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OT: Halloween
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As a kid I loved Halloween and trick or treating. It never meant anything more to me then costume and candy and frankly it doesn’t mean more to me now. We are not “celebrating” Halloween.
We have to pick our battles!
If I was to forbid them at this point it would be a major punishment and I see no reasons to do that apart from the fact that I really do not like them to eat a lot of candy. I usually end up throwing a lot of it away.
They know that all the ghost and scary stuff are evil spirits and they are not interested in that aspect. I do not let them wear scary costume (not even see pictures of their cousin who gets a worst costume each year).
I know I am a minority here obviously!
Petitemom…you’re not alone:) We take part. When my eldest was 3 hubby and I hadn’t talked about whether or not to dress our daughter up, so on Halloween night I turned out the lights and hid out quietly in the back of our house until he got home and we could discuss it! Just wasn’t sure what we should do as Christians. My husband is a biblical scholar (conservative, near Phd) and has no problem with it. We don’t celebrate it….it’s just something we take part in and it’s a good time to chat w/neighbors.
However, I do hate the candy aspect…having to buy it AND all that the kids get. I control it by keeping it in my closet. Just my .02:) Gina
I never had to buy candy because for some reason we always end up in houses with long driveways no one wants to get to!!
I also put them away out of reach but many times it stays there for so long I end up throwing some of it away, especially the ones w/all the food dyes.
our family lets the boys choose. I agree with Christie regarding my thinking. They can choose to dress up (nothing scary) and we go trick or treating or they can put that money toward a special toy/game they want. We don’t make a big deal out of it either way. Redeeming Halloween is a great book by the way. My dh and I have discussed this often and our reasoning is that we want our children to know how to be in the world but not of it. And though many may disagree (and I am ok with that) this is a way our children can learn to relate to others on some level. We in no way feel that we dishonor God in this decision because honestly our driving reason for doing it is to be out with out neighbors, getting to know them for the sake of ministry. But again this is our choice and I most definitely respect others choices.
We throw a Harvest Party for friends and church members. It’s not on Halloween, but around. We have a strict policy for costumes. Nothing scary, no masks and no toy weapons. I figure this way we’re not celebrating Halloween, but the kids are still taking part in something that is festive. Because we entirely put it on ourselves, I have complete control of the tone of the event and don’t do candy either. There is a Halloween alternative at a friend’s church we’ve always been invited to, but it’s on the 31st, and I don’t believe people should be driving that night if avoidable, with all the children out and unfortunately all of the drunk teenagers (at least in our area).
Rachel
My husband and I have never really reached agreement on this one. I despise Halloween, and he thinks of fun memories as a kid going trick-or-treating and thinks of it as harmless fun, as long as we aren’t getting into the gory/scary/evil stuff. He views it in the “eating meat offered to idols” category (1 Corinthians 8) and that seems like a reasonable argument despite my reservations. So we stay low-key, the kids wear non-scary costumes and trick-or-treat. Sometimes we will carve a pumpkin but I try to avoid jack-o-lanterns; usually a fall theme. I do have to agree that it is one of our few opportunities to meet and get to know many of our neighbors!
Nonetheless, every year I cringe as Halloween approaches. Maybe I should take the “redeeming” approach and start putting out Narnia-themed decorations or something!
We do Halloween for fun!!! Every house that we go to are people we know, family and church friends. My parents were Christians and allowed us to trick or treat so we automatically did the same without a thought. I did not know until I was an adult what Halloween “really” is. I hate the idea of what Halloween is about but believe that it is a personal conviction.
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