Alamy


We uncovered some spooky news in our Halloween survey.

These included:

• Half of Brits hide on October 31, with a quarter switching off their lights to avoid handing out treats

• A fifth of Brits have had a confrontation at Halloween with a neighbour

• 1 in 10 parents will let their under 5s go trick-or-treating unsupervised

  • And Wrexham is the number one area for trick or treaters to be given a warm welcome.

Unlike our American counterparts, we seem to be a cynical bunch when it comes to embracing the spooky celebration. Over 50% reported they felt Halloween to be a 'greeting card holiday', a festival created entirely by the retail industry. Perhaps haunted by their own Halloween celebrations of the past, almost 10% feel the festival to be 'too scary' for children.

Our survey also revealed that over half the nation will be completely shunning the freaky festivities on October 31

Children hoping for a Halloween haul of sweet treats should take to the streets of Wrexham in North Wales, which topped our chart of the best and worst areas for trick or treating. There a massive 83% of households say they'll be answering the door to trick-or-treaters.

See our chart below to see the best and worst areas for trick or treaters.

Many British parents are resorting to extreme measures to discourage their children from embracing Halloween traditions with 5% of mums and dads admitting to lying to their children to avoid going trick-or-treating. However, in many British households pester power wins out, with 10% of British parents feeling under pressure from their kids to celebrate Halloween.

Whilst the average age that children are allowed to pound the pavements unsupervised is 10, a very startling one in 10 parents allow their under five-year-olds to go trick-or-treating without supervision.

A warning to the families that do plan to venture out trick-or-treating; they need to be on their best behaviour if they don't want to awaken their neighbour's dark side. A fifth of Brits surveyed admit to having had a Halloween-related bust-up with a neighbour in the past.

Devilish parents admitted they will be stretching the truth elsewhere this Halloween, with more than one in 10 planning to pass off a shop-bought Halloween costume or tasty treat as a homemade creation.

It's a costly time of the year as 10% of parents spend over £50 on Halloween supplies. Ten per cent said they spent more on Halloween than on their partner's birthday!

Tamsin Kelly, editor of parentdish.co.uk and a mum of three, says: "Our parents are divided over Halloween. Some love it and go the whole hog decorating their homes, creating costumes and spooky food and trick or treating, while others loathe it as an imported tradition they didn't have as children. It's easy to see why parents resent the pester power that now comes with Halloween and would happily hide with the lights off!

"Here at Parentdish.co.uk we were shocked that any parent would let their under-fives go trick or treating unsupervised and in the dark. Thankfully, they are a small minority. The majority of parents with Halloween-keen children will be traipsing around with their children – with or without a witch's hat – hissing 'say thank you' at every door."




* Survey undertaken by OnePoll of 2,000 adults.