Re-Thinking Halloween

[Ann-Marita]

Anyone want to join me in brainstorming about Halloween? I just love Halloween. BUT, I don't like giving out junk candy, don't like DD receiving loads of the stuff, don't really feel comfortable Trick-or-Treating for Unicef, but I want DD to have the fun of ToT.

What is it about ToT that is so fun? It's not the candy, at least not for my DD. She's sensitive to food dye, so she can't eat a lot of the stuff she gets. And, after an initial mini-binge on candy, she only gets the rest of it a piece or two at a time, and often chooses other deserts. So what is the appeal of TOT?

I think it's showing off your costume, running around the neighborhood at night, running into friends that you don't recognize at first, etc. Maybe even getting a bit scared. How can I provide my DD with the ToT fun without the loads of candy?!

Halloween has morphed many times over the centuries. It used to be a night of mischief, sometimes even destructive mischief. Then it changed into giving out homemade treats. And now it is store bought treats exclusively.

Let's help it to morph again! What would YOU like Halloween to be?

Part of the fun is how much "stuff" one gets. Could neighborhoods organize and give out "coins" or coupons that the kids could redeem for prizes at a local store, library or community center? That way, the kids still get to feel like "I got a BUNCH of stuff", get to choose what prize to redeem their coupons for, and hopefully the prizes would be something more wholesome than candy. (I realize it may be too late to do this for this year, but maybe next year?)

Any thoughts?

[MamaBug]

We used to have a party for our kids when they were smaller and only went to one or two houses for candy, which they didn't get. Now that they are bigger they know what it's all about and they love to go door to door. I just read in a magazine that some ppl are trying the Halloween Candy fairy, if you don't do Santa or the Tooth Fairy stop reading now :LOL Anyway, the child gets to go trick or treating and can pick out a few of their favorite candies and then they leave all the rest for the Halloween Fairy and she takes it all and leaves them a prize. You can make the prize anything you want it to be, a new DVD, toy, puzzle, books....whatever, but then they don't get the candy. My 7 yr old seems willing to do this. Then you can either dump the candy or have you or your spouse take it to work and hand out, the co-workers will love it!

I seriously doubt that you could get a whole neighborhood on the same page with the coupon thing, though I do think it is a great idea. Most kids are way to greedy as are parents to forgo the loot kwim? Maybe have a party and invite a few kids and don't even go ToT. Have each guest bring a treat ( and you can specify non-candy) to share with all the guests. That is what we did and it was a HUGE hit. We made crafts, played several games and had a parade! I am going to ask the boys what they want to do, but I am going to make it clear that they will not get to just pig out on all the candy, they can have one piece every day or so, I am betting they will want the bigger prize. Good luck and let me know what you end up doing!

[lilyka]

I don't know, we love the candy :bag:

We usually go around to grandmas house and then go down thaat block (which is where my dh grew up so it is all the old people who know him) and then we hit grandma greats house and go down two blocks to Uncle Jims house. So it isn't a lot of candy and it is a lot of showing off. I make thier costumes and of course it is a huge bost to my self esteem when everyone oos and ahs over them. And I have three little girls that coordinate. lets face it. if three little matching girls went out in matching potatoe sacks they would be cute and adorable. So yeah, it is abuot the oos and teh ahs and it is just as much for me as for them. it is fun to be out at night, fun to take them around to family and fun to get the candy. they pretty much get to pug out the first noght and then get a few more epices a day until it is gone and mom and dad get as much as they want.

I like the candy fairy idea if you realy don't want your kid to have candy but I just don't have a problem with it in moderation. doling it out is even my dhs idea. I would prefer they snarfed it down in a day or two so we could drink their pepto, brish thier teeth and be done with it. :shrug: but then we weren't going to do halloween at all for religous reasons. But really the dress up part is ust too fun. I hate it when people do alternatives and say no costumes. are they serious? It is the best part.

ya know and it is just really festive. All these people who don't even know each other all being nice and playing dress up and running around everywhere you look, and sharing candy, and decorations. Its just so cool.

[addax]

Where I lived growing up older kids dressed up and trick or treated, but then gave all the candy to kids who were in hospital and couldn't go trick or treating.

Now, a big pile of candy might not be just what you need when you're getting over, say, a broken leg, and definitely not what you need if you're a diabetic kid, but then, if they share out the donated candy, each kid is only going to get a few pieces anyway, so maybe it's not such a big deal.

Maybe see whether you could donate the bulk of the candy you get to some children's organization? This could work something like the candy fairy, but with a more specific destination for the goodies.

[Helen White]

I seriously doubt that you could get a whole neighborhood on the same page with the coupon thing, though I do think it is a great idea.

I agree with you for the most part, but I do think it still would have to depend on the town. There have to be some places that would be willing to go for it. My friends recently moved to a little town where the entire town will just celebrate Halloween on a different day if it falls on a day that is inconvenient (like a weekday, or even Sunday, I think). I believe they always celebrate it on Friday or Saturday or something like that. And this place is small, but big enough to have its own schools, etc. My friend actually took her (much) younger brother trick or treating in her town and then in our town the following night. That kid had 2 huge bags of loot!

I know in Bakersfield they have a "safe trick or treat" where kids can go trick or treat in this little village they set up at the museum, I think. But then, maybe they're giving the kids "safe" candy there? Still, maybe someone could set up something like that only with candy alternatives.

My kids really are too little for it still. (Almost 1 and just-turned 3.) We're going to have a little party with my cousin and her 18-month-old daughter. Ethan will be a bee, Kira will be a ladybug, and Sharon will be some other type of insect. :LOL I love my kids still being little enough that I can pick their costumes!

[moma justice]

the first year my dd was an infant, we lived in a super small town and we just went around and walked and looked around (fun for everyone)

last year she had just turned one and i was part of an awesome natural mom-homeschool community group (another small town, just a really hip one) and we planed a fall festival.
we had it out on this one family's land and the mommas organized before hand what was gonna happen and who would do what...
it included: party games with halloween/fall themes and sticker prizes
craft table to make treat bags
candle dipping table (for older kids)
camp fire
pot luck dinner with yummy homemade desserts
costume contest
and just fun play

all the parents and kids dressed up and it was awesome!

this year we live in a big city and do not know that many cool families yet...

and my dd is 2 so she knows more of what is going on....

i REALLY like the candy fairy idea...my dd would totally dig that and my dh said he thought it was cool
we are kinda pagan so the idea of an offering is cool (i thought we could put it near the jack o' lantern...)

keep the good ideas coming....my big problem with halloween is the candy, i don't let my daughter eat that sh*t....certainly not yet

[onlyzombiecat]

Last year was the first year dd (4 years then) went to more than one house. We took her just down the block and back so it still wasn't a ton of candy. Dh and I helped dispose of it. lol
I think what she liked was showing off her costume.
This year I'm not sure what to do. We are rural now so I don't know where we would trick-or-treat. I know a town nearby has a Halloween parade. I was thinking we could go to it and dd could wear her costume.
I've already started making it. We also love carving pumpkins and going to the pumpkin patch every year.

http://parenting.ivillage.com/tp/tpbehavior/0,,n48n,00.html
I like the Halloween hunt idea with glow sticks or even a flashlight. You could do that without candy but use some other treats. We might try that here.

Maybe start an annual Halloween block party with a costume contest.

One year when I was little my grandma was in the hospital. My parents took us there to show off our costumes to her. I think it really brightened her day and others to see us. Maybe you could take your kids to visit a nursing home or hospital in costume.

You could collect for UNICEF or collect old eyeglasses- http://www.givethegiftofsight.com/events/sightnight/

[flapjack]

We are pagan- at least I am, and my boys are heading that way- but still do Halloween. What works best for me is having a Halloween party at home or in a community hall, with lots of games, apple bobbing and craft stuff. We've never done trick-or-treating, though I did when I was growing up (tiny village.) We just collected money for animal charities instead.

[mamakay]

I dunno. From what I remember, most of the thrill was from going up to complete strangers' houses and ringing the doorbell.
Granted, that was in the 80's when rumors of poisonings and abductions abounded in school (not saying they've never happened, but there were a lot of urban legends circulating as truth at the time.)
Halloween paranoia was really at it's peak when I was 6, but it really made for a thrilling Halloween.

[moma justice]

quote:
Granted, that was in the 80's when rumors of poisonings and abductions abounded in school (not saying they've never happened, but there were a lot of urban legends circulating as truth at the time.)
Halloween paranoia was really at it's peak when I was 6, but it really made for a thrilling Halloween.

yeah...my husband i were remembering that last night, adn we are from different states....what was up with that????

it was like some kind of sugar crazed russian rullett to eat your halloween candy!

[Crunchier]

I haven't read the other posts, but I know that when I was a kid in Los Angeles, we did get mostly candy, but also got coupon books, pencils, candy and small toys, boxes of raisins, peanuts, etc. Here ppl also give out mardigras beads (everyone has hundreds laying around the house. Now that's a wierd tradition!) I like trick or treating (I did it till I was 20), and I'm really excited that Ben is old enough to do it for the first time this year.

[eminer]

Trick or treating per se was never much fun for me, even though Halloween was my favorite holiday, as a kid. Too much marching back and forth and exchanging social niceties with random strangers -- blech. I really really enjoyed the years when we decorated a "haunted house" at home and invited our neighbors in when they came to trick or treat. Also, going to the Pumpkin Festival or haunted hayride and having apple cider and donuts (I guess a healthier alternative could be substituted there -- like organic spelt pumpkin bread sweetened with raw honey or something :LOL). I guess I would like Halloween to involve elaborate homemade costume making and decorating, creating dramatic experiences and scary stories for each other, getting outside in the crisp, end-of-October smelling weather with hay and leaves, lots of apples and pumpkins (especially carved, illuminated ones!) and homemade goodies and games. And backyard bonfires! Dancing! Coming inside very late and then watching an old scary movie. Stuff like that.

This year I think we are going to take the kids to the Village Halloween Parade. (But I have to get my rural Halloween stuff in, earlier in October, too. :))