Halloween: What do you do?

peggy,
interesting. my oldest daughter is born on the 31st as well. for a while, she thought everybody was celebrating her bday!

we just enjoy taking the kids to walk around the "downtown" streets of our local neighborhood. you'll see at least a 1000 families and their kids walking around in costumes. it's kind of ridiculous the amount of candy our three kids gather. i, of course, take my cut from their stash.

Scot, as I remember, the Dunlop boys were never in store bought costumes. In their younger days, Dorothy would have made them. I suspect, as they grew up, they themselves must have taken up the task. Some how, I can't see Dad doing any costume design or sewing. Maybe I am wrong. ;-)

Happy Halloween! I am giving play dough to my first graders this year. :)

Halloween is a community party in the small town where we live. Really quite a lot of fun, trick or treating is established as 4-6 pm and a carnival of sorts is set up in the funeral home parking lot. The kids often wear costumes to school (within limits). A few years ago a picture of our daughter and two of her friends wound up on the front page of the local paper - because one of her friends was dressed as a fried egg. Some good imagination here.

Peanut butter cups! I just might eat one tonight. :)
Just one.

That's a great story, M2C.

Last night was "beggar's night" in my town and I was reliving memories of my childhood as I handed out treats, wondering what kind of memories the night was creating for this generation.

I always make it a point to interact with the trick or treaters based on the themes of their costumes and I ask the ones I don't recognize where they live. One family always comes prepared to trick me with a riddle or two.

I stood on my porch and listened to the sound of children's voices and laughter carried on the wind and thought, in a world where virtual activity captures our imagination, it's remarkable that we still have a tradition that gets us out of the house and into the community.

This is Kris commenting. Regarding Bob #2 in comment 4, yes, the Dunlop boys created their own Halloween costumes even when they were in grade school. They showed their intellectual and creative gifts even back then! Scot and I got the biggest kick out of spotting them at the grade school parade - we could spot them a mile away because their costumes were homemade and so creative.

Play Doh...great idea, Laura. Happy Halloween to all.
I remember as a kid making popcorn balls to hand out. That was a messy treat! But, so good. Today, it's the same old candy..something Bob will like if we don't give it all away! I didn't even have time to carve a pumpkin this year..one of my usual traditions!

This year we're going to stay home and hand out candy and glow bracelets (wife found a great special at Michael's). Next year we might take the kids trick or treating.

I've been soliciting people's thoughts on Halloween on my blog because we need to decide what we're doing with our kids. I'm kind of leaning in the direction of traditional Halloween with no "demon" (etc) costumes or participation in anything that glorifies the less savory elements of the holiday or its history (or Hollywood).

We don't do much just invite a lot of friends over with different soups and have a great meal and visit and take turns passing out candy to the kids in the neighborhood. When I moved into the neighborhood I was the only person on my block in his 40's so it's cool to be the neighborhood grandpa. The house is lighted up in purple and orange lights and a couple of lighted pumpkins. We have fun with it and it's good to see all the young kids all decorated.

As believers in Jesus it is a good thing to reclaim October 31st and celebrate all that God has done in history and our lives. I recently wrote about this in my blog http://tolglobal.org/WordPress/

I dont like to see the really bloody/frightening costumes on small children because I dont think its appropriate.

BUT, I honestly dont mind it that much on teenagers. Halloween is a day where we get to mock death. We parody it. We laugh at it. Seems like there are some good Christian conversations that could be had in there.

Tyler,
It's good to laugh!

I grew up understanding Halloween and trick-or-treating as a very American thing to do, not as an un-Christian thing to do.

My favorite treats always involved some sort of chocolate. And I think I was one of the weird kids who liked the pennies. Back then a handful of pennies were as good as gold at the corner convenience store so I could stretch out the sugar high a bit longer.

Now that my kids are of trick-or-treating age, it's fun to decide on the candy (we give what we would enjoy eating, just in case it rains that year and we have an open bag or two) and decide on costumes. I did the "I'm working too much so to work out my guilt I will sew costumes for all three kids" a few years ago - imagine Princess Leia, Anakin Skywalker and Yoda all in one family.

We all have a dark side and a light side and I see dressing up for halloween as a time to go nanana to our dark side. I mean, it's kids, they haven't the ability to know what's going on psychologically, even some adults don't either. But it's a time to acknowledge/accept the dark side in us. Not accept as in approve, but that it's there and it's a time to go na na na to it. We'd have to greatly censor the Bible to cut out the parts where people did things coming from the dark side. Ok, so that in mind. We take halloween as a fun time for all and when kids dress up as ninjas or such they get to have a sense of power about that which is scary to them, that is, the dark side stuff they hear about or catch from what is in the home.

Up till a couple years ago we strung up the lights of pumpkins, did the cobweb stuff, set up the small speakers outside that played spooky music and handed out candy. What we handed out has changed accordingly to how our paycheck has increases. Usually we get a variety of candies. This year it's just Whoppers. Hubby bought the candy. Guess what hubby's favorite candy is. We never know how many kids are going to show up. Some are transported from other neighborhoods, I guess cuz our neighborhood gives out good stuff.

As to how old is too old to trick or treat - when they no longer look like a kid. Those who come to the door tall enough to not look like a kid. There should be parties for them to go to, or throw one themselves. Jokingly, this year hubby said we ought to hand out toothbrushes to them. As it is, we just drop one thing of candy in their container opposed to a handful to others. We never run out of candy, always have left overs that hubby takes to work so they're not temptation for me at home.

My daughter is an October kid too. The problem with her bday is it not have Halloween stuff in it - no halloween oriented gifts and no putting up of halloween themed stuff till after her bday.

Does anyone celebrate tomorrow, All Saints Day?

Well, it's 6:42 pm, and we've only had 5 kiddos come to the door. This Halloween I'm missing my 6th grade daughter who is at Outdoor School all week. Not quite the same without her around to take trick-or-treating with her pals, and to give out candy here. Miss her!!

Hoping we have a lot more knocks at the door tonight!

In the past we've got to the church harvest party.

But this year we decided to stay home, let our kids dress up and then we spent an hour trick or treating everyone on our street. My wife and I slowly followed the kids pushing the stroller with the youngest in it.

We sipped cider and handed out candy to the kids that rang the bell.

I'm super glad we did! I kept thinking to myself "How many oppotunities do I get to smile at, say hi to, or chat with nearly everyone on our street!"

I don't think we'll be going to the church party anymore.

We ended the evening with a story about a saint and the collect for all saints day from the BCP.

"Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen."

As for All Saints Day (#22), my husband will go to Mass and I will probably go with him. I think it's a wonderful commemoration of the people throughout history who have honored the church with their lives and often their deaths.

I honored All Hollows Eve (The Day of the Dead in many Catholic cultures)on my blog with remembrances of our newborn son who died.

As for Holloween, we didn't do it when my older kids were young. We were definitely into the "Christians don't do Holloween" mindset. We've come a long way, baby. Now someone stays home and hands out candy while the rest of the crew goes to church for the Light Night Celebration. The younger kids have a carnival with LOTS of candy and the teens are volunteers and run the event (and get LOTS of candy). It's a blast.

Our turning point was when my young daughter, while peering out of our darkened house at the kids in costumes, asked me wistfully, "Tell me again why we don't do Holloween, Mommy." All of the sudden I couldn't think of a good reason, so I whisked her up, put her in some dress-up clothes, and took her to friends' houses in the neighborhood. She kept twirling around in her raher bedraggled, thrown-together costume saying, "I look beautiful!" Her absolute happiness made me cry at my own stupidity.