There were a few notable times during childhood when my brothers and I dressed up and went trick-or-treating. The standout for me is the memory of the time in Dodge City, probably third grade, when I went as Galadriel, wearing one of my mother’s elegant long silvery “lounging” gowns that were so popular in the 70s. I felt positively dazzling!
My children are all too old for the “trick or treat” part of Halloween festivities now, but they still like to dress up and attend well supervised gatherings with other young people that involve fun music, clean, inventive costumes, and plenty of candy-fueled dancing. Jacob attended one such event at church about a week ago, dressed in steam-punk attire – where the cover charge was a minimum of 5 items of canned goods for the St. Vincent de Paul pantry.
For the last several years we have been at the ranch on the actual day of the celebration, so we have not been able to participate in the neighborhood frivolity. There was one year that we were inexplicably at home, and we pulled out all the stops – I dressed up in a Big Purple Velvet Pointy Hat and set up a table out in the driveway. I happily handed out candy that I thought would last all evening for about 4o minutes, at which point it was completely gone. It was not as pleasant as I thought it would be, primarily because, at least in our part of town, people have ceased to make it about going around to your neighbors houses, and instead they drive their big SUVs up and down as many streets as they can, dropping their kids off in front of the houses to run up, grab candy, jump back in the vehicle and keep going. And it’s not just a few – there were so many of them doing this, going both directions, with kids chaotically running back and forth in front of the lurching vehicles, that I witnessed several near fatalities right in front of our house. My assessment of it all? The grab-all-the-free-stuff-you-can people really ruin it for those who are trying to enjoy it the old fashioned way of walking the neighborhood with their friends and/or parents.
Whether you are blessed to live in a community that still does things the old fashioned way, or you live in a crazy urban area like mine, if you are looking for some ideas for fun this Halloween, you might enjoy Dr. Taylor Marshall’s Top 10 Christian Halloween Ideas. (Bear in mind, of course, these come with a Catholic slant, but then – it All Hallows Eve IS a Catholic celebration! 😉 ) I know we’ll at least be doing #4, since we’ll be up at the ranch on Halloween night! 🙂
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Photo Credit: National Geographic
