Halloween is an interesting holiday.
Some refuse to participate in it for religious reasons–the origin involves evil; you can read about it here. Scary costumes do not honor God or holiness. Some refuse to participate because they simply feel it isn’t safe. You teach your kids not to take candy from strangers and then designate a day to turn the tables and spend the evening doing just that.
Others join in but refuse to wear scary costumes. They visit only the homes of friends and family.
And then some attend alternative events like Fall Festivals and Trunk or Treats in a way to let their children have fun along with all the other kids.
I think it boils down to your convictions. I don’t think one is wrong for doing it while the other is right. Or vice versa.
For the record, we trick or treat with a group of friends and have since our kids were little. After eating hot dogs and chili by the fire, we head out through the neighborhood and hope for the good stuff–by good stuff I mean candy not PCP on bubble gum wrappers.
But this year me and my friend Melanie are over our church’s first ever Trunk or Treat, so we’ll be doing that instead. We have face painting, a huge outdoor movie screen that will play, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown along with popcorn. Sixty vehicles have committed to decorating non-scary trunks. Moon bounces will be set and ready to go and if that’s not enough, we’re also offering hayrides. The event is free to the public. I’m pretty excited about it.
*photo credit: freedigitalphotos
