When I was a kid, my mother was a costume-designing hero. Every Halloween, she would concoct the most fabulous costumes for us to wear. Whatever our hearts desired, whoever my brother and I wanted to pretend to be, she could somehow make it happen with a little fabric and a little face paint.
Those were some of my favorite times as a kid, watching my mom transform us into some wacky character for one night out of the year. So, it’s no big surprise that in our family, we are huge fans of costumes. Costumes of any kind, anytime, anywhere. Naturally, when football season starts and the heat drops from 105 to 85 in Texas, we start thinking about Halloween. For the most part, my three plan their elaborate costumes for quite some time before the day actually arrives.
Some years I make the kids’ costumes from scratch. Some years I go the “semi-homemade” route and piece together their outfit of choice. But, no matter how the costumes turn out or how many or few hours I devote to their creation, I feel certain that Halloween will be one of my kids’ fondest memories of collaborating with their mother for a little make believe fun.
I know that some people find it shocking that a pastor’s family gets all pumped about trick or treating. But, I’m not really sure why. What is more wholesome and fun than pretending to be your favorite character and walking around with your best friends, visiting members of your church and other neighbors, and collecting an outrageous amount of candy?
The fact is that I am these kids’ mama, and I can control what kind of Halloween they have. They won’t be out stirring up mischief. They won’t be toilet papering houses or smashing pumpkins or playing with a Ouija board. They’ll be wearing their costumes to school (because that’s a fun tradition here). They’ll be going to our church’s fall festival. They’ll be in our town’s costume parade. And, they will experience some of the best trick or treating in the state of Texas.
I respect those who don’t choose to participate. I even understand it. But, as for our little crew, well, it’s simply a highlight of childhood, and we love it. Halloween is one opportunity for me to help teach my kids how to have fun, because it’s okay to dress up silly and wear a crazy wig and live out a fantasy here and there. It’s one day that happens to be in October when my kids and I work together to do something wacky. And, just like I have memories of my mother’s incredible costume-creating abilities, I hope that when they’re older they’ll be able to look back on their Halloweens with a smile and a “Man! That was fun.”
Yeah! I applaud you for not caving into pressure that dressing up is evil. My kids are grown now but there was intense pressure to not go Trick or Treating but Trunk or Treating is okay. I never understood that idea how is one wrong and the other is not. We participated in trick or treating and had a blast dressing up and pretending. Make believe and dressing up is not evil and won’t make us evil. I am happy to hear that there are still some die heart fans that still let the kids enjoy the good old days of dressing up . Yeah for you. clap clap
That’s what I thought too. I had amazing memories of trick or treating with my family when I was a kid. I thought I could control my kids Halloween experiences and loved taking them around to meet the neighbours.
Until my preschool aged daughter had adults dressed in gruesome costumes jump out from behind bushes in their yard at her. They wouldn’t even break character when my young daughter was terrified and crying and show her they were people under the masks.
The same thing happened to my young son a few years later. Even though we avoided the yards that were extremely decorated.
I find too many adults are into scaring the crap out of very young children so I had to re-think Halloween.