LAST week was Hallowe'en, the time of year when children come knocking on your door, asking for treats. Or tricks. It got me thinking.

What is the purpose of Hallowe'en? When I was a child no one dressed up or went knocking on doors asking for tricks or treats.

I don't even know the etiquette behind that. Is the caller meant to play the trick - pull out a coin from behind his ear, or something like that?

Or is the person who answers the door meant to perform a trick (after all, they provide the treat). If so, pity whoever calls at David Blaine's house.

I've never allowed my children to take part in this odd and, if you ask me, dangerous ritual that has been imported from America. Kids are meant to beware of strangers yet here we are, encouraging them to dress up and bang on random doors asking for sweets or money.

I feel sorry for any man answering the door in the late evening - going to get sweets for the kids is the sort of thing that could get you arrested.

You can imagine... "Dad, last night, Mr Smith at No 17 gave me and Kylie a big bag of Smarties and he asked if we liked Fisherman's Friends."

Dad would be on the phone to the serious crime squad before you could say "Happy Hallowe'en".

Aside from old blokes labelled suspected paedophiles, I bet there are lots of people that aren't too happy about this annual event.

If you've been down the aisle labelled Hallowe'en at any major supermarket you will see the sort of stuff that would not be out of place in a serial killer's lock-up.

I'm happy to let my children dress up and have fun at a Hallowe'en party at a friend's house - we sometimes have one at our own - but I'm certainly not going to allow them to run around the streets wearing masks with blood dribbling from rotting teeth, while holding replica meat cleavers that look disturbingly like the real thing.

There are severed hands with bulging veins that move at the touch of a button, and battered skulls that, if left lying around, could spark a major police investigation.

Hallowe'en is getting more and more gruesome. Anyone opening their door to the sort of stuff kids are buying could end up having to be resuscitated.

I don't know how it has come to this. Ten years ago youngsters threw on bin bags, now there is a whole fashion range to choose from, with pumpkins, ghosts and witches, plus make-up straight from the Texas Chainsaw Massacre props department.

I wish everyone would come to their senses and be happy with a hollowed-out pumpkin in the garden. That's all we had as children, and we were satisfied. At least I think we were.