Random Thoughts of Halloween

1. Maybe October isn't the best time of year for Halloween. Blizzards, Hurricanes, just plain cold weather. What's the point of dressing up in a great costume if you have to wear a snowsuit over it?

2. My favorite place to celebrate Halloween? Florida. See #1. Hurricanes could be a problem, but snowsuits? Never. Great place for a little princess costume.

3. Jack-o-lanterns. Best place for them? In the North. You can watch them shrink and shrivel into toothless old people after Halloween is over. Not so in Florida where after one night of fun they grow stinky, fast!

4. Remember when you created a costume from old sweaters, bad wigs, or cardboard boxes? Or you bought the cheesy plastic ones at K-Mart? Not anymore. Thanks to Party City or the Internet there is nothing you can't buy! My grandson dressed as a tractor this year. Yep... That's what I said. A tractor. John Deere of course. My daughter found it online. She had planned to make it out of a box, but Costume Express to the rescue!

5. Trunk or Treat--I'm about to upset your candy basket. Just a thought here... trunk or treat is meant as a safe alternative to going door to door in the neighborhood. It is usually done by a community or a church but does anyone get the irony here?
We teach our kids not to take candy from a stranger and not to go up to a stranger's car, and then we take them trick or treating at a stranger's car to get candy. It just seems funny to me.

6. When you get right down to it, Halloween is probably the least safe thing we let kids do (besides play tackle football, but I'm not going there so relax!). First we dress them in costumes that impede their vision and often their movement. At dusk, the hardest time of the day to see pedestrians, we walk up and down the street collecting candy from strangers. We are so concerned by this that we go home and sort through the candy looking for booby-traps and throw out anything suspicious. But...

7. Parents are Involved and that's the key to a happy halloween. Trick or Treat, Trunk or Treat, Candy night at the mall, or a Fall Festival in costume... Having fun with your kids is what Halloween is all about.

8. The Great Pumpkin Trade-off -- A Great Tradition
Last year I witnessed my daughter's family tradition for the first time. After Nicholas went trick or treating he came home with a bag full of candy. Mom and Dad checked it for 'bad stuff' and then Nicholas went through it and sorted out all the candy he didn't like. This candy was left in a bowl for the Great Pumpkin. While Nicholas slept the Great Pumpkin came and took all of his extra unwanted candy to give to boys and girls who needed candy. In return he left Nicholas a small gift. For Nicholas it was a Hot Wheels car, (what else?). What a great way to clear out the junk!

I hope you
A. Had a great halloween
B. Survived Hurricane Sandy/Snowicane Sandy/Tropical Storm Sandy or whatever weather you had to put up with or,
C. Live in Florida where a Halloween costume is always more important than the weather