Halloween is an interesting time of year. The holiday itself is a rather interesting one, originally a pagan celebration to straddle the line between autumn and winter, and it is widely believed that it’s origins are the Celtic Festival of Samhain, where people would light bonfires and wear costume in order to ward off roaming ghosts. Of course, it went (with a lot of Irishmen and women looking for a fresh start in the New World) to America, and returned back thanks to America’s influence pervading popular culture. That, and we, as a nation, love some sweets. Whether it’s chupa chups lollies, haribos, chocolate or sherbet, we’re more than hooked, and more than happy to dress a little silly in order to indulge.
More interesting is the British public’s perceptions around Trick Or Treating, the act of dressing our children like monsters, ghouls, vampires and generally little, adorable versions of terrible things- and lightly harassing our neighbours with cries of “Trick or Treat” to score our children (Read: us) some much needed sweets.
Some of us love it, some of us hate it. Some of us actively attempt to avoid it by whatever means possible. Whether it’s minor things such as going out to the cinema (or going out in general) on the dreaded night, keeping the lights off, not answering the door, or perhaps the more extreme end of things by holidaying domestically or abroad on the dreaded night – some of us just plain don’t like to be visited by miniature ghouls and ghosts… even once a year.
However, all it takes is the observance of even one piece of American media in order to conjure mental images of houses covered in toilet paper, eggs, and all manner of other things to put some very real fear (at least of cleaning up the morning after…) into people. So, most of us make a scramble to the supermarkets last minute to buy a bag of something, anything suitably “spooky” in order to appease the little monsters that keep pounding on their doors. Perhaps said bag will run out at some point, and the homeowner is left trying to explain to (no doubt dejected) children which may or may not have bought the local supermarket out of egg, flour and toilet rolls that despite their best efforts, they’ve ran out.
A handy solution for this is found online. There are a number of online sweet shops out there, but thesweetpot.com offers an excellent solution for anyone a little worried that their house might end up defaced on this night. For example, they offer 100, 200, and 300 chupa chups lollipops at an extremely competitive (and much better value overall than supermarkets) price. And who doesn’t love Chupa Chups? An iconic lolly brand, Chupa Chups have been around since 1958 and have gone from strength to strength, pleasing even the littlest of monsters.
