Halloween Traditions

[_MsJack]

Well, two things have happened this year. My daughter has turned two, which means she's old enough that she might remember a little bit about this Halloween, so I think I should give her a good one. I have the perfect costume picked out for her.

And my mother has passed away, which means she won't be here to organize Halloween festivities. I have an autistic brother who still lives with my father. He's 24 years old, but it's really a bit like having a really tall 6 year-old brother, and he expects to throw a Halloween party. He already showed me his crudely-written planner where he has scribbled in "annual Halloween party" to be held at my father's house on Sunday, October 26. So I figure I ought to help out with that: decorate my dad's house, help my brother with his costume, help him host his party and hand out trick-or-treats at my father's house on Halloween night.

I haven't celebrated Halloween in like, ten years. The first five years because I'd fallen into that niche of evangelical Christianity that doesn't celebrate Halloween, and the last five years because I've been too lazy. So, questions for any of you adults or family people who have regularly celebrated Halloween...

How soon do you put up your Halloween decorations?
When do you buy and carve the Jack-O-Lantern(s)?
Do they normally hold any kind of Halloween festivities at the local LDS church?
Any recommendations on making Halloween fun for a two-year-old?
What do you usually do on the actual Halloween night?
Any family traditions for the month of October that you just love?

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[_skippy the dead]

First off, I am so very sorry for your mother's passing. I hope you are able to find some comfort in this time.

Second, I've enjoyed your posts on this board and on MADB.

And now, to your questions. We really love Halloween in our house, although we don't really go overboard on the decorations. Even before we had kids, we tried to make our house fun for trick-or-treaters. Now we've got two girls, 3 and 6, and they have fun helping out.

The Teletubby costume rocks! I also like the little kids ones at Old Navy. My little one was a skunk last year (and may be again this year - she's not growing very quickly).

How soon do you put up your Halloween decorations?
Starting Oct. 1, I'll let the girls put some of those Halloween-y gel clings on their windows and we might scatter a few holiday things around the house - nothing too severe. But on Halloween, we put up the eerie ghost that travels a line across our driveway, along with all the appropriate spider webs, black lights, creepy sounds, strobes, fog machine, skeletons, creepy crows, jumpy Scream guy, candles, etc. - all for the trick or treaters.

And, believe it or not, everything is down by the end of the night. That's just the way we roll.

When do you buy and carve the Jack-O-Lantern(s)?
This is hit and miss - my kids aren't really all that excited about scooping out the pumpkin brains, and neither am I. So usually I let them get a small pumpkin and we put a foam face on it or something. But when I do carve, I'll usually do it no earlier than the night before, so it doesn't start to dry and shrivel (or worse yet, mildew). You can buy it earlier, of course, so you can get a good one before the lots are full of misshapen ones.

Do they normally hold any kind of Halloween festivities at the local LDS church?
It's been a while since I've darkened an LDS church door (except for my grandma's funeral last month). But my sister usually takes her kids to "Trunk or Treat", where members set up their cars in the church parking lot and the kids trick-or-treat out of the car trunks. Yeah - that's about as exciting as it sounds.

Any recommendations on making Halloween fun for a two-year-old?
My girls always liked helping to hand out the candy. When the oldest was 2, we just took her down a few houses for trick-or-treating - she wasn't all that into walking around. We still don't spend too much time going house to house - both kids really like hanging out at home.

What do you usually do on the actual Halloween night?
We get about 175+ kids coming through on Halloween (we hand out full size candy bars and glow necklaces, so combined with the creepy house, we're a must-see), so we're usually pretty busy doing answering the door, along with a quick tour of the neighborhood begging for candy (husband and I take turns with the kids, so we can each have fun with them).

Any family traditions for the month of October that you just love?
Not really, except for our annual trek to Disneyland that often happens around then. Some of the Halloween decorations there are pretty cool.

[_MsJack]

Thanks Skippy. by the way love your avatar! Reminds me of a running gag from the GTA games.

Gonna post here what I just posted at MADB 'cuz I'm lazy like that.

Okay, ideas that I'm liking:

1) Making some food stuffs with my daughter. She does love baking with me, though her idea of "helping" me is usually just eating everything I'm working on while I work, but that's part of the fun for her.
2) Making Jack-O-Lanterns about a week before Halloween. Will probably do one for my father's house and one for our apartment.
3) Stencil kits for making Jack-O-Lanterns look awesome.
4) Will put up some decorations at my father's house, probably also a week before Halloween. My dad has no clue where Mom put the Halloween stuff so I'll have to use whatever I can find buried in the closets and garage, but I know she had a ton of stuff.
5) Will probably only put up a black wreath and Jack-O-Lantern or something at my apartment. We live in a secure apartment building and our windows face the back of the building, so not a lot of people would see our decorations anyways, and we'll be at my father's house on Halloween night.

Trunk or treat doesn't sound that great. If our local LDS ward does something more interesting I'm there. I'll probably stay home and pass out candy while my husband (who is dressing as Rorschach from Watchmen) takes the kid out trick-or-treating a bit; maybe he could take her around in a wagon? And we'll help arrange my bro's party earlier in the week.

by the way, was trying to think of Halloween kids's movies the other day. All I got is Hocus Pocus, Ernest Scared Stupid, Casper, and maybe The Nightmare Before Christmas. Corpse Bride lacks any mention of Halloween but works thematically. Can anyone think of any others?

[_skippy the dead]

by the way, was trying to think of Halloween kids's movies the other day. All I got is Hocus Pocus, Ernest Scared Stupid, Casper, and maybe The Nightmare Before Christmas. Corpse Bride lacks any mention of Halloween but works thematically. Can anyone think of any others?

We always make sure to DVR the Charlie Brown Halloween special (and then spend the next year saying "I got a rock") - the kids watch it a few times. We also put Pooh's Heffalump Halloween into the rotation - it's not super good, but for little kids it's okay. My personal favorite is Wallace and Gromit's Curse of the Were-Rabbit, but mainly because I'm obsessed with Wallace and Gromit. It's not specifically Halloween-y, but it works. The kids really like that one, too.

Good idea on the foodstuffs with the kid. I'd forgotten about that one - we always roll out some sugar cookie dough and then use Halloween cookie cutters to make bats, ghosts, spooky cats and pumpkins, to be absolutely smothered in various sprinkles. The kids loooooove that.

One thing to consider for the Jack O'Lanterns - you can buy those fake pumpkins at craft stores like Michaels, and then carve them up using the spiffy stencil patterns. I keep thinking I'll do that, but apathy always wins out.

[_The Nehor]

You won't find a lot of Church Halloween activities. Sometimes there is a costume party dance. Maybe a trunk and treat (though that is rare now). I think they got rid of the haunted houses as a policy now. I blame myself. We did too good a job. Too many terrified kids when we designed it too well. :(

[_Jersey Girl]

Jack,

I just want to quickly get one idea up here and may add later.

If you have friends who also have young children, you could hold an old fashioned Pumpkin Carve prior to H'ween. I've done this with full classes of young children and their parents. Even with a huge crowd it goes pretty well!

What you need:

Tables covered with newspaper
Some large bowls all around (some empty, some filled with cold water)

Everyone brings their own pumpkin and cutting tools.

You provide:

Apple Cider (warm or cool...put some in your crock pot with cinnamon sticks)
Cups
Bowls of Popcorn (maybe mix in some goldfish crackers and pretzels :-)
Napkins
Digital Camera (ya gotta have photos for thank you's!)

How it goes:

Everyone comes with their child, pumpkin and tools. Carve up the pumpkins on the table with newspapers. Put the mush in some of the bowls, put the pumpkin seeds in some bowls WITH WATER. The water cleans the seeds while you're working. You'll use the seeds later if you want to.

Everyone carves and then eats. TAKE PICTURES!!!

You could keep children uh....calm...if you "read and feed". I'm going to insert a book or two at the end here for you.

At the end...you can ask parents if they want their mush to bake and send it home in ziplocs. Drain the seeds in colander's. Roll up the newspapers and you're done!

All that's left is your trash cans and refreshment things.

The next day....toast the pumpkin seeds, let cool and put in paper lunch bags.

(Is everyone reading this, cause you're getting serious genius here)

Make a paper bag of roasted seeds for each family. Tie on a photo and a thank you note. (If you're a scrapbooker or card maker, I assume you can think of other options!)

If you don't like the idea of sharing toasted seeds, pack up the seeds (make sure they are dry) in ziplocs and offer them in much the same way for Spring Planting. :-D

I'll add the books now...these will be okay for young children through elementary.

Pumpkin Eye



The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
(You HAVE to have the cassette or CD to go with this and practice the actions to it before hand, you will just make them up to go along with the sounds in the book, trust me...you can do it...it's a participation book)

[_skippy the dead]

My girls love The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything - we read it year 'round.

[_Jersey Girl]

My girls love The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything - we read it year 'round.

This time of year I read it several times a day!

Two shoes go clomp clomp
One pair of pants go wiggle wiggle
One shirt go shake shake
Two gloves go clap clap
One hat go nod nod

And one scary pumpkin head....Go

BOO! BOO!

(How'd I do, eh?)

[_SUAS]

Jack..put out the damn decorations up now...if your neighbors don't get it then too bad..so sad.

Allow your brother/daughter to enjoy halloween..it is very visual..just like christmas...

One year my oldest who is now 30..dressed like a scarecrow..sat under our street lamp on our property..sat very still and boo'ed people as they went by on a public sidewalk...I can guarantee you I will never forget..and I watched out the window..memories.

I know the people that were boo'ed that year will never forget that Halloween..EVER

Remember your heart will always guide you to the right decision...Life is too short to not live it NOW.

by the way this was in Utah so this may not have been on the actual 31st ....if it fell on a Sunday...Pesky Mormons you know.

[_collegeterrace]

We follow my younger kids around our neighborhood with a glass and after the kids get their candy, the parents in our group approach the door and say "drink or treat". We get an 1/8 to 1/4 shot of whatever liquor they have on hand.

Good times, especially when I run into the few LDS in my area!