64 Halloween Conflicts That Prove Costumes Aren’t The Only Things That Can Be Scary

Essentially, my daughter is 4 yrs old and this will be her second Halloween since her mother and I broke up. Last Halloween, all I got was a simple picture of her costume and a short text saying she had fun. Now, baby momma is trying to ask if she can come pick her up for an hour or two and take her trick or treating.

I’m really not about it. I have a full day of activities planned and I feel like baby momma’s being intrusive, especially this close to the holiday.

AITA for not being willing to share time?

Our neighbors throw this LUX Halloween party every year. 🎃

Dry ice, flashing laser lights, awesome music, "haunted house" tour in basement for kids, cool "adult beverages" upstairs for grownups.

Photo booth, ice slide for shots, pro actors dressed up doing tarot & palm readings; they go all out & it's wild.

Neighbors are very specific that it's invite-only WEAR A COSTUME. A costume Halloween party.

He never wears one and I always do.

Once I got him to let me at least put some blood "tears" under his eyes, but he washed them off later in the bathroom after we got there.

I feel stupid wearing this elaborate costume I've been thinking about or working on for weeks and he's wearing, like, jeans and a long sleeve black Tshirt. Forget a couples costume; that will never happen.

He won't even do a simple last minute "joke" costume like "chick magnet" putting a little felt baby chick 🐥 on his shoulder or "Salt Bae" just grabbing a salt shaker & some dark circular glasses & short-sleeved black T.

I asked if he'd just put a toboggan and a flannel shirt on this year and say he's Jacques Cousteau, but no way.

Everytime he shows up not wearing anything, our neighbors ask why he didn't dress up & I can tell they are not pleased.

I begged again; it's "no" once more.

So now I don't even want to go. He says I'm being "silly."

They go all out to throw the neighborhood this beautiful, huge, unique, superfun party and he can't make a minimal effort to comply with the "come in costume" request.

Burns me up. And embarrasses me when he's the only one there who didn't do anything.

AITA?

My son attends half day kindergarten. I just picked him up and has to deal with some moms. I'm writing this in the car just to calm myself down from dealing with these people.

I know this is ridiculous and I never thought I would be writing here but here goes.

My son has 17 kids in his class so I decided to do something nice. Through my company I get discounted movie tickets to give away to clients. So I put 17 envelopes in my son's backpack for his teacher to put in each other kid's Halloween treat bag today.

There is no problem with this. It's a private school and All the parents agreed to send treats for every kid in the class. No problem with religion or economic hardship.

The problem came when I got there to pick him up. Three moms were waiting for me.

They wanted to know where their ticket was and if I had extra for their other kids?

What? I just thought this was better than more candy. But they are upset with me because now they will have to spend money to use their Halloween treat.

I think all the kids go to see movies. The voucher is good for one kids movie admission, a small soda, a small popcorn, and a small candy.

But it seems that I'm the jerk for only providing for the one kid in my son's class.

I think that they are being greedy. And cheap.

So I (28F) come from a country where Halloween is not really a big thing. I think I was invited to one halloween themed party my whole life, it’s never been something I’m really aware of or cared much for.

I now live in a country where halloween still isn’t a massive thing but there is a huge expat population (especially from the US) who does take it very seriously.

So anyway last night a bunch of the kids on my floor of my apartment building decided to go trick or treating. I’ve lived in this building since it opened and it’s only with covid and new families moving in last year that the trick or treating is even a thing.

I didn’t buy any candy for this, nor do I have any in the house. I stuck a note to the doorbell saying “no trick or treaters, please” and carried on with work.

From 5:30pm until around 9:45pm my doorbell was going every 15-20 minutes and some of the kids were even pounding on the door. I ignored it and just put earphones in and carried on with work.

About half an hour ago as I’m having lunch, 4 mothers who live near my apartment came to my door and kept ringing the bell until I answered. I recognised a couple of them and thought maybe they needed something so I opened up.

They started saying they knew I was home last night and why was I acting like a grinch, was I too much of a cow to make children happy, they felt sorry for my baby (I’m 6 1/2 months pregnant) and overall harassing me for not taking part in halloween.

I did yell at them that they had no right to expect anything of me and that if they came back I would be calling building security and then I slammed the door in their face.

I don’t get why I’m obligated to take part in a holiday that holds no meaning or significance for me, especially when I had made it clear that I would not be involved in it.

AITA for ignoring the “holiday” and being aggressive to my neighbours when they confronted me?

I imagined that it wouldn't be too much of an issue especially considering the fact that I am not going for a hyperrealistic or particularly scary cockroach, I simply was planning on making a paper mache helmet and using the cicada wings i made from last year and dressing in brown. However, my parents are not particularly thrilled- my dad especially. He claims that it is "too weird" to go as. The costume idea is not scandalous or questionable at all, if anyone has any doubts I can send a picture of the idea.

When my little cousin [10M] came over, I was in my room preparing the costume. When I opened the door wearing a cardboard bowl-shaped thing [the helmet is paper mache] so I could go see in the mirror, my dad, sister [9F] and cousin were all standing across the hallway and could see me. My dad quickly rushed over and told me that I will not show the costume to any of the cousins/uncles + aunts and he seemed a bit angry. When he gets mad, his eyes tend to bulge out a little and he makes this face- this was somewhat present in this situation. I feel sort of bad-in my mind, it is either a), I am too old to be dressing up for Halloween or b) there is something wrong or inappropriate with being a cockroach that I do not understand. I don't think it was related to my school grades or anything either, as of currently im completely on top of everything and even a little ahead. He could very well be in the wrong here though, but I think I need another perspective [hence why I come to reddit]. I think jerk is a strong word, it's more so a matter of who is being irrational or unfair here. AITA?

I (35M) have 2 kids (9M,6M). Context: I just started a new remote job so my medical benefits haven't kicked in yet. My partner has a job that requires them to travel and are currently away.

For the past 2 weeks the three of us have been dealing with a cold/flu bug. Its wasn't serious enough outside of taking your standard otc remedies and continue going to school/work.

Today, the day before Halloween, the kids got a bit worse and wanted to stay home from school. I also felt worse so I made the necessary arrangements (contacting my job/school etc). Kids are in bed watching TV and we'll be doing soup and medicine for our diet today.

Now my oldest has a fair amount of common sense so I did warn him that if they still feel sick enough to miss school tomorrow as well as today, then they can't go trick or treating. He understands this.

I gave my in-laws the heads up about the potential cancelation as they planned to join in our trick or treating tomorrow. They think I'm ruining the holiday for the kids. My partner, while agreeing with me, wants me to bend to their will because they don't want us to deal with the drama afterwards ie "you'll never hear the end of it".

While I get the point, I wasn't going to be completely heartless on the subject. I was going to make some Halloween themed snacks and do some kid friendly Halloween movies and allow them to wear their costumes all day tomorrow (just in bed) and buy them some discounted candy after Halloween to make up for the trick or treating loot they'll miss out on. But I also stand firm on the principle. If my kids aren't well enough to attend school, they they aren't well enough to socialize in this kind of activity.

So, WIBTA?

We've been together about a year. It's just a local theatre thing. They're doing Rocky Horror live. It's about 10 shows, all around Halloween, and she's playing Janet. She got given the role today. They said over the phone that they'd give her a free ticket for someone to come see one of the shows and she asked me if I'd come watch her. I said I didn't want to go and didn't want her to do it either for reasons that are obvious to everyone who's seen the movie. She's now mad at me. I want to make it clear that she does not see acting as a career and is doing something totally different with her life, she said when she auditioned that it would be fun and presented it as a one off thing, so it's not like I'm crushing her lifelong dreams, I just don't want to watch my girlfriend get groped on stage.


Edit: I saw the production last year. Same company, same theatre. Dude who played Rocky motorboated "Janet" and it's the same Rocky this year. And I looked it up and it's the same director, too.


Update: I took a step back, realised how crazy I was coming off, confirmed with a friend that I am definitely the jerk and apologised at length. I love my girlfriend, I trust her, and it's not enough to just say I support her, I need to actually do it. She's still mad at me and she'll probably be taking someone else to the show, but I am going to fully support her from here on out.

Context: My wife 29F always makes the kids Halloween costumes. We have 3 kids 5F 7M and 9M. She did not have an amazing childhood and so I think she is constantly trying to make sure our kids do.

She home makes every birthday cake, diys the birthday decorations, makes pajamas for every holiday and always home makes the Halloween costume. She also does these theme monthly movie nights, where she creates this whole scene. For example this month was coraline, she make custom dolls for each kid, welcome home cake and the whole food spread.

This is all great but the problem is she expects me to help. All are kids are in activities, we both have full time careers, and I believe she stretches herself thin trying to do all this. And also expects me to. We have the money to just go out and buy stuff so I don’t get way we have to do so much. She says these are the things the kids will remember.

Anyway this all came to head as I’ve been out of town most of the month for work so she’s had to shoulder the full responsibility of the kids. This caused her to be behind on making the costumes and she’s stressed. She was asking me if I’d be able to create one of the costumes for her, she has the supplies and can walk me through. The problem is I just don’t feel like it. I told her we can go get a cheap costume, it’s not a big deal.

Well she refused and was up all night finishing these costumes. I told her this morning that they looked awesome and she just rolled her eyes. She was making coffee and I asked if she’d make me a cup, she replied go buy one. She’s been distant and cold. I was talking to my coworker and he called me out. Saying my wife is right, my kids will remember the effort my wife put in and they’ll also remember how hard I made it for her.

Now I’m feeling off, like maybe I am the AH. But at the same time I usually do help a bit, I was thinking this one time wouldn’t be a big deal since we were both tired.

So AITA?

I just bought a house in a suburban area, and on the Halloween weekend my friends and I planned on going camping and making a party of it. We'd be going from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening.

I've never lived in a place that does much trick or treating, I grew up really rural where every house was a mile from the next, and then I lived in a college town where the thing to do was throw a house party or go out to the bars.

So when I absentmindedly headed out on my camping trip leaving my outdoor lights on and pumpkins on my porch I didn't think much of it.

I got home from camping and there were a bunch of kids and parents waiting on my porch and when I was driving up I heard my neighbor yell to the group "she's not answering the door" and then I remembered Sunday was actual Halloween (my friends and I celebrated on Friday and Saturday nights)

I got home and the neighbor on one side asked me where I'd been, it was almost the end of trick or treating and I'd been away all day and missing their texts.

I said I was camping then driving a carpool of my friends home from camping. My neighbor said I'd really inconvenienced him by setting up my decor for trick or treat, leaving all the lights on, and then not being home, making him tell groups every few minutes all night to not bother waiting.

I said sorry, I didn't remember it was trick or treating that night.

The neighbor next door on the other side came by at that point and said that this is a really big neighborhood for trick or treat, it's a family neighborhood, and it wasn't neighborly of me to be away for Halloween and not participate.

I started to get frustrated because I hadn't even known Halloween was a big deal to them, I hadn't even remembered it was actually Sunday and not Saturday, and I felt like they were mad because I didn't do something that I didn't even know would be important to them. Like if one of them said Halloween is really important to them in advance and they'd like me to contribute I could of tried to be home or put out a bowl of candy or something.

I told both neighbors that it wasn't fair of them to be mad over something I didn't even know would be a big deal, and they said that it should have been obvious to me not to decorate for Halloween and leave the lights on and then go out.

AITA for being away on Halloween?

Me and my wife been married 10 years and have 3 kids together. We both have always been a little on the chubby side but don't get me wrong cause my wife is absolutely gorgeous. In the middle of covid I saw the numbers about how it hit overweight people harder than others and I started eating right. Running. And put a weight bench in the garage. I only dropped like 30 pounds but in the past two years I've gone from being afraid of having my shirt off at the pool to bring proud of myself in the mirror.

So, boom. Halloween hits. I had been hyped all month cause I had like a Roman gladiator type costume to wear out with the kids. We always all wear costumes. I get dressed and we are both getting the kids ready and she doesn't even put on her robe to be like a fortune teller. And then she grabs the keys and says everyone ready? It was like 68F out and absolutely beautiful to walk our little neighborhood. I tell her the kids and I wanted to walk as we are standing in the drive way ready to go. She kinda stamps her foot and just goes back inside.

Me and the kids go out and have a blast they were all some variant of a warrior. So we looked pretty cool with our swords marching collecting candy. One of the houses had a little haunted garage and toys to play with. We stopped there for a bit and I had a few drinks to finish the night. Exchanged numbers with the family that lives there and headed home.

I get back home and after the kids get to bed. My wife explodes on me saying I smell like tequila and every since I lost weight I don't do the same things I used to do(we used to eat ice cream every single Friday like big Coldstone cups now it's like once every few months). She even brought up the phone number cause it was written down and I left it on the counter since I forgot my phone when we left. It very clearly had the couple's name on it so it's not like was from some floozy. Then she complains we all could have totally drove and I told her just because she doesn't want to better herself she didn't have to make me and the kids suffer.

It was harsh but I felt like I was being attacked for no reason.

So, AITA?

I (21 F) have been friends with "josh" (21 M) since we were kids. Our moms were friends growing up and we were pretty much raised together. We have continued to stay best friends through all these years, and both attend the same college. A year ago, Josh started seeing a girl "Lydia" (21 F) and it eventually developed into a relationship. They have been officially dating for six months. I never met her when they were just talking because he didn't know where the relationship was going and obviously the times they were hanging out it was a no clothes party, and I didn't want to be a cock block.

When they did start dating, he introduced us asap because I'm his best friend. At first, I thought it was just shyness because I am a close friend of his, so you obviously want to get along with your partners friend, but it became clear very quick that she just had a problem with our friendship. This past Saturday there was a Halloween party at our friend's place. Lydia was bringing a friend and told Josh that she and her friend would be doing a matching costume. So, Josh asked me if we wanted to do a costume together. We decided to go as Steve and Robin from stranger things. I guess on Friday he told her this was happening and suddenly her tune changed, and she wanted to do a couple's costume. He saw what she was doing and told her no. So, she then texted me asking if I would change my costume. I said no because I already spent my money and didn't know If I could return it plus, I'd have to scramble for another costume. All of a sudden, I started getting SPAMMED from random numbers (probably her friends) calling me all sorts of names. The whole time Saturday she was sulking and one of her friends seemed to be consoling her the whole night. It just felt awkward. Josh is telling me we didn't do anything wrong, but I feel like he's biased cause he's my friend. I want a third parties' opinion. AITA?

I started to put up my Halloween decorations last week. I put up 2 twelve foot animatronics. A grim reaper and a zombie. They are currently off. An anonymous neighbor left a letter with a bag of candy corn asking me to take down the decorations and put them back up later in the season because her kids are too scared of them and want to cross the street. She claims this is a safety hazard. The decor is set back about 5 feet from the sidewalk and is not a hazard in any way. She also says if that's not possible to cover the faces with pumpkins or something less scary. Both faces are skulls right now. AITA if I leave everything the way it is?

Every year, I go really big for Halloween and Christmas. My house is typically the most-visited and talked about house in my big neighborhood. This year, I added some new pieces to my Halloween display that include a scary butcher guy and his deli case full of body parts. I also have skeletons climbing all over the roof, a graveyard with a grave digger guy, and a headless horseman. I typically have people of all ages say how much they love it and how fun they think it is.

This morning, some lady posted on Nextdoor about how horrifying and awful my display is, and that it scared her toddlers so much they cried. She went on a rant about how terrible of a person i must be to put such scary things in my yard in a family neighborhood, and I should respect others fears and take it all down.

I do it just for fun, and because most people enjoy it. I'm not a depraved psychopath and do not advocate for serial killers, as this woman alluded to. I think if you're walking down the street with your kids, and you see a house coming up that you think might freak them out, it's your job as the parent to either turn around and walk away, or walk on the opposite side of the street and try to not let them see it up close... Not to stand right in front of it, take photos, then put your neighbor on blast on social media while your kids are crying and scared.

So am I the jerk?

Today my daughter (6th grade) came home with an invitation to a classmate’s Halloween party this upcoming Friday. The invitation itself was handwritten by the child and xeroxed, and the only RSVP included was “text me if you can come!” with the child’s phone number. No contact info at all for the parents. I’ve never heard my daughter mention this kid before, and I do not know her parents. I asked around, and I don’t know anyone else who knows her parents, either. Furthermore, I find it very odd that the rsvp wasn’t the parents phone number. Who allows an 11 year old to bottom line a 5 hour party without providing their contact information for keeping tabs on it?

I told my daughter that since I do not know this child or her parents, nor do I know anyone who can vouch for them, I don’t feel comfortable dropping her off at their house. Bringing her and staying isn’t an option, as I already have plans for that time frame. It would be different if my daughter could tell me other friends who would be there also, but she cannot. I’m sure in all likelihood they’re perfectly nice people, but I don’t operate on the honor system when it comes to leaving my child with strangers, and I find it odd that there is no way of contacting them ahead of time. My daughter suggested texting the child and asking for her parent’s number, but I’m not interested in doing that because I think it’s bizarre that they didn’t provide it to start with and texting them isn’t going to change the fact that I do not know them. She of course thinks this is very unfair. I hate saying no and bumming her out, but I don’t think I’m being unreasonable considering she is only 11. AITA?

My (25F) boyfriend (28M) and I are hosting a Halloween party this year. It’s our first time hosting a themed party like this, but I’ve always loved the idea of having one. I’ve watched countless DIY guides and videos about food, drinks, games, etc. I made a spider web out of paper streamers that covers our entire living room and took nearly 10 hours total to hang from the ceiling with lights to make a dance floor. And so much more. Point is, I’ve spent anywhere from 20-30 hours so far into this thing setting up, crafting, and buying supplies by myself.

Today my boyfriend asked if the guys could play a trading card game at the party. I immediately said I would be deeply offended if I set up a dance floor, beer pong, and decorations just for them to play a card game that we could play any other time. This is not a short card game - it can take a few hours depending on their decks and amount of players. On top of that, the music is going to be blasting so it’s not like they could hear each other anyway and it would take up the beer pong table. I offered that the guys could come earlier to play or wait until most people have left the party.

When I essentially shot it down completely, he said I “need to be more fluid” and I put my foot down and said if they did that I would likely get an Uber to a club and not come back until after. That I would feel very hurt and unappreciated. He backtracked, but things still feel a bit tense. On my end, feeling like that shouldn’t have even been on the table to begin with. But it seems small so I might be overreacting

As it happens every year, there will be a Halloween office party with the usuals... good food, candy, drinks, music, etc. I’ve never had an issue with that. It’s also common to see people from our area and other areas dress up and/or put makeup on. Again, no issues with that.

This year, however, they came up with the grand idea for everyone in our area to dress up and wear the same costume. (Think the seven dwarfs, except we can repeat a character). They even suggested which store to get it from, which design. That’s where I am not comfortable. (And of course, we would pay out-of-pocket for the costume.)

I don’t like the idea of wearing something I don’t relate to. Also, I spend the majority of my day in my office, so it’s not like it will be obvious I’m the only rule-breaker.

I appreciate the people I work with, and I want to continue being an active member of the team, but I just don’t feel like going out of my way to buy something I will never wear again. (Plus, it would look ridiculous on me)

I hope it’s not hypocritical of me for encouraging the office to practice teamwork and cooperation, and yet stepping out on this particular activity.

It's Halloween in a new house in a new town. We moved five months ago. My (44M) wife (47F) wants to hand out full size candy bars so we can be the cool house. Ok. That sounds like fun I guess.

As I do all the grocery shopping, I buy 24 Hersey bars, 72 Sour Straw bars, and 24 boxes of Good'n'Plenty. (I priced it out on multiple websites and grocery stores before buying.) I will also pick up a 10 pound bag of Tootsie Pops / Tootsie Rolls later in case we have a lot of kids, as I have been warned we are in the "rich people" subdivision and there are a lot of kids that stop by. Maybe some Lemonheads too, idk.

My wife told me I was a jerk for buying licorice Good'n'Plenty candy. I disagree, because: A. Licorice is awesome, and B. It's only like 10% of the overall candy

Halloween is coming up and as someone with two children and a husband that adores everything scary it’s a big deal

I’ve got two children, Kasey (5) and Robin (5)

My mother asked to have Kasey and Robin on halloween, it makes sense as early the day after we’re collecting a kitten to surprise the children with as well as the fact we haven’t actually had a “no child” day in over a year now.

Still upset about not having the children I told my sister about an activity I had planned and asked if her daughter (8) wanted to be involved.

Both of my children invited a friend around too for a sleepover, I was going all out.

I spent a little over £30 on sweets, got them stickers, a colouring book, slime, some face paints for when it is halloween, some LOL friendship bracelets and a small doll each - husband thinks I went overboard and maybe I did, it’s their first real halloween and I won’t be there so I’m upset.

I had planned on making it a scavenger hunt, hiding it all around the house so they can look for it.

I got a film, was going to order pizza or McDonald’s so it’s a real treat, I told my sister.

Well, my children spent the night around hers and they come back all happy from them doing what I had planned

I don’t mind her doing it with her kids but I was looking forward to seeing the looks on my kids face and now I feel upstaged and if I do it I’ll be the one copying, it’s less special.

I told her as such, we argued and she is no longer bringing my niece around.

Kids are inviting two more friends though so might be considered a win for them.

Sister thinks she’s owed an apology and that I overreacted and caused drama for no reason.

AITA?

Hi,

So I run a youth group and myself and the other youth leaders were talking about dressing as the entire scooby doo gang for halloween. I was gonna be Scooby, and get a Scooby Doo onesie from Amazon. It's the whole body costume with ears etc., and a hole for a face.

I was telling a group of friends what we were doing, and how I was going to then paint my face brown with some of the Scooby freckles etc. One in particular suddenly had a face was like I'd just slapped him. "You can't do that!" he said. "That's blackface!"

Turns out he, and several others at the table, think that me, as a white guy, painting my face Scooby-Doo brown, would be blackface. To me I hadn't even considered that there would be any racial connotations whatsoever - it's a dog, not a person of another race - and that I shouldn't do it. Not sure whether it matters, but everyone saying it would be wrong was white, the one black guy at the table had no problem with it at all.

To me, this seems like an incredibly unhelpful level of insensitivity which is only aimed at getting outraged wherever possible, not at actual injustice.

So, if I go ahead with dressing as Scoob for Halloween, face painted brown (AS A DOG) - WIBTA?

One of my neighbors who lives on my street is a literal nightmare. She is with our homeowners association and seems to have a personal grudge against me and a few other neighbors. Once my aunt came to visit, and she parked right in front of my house. We live in a quiet suburban neighborhood, so her car wasn't blocking the road at all and it is never busy, but my neighbor took it upon herself to report it and I got faced with a hefty fine.

She will always do other petty things, like if my wife and my kids walk our dog, sometimes our neighbor will follow them behind to make sure they clean up after it, don't walk on anyone's grass, it's ridiculous.

Those are just a couple of examples, on to the story. Now no one really respects my neighbor and I vowed if she comes to the door I will straight up refuse to answer. Sure enough, she and her kids come up to my door. I am looking from the window and the kids knock a few times and look like they are going to give up, the mother comes up and knocks on my door (She sees our cars in the drive way so she knows we're home). I relent and answer and she badgers me "how come you didn't answer, we've been here for 5 minutes"

Her kids interrupt her and cheerily say "trick or treat," I wanted to give them candy because they are fairly well behaved, but because their mother is a nightmare, I say "sorry, not giving you guys anything."

The mother flips and yells at me for not being in the spirit of Halloween and mentions how she will embarrass me by telling everyone about how much of a "scrooge" I am. They leave and I sit there FUMING.

After a couple minutes I grab a few candy bars, walk outside and find them a few houses down. I storm up to them, throw the candy at their feet and yell at the mother "here's the candy for your kids, enjoy it you old hag." She looked terrified because I did approach them suddenly.

I am not sure if I was the jerk here or not, my neighbor has been nothing but rude to me for years and because I initially refused to give her kids candy, I was somehow the bad guy?