Love it or hate it, there is no escaping Halloween. Switch on the TV, step into any supermarket or even walk out of your front door and you will find it next to impossible to avoid.

As the mum of a seven-year-old I'm happy to embrace it, up to a certain point. We've carved a pumpkin, dressed up for a little party and decorated our home with plastic bats and spiders. But that's where it ends.

What I absolutely refuse to do, and refuse to allow my child to do, is go out in the cold and dark to knock on other people's front doors to ask for money or sweets.

If, like me, you were a child of the 70s and 80s then you'll remember the tradition of 'penny for the guy'. Children used to make an effigy of Guy Fawkes, usually with something like a football head attached to a T-shirt stuffed with newspaper, then stand around outside shops begging for money to buy fireworks. It was like a forerunner of chugging, but by teenagers desperate for a box of bangers.

It was all a bit tawdry and unpleasant, and thankfully the introduction of age limits to buy fireworks seems to have pretty much done away with it. If only trick or treating could be dealt with in the same way.

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Please don't think I'm a massive killjoy. Our box of Halloween decorations is nearly as big as the one we bring out each Christmas. I've got no problem with celebrating the changing seasons and indulging in a bit of dress-up with friends and family. It's dragging strangers into it and asking to be given things that makes me uneasy

If you are happy for your children to go out trick or treating then please always ensure that an adult accompanies them. I hope you wouldn't allow a young child to go out alone in the dark at any other time of the year, so why would you allow it at Halloween? If your children are old enough to go out unaccompanied in the evening then, let’s face it, they are too old for trick or treating.

Please also only knock on the door of people that you actually know. If you wouldn’t say hello to your neighbour in the street during the day then please don’t bother them after dark.

On every other day of the year parents warn their children not to speak to strangers, not to accept sweets from strangers, not to step over the doorstep of strangers' homes. Yet, weirdly, at Halloween is becomes okay to do all of those things and some parents send their children out into the dark to get on with it unaccompanied.

It's also worth remembering that if someone has placed a carved, lit pumpkin on their windowsill then the chances are that they are happy to play along and will welcome a few trick or treaters on their doorstep. If they do not have something like this, please leave them in peace.

Once a household has blown out the candle in their pumpkin or removed Halloween decorations from their window, please don’t knock at their door. This is a sure sign that they’ve had enough of Halloween for one evening thank-you very much.

Any time after dark is fine to start your trick or treating, but any later than 9pm is too late. Try to make sure your little trick or treaters are safely home and warmed up by then.

If your family is going out trick or treating then please stay safe. I'll be handing out satsumas to anyone who knocks at my door.