Every year I see a slew of articles outlining the depravity of Halloween– frightening costumes, the sugar consumption, ties to the occult, money wasted on costumes… and I always want to type out a one-sentence refutation, “If you think Halloween is evil, you’re celebrating it wrong.”
Halloween presents an opportunity to be silly, to share, to reach out to friends we haven’t seen in a while, to offer up a little love to anyone who knocks on our door. At our house, we merely pass out candy, but within a block you can pick up scones, hot chocolate, homemade doughnuts, Belgian waffles, Cold Stone ice cream, hot dogs, fritters, hot cider… It’s perfectly acceptable to trick-or-treat until you’re out of high school and anyone who drives in from another neighborhood is warmly welcomed and amply fed (maybe the concern about sugar consumption is real).
The days before Halloween, the neighborhood becomes a costume exchange with moms calling and texting each other, “Do you have a clown wig?” “Yellow ribbon?” “A black hat?”
This year, with Halloween on a Monday, the holiday became a six-day event (so I’ll need to do another blogpost on the first 5 days).
With Mary’s Cinderella dress as inspiration, we decided/disagreed on a prince and princess theme this year.
Ben and Sam delighted us all with a reprise of their costumes from 1994– Prince Hyacinth and Thumbelina. Gabe transformed military gear (with a huge thanks to Dave and Laurie who not only loaned us the gear, but delivered it to our doorstep) into Le Petit Prince, Xander was a prince turned Jean Valjean and Erik and I are random royals. Stefan and Heather were Anna and Kristoff from Frozen, and I’ll post photos of them soon from Heather’s birthday party.
“running away from commitment”
the Schofield’s amazing front porch
Xander and friends made a door out of plywood and paper and did reverse trick-or-treating. They took a bowl of candy with them, rang the doorbell and waited until surprised people read the “please knock” note. Taking turns playing the dad-who-just-came-home-from-work or the oh-you-look-s0-cute-mom, they reminded each person “Say trick-or-treat!” and handed out candy (occasionally taking some just so they’d have something to give out at the next house) The old ladies especially laughed and laughed and laughed.
A very merry Halloween!
Heidi
I absolutely love this post! Your family always does such creative costumes–especially the Thumbellina/Hyacinth remix this year!
It makes me tear up seeing all those faces from home that we miss so much! It’s been 4 years since we’ve been able to even come home for a visit, so we get so excited to catch glimpses of so many people we love!
Amara Bray
I love this. I have heard some mean stuff about Halloween too. I’m not naive, and I know my history, but this is a wonderful time in our neighborhood too. We always do a “street of treats” with all the neighbors gathering in one cul de sac with lawn chairs so we can all visit with each other while our kids make the rounds for candy. My policy is always that if you dress up you deserve candy no matter your age (and I always always dress up)!