The Halloween Wonder Years

We love Halloween in our house! Its so much fun! We do all the traditional things like going pumpkin picking, decorating the house, carving and painting pumpkins, lots of Halloween themed baking, trick-or-treating, corn mazes, hay rides, and trunk-or-treating which we are doing tonight. We also go to the downtown Halloween parade which is the biggest in the country. I have gone as a little kid to watch, some years my mother put my sister and I in it for the costume competition (she always made the costumes), and my middle and high school years were spent marching in it as I was in band. We always had so much fun! Now its great to share it with my children!!!

Halloween is my favorite holiday ! Our annual Halloween Party is the highlight for my family who look forward to the huge Halloween feast, games, costume contests and dance. I even decorate my northwoods Christmas tree with orange lights, cob webs, spiders, and caution tape as it is transformed into our Halloween tree until it is time to decorate it for Christmas. I think Halloween brings out our inner child and keeps us young. I know that my love for Halloween has been passed down to my son, nieces and nephews, and I look forward to seeing what traditions they carry on with their kids too!

You're never too old to dress up and enjoy Halloween. I don't believe anyone is ever too old to celebrate a holiday or have fun. People scowl at older trick or treaters should be ashamed of themselves.

Can't wait to see the kids in my neighborhood this year with their adorable, scary, unusual customes. Love Halloween!

Before we had Riley girl (3) my husband and I never really did much for the actual holiday beside going to adult parties or bars dressed up. but the last two Halloweens we went crazy with decorating the house on the inside with black anise sented candles, bats, mices cob webbs etc. We dressed Riley up as Dolly Parton her first year. Those boobs were so funny on a toddler! my husband wears a massive Deadmau5 head that he made with eyes that light up and basically has a street party inviting kids to come up to get their loot. I might have said this before but it's trully amazing how much your life comes to life once you have kids!

Hmm . . . what could we carve in the spring besides pumpkins? Strawberries? Fava beans? Well, at least we can always indulge in candy; I'll have to throw a bag of candy corn in the freezer until next April!

So cute! Love this! "Let the beauty of what you love be what you do."--Rumi

The Halloween magic doesn't really go away. It just changes. There's nothing like going door to door for candy in your best costume EVER as a little kid. Soon you become the big kid that scares the little kids for fun and profit. When you grow up from there you try to out zombie, out vampire, out scare your teenage friends. As an adult your costumes come full circle again. Except this time you get to see little kids faces light up when you give candy away.

I grew up in an old victorian neighborhood. I can close my eyes and remember walking down the sidewalk I had travelled on every day and seeing the houses transformed by the magic of Halloween. You could smell burning pumpkin, hear the giggles and shrieks of other kids rushing by and the crunch of leaves beneath your feet. I remember my heart racing in anticipation of the next house. Would it be scary? What were they giving out? Who (or What) would answer the door. Part of the fun was getting home and answering your own door to the older trick-or-treaters who were allowed to stay up later and seeing the costumes. I have so many great memories of Halloween, from sights and sounds, to the costumes and decorations we wore and made with Mom and Dad. *sigh* I hope I can give my boys some memories of Halloween they can cherish as well.

I like your blog, and you're right...what a fantastic excuse to choose your own identity! Even if it is just for one day. My son is going to dress up as his hero, Link, from the Legend of Zelda. It won't be a store-bought costume but something he put together himself, and one that he is so proud to wear. Every October we bake pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, put up our Halloween decoration, attend Halloween festivities, carve pumpkins, and we go trick-or-treating. Sometimes, I even use Oct. 31 as an excuse myself to wear something scary or beautiful...

Love it! Great blog! Halloween forever!

I always loved dressing up as a kid. My family never celebrated Halloween for religous reasons, but there were other occasions to dress up for. I would always try and make something new and different with what I had in my closet, rejecting the "store-bought" costumes with scorn. Now, I have the privilage of watching my younger sisters go through the same creative process, and even let them raid my closet. I agree that the creative journey a child goes through because of costumes is remarkable to witness

Dressing up is always so fun, especially for the kids. It's also an opportunity to express one's creativity.

My mom made all of my children's costumes when they were growing up based on their favorite character, personality or object at the time. Being handmade by Grandma made them special and difficult to part with. Now I'm waiting for them to come and get them out of my attic - please.

Love Halloween!

Halloween is the coolest time of the year

I love Halloween! I remember how I used to choose my costumes from the patterns at the fabric store and my mother would sew and create the costume for me. I was always so proud of the fact that my mother would make my costume and that I got to wear it around all day. I hope that when I have kids some day that I can make their costumes and hopefully make them feel the same pride that I always felt on Halloween.

Halloween is great but something we didn't really have in Italy when I was little. Carnival was the closest thing to it... with just fewer skulls and more confetti!

My family has always commented that they have never "known a kid who likes Halloween better than Christmas" and that's the complete truth. I love love love this holiday. Even on a unusual Pennsylvania chilly night in July you can hear me remarking " it smells like Halloween" I adore it with all of my senses. It's fun to reminisce about school parties, hayrides, and bobbing for apples! The reason why Etsy is so cool when it comes to Halloween is because of the homemade feel and how special it is.My parents would insist on putting together a costume at home every year, and sometimes we put it together just hours before trick or treating began. They would remark " why would you want a plastic store bought costume that will fall apart when we could transform you here?" I've gotten some really great and remarkable costumes when my parents put their heads together and would send me out as a Geisha, a bunch of grapes, and a hobo. Here's to the fun and joys that Halloween brings. Wishing everyone a super haunted holiday!

this post is esp. poignant for me...my oldest has decided at 10 that he's too old to dress up for halloween. while my youngest is having his first real halloween where he knows he gets to get dressed up and have candy. yes those years in between are all too fleeting.

An American tradition. I love Halloween, too. A time for chili, cornbread, pumpkin pie. Grandma and Grandpa coming to see this years goblins, saying 'Hi' to neighbors you haven't seen for awhile, admiring all the princesses and power rangers...eating as much candy as want to, because the pieces are so small...they don't have any calories, right?, photographs of "the pile of loot", tired kids that fall asleep before they hit the pillow, happy parents that enjoyed it as much as the kids. A grand ole time, for sure! Cheers to you on yours this Halloween 2011, I can't wait!!

I will always treasure the memories of Halloween when I was just a kid. Running door to door in my apt building with friends and family. Just having fun and of course collecting candy along the way. It really was a wonderful time.

Cute kid!

Very true! My son is also going to be a superhero this Halloween. We are going to trick or treat and if we see any monsters on the way he is going to scare them away with his super powers! Happy Halloween!

The good news is, that if it is a family love, the creepy joy of Halloween never ends. When the kids become too old to trick-or-treat they can still get dressed up and man the door. They become more skilled with knives, and have the ability and stamina to carve bigger toothier jacks. They can help you put the giant spiders on the roof!

I feel like my childhood in this department was cut short.. I'm so happy that people in my generation that are having children really CARE about it, put so much thought and energy into the long term effects...... It's so inspirational :) Keep up the great work, young parents!

Halloween is a fun celebration for sure, especially in the US. But please remember that to us "real" witches & pagans it's Samhain, a sacred religious festival. We don't mind all you folks dressing up for a laugh (I admit, we do it ourselves) but it has a much deeper meaning that kids should be told about.

My little cousins pretty much walk around the house in costume for the week leading up to Halloween. Then again, they're always pretending to be someone else through out the year. It doesn't hurt to let your imagination roam once in a while as an adult, maybe put your musings to words in short stories?

I've raised 3 healthy happy boys who are now incredible men. They all took their imaginary creatures seriously. My middle son wore out 4 separate sets of Superman pajamas which he wore everywhere--we scoured thrift stores to find just the right yellow belt and blue boots. We played Superman games in which he would bolt over the back of the sofa and save me from attacking dinosaurs--for hours.. Then he moved onto Batman, and Ninja Turtles. His brothers became PowerRangers and Pokemen. With few Star Trek guys and pirates thrown in. I still have their costumes in a box. They are more precious to me than anything in the world. Once in a great while now I see a little Superman with a cape made from red towel at the grocery store. I give the mom a big smile. Keep the magic coming as long as you can! There is always time to be a grown up.

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It was the best day of the year for my daughter. She always wanted to be something strange so we were committed to making a costume ourselves. Still today at 20 she dresses up and goes with other students in her small college town 'trick or treating' for canned food to take to the food bank. I think this is a great way of extending the fun of Halloween.

Awesome perspective!! I totally agree! Halloween is the best!! Let's celebrate as long as possible...and hopefully bring a portion of that imagination and view into the rest of the year!

My kids are going as a prince and a princess this year. I was amazed by the excitement on their faces last year as they went trick-or-treating for the first time. I remember my daughter had 6 pieces of candy and all evening after we got back home she kept counting them and saying how she had SO MUCH candy.

You've said it so well.and why Halloween matters! Thank you!

So fun!

oh Gosh, I remember being the oldest one Trick or Treating too- that was embarrassing, glad to hear that I was not the only one to spaz out and insist on just one more year. I agree Halloween should be more than one day but when kids get just a little bit older than your Miles Halloween does seem to extend more than one day- there always seems to be a party or two and then Halloween school parade, and neighborhood parade, haunted houses to visit and the pumpkin patch- all of these events fall on different days and give an opportunity to dress up. We took our twins to the Renaissance Faire this year and they dressed up there as knight/princess and that lit the fire to continue dressing up almost every day since ...I hope the costumes arent too messed up by the time the actual day of Halloween comes!

So Cute!

Cute picture!

So cute boy!

Ah I love Halloween, I wish we made more of it in the UK instead we just get a whitewash of Christmas between September and December. I think too many people miss out on the magic of Autumn!

I don't have any kids, but (except for a few years in college where I didn't hand out candy) I never stopped celebrating Halloween. My costumes were all homemade. I was a bunny, a leopard, a fairy princess, a bag of M&Ms, and a roll of Lifesavers via my mother's sewing skills. When I made my first costume - I was madly in love with Cyndi Lauper - so I decided to reinvent her newspaper skirt and made my entire costume from newspapers... I was the grim reaper once... and every year since I guess I've been a witch - I have a robe with lizards sewn all over it and lizards and spiders that I put in my hair. It goes over well with the 10-year-old boys who trick or treat, maybe not so much with the little girls. A few years ago I sold out to the man and bought some fake pumpkins. One of them is carved as Jerry Garcia, the other one is Frank Zappa. Of course, most of the kids have no idea who these old dead rockers are, which is funny. I like looking at everyone's pumpkins though. So, for me Halloween is a time to wander around and marvel at the creativity and the season.

I love this. Halloween is probably one of my most favorite days of the year and the weeks leading up to it are just as magical. When I was a child (and even still) I would start planning my costume for the following year the day after halloween. My mom still teases me about it to this day. I don't think I'll ever not dress up. Thanks for sharing :)

I grew up in the Bible belt so Halloween wasn't celebrated for long when I was a child. I vaguely remember being able to dress up as a witch and trick or treat but I must have been small because the biggest memories I have are of Fall Fan Fair that my church put on. We weren't allowed to dress up as anything scary. It had to be Bible characters. I did get fond memories of that including winning first prize at the costume contest for being the good Samaritan woman. My mother always made our costumes. I still admire her ability to sew and craft. It is a talent that takes some folks years to master. Now as an adult I live in the country in Southeast Kansas. So when my daughter was born my husband and I had to get creative so she could trick or treat. I allow her to dress up as who ever she wants. This year she is going as spider man. My dreams of care bears and my little ponies went out the window a long time ago. She is probably the girliest tom boy you'll ever meet! We went to the Gardner pumpkin patch this year and let her pick out whatever pumpkin she wanted. I remember feeling so limited during Halloween when I was a child and therefore felt limited imaginatively. I want my daughter to remember the magic of Halloween as much as she will remember the greatest toy she ever received at Christmas.

Our costumes this Halloween include: Viking 2yr old Evil Gnome 8yr old Bottle of Ketup 10yr old Phantom 13yr old Fire Bender 10 yr old Shrek papa Fiona mama I can't wait to see us all together, love this holiday. It is more then candy and masks, it is a very spiritual time for many. So Happy Halloween/Samhain to all.

As the song says "Everyday is Halloween" . Loved it as a child and always have. For our daughter we have made it a big deal. Decorating, pumpkin patches, carving, trick-or-treating. Now at 4 and a half , she has been pouring over the ads changing her mind daily on what she will be and what mommy and daddy should be. We introduced her to the Munsters a few weeks ago and now daddy must be Herman, she will be Lily and I get to be the ugly duckling Marilyn. Happy Halloween!

When I was growing up, my mother celebrated every holiday to the fullest, and when I say every holiday...I had socks, t-shirts and buttons even for Ground Hog Day. Growing up surrounded by a zeal for anything worth celebrating has given me a mentality of always having something to look forward to and be excited about, one that I hope to pass on to our daughter. The first weekend of September this year our daughter was the one to ask if we could put out our Scare Crow and Fall decorations. We always make a day of trekking to the local pumpkin farm and have a tradition of roasting the pumpkin seeds together before Halloween weekend. Our daughter has had a word in her costume from the time she turned 3. That year she wanted to be a Hello Kitty Ballerina, the following year, she asked to be a Cockatoo, last year a Collie and this year a Cheetah. I have yet to say no to her creative genius when it comes to deciding upon a costume or what to carve on the pumpkins and we have a great time picking out fabrics together for her ideas. This year she's at a point where she has lots of her own friends in the neighborhood, so we're inviting trick or treaters to stop in for hot cider and homemade donuts and our daughter is planning all sorts of decorations. Construction paper bats and pumpkins galore...I guess the apples don't fall far from the tree after all! I'm sure if you instill the excitement of the holiday in your son now, he'll be sure to carry that with him long after he's "too old" to be out trick or treating with friends. Happy Halloween!

Great post. I can remember going trick or treating in the neighborhood when I was younger and maybe a Halloween event with my Girl Scout Troop. This year my son is 3 and we've taken Halloween to a new level. This year I've made an extra effort to go to not one pumpkin patch but two. We walk around talk about the pumpkins and converse with others. We've also participated in Fall Harvest type events in our community and pull over to see the decorations and lawn ornaments on people yards - all which have been pretty cool experiences. It's funny because it never dawned on me through the whole process to ask him what he'd like to dress up as. I think I thought it would be like last year, I'd just pick out something. However, to my surprise when I did get around to asking him...he had an answer. I was amazed. Happy Halloween to everyone.

I have a five year old and this is the first year I couldn't make his costume, he wanted a store bought Harry Potter. I must say, It broke my heart a little.

The neighborhood I grew up in is, oddly, the same I am living in now...as a matter of fact it is the same house. Growing up I had the luxury of having a wonderful godmother who could craft anything in the world (which is probably where I learned most of my skills)! She made me home-sewn witch, flapper, clown and she-devil costumes all the time. We all had such a wonderful imagination when we were kids and, even though most of our parents had very little money, we all had something homemade and at least somewhat original on. Due to the blight of the neighborhood and the fear of our parents we only got to trick-or-treat a few blocks, but we didn't care. We had fun. Now I see kids with absolutely no effort at all wearing black sweatsuits and plastic "Scream" movie masks pushing through the crowds of youngins' on Halloween night giving the city and the holiday a bad name. Most of them have bad attitudes to begin with and don't even say "trick-or-treat" or thank you; they just walk up, parent less mind you, with their pillow sacks open waiting for their free candy. Now, most of my neighbors block off their doors and porches so they don't have to deal with the ignorant youth and the kids and parents who just want to have fun are made to suffer. I wonder if this is just an urban dilemma or what but I feel bad for our soon-to-be-born son if this disregard for the holiday continues. I know things like political correctness and the suffering economy have contributed to the decline of the holiday, but instilling a little pride, creativity, and -heavens forbid - a bit of fun back into our kids can go a long way to making it fun again for everyone.

Superman

Too cute!

This is great, guys. Thanks for sharing. Since we're on the subject, just had to share this post by Jim from Sweet Juniper. He made an AWESOME costume for his son: http://www.sweet-juniper.com/2011/10/kid-rocketeer.html

We moved a lot when I was growing up so going from house to house for Halloween meant new folks almost every year. Halloween is my favorite holiday so when we moved to Briarcliff Manor NY (aka Sleepy Hollow,home of Ichabod Crane) that particular Halloween is a premier event in my life. I was in eighth grade and took my younger brother and sister out that night dressed in whatever we could find in the moving boxes. To say that folks in that part of the country get into Halloween is an understatement. We were treated to the most bizarre (and sometimes downright frightning) theatrics you can imagine all made somewhat lighter by the food that was offered AND the candy to go home with. I was supposed to be the responsible one and believe me, I was shaking, My younger siblings enjoyed the whole outing to the max and came home ready to tell anyone they could find about their experience. We still talk about it and we are all of us over 50. My own children have always loved Halloween and they have seen some pretty good decorations thru the years. By the way, I continued Trick or Treating with girlfriends in highschool. Out here in California, everyone dresses up for Halloween...clerks, store owners, parents, kids, teachers, I mean EVERYONE. I love it...thanks Caleb for your always inspiring articles here on ETSY and your blog...have you considered writing a book???

We grow our own pumpkins including giant pumpkins. Ours this year was 240lbs. Our kids help us plant and harvest them. Then we carve/decorate them together. I made my son's costume this year and he was so proud to wear it. He hugged me and said mom, you're the best. thank you for making my costume. I love it. It felt so good to make Halloween special and memorable for my kids. We go trick or treating with them and I have a wonderful time watching them have so much fun.