The Never Ending Halloween and Mulitple Costumes

When did the Halloween "season" start lasting as long as the one following it?

When we were little it lasted one night. You waited and waited and waited, had a party at school on Halloween day and then went trick or treating at night. One night.

But it seems like over the last couple of years, it starts the first weekend in October and lasts throughout the entire month. At least, it did for us this year.


The first Saturday in October, we went to a "Pumpkin Path where are businesses hand out candy, coupons and advertisements along a path in the park. Financial constraints drew me to declare that this year, since we have enough dress up clothes, we didn't need to buy new costumes. The boys were actually okay with it and gladly donned the ninja (Noah) and clown(Aaron) from last year. And we headed out to the pumpkin path for our loot.





The following weekend, the city where the boys to school hosted a "Trunk or Treat", where again area businesses handed out candy, coupons and advertisements. This one also had a hayride through the park and inflatables to play in.

Then came the ACTUAL week of Halloween. Every time Halloween falls on a Sunday, it seems if there's a big tizzy over which day to trick or treat. I don't ever remember it being a big deal when we were little. You go out on October 31st. Period.


But our communities couldn't seem to agree, which made the kids come out on top with two nights of merriment in which to partaker.

And partake they did.

Saturday afternoon in order to waste some time until trick or treating, we took a trip to Target and noticed that the costumes were on clearance. I told the boys they could at least wander through and if they could find some under a certain price, I would get them. They did. Unfortunately, they were determined to get the same costume, so we ended up with "skeleton brother's" for Halloween weekend.





That night, several nearby communities did trick or treating and we headed to a neighborhood to take advantage. We started in a church parking lot that also had a trunk or treat event. It was a good thing we did because we ended up needing the bags they gave out, discovering quickly that although cute, the little McDonald's buckets we'd brought didn't hold much loot. After a short time, I heard my name and turned around to discover K, Noah's little "girlfriend" from school. They were all so excited. Aaron is friends with her little sister as well so we ended up trick or treating with them, and even ended up at their house afterward for cupcakes before heading home.

Sunday was the day for trick or treating from our community. Our neighbors traditionally have a pretty good sized Halloween party and our other neighbors with a boy that Noah has grown up with that had moved away came back. So just like every Halloween for the last eight years, we still got a picture of that group heading out on the streets. Since it was a school night, we cut the merriment short, but not before we made it further than we ever had before.

Now, we have WAY too much candy and an eight year old for the first time who is wanting to guard the loot. We had a very long discussion about it last night, which I won't go into, but long story short, he knows what's there and mommy had better not touch it, to either eat OR throw away. I may just do that "Pick one day and eat to your heart's content" thing so I can get rid of the rest. We'll see.

I am grateful that the school the boys go to does not do Halloween. It would have been fine if it was, but I think I would be even more Halloweened out if it had. Instead, the kids had a non- costumed game day with their reading buddies in other grades. They had a nice fun afternoon.

So October is finally over. Thanksgiving will be here in three weeks and then Christmas will be bearing down on us.

At breakfast before church yesterday, Noah said, "Mommy, there is one reason that I don't like holidays"

"What's that Hon?"

"Because the next day they're over"

He's right. There is definitely a let down after each big holiday. But, as I told, him, it always leaves more celebrations to come. One of our local radio stations will start the Christmas music any day now and I am ready for it. After the tumultuous last few months, I could definitely use the merriment.

Bring on the Holidays!