Things I Love/Don’t Love About Halloween
Children Trick-or-treating — Image by © Royalty-Free/Corbis
Halloween has become a somewhat controversial holiday. As a matter of fact, some readers are probably bristling right now because I just called it a holiday. I have mixed emotions about it. I know Halloween’s background is dark. But I also know that as a kid, its history didn’t matter to me and that certainly wasn’t what it meant to me. So here are 5 reasons to love or not love (sorry, but hate seems a little strong) Halloween.
Here are my top 5 reasons to love Halloween.
- Candy– Who doesn’t like this? Whether you should or shouldn’t eat it is beside the point.
- Families doing things together– Parents enjoy seeing their kids looking so darned cute and showing them off to the neighborhood. And families spending time together doing something fun is always a plus in my book.
- Outreach opportunity– Halloween provides a chance for churches to draw people in for fall festivals and hope. It’s also a natural, informal chance for individuals to distribute some Good News with their candy.
- Neighbors interacting– I don’t know about you, but I know only a fraction of my neighbors. But on Halloween I see neighbors outside chatting, oohing and ahhing over each other’s children, and getting to know one another. It’s an opportunity to build relationships and community.
- Imaginations at work– Coming up with costumes allows children to get creative. It pulls them out of video games, gets them outdoors, and stimulates their imaginations as they become whoever they’re dressed as. Our kids’ best costumes happened when we had the least money and the kids had to “make something up” out of what we had. Great life training, if you ask me. What’s not to love about that?
So those are the things I love about Halloween. Here’s what I don’t love about it.
1. Pagan history – The history of Halloween is rather dark, but also somewhat uncertain. Some say it came from Celtic harvest festivals where they gathered food and supplies for the winter. Then the Celts mimicked evil spirits by dressing in costume to scare the dead from coming back and causing havoc, such as sickness or crop failure. But as one astute reader commented yesterday, one can also view it more positively as All Souls Day, followed on November 1 by All Saints Day, when you remember lost loved ones. Sort of a Memorial Day, if you will. You can read about Halloween history here.
2. Teenagers trick-or-treating – I think it’s cute when costumed little ones come trick-or-treating. But when the kids are as big as I am, not so much. I still give them candy, but personally, I’d like to see parents tell kids they’re too old to go trick-or-treating when they start high school. That’s just me. They can still have costume parties, or hand out candy at the door, or any other safe Halloween activity. But kids that old really aren’t all that cute anymore. Instead, they often tend to be greedy, showing up with pillowcases already loaded with candy, no parental guidance, and an attitude of entitlement. Which takes me to the next thing I don’t like about Halloween.
3. Greedy kids/parents – Children who come to the door all cute and dressed up melt my heart—until they grab the candy and run without so much as a thank you. And the parents waiting don’t always make them come back and say thank you, either. They’re missing out on a wonderful teaching moment.
4. Scary decorations – Why do people have to have bloody, scary, moving decorations in their yards these days? Developmentally, children under the age of five have a hard time knowing what’s real and what’s not. Let’s not traumatize kids. Let’s keep Halloween about jack-o-lanterns, orange and black, candy, costumes, fall, etc. (Stepping off soapbox now…).
5. Inappropriate costumes – I honestly cannot for the life of me figure out how some parents justify the horrific or sexy costumes they put on their little darlings. (I know, I sound like an old judgmental bat!) Believe me, when they’re sixteen and asking to wear the same thing, it’s going to be hard to explain logically why it was okay when they were five, but not now. Let kids be kids. Don’t make them into some gruesome or sex-charged character. They’re only little for such a short time. Use the time wisely and dress them up as cute as you can, while you can!
What do you love/not love about Halloween? How do you deal with that? Do you celebrate Halloween and, if so, how?
Linda, I agree 100% with everything you’ve said. It definitely has pros and cons. When I was a kid, our church sent us out Trick or Treating for Unicef.
Thanks for your comment, Jean. Trick or Treating for charity is a great idea!
Love this post, Linda. I agree with you completely and you expressed it so well. Thanks!
Thank you, Crystal!
Linda, this is wonderful!!! I love the balance and appreciate the common sense tips as well.
Thanks, Janice!