Not-So-Happy-Halloween

Happy Halloween! The spooky season is coming up and everyone is getting excited to dress up as their favourite horror movie character, go trick-or-treating and carve pumpkins to put outside their houses. Well, here I am saying everyone - but the fact and the matter of it is, not everyone likes Halloween, and sometimes ‘Happy’ Halloween is not so happy.

I love Halloween. I love the dressing up, I love the parties, I love scaring kids that come to the door and I love the excuse to eat as many sweets as you want. Not everyone is me though. The person behind the door could be a PTSD victim, or a war veteran or have anxiety. This can make Halloween a difficult time for them.

It's important that you are respectful to everyone you encounter at Halloween and so you have to apply this to people who don't like Halloween too. So I have a few tips for you on how to be super respectful to those people and how to allow them to feel comfortable in their own home on the scariest night of the year

• Don’t go to houses that don’t look decorated

Some houses go crazy with decorations and most houses have a pumpkin or something at least. If there aren't decorations outside or any lights up, then chances are they aren't into the whole Halloween thing so I would avoid going to that house in the hopes of getting some treats. 

• If you’ve knocked on the door a few times with no answer, don’t knock again

If people don't like Halloween, they aren't going to want to answer the door to trick or treaters, no matter how respectful you are planning to be. It could just be that they're not in but it could also be that they're a ball of anxiety being the door, hating the knocking and refusing to open the door. So knock once or twice, but no more. 

• Don’t play pranks on houses at Halloween (e.g. knock a door run, or have tricks up your sleeve)

I know it can be fun to play pranks on people at Halloween or give them a trick rather than a treat but not everyone is going to like that, especially if they don’t like Halloween. So just be kind, respectful and don’t take things too far.

I know Halloween is a fun time, and I don’t mean to be a party pooper, but you have to consider other people as well as yourself. So this Halloween, just think about who might be behind that door before you knock on it.

​Kenzie