“Doing” Halloween.
It’s a thing I’ve been thinking a lot about in the last month or so.
Pookah is at that age, where he is fascinated by the idea of Halloween, witches, ghosts and goblins and dressing up in costumes.
But I don’t do Halloween.
I grew up getting dressed up in a costume, and then being taken to my father’s barber shop to get my treats and MAYBE to my neighbor’s house to trick or treat. ( and that depended on the year because some years, my neighborhood was a little….rough….)
And I thought that was grand. ( Even though my mother took the candy and gave me a few pieces every once in a while. *strong side eye*)
Now as a parent, I was going to take the high road and say: we don’t do Halloween.
He goes to a Christian school, so I knew they weren’t teaching it there.
But my Pookah has a mind of his own…and Disney Jr.
He wanted a costume.
He wanted to go trick or treating.
He wanted to try candy corn( which to my everlasting regret, he thought was too sweet).
He wanted to do Halloween.
And I let him.
Because I realize that even though I don’t do Halloween, I do celebrate the Harvest, the changing of the seasons.
I put out the pumpkins, I buy the mums.
We go to the pumpkin patch, we go pick apples at the apple orchard.
We carve the pumpkins.
As usual with parenthood, I learned that until I’m actually there, in the thick of it, I don’t actually KNOW what I’m doing.
What I do know is this:
I believe in letting children dress up as their cartoon heros.
I believe in make believe.
I believe in teaching my child about living, life and the harvest. With a story about Charlie Brown’s Great Pumpkin thrown in for good measure.
So we will eat the candy.
We will attend a harvest festival tonight at Church.
We will trick or treat in the house( I don’t know my neighbors like that and all my candy needs to be gluten free.)
We will take photos of cute kids in costume.
We will celebrate the harvest, fall, and carve pumpkins.
And that is all.
I think it will be fun.
What about you? Do you “do” Halloween? Why or why not?
I grew up wearing costumes and trick or treating with family. We’ve been doing the same with RJ since his 1st Halloween. Typically, we’ve only celebrated at his school for Trunk or Treat, which is not actually on Halloween. This year, we also attended our church’s fall picnic, where the kids dress up as saints instead of your typical Halloween costumes. Also, I’ve agreed for us to join one of his classmates and her family and go trick or treating “for real” tonight. We’re really “doing” Halloween this year!
We do much of the same as you mentioned above as far as “doing” Halloween. It is not celebrated, per se, but the kids are allowed to dress up. Our church holds a huge Trunk-or-Treat each year and the kids have a great time with friends there.
I totally “do” Halloween! I love all of the aspects of it, I just don’t get to decorate much. But dressing up, (I do it for the kids) but I love it too! Hope you enjoy the day with your cutie Captain America!!
I don’t go all out but I do let the kids wear something if their school is having a dress up day. My mom never took me trick or treating we always did something in school and she said that was enough. First time I went trick or treating was at 19 with some people from college it was fun but since I was older it wasn’t as much fun.
I say do what feels right to you! Though we haven’t celebrated Halloween, I’m not against it. I think so long as the parents explain what they believe the day to be and celebrate it along those lines, it’s perfectly fine…and fun!
I love that you are doing what is best for you and your little.
We do a bit of Halloween. A lot of pumpkins and dressing up to go trick or treating around our neighborhood. But I try to keep it very kid friendly and not scary.
I’m glad to know that I’m not alone with Halloween either. I grew up in a rough area, so we didm;t go out trick or treating. I don’t mind having my kids dress up and throw a party for them in the house, but I don’t know people out here to be looking for candy. We’ll buy our own tyvm. We never celebrated it growing up, but my little girl is really into it.
I grew up with trick-or-treating as the highlight of fall, followed closely by Thanksgiving. However, I was fortunate to have a lot of family to visit to trick-or-treat.
He sure is an adorable little hero!
I was raised Catholic and I always went trick or treating every year with my family. I take my kids now as well. Our church also has a trunk or treat for the kids. Its such a fun time for our family.
We didn’t do Halloween growing up. We had an event at church instead! Honestly it worked out way better than trick or treating in the neighbor hood. All the parents brought candy and the kids marched around in a circle over and over until all the candy was gone 🙂 My mom regulated our “sugar intake” after the fact, but the games, crafts, candy and getting dressed up as Bible characters was way more fun than regular old trick or treating!
Yep, we do it an love it! It was always part of my childhood and even my catholic grade school growing up. My son is even celebrating today at his christian school. It is fun the the kids!
We “do” Halloween here, but don’t go all out. We took my 3 year old old, dressed as a pirate, to the local mall and a couple of neighbor’s homes. It was a lot of fun!
Good for you to stand up for what you believe in while still allowing your child to feel like he is a part of what is going on in the world. And I don’t think many parents have the full manual and the best you can do is try to fill in your blanks the best you can.
We rarely got to trick or treat in the neighborhood. Usually our Church’s fall festival was held on Halloween and that was so much more fun! 🙂 Games and friends and people that you knew. 😉
We don’t do halloween either and I am so glad it’s over for the year!
We do Halloween. We tend to go way out. And my kids love to trick or treat.
We “do” Halloween. I have since I was a child. My kids love all that Fall and Halloween brings. Every family is not the same, whatever works for your family and makes them happy should be the most emportant factor.
Captain America is such a cutie! I love Halloween. I grew up trick or treating and I love the whole part of dressing up, seeing neighbors, having a special dinner and craving pumpkins – and spending time with my family!
we DO Halloween I suppose. Jas’s bday is the day before so she likes to get dressed up. Halloween for us is about getting dressed up and having out with cousins and getting candy. It’s fun for the kids and I love that. So we’ll continue to get dressed up until she feels like she’s too old and over it.
P.S SIL looks so cuteeee!!!
And, look at that big smile from your kid. You made him the happiest boy on earth by wearing the costume! He looks so cute!