Much to the groans and disappointment of kids and parents alike, Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year. My husband says that Halloween should just be recognized as the last Saturday of October. It’s not as much fun in the middle of the week and between work, dinner, getting kids dressed up, circling the neighborhood, pumpkin carving, and answering the door, it can make for a very long day.
I realize, being an at home mom of a home schooled child can have its advantages. That doesn’t mean that Halloween falling in the middle of the week makes for the best Halloween EVER! It doesn’t. When faced with this situation, I fall back on breaking Halloween up into smaller, bite sized pieces. It stretches out the fun for the kids and when things are easier on the grown ups it makes it more fun for them as well.
This coming weekend we’ll make our trip to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins. Those pumpkins get cleaned up at home and plopped on the hearth until the night before Halloween. Our pumpkin carving goes down the night before Halloween because then it’s one more way to stretch out the celebrations. We’ll put on some music or put in a fun family-friendly Halloween movie and make a night of carving our pumpkins. Once we finish and clean up the kitchen we put candles in our Jack O’ Lanterns and put them up on the kitchen table and turn out the lights. This way we get to enjoy our Jack O’ Lanterns while we watch a spooky movie.
On Halloween I try to get everything ready to go long before the sun starts to set. There is nothing worse than having to run to the store while dodging trick-or-treaters. I usually have my trick or treat candy bought ahead of time. We’ll call in an order to a local Italian restaurant, because nothing says Halloween like copious amounts of red sauce and GARLIC to keep the vampires away, of course! It’s one of our favorite places but because it’s downtown we don’t go there often and they definitely don’t deliver, we’ll call in the order and pick it up to enjoy at home. This gets dinner out of the way and makes it feel like even more of a special evening.
If it’s chilly enough I’ll put a pot of cider on the stove. The adults might enjoy a Northwest Passage, a glass of wine, or a fall beer.
I make sure our Jack O’ Lanterns are out front with the candles lit, and Halloween decorations are turned on and ready to go just before it starts to get dark. In short, I prep everything ahead so the only thing I have to worry about is answering the door, getting Maggie dressed up in her costume, and who is going to take the first leg of the trick or treat run.
It’s so much more fun to spread all the Halloween and fall adventures out over the entire month than to wait until the last day and cram it into a regular week day. Keep that in mind while prepping for your Halloween haunting this year!