Halloween 2014

I remember the days when Halloween was one night. It was so exciting to get dressed up in costume, stay out after bedtime and trick or treat for candy. We wore plastic masks from K-Mart, we tore a pillow case off our bed and spent the night stuffing it with candy. Nowadays there are so many activities leading up to the actual holiday. This year we went to a Halloween fair, a Halloween party, a town trick or treat event and a school parade all before the actual holiday rolled around. It's hard to believe my kids hadn't completely lost interest by the time we finally went trick or treating on Halloween night!!

I am torn between wanting my kids to participate in all of these fun activities and resisting the urge to over indulge. Now there are endless events, parades, fairs, parties, and play dates in the weeks before. There are monogrammed fabric treat bags and handmade costumes that take weeks to prepare. With Facebook posts and Pinterest pages, it's hard not to get caught up in the excessiveness of holidays and birthdays and other important events. I am definitely guilty of spending way too much time googling "original costume ideas" and "healthy Halloween snacks".  So I made a conscious effort and  tried to find a balance this year. We went to the costume party at our neighbor's house and the fair at our local elementary school but I decided to skip the playdate I planned and on Halloween night we skipped the trick or treating downtown on Main St. and instead just did our neighborhood. At first I felt guilty skipping things but we did so much and my kids had a great Halloween.

Nathan chose a Wolverine costume which I think is so funny because he has no idea who Wolverine is, he just liked the costume. Ryan had the choice between two hand me down costumes. He chose Superman for our neighbor's costume party and a Cheeseburger for Halloween day. We had so much fun trick or treating and had a perfect Fall night to walk around our neighborhood. We met up with two of our neighbors and between the three families, we had 5 adults, 6 kids, 2 cups of tea and a mug of coffee. It was cold out!!

I knew Nathan would have fun but I wasn't sure how long Ryan would last, Surprisingly, he lasted the whole night, It took him maybe two houses to catch on. Approach door, look cute, get candy, move onto next house. The kids had so much fun and I love reliving the fun and excitement of Halloween through them. It was a great night and I can't wait to do it again next year. In the end, we had a blast and although at times I felt a little overwhelmed with how many events we actually attended and how many times we got the kids dressed up in their costumes,  I would definitely consider this year's holiday a success.

Happy Halloween!