When i was growing up nobody did trick or treat, either in Ireland or where i lived in England. You stayed in, partied with friends and family (in Ireland the tradition was that you stayed in overnight, and didn't leave till dawn next day.) The kids bobbed for apples, poured wax into water to tell the future, everybody sang, and then later on people would start to tell creepy stories. (I told some really creepy ones, it's still my job when I'm home at Christmas to scare all the kids). The whole thing was very different from trick or treating. Some places I lived in, inner cities, you'd get quite grown up teenagers turning up, not even in costume, demanding treats, and if the treat wasn't good enough then they'd egg your house anyway.

It's partly the occult aspects of halloween, partly the alieness of trick or treating to what I'm used to, and partly the fact that I've had some horrid experiences connected to the season. For example, i used to work at a sanctuary up North, and one day got a call out for an injured cat. turned up, and discovered that she'd been staple gunned to a wall in a cruciform position, with occult writing around her. (she survived by the way.)

i know a lot of people who enjoy it, but i'm a misery guts. I don't like Christmas much either.