Like other countries throughout the world, Halloween will be celebrated in Britain by the young and not-so-young this October 31. In past decades Halloween parties were held in schools with different year groups taking it in turns to act as hosts but hardly ever in public. People were a bit supercilious about traditions they considered "American" and even today there are shoppers who see rows of fancy dress costumes hanging up and say "It is an American thing, it's not really celebrated over here."
A lot of the older generation in Britain disapprove of Halloween, they think it promotes witchcraft and they are frightened by youngsters knocking on their doors after dark. A few years ago the police started producing cards for residents to put in their windows saying they did not wish Trick or Treaters to call.