lots of young families actually ran out of candy because they had so many kids.

I try my best to keep Halloween alive. I went to two Haunted Houses, two Halloween parties and saw a horror movie in theaters. A lot of college kids dress up to go drink but I have not seen a ton of kids. There aren't a lot of kids in my neighborhood, but driving around town last night I only saw one group of trick or treaters. Makes me sad.

I haven't had a single tricker treater. Granted, I kept the lights off and refused to open the door. But still. No one even knocked.

Every year we've had less trick or treaters till no one comes around. Just not enough people on the hill we live on to make them head up here at this point. Doesn't mean it's dying though since plenty of places were having Halloween parties and haunted houses etc.