Trick or Treat!

Cooler weather, leaves changing into beautiful colors and festivals every weekend are just some of the best things about the Fall season. October marks the beginning of the holidays for me, with Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas coming one after the other with hardly a break in between.

In our family, every holiday has special traditions that go with it. Halloween is not any different. The second weekend of Halloween is spent perusing through and picking costumes for the kids. Whether this means going to one store or 20, the quest for the perfect costume is never negotiable. 

The following weekend is spent at a pumpkin patch. Pony rides, petting zoos and corn mazes complete the festivities. Once home, the pumpkins are scraped and carved in time to put on the front porch just as the streetlights come on.

Then, as we spend a small fortune on costumes, we trick or treat. Not just a few houses up and down the street or a few stores at the mall. Our trick or treating is calculated for maximum candy gathering. The neighborhood is hit from entrance to entrance. Every store in the mall is visited. Boo at the Zoo is also an annual voyage. Halloween bags are filled, emptied into a large bag, and then refilled. Once done, a few pieces are consumed and then the rest is hidden to be used as treats at later times. 

Each step of our Halloween tale is paid for by the beautiful smile on the faces of each of the children. The countless hours playing with the costume in the future are just some of the things to look forward to. It gives us plenty of time to bond, memories to last a lifetime, and makes the costume hunt completely worth it.

What are your Halloween traditions? Are there certain rituals that you hold to each and every year? What is your favorite thing about Halloween?

Let's hear how you spend your Halloween every year.