I grew up in a very conservative home where Halloween was a bit of a bad word. Each year for my big brother and I though, October 31st meant one very important thing, free candy.
I was that kid who always had the home made costume when all of your friends' parents seemed to have unlimited funds when it came to outfitting their kids for the big night.
I can remember one year my brother finally outgrew his home made skeleton costume and passed it down to me. You know, like Jonny and the "Cobra Kies" in "The Karate Kid"? I didn't care that the crotch of those tights had almost completely been blown out but years of my brothers use and Halloween candy gas.
I finally had a cool costume and I wore it with pride.
I actually have lots of good memories of those days. The friends I grew up with in my neighbourhood, houses that gave out full chocolate bars and cans of pop. Even though home life was a mess at that point, I really enjoyed most of my childhood years.
So we started having kids I had to ask myself, are we going to celebrate Halloween and go crazy so that our kids have the newest and greatest costumes? Well, yes, and no.
I have grown to believe that Halloween is a great night to meet your neighbours and get to know the people around you better because almost everyone is outside for a change.
I also love to watch the excitement in my kids eyes as they get dressed up for one day of the year and pretend they are someone or something that they are not. Ok, so my kids dress up like princesses all the time but you get what I mean.
So we make our kids' costumes or get hand-me-downs. We set a budget for how much candy we are going to hand out and collect, we all get dressed up and we all head out together.
I think these are great moments to create memories and have fun together as a family. Life is way too stressfully to always be busy and worrying.
So in an hour, I'm going to get my kids from school, help them finish getting their costumes ready and slip into a Super Hero costume of my own.
I hope you have a wonderful night and spend it with those that you love.
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