There are so many decisions families make about Halloween.
Here are a few we have talked about at my house:
Will we trick or treat?
Some families don’t trick or treat. They have legitimate reasons and have decided not to participate. My husband and I both trick or treated when we were little and decided that it would be all right for JDaniel to dress up and visit houses in our neighborhood.
Will you put out a pumpkin?
Yes. We both had pumpkins on our porches when we were little and don’t see this as a problem for us.
Will the pumpkin have a face carved into it?
Yes. We decided that we could have a happy face carved into a pumpkin. I am totally aware of the history of carved pumpkins. A parent wrote me a three-page letter on the horrors of Halloween when I first started teaching twenty years ago. He detailed as much of the ancient history and meaning of Halloween objects he felt I needed to know followed by a declaration that his child wasn’t to participate in any Halloween related activities in the classroom. I think he had a right to share his thoughts about Halloween with me. His feelings on the subject were respected and I let his daughter abstain from activities that would have been objectionable to him.
Will we decorate the outside of the house with skeletons and ghosts?
No. JDaniel recently noticed some Halloween decorations at a friend’s house and was scared of them. They weren’t going to be a part of our Halloween décor anyway. We certainly wouldn’t be doing them even if we had planned to do them with JDaniel’s fear of them.
Will we read Halloween related books?
Yes. I am reviewing one this week in Read. Explore.Learn. I am not pointing out witches or ghosts out and discussing them. If he asks about what they are, I will tell him what they are called. At two he probably won’t want an in-depth discussion anyway.
I am doing all of the above! I love Halloween, I think its my favorite holiday! We have some skeletons in our house because they are a big part of Day of the Dead celebrations but they aren’t meant to be scary, they are meant to be fun and funny! My daughter is also scared of the Halloween decorations in the stores now. I HATE scary movies so I’m not trying to scare her or anything. But we are doing pumpkin related stuff.
We are also trick-or-treating, have a pumpkin which we will carve, have some decorations, both a little scary and some smiling pumpkins too! To me (and my kids) Halloween is just abt dressing up and having fun and getting lots of candy…nothing more!
I think everything you’ve described sounds perfectly appropriate for a 2 yr old! Fun is better than scary {even for me now!} anyway.
When my son was young he dressed up & went trick.or.treating but he didn’t know what candy was so he sorted them & lined them up like a train & just played with them haha that only works on the first child though…
enjoy : )
JDaniel should have a fun and safe Halloween with thoughtful and concerned parents! Sounds like you are both well grounded in pumpkin and treating for Halloween. Good Decisions!
We did trick or treat with our kids, and we put out carved pumpkins.
When I was a girl (the youngest of four kids), we trick-or-treated — until the day my mom read an article about the evils of Halloween. I remember being nine years old, and being told we would no longer participate. Heartbreaking. My older brothers were already long past their dressing up years, so they didn’t care, but I was crushed.
I had to take a note to school, saying I was not allowed to participate in the class Halloween party and my mom picked me up early that day. It was embarrassing and confusing.
When raising my own kids, I embraced the night as one of the few community events that encourage true “neighborliness”. As the years went by, the numbers of trick-or-treaters diminished, as more and more shopping malls and rec centers and churches began to usurp what has historically been about kids knocking on neighbor’s doors.
Halloween night, in a family neighborhood is so much fun. You get to exclaim over the wee ones’ costumes, and pretend not to recognize them. You say hello to the moms and dads, and peak into the homes of neighbors you’ve never met. It’s such an all-American holiday, and I’d hate to see us lose yet another tradition.
JMHO, of course.
We stay away from scary decorations, too. Last year we printed off something from NickJr to use to carve. I think we’ll do the same this year, too.
We’re carving pumpkins, but usually I just do something silly, or something that shows lots of light. We decided that Georgia is going to go trick-or-treating to the neighbors on either side of us, but she doesn’t really need any more than that. She’s little, and will have just as much fun staying up a little late and handing out candy with me. I think you’ve put a lot of thought into your decisions, and JDaniel is going to have a great Halloween.
It’s funny, last weekend Dh and I had a long talk about Halloween and what we wanted to do and this week, I see so many blog articles about it – I guess we are not the only ones considering how to handle it. It seems to me like you have logically thought out your position and are also respectful of other people.
I wrote a blog post about our stance on Halloween:
http://pippasmum.blogspot.com/2010/10/halloween-dilemma.html
I’m glad you are thinking about this carefully. I’m sure you will make the correct decision. 🙂
I think that you’ve really put some good thought into this and are making some good calls!
Sounds like a plan! We’re doing the same. Plus CANDY CORN. Lots and lots of CANDY CORN!
There certainly are a lot of decisions to make this time of year!
I know the meaning behind Halloween, but I just don’t share it with my daughter. All she knows is that it’s a fun day to dress up and get candy.
We decorate the house with cute Halloween stuff, as the creepy stuff scares me just as much as her! LOL!
Sounds like you have this Halloween thing down pat! I am sure the kiddo will have a blast. After all the candy is the main attraction after the costumes! Anne
You might want to check out my blog to see what I give out to kids at Halloween. It’s the post under my Alphabe-Thursday contribution.
The best part of Halloween for me is always the young children in costumes. Sooooooooo cute!!!
Aware Decisions are the best Decisions. Happy D Day!
You can take just about any symbol and attach evil to it in some way if you look hard enough. We choose not to do that. Halloween is just about a chance to dress up and have some fun 🙂 And we love every bit of it!
We do it all. I love Halloween! La
What a great mama pondering all these decisions! Happy d day:)
We carved pumpkin, went trick or treat, and inspected candies.
You’re a considerate mom! Halloween should be fun, and not scary!
I’ve always thought of Halloween as a particularly American celebration in the same way as Thanksgiving.
In the past 10 years or so the French have really got “into” the whole thing.
Local children do trick or treat altogther in a group, we live in a small rural village, and parents are always with them.
Love Halloween – terrific post!
XOXO LOLA:)
Halloween can be loads of fun – I think you did a great job picking and choosing what is right for your family. It is the candy that I hate. Mostly because of the dang wrappers that get left all over! (oh and the crap it is made of) but we eat it anyhow.
Halloween appeared here in Belgium only since a few years and trick and treat was completely unknown. Now each your it’s a little more and last year a few kids were ringing at our door, but they were together with an adult.
It is sad that some kids have to sit back and watch others enjoying such a simple and fun holiday. My children love it all. Especially carving the pumpkins and eating the candy!
We took everything scary out of the routine when youngest grandson Jake screamed hysterically…now it’s smiling pumpkins, an orange beany baby…pumpkin candy dishes…orange crepe paper…and he likes to dress as a superhero when he’s at home that night…but he doesn’t go out!!! It’s his comfort zone and we’re happy with that.
While we do not celebrate Halloween, and I seldom comment on this topic, I wanted to say you and your husband really thought this out. Decisions made together with thought are always great ones. This will also help to teach JD that it isn’t all about peer pressure!
Yes to fun. No to scary. No blood or gore, but princesses and astronauts welcome!
We started out cute, with cows and lions and such, and have moved onto dragons, ghouls, zombies and the like. We go for elegant scary with some silly thrown in. But always, it’s been about fantasy and family tradition. Bring on the cheesy wiener roll ups and the pumpkin cake.
I like your thoughtful approach. I think it’s especially important to see things through your child’s eyes and work out what feels right for your family.
Now that my kids aren’t at home, I still put out pumpkins but I don’t carve them. That way, they can last through Thanksgiving.
Decisions!
=)
Regardless of the roots, nowadays it’s just a little bit of fun, isn’t it? No need to get all bent out of shape about it, really.
But that’s just me.
My chilren are 11, 15, and 17, and they are all going out trick or treating again this year. They meet their frineds and have a ball. Hope Daniel has fun this year.
Your approach to Halloween sounds similar to mine. I’m fine with the dressing up and the cute parts of it, but we stay away from the scary stuff.
This is one holiday that I always had trouble making those parental decisions on when my girls were growing up. I think it is just necessary to make sure the child know enough that they do not get pulled in the wrong direction.
we will take broxton out…
but that is about it..
in an apartment, i am not putting pumpkins out..
lol
I’m running so late on Halloween this year. Haven’t even decorated yet. I’ll get there though. The boys are dying for it.
I certainly don’t have to go through a list of questions about Halloween. It’s our favorite holiday! We do the whole shebang! It should be a lot of fun!
I wasn’t allowed to trick or treat when I was little and I always felt like I was missing out. What kid doesn’t love dressing up and raking in lots of free candy! We do take our kids if not trick or treating to festivals. Stopping from Mom Loop!
We didn’t “do Halloween” with our children, but did do things like Harvest Festival with our church. Dressing up there was also possible…nothing scary. And when our kids were old enough, they had lots of fun volunteering at the festivals. The festivals were a way to participate in something fun (there was plenty of candy, games, etc) and so ours never felt like they were missing out on door to door trick or treating. We also would take them to do something fun that was “fall” related, like going to a local farm for hayrides, etc. I appreciate that you respected that parent’s choice when you were teaching.
Our kids are all grown and they have still volunteered at similar functions and they have gone to costume parties with their sororities/fraternities, dental/medical school or other college organizations…
Blessings & Aloha!
After returning from our visit with family, it was straight to work, but I had yesterday and today off from work, so I hope to get caught up on some blog reading. I did draw names and I just wanted to let you know-in appreciation to those that left comments but were not drawn, I am also offering 10% off of one order…I would have liked to do more free or 20% off, but especially with it this close to Christmas, I could not manage to get them done in time..but want to be sure that no one was left out. Please come by or let me know if you are interested.
‘Decisions’ ia a very good D-word! As a mother I am always faced with all kinds of decisions similar to yours. Glad that you can work these things out ahead of time. This really helps the children.
We had a really good time on our ‘dog-scavanger-hunt’. (I love that word! Very good!) And as a matter of fact, I would like to invite you to return to my D-post whenever you have the time, as I have added another dog!
My cat Sara would also like to extend an invitation to you to visit her blog post for ABC-Wednesday.
Best wishes,
Anna
Sara sends purrs.
Here are the links:
Anna’s D-word Alphabe-Thurs
Sara Cat’s abcWED-round-7-M
Isn’t it crazy how many decisions are necessary for every holiday! It seems like it used to be easier.
I admire your carefulness in finding the best way to celebrate the fun of Halloween with your family.
This was an interesting stop on our little journey through Alphabe-Thursday.
Thank you for linking.
A+
Well thought out.
Of course, this year the only halloween decoration we have up is a skeleton. So far. But my 9 year old assembled it himself at a museum he visited with a friend… and we’ve been using it to discuss anatomy, LOL!