These past two years have been unusual for a lot of reasons, but Halloween was notable because it’s a holiday that is incredibly memorable and social for kids. The pandemic meant very muted celebrations, and either none, or limited, trick-or-treating. As things ease up this year and kids become fully vaccinated, we finally got a glimpse of what a normal Halloween could be for our boys, and we had a lot of fun.
First, I discovered hooks along the front of our house last year, presumably used for Christmas lights in the past, and so I took the opportunity this year to buy Halloween lights! Adam “helped” me install them and I also put some pumpkins and a little wreath by our front door.
We did some Halloween art!
We took an afternoon to go to a local pumpkin patch and mini-carnival with rides for the kiddos!
And the weekend that led up to Halloween itself, we did a bunch of little activities in our costumes. This year Aaron and I dressed up as Stitch and Lilo, while MJ and Adam dressed up as the Man with the Yellow Hat and Curious George. Our first outing was to a trunk-or-treat that is held at a park within walking distance of our house. That afternoon, we walked down to our local comic book store for a festival they were having.
Sunday we attended a pumpkin decorating and playground event with other local families.
And that afternoon we went home and did our own pumpkin carving!
We have Gromit, Shaun, and Timmy lawn ornaments that a few of the kids in the neighborhood enjoy visiting, so I thought it would be fun to do Shaun and Gromit on the pumpkins this year.
The stencils I used were made available in a couple promotions Aardman did, and are still available online:
- http://aard.mn/shaupumpkin (direct pdf for Shaun)
- https://wallaceandgromit.com/resources (page includes stencils for Gromit, Wallace, and Feathers McGraw)
On Halloween itself we spent a little time at the village for a big Halloween event, but it was unexpectedly (for us!) crowded, and a bit much even at this phase. Besides, the boys didn’t actually need much candy and it was nice enough to get a little taste of the event and walk back home. That evening we went trick-or-treating!
Once we wrapped up trick-or-treating, we all hung out downstairs to answer the door to give out more candy. The boys probably enjoyed that just as much as getting candy themselves, as the novelty of people coming to our house is still fresh. It was also fun for them to see lots of kids and costumes, and generally to be up “late” doing an activity that was outside the norm.
Looking forward to lots more “normal” Halloweens with the boys in our future. It’s always been my favorite holiday, but celebrating with kids is a whole different experience.