When You Don’t Celebrate Halloween…

DH and I have given it a lot of thought in the past year. We’ve decided not to celebrate Halloween; not by trick or treating and not by dressing up to attend a church celebration. I am not saying anything about either of these activities except that we have chosen not to participate in either.

Family Thankfulness Month

This past year, with a lot of thought and prayer, we have decided that October is our family’s Thankfulness Month. During October we will be using activities and discussions to learn about how we should be thankful, why we should be thankful, all of things we should be thankful for and how we need to be content with what we have.  Now John is completely oblivious at 1 this year but Chloe is 2 1/2 and really can understand quite a lot. For one of our activities, we purchased and wrapped small presents for Christine and Caleb, children in an orphanage, and talked about how some people do not have mommies and daddies. Since then, most nights she has prayed for them, and has also thanked God for her mommy and daddy.

The Grand Finale: October 31st

Anyway, the grand finale to our Thankfulness Month is October 31, the last day of the month, when we will spend the night away as family. It is not a Halloween substitute for us but, rather, simply the finale to something our family has been working on all month long.  It doesn't matter where we go, except that it has to have a pool. There are actually quite a few very reasonably priced hotels around and we won’t even spend $100. We’re going bring games to play, snacks to eat, we’ll swim and order a pizza. Since another focus in our thankfulness month is reduced spending and being content with what we have, there is a little bit extra to cover this night away. You see how well it all works out?

So What About the Neighbors?

I’m glad you asked! We made rice crispies, dyed a small amount green and the bulk of it orange. Oil your hands (a key point!) and make little orange balls, then squash and add green stems! Let harden. We wrapped them in baggies with ribbons. Then we made a card. On the front we made an ice cream cone and wrote things that “made life sweet” (things we were thankful for). Chloe actually came up with most of them on her own; swinging, dinosaurs, breakfast, mommy & daddy, worms, hayrides, Jesus, friends, ice cream and more! On the back of the card I put the following:

“October is here! With it comes Thanksgiving, and for some, Halloween. While our family chooses not to participate in Halloween, we are thankful for celebrate a beautiful fall and a bountiful harvest. If you are interested in the reasoning behind our decision, we would be most happy to share :) Enjoy these little harvest treats from our family to yours!”

 

Dress Up Days

Our family plays ‘dress up’ year round. It is a normal sight in our home (or out walking, at the store etc.) for Chloe to be wearing a tutu, a tiara, butterfly wings or anything else so that isn’t something they are ‘missing out’ on either. In fact, she was wearing her tutu today :)

So Thankfulness Month is what works for me. I am undecided about closing the comments on this post or not. I wanted to share what our family is doing, but please do not leave malicious comments. If your family does Halloween, great for you! Ours doesn’t; great for us too (though you know how I feel about over-the top decorations!)

Happy Harvest!