This post is about Halloween! We don't celebrate Halloween in our household. J & I had this discussion before we got married and before JOE was born. My family didn't celebrate it growing up and I never felt like I missed out on anything.
However, you know what they say about the best laid plans right? As JOE gets older, it is becoming harder to figure out how to handle this.
Thanks to Disney Junior, JOE loves to call ANYTHING Fall related "trick or treat". She received a Halloween card from a good friend of mine and called it her trick or treat card. She likes to look at the carved pumpkin we worked on last Sunday and always says "let's go look at trick or treat pumpkin".
Needless to say, while viewing the world through JOE's eyes, a once clear black/white line is now becoming blurry and somewhat gray.
I decided that even if we don't go celebrate Halloween because of what it stands for, there is no reason to prevent JOE from getting dressed up. I am not a fan of scary characters and since JOE happens to LOVE Doc McStuffins and Minnie Mouse. I figured her birthday theme is already Minnie Mouse, so we'll go with Doc McStuffins.
I wasn't interested in spending a ton of money on a costume so I decided to make her one. I'll post pics of how I made her outfit later. It was basically a mix of items she already had at home that were getting too small for her and a small piece of material from Wal-mart.
On the left is Doc McStuffins and on the right is a mock up of JOE's outfit.
This entire outfit took less than an hour to make. I finished it on Saturday and JOE loves it! She walked around saying "Hello, I'm Doc McStuffins!"
It was nice to see how happy she was to be wearing her outfit. At the same time, at the back of my head, I am still wondering if I am doing the right thing by letting her get dressed up for festivities I don't believe in.
It was nice to see how happy she was to be wearing her outfit. At the same time, at the back of my head, I am still wondering if I am doing the right thing by letting her get dressed up for festivities I don't believe in.
On Sunday, we decided to carve a pumpkin. JOE wanted to show her dadda her handy work but not before trying to pick the "bu-berries" off the bushes in front of our house. I am tired of telling her these are yucky berries. She refuses to listen.
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The additional markings on the top are thanks to JOE. She had to add her own touches :-).
Complete with the black tooth that's almost falling off and the mole and eye lashes.
I put in a tea light at night and here's the finished product. Not too scary I hope.
On Monday, JOE's caregiver brought JOE a surprise! She got her a Doc McStuffins outfit! Great minds huh? :-).
So here she is again wearing her outfit and checking herself. First her mouth...
And then her eyes...
For those readers who don't celebrate Halloween and are also parents, how do you handle it? Have you found it more difficult to not acknowledge the holiday in the midst of all of the festivities around us everyday?
Will you be handing out candy?
I know this might come off as a controversial post since on the one hand, I am saying I don't believe in Halloween and on the other hand, I am carving pumpkins and making my daughter an outfit. But that's why I titled this post "Blurred lines" because I honestly am hoping to get your opinions on this.
I celebrated Halloween when I was a kid. It really was all about seeing who could get the most candy. Tashe' never liked candy so she only went trick or treating once or twice and was over it. I haven't been trick or treating since.
ReplyDeletep.s. That pirate needs an emergency dental appointment..stat!.
Cute photos...thanks for sharing.
LOL. I like candy but we always had an abundance of chocolate growing up since my dad has a sweet tooth.
DeleteThe Pirate does need emergency dental work. Let's just say that was momma's mistake so it had to be painted black ;-).
We never celebrated Halloween growing up either and neither did my husband's family. (A little tidbit that I learned when I first met him and later realized we had a lot in common!) I think I never missed out on celebrating it because my mom was very vocal on why we don't celebrate Halloween and the reasoning just made sense to me. However, I do remember feeling a little bit different from other kids because I didn't eat the Halloween treats offered or go trick-o-treating. I remember thinking- what's the big deal, I really want that Snickers bar! Looking back I don't think I was too bothered by it and the only appeal with Halloween was the candy because my mom DEPRIVED us of the sugary good stuff (jk, but kinda, lol). We still don't celebrate it and I probably won't in the future with my kids either. I think it all boils down to explaining things to your child early if you are not going to celebrate it, because like you are experiencing, TV, school and friends will always be very influential in encouraging her to want to love the holiday.
ReplyDeleteWhat a good way to look at things. J and I are still talking about the best way to handle this but I am glad to see that I am not the only one who struggled/struggles with the decision.
DeleteDuring my childhood, we didn't celebrate Halloween either, but when my daughters were around Joe's age, I did let them go trick or treating twice. It's funny, but I'm not sure why I broke down and did it then either. The kids pretty much just want the candy anyway so I learned that if there's candy at home, they don't feel like they've missed anything. It's your decision and I know it's not going to be easy because Joe looks so cute in both of those costumes... :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a good idea to have the candy at home. Perhaps that's what we'll do next year. Beats walking from door to door in the cold :-).
DeleteI don't think it's necessarily "celebrating" Halloween if you go trick or treating. To me it's not a holiday or about anything other than little kids dressing up and getting candy. We went as kids but I think I stopped around 10 or so, I wasn't into it anymore. My older boys went with their friends into their teens, they went as scary things and had fun and came home with their sacs of goodies, never did the mischief stuff. My two littles are dressing up tomorrow and we are going to go to the neighbors and the grocery store and come home, so that's the extent of their trick or treating experience! I think it's what you make it (my personal opinion only!)
ReplyDeleteGood way to look at it. And you are right. A "celebration" is what you make of it. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I love reading how everyone feels/acknowledges the day.
DeleteYou did awesome on her costume! I really want to learn to sew! I've been begging my husband to buy me a sewing machine for Christmas, but he's worried I won't use it. Sewing projects could be a new fun addition to the DIY section of my blog AND save me a lot of money on clothing and home accessories :-)
ReplyDeleteThank you! Sewing is now becoming one of my favorite things to do. I wish I had more time to do it though. If you think you'll get some use out of it, get one. It never hurts. If you don't use it after a while, it can be sold :).
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ReplyDeleteI sent you a Facebook link that sums up how I feel about Halloween. The comments in the link are also insightful (origin of some modern day Christmas and Easter customs) Love to your family!
ReplyDeleteI read the post and I agree with it. It really is helpful to know they are Christians out there who do something for the holiday BUT don't necessarily "celebrate" it in the true sense of the word.
DeleteThanks for sharing the article!
Love that she has a whole Dr. M theme! I agree with you about not celebrating Halloween but seeing the day from the kids perspective! We didn't do anything for Baby P but I'm sure next year will be different once he's around other kids who are celebrating it!
ReplyDeleteShe sure does and she got A BUNCH more at her birthday party. Yeah...I always had this idea in my head and now having a little one, it is different seeing things from their point of view.
DeleteI completely understand what you mean about not wanting to celebrate the day because of the reason behind it but at the same time you have to make sure that your kids are invested in society. It's a tricky place to be for sure.
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up in Africa and Europe, I never even heard of Halloween until I moved to America as a teenager. I've embraced it and though we don't go overboard with it, we do celebrate for the kids
Great costume by the way and I love that both you and the caregiver thought the same about her costume. Great minds do think alike.
Thank you! I agree...it is what you make of it and also the environment plays a factor as well. I didn't have it growing up and we really didn't have a lot of folks around who celebrated the holiday. Now, its a little different.
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