Bees and butterflies aren't traditional Halloween costumes in the US. Traditional costumes would be things like ghosts, vampires, and witches. Some people will pick creepy costumes, but little girls often want to dress as princesses and other cutesy characters. A lot of boys dress as superheroes. I have never seen "girly" decorations on houses, though. These decorations tend to be things like fake spider webs, ghosts, carved pumpkins with lights inside, and often grotesque stuff like detached body parts.

This is about how our average decorations are: http://www.city-data.com/forum/attachments/south-dakota/29904d1225545199-happy-halloween-p1010745.jpg Does anyone do this in England?

You don't understand - Hallowe'en isn't about blood, gore, gruesome, horror and terror. That's not the point of it. In fact - all that blood and gore and stuff is all man-made and has been for years. THIS is what Hallowe'en is really about. Not about the gross, disgusting gore that people have turned it into today XS

I checked the internet. It seems that a few people do it here but I've never seen any houses decorated for Halloween myself.

A number of my friends are pagans and wiccans so I always think of October 31st as Samhain while the popular form of Halloween is something which occurs on the same date for those who celebrate it. Morostide is based on the Amercian Halloween celebration. After talking to Punk and doing a bit of internet research I've come to the conclusion that British attitudes towards the popular form of Halloween vary. For example - It's a time to wear fancy dress and go trick or treating or it's something to do with horror movies or it's just shops trying to promote an American thing so they can make money.

PS The Morostide article in the Subetapedia provides the background. Morostide has its roots in Tebh traditions concerning death and the dead. It finishes with -

If the new makeup kits didn't grant your wish...I don't know what will....

They're great fun. I was hoping to get the hanging jaw but I never have much luck with chance items. On the plus side I got the bloody seer eye - the dripping blood doesn't show up against the Peculiar Petri Dish eyebrows so it looks like a lovely ornament stuck on the forehead. It's just right for a HA I'll be using after Morostide.

: That's actually a really cool idea for using it c: I'd be anxious to see that avatar! And best of luck getting the Hanging Jaw; it's by far the creepiest of the bunch I'd say.

Sorry to casually butt in here but I live in Nottingham (therefore obviously England) and I can't sit down for five minutes on Halloween without some kid in costume knocking on my door and totally ignoring my "take one thing you want" comment before grabbing a handful of sweets and running off. They have costumes from demons and witches to cats, dogs and mice and then to princesses, Christmas crackers (yes, that happened) and rocks so it's not limited to horror movies... though I do know someone who stood alone in a well Halloween night and dressed as the girl from The Ring as part of a horror night down Sherwood Forest. But that's not the point. Either way, just saying that some parts of the UK do have a lot going on at Halloween and a wide range of costumes.

On topic though, I like the variety this year with more "toned down" items too. It caters to everyone C:

I find it interesting that it's taken off in some parts of the UK and not others. There are kids where I live because they play outside when the weather's not too bad. None of them dressed up to go TOT last year or the year before.