In the UK.
I feel like my neighbor would call the Council within like 30 seconds.
It would all be shut down.
Hey, guys, welcome back to the Girl Guy London Channel.
If you're new here, my name is Kalyn.
I'm an American who's lived in the UK for almost ten years.
And today I am bringing you you a special Halloween edition talking about
the differences between how Halloween is celebrated in the US and the UK.
Okay, so first things first.
I am currently in the US,
so this topic has obviously been brought about because it is Halloween,
but also because in the US, Halloween is just such a big production
and a big deal that I've really been reminded of how important this holiday is
to Americans and have been able to compare and contrast to what I've experienced
around Halloween in the UK for the past ten years.
My husband is also British, so he's given me a little insight into
his childhood in Halloween and whether it was a thing or not.
So I've made a list of some
of the differences between how Halloween is celebrated or not in both countries.
So let's jump into the video.
So the first difference in modern Halloween celebrations is really
the length of the length of how Halloween is celebrated.
So in the US, Halloween starts basically in August.
The kids go back to school and everybody
starts to get excited about Halloween on October 31.
So you know how some countries have
the run up to Christmas, where it starts a few months early?
It's the same thing for Halloween in the US.
You go into the stores.
I was in stores definitely in August, and they had all of their Halloween stuff.
We really do like an autumn fall celebrations here in the US too.
So as soon as that first day of autumn or we call it fall in the US.
But as soon as that really hits,
everything just changes over and we're all looking forward to Halloween in the UK.
On the other hand, I've really kind of experienced Halloween
as something that you might think about a couple of days beforehand.
If people are going to decorate,
which we'll talk about in a little bit, they're really going to do it like
a couple of days the day of the weekend before Americans do it way in advance.
Again, we've been seeing Halloween decorations all of October and some as
early as literally September 30, October 1.
You've still got 30 full days
until Halloween and Americans are putting up those decorations.
Okay, so the next difference has to do
with trickortreating, which for a British person,
celebrating Halloween is the main event, the whole purpose.
What else is there to it? In America?
It's basically the culmination of the Halloween season.
So it is of course, the main event for many people.
But we've done a lot of things in the lead ups, trick or treating, but in general,
trick or treating is not as common in the UK as it is in the US.
It just has a different feel to it.
It didn't even come over to the UK until more recently.
My husband, who is British,
didn't have trigger treating when he was growing up in England.
And it really has only been within maybe the past like five or so years.
I think that Halloween has really started
to grab a little bit of a hold of the UK, not too much.
And I know there's a lot of people in the UK who are like, no, thank you.
We don't want that American craziness.
But some kids in the UK do trick or treat.
It is a thing, but it's not a thing like it is in the US.
In fact, I was looking up to find some
articles about just how Halloween is celebrated in the UK in trick or treaters.
And the first thing I found was an article about how to stop children from trick or
treating at your house in the US, we really love it.
We celebrate it. People love to hand out candy.
The adults will stay home and dress up.
That's a really fun thing to do,
which we'll get into a second about adults in Halloween.
But in general, in the US, it's just such an event.
You're looking for the neighborhoods that hand out the full size candy bars.
People are really into it.
In the UK, trick or treating is a thing, but really not to the same extent.
You're not necessarily going to be going
like neighborhood hopping looking for the best neighborhoods to hand out candy.
And in general,
it's really kind of restricted to primary school or elementary school aged children.
It does seem frowned upon here once you
are a preteen or a teen to do something like trick or treating.
And that brings me to my next difference about the age at which people in these
countries think it's acceptable to celebrate Halloween.
So in the UK, from my experience, you either have adults who might go
to a one off Halloween party at a nightclub or something,
and that is kind of mostly like for the University students.
So you might have that segment of people and then you've got, like I said,
the elementary school and primary school aged kids.
And Halloween is for them.
It is for young kids.
By the time you hit like 12, 13, 14, definitely.
It just seems like Halloween is not
for those kids in the UK or those teenagers or preachings or whatever.
I'm not saying that they don't do anything, but it definitely seems like
it's for younger kids in the US, Halloween is for everyone.
Typically, you would trick or treat kind of all through middle and high school.
That's up to the age of 18, even as College students.
As long as you're putting effort into your
costumes, pretty much no one's going to have a problem with you.
Trickortreating you could trick or treat
as an adult, as long as you can put real effort into your costume.
Just showing up to someone's house, knocking on the door,
asking for candy not really the point, but it definitely does not cut off.
When you're ten years old, that was your Halloween experience.
And then after you kind of reach high
school, College age, you maybe start to dress up and hand out candy.
Or as an adult, you would go to Halloween parties, Halloween costume parties.
There's loads of events that we'll talk about in a second that you might go to.
It really is not limited to a certain age group.
And while trick or treating is predominantly kids under the age of 18,
everybody in the US really does get into the Halloween spirit.
Okay, so the next difference has to do with the decorating of the houses.
So I was actually very impressed with our neighborhood in the UK last year during
the pandemic to see what they did in terms of Halloween decorations.
People actually put up more than I expected.
But compared to what they do in the US,
which is absolutely over the top insane, it doesn't compare in the US.
Every street that we drive by I seem to be pointing out like massive Halloween
inflatables Americans love an inflatable people.
I'm going to insert some pictures here.
People are decorating their house
with skeletons, massive spiders crawling all over the roof.
Some of them are funny, some of them are supposed to be scary.
We've seen someone that actually scared us as we walk past because it did look like
something pretty spooky hanging out in the window or
some kind of gory things hanging from a tree or skeleton bones here and there.
Americans go all out when it comes
to Halloween decorating and that is much different than in the UK.
People might put like a pumpkin or a little bit of a spider's web on the door
if you really want to get into it, but it doesn't compare to the US.
Okay, the next difference has to do
with the actual Halloween activities in the run up to Halloween.
So again, this is where in the UK I really
don't have much to talk about because it's just not the same Halloween culture.
And I know again, a lot of you Brits are like, thank goodness for that.
As an American,
Halloween isn't my favorite holiday,
but I do feel really happy that I got those experiences of trickortreating
and being able to be really into that as a kid and teen.
I have some great memories of Halloween
and also I do like being here now and seeing all the Halloween decorations.
But in the UK there's not too much
in the way of Halloween activities outside of trickortreating.
I looked up like haunted houses in England and all I could find was an article
from the National Trust about the most haunted stately homes in the UK.
In the US, we love a Halloweenthemed
activity, a scare house, a haunted house, a Halloween festival.
People and communities go all out all throughout the month of October to really
host these kind of spooky, family friendly or downright terrifying events.
Since I've been here in the US,
to give you examples of what we've done, we have gone to a walkthrough Halloween,
like it was a haunted house, but it was very intense.
So there were tons of scare actors. Actually.
Now that I'm bringing this up, I do know that Fort Park does fright
Nights yearly, so that might be the closest thing
that the UK has to like haunted mazes and stuff.
So the UK does have it now that I'm
thinking about it, but I don't think there's as many options as in the US.
But we did go to, again,
a very intense walk through like haunted maze with scare actors jumping out at you.
We went in the Thousand Oaks area just outside Los Angeles in California.
And so of course you had people who work in the industry, who are makeup artists,
who are set designers and stuff coming together to create this haunted house.
We love that kind of thing in the US.
Other examples I can give,
because we were in the La area recently, they do a haunted hay ride thing
that happens outdoors and everything is all decked out for Halloween outdoors.
We also have gone to a home haunt.
I've never been to one of these before,
but someone has actually turned their family home into a haunted house.
They are literally living, we think, in the upstairs currently,
and they have turned their entire downstairs, front yard and backyard
into a themed haunted house, complete with animatronics and actors.
And probably like the people from the neighborhood getting really into it.
There was a line just all the way down the neighborhood street.
People of all ages were lined up to get in.
It was mostly adults actually,
because I think they did like a non scary kids walk through earlier.
So again, this is just an example of something where I cannot fathom what
would happen in the UK if I tried to turn my house into a haunted house.
Now, I'm sure most of the neighbors are
a little bit over it by the time Halloween happens because there's all the parking
and stuff, you've got a lot of people coming into your neighborhood.
But in general, I think people in the US
really celebrate something like that and support it.
In the UK, I feel like my neighbor would call the Council within 30 seconds.
It would all be shut down.
People in the UK don't really seem into that kind of Halloween fun.
We have a big enough house to do it.
Okay. The next difference about Halloween
celebrations in the US and the UK has a bit more to do with the general autumn
celebrations, but it's something we call in the US, pumpkin patches.
I'm not sure if they have the same term in the UK because I've never seen one.
But in the US,
it started off with a farm, like a real pumpkin patch that people would go to.
Because obviously carving pumpkins is a quintessential part of Halloween.
And you go, you take your family to the pumpkin pot,
you pick out your pumpkin, there's like hay rides, which my husband,
who is British, had never heard of a hay ride before.
Basically imagine being in the back of someone's pickup truck or tractor
with sitting on bales of hay and you're kind of wearing your flannel or
your fleece and it's all very like autumnal.
But pumpkin patches are a very popular
thing in the US around the Halloween season.
If you live somewhere like a city
that doesn't have a farm, that's okay, they just bring all the pumpkins
in and make a fake pumpkin patch and people still eat it up.
Okay.
And the next difference is the presence of Halloween specific stores in the US
compared to basically the absence of that in the UK.
We here in the US,
every time Halloween comes around again, probably starting like beginning
of September, a store specifically called like Spirit Halloween.
Or it could have different names.
It's a pop up store.
It usually will take the place of some empty mall shop or something.
And it is just wall to wall costumes, wall to wall Halloween paraphernalia.
I'll insert a picture here of me in one.
And we love Halloween so much that we need Halloween specific stores.
These don't usually last all year.
Obviously, some people have heard of like a year round Christmas store.
I don't think I've ever seen a year round Halloween store.
They are more pop up for the season.
But when Halloween is on its way again,
August, early September, we're thinking about it.
And we are going to the Halloween store,
picking out our costumes, buying our haunted house stuff.
And it's just rows and rows and rows and rows of options.
And in the UK, I've never seen a Halloween store.
So there's that.
And the last difference I have to share about Halloween in the UK versus Halloween
in the US is the presence of Halloween specific discounts.
In the US, we celebrate the holiday to such an extent that stores might use it
as a special code, use code Halloween and get this amount
of money off or for Halloween, we're doing this special promotion.
I've never seen anything like that in the UK.
And again, it's similar to what you would experience on like a Boxing Day or
a Christmas that use of the holiday to have a promotion or a code or some sort
of sale, even if it's not directly related to that specific holiday,
it's just more of a general promotion based on Halloween.
Now, speaking of Halloween products
and promotions, if you've watched my video on how I make money online then you might
have seen that I have a website called into the cookie jar.com. I actually have
a Halloween cookie baking and decorating course that I designed so I'll link
that below, maybe insert a little bit of the promo video here.
Hey Halloween lovers, have you heard the news?
Halloween just got more delicious.
In this Halloween cookie decorating course you'll learn how to make and decorate
beautiful and Instagram worthy treats with three levels kids, families and adults.
Everyone can go at their own speed,
get together for a Halloween cookie decorating party or simply use it to keep
the kids occupied while you hide in the closet.
All of the Halloween cookie shapes as well as recipes and tutorials are included so
grab your family and make sure to watch out for the ghosts, the ghouls
and the occasional wandering skeleton.
See you in the class.
So if you guys are interested in getting
more into Halloween or maybe you're an American expat who lives in the UK,
he wants a way to celebrate Halloween and decorate some cookies with me.
Definitely check out that course.
Okay, so that brings me to the end of my video.
I usually end with a question or something that I want you guys to comment below
and in this one I just want you to comment your opinions on Halloween and your
experience in whichever country you're from.
So tell us what country you're from.
Do they celebrate Halloween?
What has been your experience?
Again, I know that a lot of British people look at American Halloween and actually
are not wanting it to come to the UK and are not necessarily happy that it
seems like the day has been Americanized and people are celebrating Halloween.
I've read that part of this is because also Halloween, October 31 is very close
to bonfire night in the UK which is November 5,
only five days later and that's a very big celebration for the UK so it's almost like
that extra Halloween day isn't necessary and people don't see the point but I'd
love to hear your experiences, your opinion and if you are a fan
of Halloween, have a very happy and safe Halloween and thanks for watching.
See you next time you.