Halloween: Back to the Basics

 When I say "back to the basics" I do not mean celebrating the origins of Halloween. We let our kids dress up and trick or treat because for much of their lives they have been dressing up and doing pretend play on many days. We participate in dressing up and trick or treating as we are not celebrating any returns of the ghost from the dead but more so because it is a community event. Our neighbors are out, we are interacting, the kids are having fun getting treats and playing with friends. It is a great time for us to connect with people who live around us before we all hibernate for the winter. 

I have strongly encouraged (facilitated....mandated....) that the kids coordinate their costumes as a theme. It started because I was controlling the costumes when they were little and now that they are older I let them work together to come up with a theme. This year the charge was led by Sadie who wanted to do traditional Halloween costumes. So we have a bat, skeleton and spider! 

Sadie probably enjoys dressing up more than the rest and gets into character! Leighton actually said it was going to be her last year which is weird to hear. I understand as she is in 6th grade and there are not a lot of teenagers trick o treating in our neighborhood. 

We walked around with our neighbors grandkids, Harper and Lincoln. The boys ran from house to house where as the girls took their time walking, talking to one another, and talking to the people handing out candy. I usually heard them complimenting something about the neighbors' decorations or costumes. 

And of course the post candy dump and swap. I took 2/3 at least to work with me the next day! They get WAY too much candy!