A relatively low-key Halloween for 2026, as I mentioned in my previous blog, with the kids seemingly losing more and more interest in all things Halloween. This year, Holly was the only one of the three kiddies who bothered dressing up or getting involved with carving a pumpkin. The boys have clearly decided they're too old for all that now!
Holly had originally planned to go trick-or-treating with some of her friends, but unfortunately their plans were cancelled at the last minute. I have to admit, I was secretly quite pleased about this, as I wasn't particularly keen on the idea of her roaming the streets of Wickford with her friends just yet. Selfishly, I was also hoping she'd still want to go out trick-or-treating with me.
It seems I enjoy it more than the kids these days, though, and Holly eventually decided she didn't fancy going out either. This officially marked the first year since the kids were old enough to walk on their own that we haven't gone trick-or-treating! A bit of a milestone, although perhaps not quite the one I was hoping for.
Thankfully, Holly was still happy to dress up and help me man the front door to cater for the hordes of trick-or-treaters who descend on us each year. I still went ahead with decorating the outside of the house, as our front garden seems to have developed a bit of a reputation locally for its Halloween display. We regularly get comments about it being one of the best displays around, so naturally there's a certain expectation to maintain!
This year I had a little extra help with the garden decorations — quite literally! Tina managed to get hold of some store signage from Tesco that they had finished with and were due to throw away. These came in very handy and helped us transform the front garden into our very own "House of Halloween".
And when I say we had a lot of trick-or-treaters, I'm not exaggerating. I reckon we had well over 100 children knocking on the door between 5:30pm and 8pm! We even had people driving around in their cars and parking up outside just to let their children out to visit our house. Clearly, the reputation is spreading!
Holly and I had a pretty good system going. I'd answer the door wearing my Jason Voorhees mask and attempt to scare the living daylights out of the unsuspecting children, before Holly came to the rescue as a rather cute little witch, handing out the sweets and restoring some order.
Holly was a little concerned that I was getting perhaps a bit too carried away with my role, as a few children took one look at me and promptly legged it back out through the garden gate. We even had a couple burst into tears! Oops! In my defence, it is Halloween, and surely a little fright is all part of the fun?! 😂
Once the trick-or-treaters started to thin out, Tina was finishing work and I'd already chucked a load of Aldi's Halloween-themed nibbles into the oven to put together a little frightful buffet. We had black burgers, samosa fingers, bat nuggets, some rather interesting bao buns and various other spooky snacks.
At this point, Brandon and Josh finally surfaced to take advantage of the food, although other than that we barely saw them for most of the evening! I think their idea of Halloween these days is more about turning up when there's food involved than actually participating in any of the festivities. 😂
We'd originally planned to make a few Halloween cocktails and toast some s'mores around the fire, but somehow ran out of evening, so we'll save those for another time.
Anyway, that's another Halloween done and dusted, albeit a slightly quieter one. I suppose these traditions inevitably change as the kids grow up, although I'll probably keep trying to drag them into it for as long as I can get away with it!
Now the countdown begins for Holly's birthday, followed by Christmas. The remainder of the year always seems to disappear in a flash once Halloween is out of the way. Before we know it, we'll be taking the decorations down and wondering where another year has gone! ❤️
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| Holly's dress that she wanted for Hlloween 2026. |
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| Only two pumpkins this year and I concede that Holly's is better than mine. |
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| Mine and Holly's pumpkin lit up. |
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| For a special Halloween lunch Tina had bought a Cornish pasty, scone and biscuit gift box. |
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| Oh my word, that was one delicious lunch. |
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| Highly recommend these. |
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| Holly's pumpkin modified with the hat pumpkin she bought from Marsh Farm. |
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| As usual I tried to make an effort with the outside decorations ready for the trick or treaters. |
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| A little Extra help with the decorations - "House of Halloween". |
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| Our little pumpkin display just waiting for the sun to go down. |
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| All lit up and ready for the trick or treaters. |
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| Our neighbour made this fantastic display for outside the garage. |
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| Hot dogs with pumpkin skin. |
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| Various bao buns. |
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| Our little spread courtesy of ALDI. |
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| Samosa fingers and bat nuggets. |
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| Mini black bun burgers with hot BBQ and cheese sauce. |
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| No sign of Josh and Brandon dressing up this year, Tina wore her outfit for work! |
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| Next year will we even have Holly get involved or is this the last? |
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