Gearing up for Halloween

Halloween is on 31 October.

There is a lot of mixed feelings in SA as this celebration takes off.

Some people see it as 'yet another commercial rip-off the retailers are gleefully exploiting', others see it as 'Satanic' or 'Anti Christian' or even Pagan. I was going to link to the history of it, but decided not to, because WHO CARES!?

I see it as none of that. For us it is becoming a fun and festive evening, which the children look forward to with excitement and anticipation. They think about it, discuss and plan their outfits for several weeks, and they mostly put their own get ups together from what we have at home. They experiment with various things before hand, playing and using their imagination. The little ones do fun costumes we have had Bob the Builder, Harry Potter, Fairies, Angels, even Father Christmas once etc. The older ones like to pick up on the scary theme a bit being witches, ghosts and grim reepers etc. It is exciting for them. They see it on all the cartoons and TV shows they watch, and they like to be able to act and live out some of what they have seen..

On the day we get to stay up a bit later and walk around the neighbourhood at dusk, socialise with friends and neighbours, something which doesn't happen enough. It's an evening where the routines are broken, and where yes, a balanced and nutritious meal may go out the window. Instead we eat hot dogs and chips, and yes too many sweeties. But we save the rest in our treat tin and it lasts for ages.


In a time when fun and tradition are being eroded, I quite like having an excuse to get excited, giggle and play and have fun! It's becoming part of our family calendar and we like it!

We do it for the littlies from 3-10 years old or so, and it's a chance for them to be creative and dress up. We don't do any nasty tricks or anything mean.

They love chanting 'Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something nice to eat'. There's fun, excitement and camaraderie.

Some people are very fun and obliging and receive the children well. Even giving a banana for 10 kiddies to share, if that's all they have. And that's FINE. Often those things are the most well received and special because the old dear will come out and chat to them and marvel over their creative outfits and just have a good smile and chuckle with us. It's as much about the journey and adventure and socialising as anything else, and we always cater enough ourselves so we don't rely too much on the neighbours providing the treats - especially since many people in SA are quite oblivious to Halloween.

Some people however are rude and frankly mean spirited. Honestly there is nothing anti-Christ about a 3-year old little girl dressed as a faerie, skipping with a bag of sweeties. I mean really!

We usually go to a friend's house in Plumstead, but this year we are doing my neighbourhood and I have invited a few families to join us. I have been handing out flyers in post boxes, to ask them to be friendly and support us when we come past, and I am attaching a small bag of sweets to the flyer so at the very least we can get our own sweeties back

A photo collage of some of our past Halloweens

These are the Halloween treats the boys and I made last night for their cubs Halloween party tonight.