I have to admit… for a long time I kind of hated Halloween. I don’t like being scared. I was acting a ton so I was basically playing dress up for a living and with really nice costumes that I would not be able to make or afford for a one night party. It just was not that fun for me. Then I had kids.

Suddenly, the dressing up part was fun again. I mean, kids in little costumes- pumpkins, various adorable animals, fairies, etc. are freaking adorable and I have no doubt that this year they will be the best part in what is sure to be a social media dumpster fire as we head into the final week before the election. So of course I had a ton of fun dressing up my baby in a Halloween costume. In fact, it was so much fun that for several years my son got an “on his own” costume as well as a family costume. Yes, I fell down the rabbit hole of theming costumes as a family. At first this was just out of sheer nerdy giddiness that my kid didn’t know what was going on and I could make him into a Dragon to go with my Danaerys or as a Hobbit to my ring of power (I was pregnant that year), or the Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia to my Death Star (yeah… pregnant again…) but it became a really fun family tradition, whether we went all out on making homemade costumes or store bought simplicity 

As Halloween approaches again, I’ve been thinking back to  last year’s Halloween post, to remind myself to please SKIP THE MOM GUILT! I’m having a hard time this year because we are still being pretty socially distant and I won’t be venturing to thrift stores or goodwill to make costumes affordable. We are throwing together what costumes we can without spending a fortune, they won’t be perfect, but we are still making family costumes happen.

Why? Especially during one of the most stressful seasons of life I’ve ever encountered? Well… to be honest,  this is probably our last year we’ll get to do this tradition all together. I am getting a taste of needing to let go of more control and accept the fact that my oldest is 6 now and it feels like a miracle that he and his sister agreed on a theme… and of course its a year with no trick or treating… but you know what? We’re going to do it anyway and we are going to make Halloween amazing in our own unique way. We’ll read books about the season and make cute kid crafts that they’d probably be making in school if we were living in normal times. We’ll have our costumes and watch movies and eat treats and MAYBE just maybe… I’ll get to talk everyone into a bonus year of family trick or treating next year.