Halloween is not necessarily my favorite holiday. Actually, that’s an understatement.
I understand why children love it so much. The excitement of dressing up as someone else for the night, along with collecting buckets of candy, is very appealing to kids. I try to remember this as a teacher. I decorate and go all-out at school, dressing up myself. As a mom, however, Halloween is definitely not appealing to me.
To begin with, there are so many people walking around, it makes it almost hard to breathe. They are literally everywhere. I’m always surprised that there are even people in the houses giving out candy when it seems like the entire population is crammed onto the sidewalks.
When you have younger children, there’s always that fear that you are going to lose your little goblins among the other ghosts and witches running around. It’s basically a stressful night.
Teenagers & Trick-or-Treating
Teenagers and Trick-or-Treating is a sketchy area for me. My boys are now 15 years old. They are at that point where they would still like to participate, however they are basically the size of grown men.
For the boys, Halloween is starting to represent parties and spook houses. They have a chance to still dress up, but they can hang out with friends, eat junk food, and socialize.
A New Tradition
Last year’s Halloween night took me by surprise a little bit. The boys asked if they could go to a friend’s house for a party, and then trick-or-treat downtown. We knew the family and the neighborhood so Brian and I agreed. They each had a phone, with Life360 activated, so we were good.
Brian and I took our daughter, Khloe, to her grandpa’s house, but then I received a text from Keegan. “Hey Mom, we are going to start trick-or-treating. I can take Khloe around.”
Khloe heard me read the text to her dad and started asking if she could go with her brother. After a quick debate, Brian and I agreed to try it. We dropped her off with her brothers, with multiple warnings to make sure they kept her right with them.
As all three walked away, I turned to Brian and said, “What now?”
“Applebee’s has appetizers and Dollaritas,” he said with a grin.
“We can’t do that. It’s just wrong.”
“Come on, let’s go. No one is going to take them,” he replied.
This is how Brian and I ended up sitting in a corner booth at the neighborhood Applebee’s, munching on motz sticks and watching whatever sporting event was on their TVs.
Before you start to think we are completely awful parents, we did have Life360 up and I was watching them walk from one place to the next. There were also multiple check-ins via texts.
It felt scandalous. It felt shady. It felt liberating.
Fast forward to this year. Brian and I were watching football when Keegan comes into the living room.
“Mom, we can still take Khloe around trick-or-treating this year, right? Leah (his girlfriend) wants to come too.”
“I think that will work. We just have to check with Khloe.”
I looked over at Brian, who smiled and said, “Dollaritas are back.”
I shrugged and smiled in return.
Just like that, a tradition was born.
Goals for Today:
- Clean the Hallway
- Take a Nap in the Cabin
- Play Basketball with the Kids