To find out, we asked an adult to describe why her Hallowe'en ended up being sheer hell.

By Anonymous
For CBBC Newsround Online

Simple fun and games for most, but for me, a total nightmare.

There I was, last year, chilling out after a long day at work, watching my favourite soap, when the doorbell rang.

I could hear lots of excited voices outside and it suddenly dawned on me what day it was. Hallowe'en!

Short on jelly beans

Good thing I had some pic 'n' mix left over from my last trip to the cinema, I thought. That should be a good treat.

I don't expect there will be many kids coming round tonight, and I'm sure they'll enjoy those sweets.

How wrong I was!

The sweets were OK for the first set of visitors, and the second, a few minutes later.

By the third group came round, my stocks were running low.

When the fourth lot knocked, I only had two jellybeans left - and they were definitely unimpressed.

"Is that it?" they asked. "Er, yeah, I'm afraid, you're a bit late," I replied.

"Well, you should have had more in ready for us!"

Charming!

To avoid more trouble, I decided I wouldn't answer when the next group knocked. But that made things even worse.

"Mum, mum, I'm sure there's someone in!"

Only one thing for it

The doorbell kept ringing and I could hear someone rattling the letterbox. It was a few minutes before they eventually moved on.

There was only one thing to do.

I turned out all the lights in the house, moved the TV away from the window, and watched my soaps in the dark. I didn't answer the door - and I didn't dare move.

Altogether, in two hours I had about 10 visits, and it was one of my worst evenings in ages.

This year, I'm going out for a pizza with my mates...

By an anonymous adult