Do you celebrate Halloween?

[Crankyshank]

Halloween is my anniversary weekend too.
It's my 2nd favorite holiday

 

[Tasha+Scott]

I was not allowed to celebrate Halloween growing up. I remember always feeling so left out while my friends went trick-or-treating, went to parties, etc. My mom believes Halloween is an evil day (Satan's b-day) and I respect her opinion but I have always known that I would allow my children to celebrate Halloween. I don't find the holiday evil unless you make it evil but that's just me. As a matter-of-fact Dh and I went on our very 1st date on Halloween.

I plan to let my dd trick-or-treat around the neighborhood and things like that. I told my mom that and she basically questioned my Christianity. I told her that I could still be a Christian even if my dd dresses up in a costume! She pretty much told me that I was either celebrating the Devil's b-day or I wasn't...there could be no inbetween! Uh, I guess I thought I was just dressing my dd up and letting her get candy. Oh, well. She's my child and I am the evil mommy that will take her trick-or-treating.

But hey, I wasn't allowed to watch Smurfs either growing up b/c of the witchcraft!

 

[caitycaity]

i celebrate halloween and i'm 26 and childless!

 

[DisneyDmbNut]

Not to go OT - but Tasha..you should ask your mother exactly WHERE in the bible it says that Halloween is the devils b-day.
My parents were big time church goers and we went tricker treating and even had haunted houses at our youth group.

ok..back OT:

 

[HollyJoy]

Yes, we 'celebrate' Halloween. I did as a child, as well. However, we don't dive into the true meaning of Halloween, rather I look at is as a day to dress up in costumes and have fun. As a child, it was a day to go door to door, begging for candy! Nothing more.

 

[binny]

we go to our churchs "Trunk or Treat" ( dressed as whatever we want LOL) because it is safer and we know no one is going to be jumping out behind a tombstone ( thanks neighbours ) and scaring the beejeebers out of my (then) preschool dd.


we prefer to stay where its safer ( we even did the mall before the church started doing this) as our kids are younger.


I certainly dont see a problem with enjoying the holiday if thats what you like we just prefer to do it this way.
I was never one to like to be scared anyway, just not my thing.


BTW our church Trunk or Treat gets more the 2500 visitors ever year!

 

[Buckalew11]

We don't. We have been to "fall festivals" at church before. We celebrated Halloween when I was growing up. I never liked the "Mischief Night" part of it. Trick or treating was fun but where we live now, there isn't a neighborhood to even walk around in. When I was older we lived in a subdivision where people would come with truckloads and allow their kids to walk around gathering candy. My parents were fine with that (kids are kids--they didn't know a lot of them anyway) but a lot of the neighbors complained about giving candy to kids from "who knows where". Big turn-off for me.

My sister allows her kids to trick or treat but they get very little of the candy that they collect. She takes it away from them when they walk in the door. Why bother?

T or T was fun when you could eat the candy right out of your bag but these days that isn't safe. It has just changed for me & I'm not into it. But it doesn't bother me that people do it. I feel badly for tasha and her mom. Tasha for feeling badly for celebrating and for her mom who *thinks* it is the devils b-day. (??)

 

[skiwee1]

Still going strong around here. Even our school has the costume parade and a Halloween party.

 

[MUFFYCAT]

When I started taking my kids trick or treating I had as much fun as they did!
However, I won't be going anymore because my younger DD will be going out with her friends.(They go in the daytime)

 

[Beanie]

Oh my, yes! Halloween is the biggest "holiday" around here! LOL My husband goes all out and plays music, has some sort of "scary" way to get the candy and we usually have LOTS of decorations up! I think DH enjoys it more then the kids do!! LOL

 

[snoopy]

We celebrate as do all the people I know.

Half of the odd things I hear about -- like people not celebrating Halloween -- I only know about from the DIS.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

I live in the Bible belt too. When my DD was little (2) I was told by our Pastor's wife that "we don't celebrate Halloween". I was told they would have Fall Festivals for the kids. I told her my DD was not going to miss out on carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. When I was told jack-o-lanterns were a sign of devil worship I decided to show the whole town how I felt about it! I carved one pumpkin with an I Love Jesus in it and one with a whimsical cat and the other a happy jack-o-lantern face! Boy did I get comments on that! You know what? The next year some of the parents decided to let their kids go trick-or-treating! We are a Christian family, but Christians can take things too far too! I bought my daughter a book called "Halloween, is it for real?". Halloween for us is a fun family time. As with anything, it is what we choose to make of it.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I've never celebrated Halloween. Never really wanted to either. But I don't have a problem with those who do. To each his own.

 

[live4christp1]

I live in the Bible belt too. When my DD was little (2) I was told by our Pastor's wife that "we don't celebrate Halloween". I was told they would have Fall Festivals for the kids. I told her my DD was not going to miss out on carving pumpkins and trick-or-treating. When I was told jack-o-lanterns were a sign of devil worship I decided to show the whole town how I felt about it! I carved one pumpkin with an I Love Jesus in it and one with a whimsical cat and the other a happy jack-o-lantern face! Boy did I get comments on that! You know what? The next year some of the parents decided to let their kids go trick-or-treating! We are a Christian family, but Christians can take things too far too! I bought my daughter a book called "Halloween, is it for real?". Halloween for us is a fun family time. As with anything, it is what we choose to make of it.

We have that book also!

We do Halloween. Depends on what day of the year it falls on as to what our plans are. Every year we do Boo in the Zoo, and Phantom of the Aqua at the aquarium. The city hosts and Enchanted Maze for children (similar to the haunted corn mazes but with fairy tale characters.) Last year we went to a church that did Trunk or Trick and the kids got a ton of candy, our church always does a fall festival on the Wednesday before.....the kids can dress up they just can't be devils or witches. A co-workers church had a great festival on Halloween last year for the kids, lots of games etc. Our kids always dress up and we trick or treat down our street.

We decorate our porch with carved pumpkins (love the pumpkin masters kits) hay, scarecrows and we make a graveyard by our front steps.

We used to host a Halloween party for my clogging teams in our clogging barn and it was always decorated to the hilt.

Halloween to us is just a fun day to get dressed up and be silly and get lots of candy. Nothing demonic about it.

DS's school has a fall party and they can dress up, each grade has a different theme though, last year they were fairy tale characters so he was Prince Phillips, I think this year it is something you want to be when you grow up.

 

[disykat]

I think Halloween is a bigger deal than it used to be - as are most holidays. I've never liked Halloween and as a kid I remember it as only a one day thing. Now it seems to last forever. Our church also has a "fall festival", but it isn't anti-Halloween. There are jack-o-lanterns etc. mixed in with all the fall stuff. People dress up however they want.

I guess would say I don't celebrate Halloween, but it has nothing to do with religion. I endure Halloween. We go to the fall festival, my kids wear costumes, their school has lots of hoohaw (I even help plan it), but that's as far as it goes. Aside from the need for planning, I try to keep it a one day event. I don't decorate my house, I don't dress up (unless I'm working, in which case I have to pretend I'm having fun), I just don't like Halloween. Even as a kid I hated it. I don't like to dress up, orange and black are my least favorite colors, I have a bat phobia, I won't let my kids take candy from strangers, my kids wouldn't be able eat most of the candy they get due to allergies anyway... lots of reasons I don't celebrate Halloween, but none of them are religious.

I was actually shocked when I moved to this community and got an invitation to a adult Halloween party - I didn't know there was such a thing. I thought it was a kid's holiday.

 

[cardaway]

Not sure what "celebrates" it means but we do dress up the house (including Disney pumpkins thanks to the kits they sell), plan activities for the kids in our daycare, and do hand out candy (in costume). We also did the MNSSHP in WDW last year.

I'll second the feelings of another poster, really annoying to find "kids" coming to our door that are taller than we are.

As for banning it, it was done in Puyallup WA and it made national news. What I remember being very ironic was the majority of people speaking in favor of Halloween being banned were the very religous who were stongly in favor of bringing back Christmas celebrations in schools.

 

[FionaLovesShrek]

I've taken my DD to a Trunk-or-Treat at my DF's church, but she did not like it. Usually, she meets up with her Girl Scout friends and they walk the neighborhood around the school (most of them live in the neighborhood), with all us GS moms in tow. The school also has a huge Fall Festival, but its to earn money for the school and is put on by the PTO.

 

[jekajekalynn]

Of course!!! My3 year old ds is going as "Steve" from Blues Clues this year.

I grew up in a Bible belt town, and I was kinda sad when I was in middle school . I was riding the bus home, and I saw the elementary schools bboard said that the "Harvest Festival" would be held on Halloween... I never got the point of it..

Yup..cause if there's something God REALLY hates, it's little kids having innocent fun and taking joy out of life.

 

[jekajekalynn]

I might add a LOT of ppl in my home town thought that Halloween was Satanic , and if you celebrated it , you were condoning that babies were killed for the Devil on that night.. I am NOT making that $*#@ up ppl! lol

 

[GillieRose]

Yes. we celebrate esp. since it's my daughters birthday. We always have a pizza party before we go trick or treating. Are city also has trick or treating at City Hall during the day for 2-5 year olds so they don't have to go out at night if you don't want them to. Are neighborhood is having a parade and a little party for the kids also.