At the end of October our Church held its Annual Halloween Party for the kids. It’s a simple event where the kids dress up, play games, win prizes and see a “magic” show. This year, my daughter went as Saint Tekakwitha, and my son wanted to be a cowboy. So this politically incorrect mother had her children dressed as “Cowboys and Indians.” That wasn’t the plan, but that is how it turned out to be.
Normally, I don’t enjoy going to Halloween events. I’m sure it has something to do with growing up in the City and Halloween seems to be the time of year that people like to cause mischief. The idea of taking the kids out, in the evening, so close to Halloween bothers me. Also, I’m more of an All Saint’s Day gal, as I like to celebrate that more. All Hallow’s Even (Halloween has turned into a cause trouble, spooky night for some members of society.) We ended up going because this year my husband got of early from work, and he didn’t mind meeting us at the event. So, off we went.
The event was smallish and we were able to see some other people that we knew at our Parish there. Tables and games for safety was set up for the kids, but, the highlight for the kids had to be the magic show. Both my son and daughter was able to take part in the show and have talked nonstop about it since. I have to hand it to the magician though, he was able to keep the attention of all the children, and even deal with some kids who were….umm….very enthusiastic to touch his props.
There so many games to play there (and you play until you will something–free), we ended up staying for the complete time of the event. We were there so long that at the end, they were practically giving things away–school supplies, bags, and books.
The books have to be the biggest score that this Mama is happy about. They both love to read, and get read to, so this station they took the most time on. They were carefully going through each title, and trying to get a feel for the books before they made a decision. We ended up picking up some classics, that we’re not going to touch until later on, but there were tons of things that the kids could read right away.
Now, about the pumpkins. My children already won a pumpkin each, but because there were so many extra pumpkins and the very kind people told my kids to “take as many as you want.” They did just that. Not liking to see food go to waste (something that the kids are picking up on), they took more that we needed or wanted. The trouble began when they said take as many as you want. Honestly, there are just something’s you don’t say to my kids.
So now I have six pumpkins sitting on my table all ready for me to bake, scoop and made into treats and food (at least for the baby–can you say banana pumpkin, yum!).
The children picked these pumpkins up with good intentions, and maybe they were thinking about the things I make with it, so I love them for it. It’s just that six pumpkins is a lot!
I was at a loss at how to handle three pumpkins–I mean I had an idea, but now I’m going to have to really stretch my imagination. The kids don’t mind the treats, but I’m trying to find some gluten-free options.
The following day was All Saint’s Day, so we celebrated first with Mass, then with some cookies, Saint games and my husband’s favorite–steak for dinner. I would love to do more next year for All Saint’s Day, but with an infant, and two kids and homeschooling, I’m lucky I got something done.
How did you celebrate All Hallow’s Eve? What did you do for All Saint’s Day?
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