We do not celebrate the secular Halloween holiday. We do not go trick or treating. My boys have asked about an alternative this year, and my husband suggested that we do a Happy Hallelujah Day, because they did something similar at a church he attended as a young adult, kind of like a fall festival. Has anyone else done anything like this?
well, we don't really celebrate it per se, but we do take our kids trick or treating, but we don't really say "halloween" or talk about what is represents. We also do not allow any kind of spooky costumes and we don't decorate, other than visiting the pumpkin patches and getting a pumpkin. We just tell them it's a fun day each year that people get dressed up in costumes and get candy door to door. We feel like for us it's a happy medium. We also do not do Santa, Easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc.
We don't celebrate Halloween. We have visited pumpkin patches, but not in relationship to Halloween. We actually eat the pumpkins.
Our family doesn't celebrate halloween. In my eyes there is much evil associated with this day and the Bible tells me I am told to avoid all appearance of evil. I have read about a family who dresses up in costumes in the spring ( because, hey, dress up is fun! ) and the visit the local children's hospital after dining out. I guess one year they went to McDonald's, Dad was dressed up as Superman, and they overheard a little one telling his mom that he knew Superman ate at McDonald's.
Same here. Just a day to be silly and dress up in non-scary costumes and get candy and color a baby pumpkin (mine are too young for carving). This year I think Patryk is going to be the Dread Pirate Roberts (from the Princess Bride...Patryk is his middle name...Wesly is his first name. lol), and Bo will probably dress up like a prison guard like his daddy's work. Simpl things like that. We've had Monkies, and pumpkins in the past years.
I know there will be MANY here that will (and have in the past) post about non halloween stuff. -----EVERY YEAR THERE IS A POST ABOUT IT AND IN A FEW MONTHS THERE WILL BE ONE ABOUT SANTA AND CHRISTMAS. I like how 2boysmama put it. We all love to do pumpkins......... I couldn't have them and not get the seeds out!!......... I LOVE PUMPKIN SEEDS. by the way if anyone finds a pumkin stincel of Hello Kitty please let me know. Most of the costumes my kids have worn are silly (M&M, Clown, Super man etc...) there are a lot of churches that do trunk or treat around here. I like that idea. It makes me feel safer about what they hand out.
This place is probably divided about 50-50 as far as celebrating Halloween goes. Our family doesn't. HOWEVER.... If you get lots of candy from WHATEVER source, here's a great activity! Have your kids sort, count, and graph their candy. It's a whole day event, and one my kids really enjoy doing. We divide and sub-divide all kinds of stuff. Candy bars are divided into kinds: Hershey's (divided further into plain, almond, dark chocolate, etc.; smetimes these are divided further down by size!), Kit-kats, Twix, Crunch, Butterfinger, etc. Suckers are divided by kind (Dum-Dums, Tootsie Pop, etc.) and sometimes by flavor. We sort, count, add, graph.... Something for everyone, no matter their level!
It is just another day to us. We have attended church fall festivals before and have enjoyed them. Usually they were an outreach activity for the community.
There's a local church that has a Trunk 'N Treat. We've already told them that we are hoping to bring a bunch of our inner city kids on a "field trip" that Friday night to it. The gal we spoke to only asked if we would please let them know a general number, because if it's going to be a lot, they will want to plan for that.
We have always done our celebration as a Fall Festival kind of thing. We may let the kids do costumes....but nothing "dark" or "scary". They may even trick or treat at a few houses......... but mostly we have our own party in the yard (or house since it is so cold here compared to GA)....... we usually grill out, have a campfire, a pinata, games, etc. The kids know that we don't approve of the darker meanings of Halloween and are just happy to get a party and treats......... it works for us. Gives us a good opportunity to talk about how bad ideas (to us) can come disguised as fun.
We don't partake in anything satanic. Halloween is a real "holiday" for many, many people. It is of the same magnatude that the Christian population of the world celebrates Easter. I would go as far as to confidently say that participation in halloween should not be left to conviction, but should be understood as part of the command to stay away from witchcraft and sorceries.
We don't celebrate Halloween in any fashion.....even the church trunk or treat or the Awana costume night that coincides with Halloween. I also do not substitute anything for Halloween. I don't feel my kids are missing out and it should be understood by them that they are not as well.
This is just my opinion, but if you have a celebration of any kind on October 31, you are participating in Halloween. If you believe that Halloween is an evil holiday, then you should not recognize the day at all. It just seems a little hypocritical to say that dressing as a princess and going door to door getting candy is evil but dressing as a princess and playing games in the church gym for candy is okay just because you called it a Fall Festival.
We go to our church's fall festival, and the girls do wear costumes - usually animals. This year the 9 year old will be a flying squirrel again, and the 7yo wants to be a purple cat. (Why purple? I dunno... :lol I need to start looking for a purple sweatsuit to make it out of.
Exactly my thoughts. We don't even pass out candy with tracks...although I cannot say that is wrong but we don't do it. I can see both sides to that but my dh already said that was a no go so that's that. I used to get mad that my church would preach against Halloween and then have trunk and treats and Awana costume parties (the wednesday before Halloween or on Halloween). Our Fall Fest is much earlier than Halloween and no one dresses up...it truly is a Fall Fest. Oh..but I don't get mad as much anymore since no one really preaches against it anymore..lol..and I see right through it. I think I am the ONLY one who does not celebrate Halloween at my church.
We do not do Halloween here either! Our boys do not trick or treat, do not dress up, do not go to halloween 'parties', or any other such celebration. Instead, to keep our children from feeling 'left out' we lay a blanket out on the living room floor and lay out all sorts and kinds of junk food in amounts we would never let them have normally and put on a good family movie. Our boys love it and look forward to it each year! Other children talk about going trick or treating and our boys look forward to a junk food party!
On Begger's Night we usually take the kids to the Dollar Movie and then out to Donato's after (or before, depending on the time of the movie!).
My youngest's birthday is October 29th so we have always kind of wrapped our Fall Festival around that.... :lol: (kind of kills two birds with one stone).
