Halloween - Creating New Traditions

by Emily Betzler October 28, 2013 1 Comment

Halloween is just around the corner and we are excited! Re-thinking Halloween has turned out to be an awesome experience. We are finding that there are so many great things about the season and so many ways to celebrate that aren't scary, haunted, mean-spirited or involve sugar highs! Read on for some of our latest ideas:

We were BOO-ed!!!

This is definitely one of our new and favorite traditions! On Sunday night we were settling in for books and bed when someone rang our door bell. We opened the door to find a mysterious car speeding off and an orange pumpkin full of prizes sitting on our doorstep. H was ecstatic that a mystery friend would leave such an awesome pot of loot on our doorstep just for him. He couldn't stop thinking about who it could be and he couldn't wait to go Booing for himself.

My favorite part about the experience was that it made H so excited about giving.

The first thing he wanted to do when he woke up in the morning, was go to the store to pick out things to give to his friends when we went Boo-ing. I, also loved this part because I was in the driver seat and could steer him aware from the typical Halloween treats and toward options that I liked better such as fruit snacks, apple cider, crackers, and other non-edible surprises! Driving around to friend's houses to go Boo-ing also provided for some good old fashion family bonding time. If you haven't gone Boo-ing yet, do it soon. You can print off the above printable or click here for the official site and full story. It really is fun!

Forget Trick or Treating, TREATING is where it is at:

This year we are going to forgo Trick or Treating and just go "treating". We haven't actually done this yet, so I will let you know how it goes but here is the plan: On Halloween morning we are getting together with a few friends to make some Halloween/fall crafts to give to people. I am going ask our Pastor to help us identity a few people in the community who might need a little Halloween lovin'.

People who wouldn't normally be engaged in the Halloween festivities; people who live alone, people who don't have kids or family in town, older people who don't live in a group settings, and anyone who might not have many social interactions that day.

Then, instead of going Trick or Treating, we are going to go TREATING - bringing them our hand-made crafts (and hopefully a smile or two) . I think this will become more and more fun as our kids get older and can contribute their own ideas and crafting skills to the experience, but for now most of our kids are young (5 and under) with short attention spans so here are the two crafts we were thinking about doing:

I love this one because it is very fall-ish and can stay on display after Halloween. Click here for the tutorial.

I admit that this one is not super crafty or unique and probably not something that someone will treasure for long...but it is realistic!! A bunch of 3 year old boys might each be able to make one and enjoy doing it! And honestly who wouldn't love seeing this face holding a balloon on their doorstep?

In a few years, we will be able to tackle more elaborate projects like these: