Happy Saturday, friends! I'm glad you're here today to talk about fall and Halloween traditions. Do you have anything that you still do, even though you may be in a different phase of life now that your kids are grown? Or some of you still have littles at home, so how do you celebrate this time of year? I'm excited to hear from you.
Now that my sons are grown, I used to stay at home on this night and hand out candy. Because of the dogs and their aversion to people in costumes being on the front porch and ringing the bell, I used to sit in the driveway to do this each year. It was always fun to get to see neighbors outside doing the same, since we're all in similar life phases. I won't be doing that this year, though, and even if I were going to be at home, I would have made plans to be out of my house on that night. This year that's the day that I leave to go to Colorado; this is the trip that got postponed earlier this month. The night we get there is when my niece has her annual Halloween party, so I'm excited to get to go this year! I'm thinking of costume ideas...
This reminds me of when my boys were young. We've always done this kind of thing on Halloween each year, and I think it was my sister Lisa that started the tradition, though it changed over the years from her house to mine as my kids got older and wanted to trick-or-treat here with their friends. We would always get together and have a yummy dinner, then some of us would stay at home to hand out candy, and some of us would go with the kids to trick-or-treat. Those were the days! When I started hosting it, it became the night I made a big stockpot full of soup. A few of us would leave to walk with my boys as they collected copious amounts of candy.
(Chicken tortilla soup was always a favorite!)
These were a few of my favorite costumes of their from years past. Some were bought, some were borrowed, most of them were made.
Additionally each year, we loved going to a local pumpkin patch with friends. We happened upon that one year when we saw signs for it, and we went back a couple of weekends later better prepared. You could "rent" a fire pit and take your own food to cover over the flames. We always took hot dogs with all the fixings, and marshmallows for s'mores. The kids would play the games they had set up, and would run around on their playground, then when it got dark, we would take a hayride back to the pumpkin patch to pick out our pumpkins to bring home. After several years of doing this, others caught wind, and it eventually became a zoo, so we stopped going. I looked back on pictures for this, but the quality of them was terrible. This was the only decent one I could find.
The first year we did this, Jonah and Noah were four. We probably did this for eight years in a row; the older the boys got, the less they wanted to do things like this and the more they wanted to do new and fun things with their friends.
What do you like to do every year at this time? Are you still celebrating the best of year in any way? I've continued in my love for pumpkin patches and have been to a couple in Colorado when I visit my family there. It's been fun celebrating with my great nieces now that my sons are all grown! I'm excited to hear from you today! If I don't have many that link up today, I'll probably stop this from being a link party next month and will just continue on my own. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!
That pumpkin patch night sounds like so much fun; we never really did anything with pumpkin patches.
ReplyDeleteIt was so much fun for that time in our life! We had friends that went with us every year, and really, they were the ones that made it so special. For years we would get together with them on weekends, so our kids all kind of grew up together.
DeleteFor sure traditions change; Halloween is such a quintessential kid holiday that it is bound to look different when kids are older. Your traditions look fun and I am sure the boys look back fondly at the Halloweens of their youth. Colorado in late October? Do you have room for me in your suitcase?!?
ReplyDeleteIt does! Thanks for that. I hope they do! I'm really excited to go late in October; I haven't ever been that late in the year, so I'm excited about the weather.
DeleteWe have a short street and people don't waste their time on it so I would leave a bowl of candy and all four of us walked. we had built in friends for our kids (each other) as you know so no need for more, really. also, our town always does the 31st and it is often a school night - so dumb. we have chili and more recently mummy dogs, too.
ReplyDeletei have a really inappropriate costume idea for you that i might text you.
Chili is the best on that night, and I love the mummy dog idea! I LOVED your inappropriate costume idea!
DeleteWe will still hand out candy, but it seems like there are fewer and fewer kids out trick or treating. Maybe they go to parties or church events? I really miss the era when the kids were little and even the teen years. It seemed we always ended up with friends at the house, and it was such a fun time. I like the idea of sitting on the driveway. We might try that again. I did that with a neighbor in one of our old houses. Hope you have a good weekend.
ReplyDeleteIt does seem like that every year, doesn't it? I loved it when all the friends would end up here. It would always start with just my boys, but their friends always ended up here. You should do that, it's a great chance to talk to the neighbors! I have you have a great one as well, my friend.
DeleteYour Halloween plans in Colorado sound delightful! We don’t get a lot of trick or treaters on our street, so we’ve always gone to our son’s house when his kiddos were young and now go to our daughters (their kiddos range from 3-10). We are supposed to hit a record high tomorrow (close to 100 so pool time ), but a high of 79 on Wednesdays. Prayers for safe travels!
ReplyDeleteThat Elf costume is spot on! I love the memories, but glad we are both doing something new this year for Halloween.
ReplyDeleteI love fall. Have so many fun memories of my girls in their Halloween costumes. How precious your babies look in all of theirs. The best ones, in my estimation, are the homemade ones.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great pumpkin patch you guys have to be able to rent firepits and take food to grill. It is always so hot here when we go to the corn maze and pumpkin patch!! And I always want to get the family to pose for pictures among the pumpkins and they all yell at me!!
I try to make a fall bucket list every year. Linking that post up with you. Now to get busy checking things off my list.
Hello! I so enjoyed seeing and hearing about your Halloween memories. Our memories are similar. We lived in a rural area, so I remember piling the kids into the van, Steve driving and I rode along to help with candy buckets and costume mishaps. I literally remember each year feeling a sense of melancholy knowing that it was one year closer to not doing it anymore. Well, my kids still dress up and we have a costume party at home! Happy Halloween!
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