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ladybugs
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 8:52pm | IP Logged
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We do Halloween.
My oldest dd is going as The Witch King from Angmar (she's a LOTR fan!), dd#2 is going as Aphrodite, dd#3 is Queen Sophia of Spain and ds is going to be a motorcycle riding dude.
Thankfully, we live in a wonderful neighborhood and we know all of our neighbors and they know us. They actually look forward to our family coming over and often have "special" treats specifically set aside for my children.
I think because they've been surrounded by so much love, they don't look at it as anything scary....
This year, we're actually going to do more "Day of the Dead" type celebrations as we go into All Saints!
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Maria P
My etsy store - all proceeds go to help my fencing daughters!
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Theresa
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We don't. We attend a harvest party held at our church a few days prior to Halloween. On Halloween we stay home, watch a movie and have popcorn. We also don't pass out candy.
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teachingmom
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 9:14pm | IP Logged
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I forgot to say that lots of people in my area decorate for Halloween. For some reason that just irks me. (Not sure why, and I hope that doesn't offend any of you who might do so.) My children have asked if we could decorate too, but I've avoided it up to now.
Also, I have only bought a few costumes over the years. They were on half price or better clearance at Costco -- you know the nice velour animal ones? We had a bumble bee and a unicorn that year. Other than that, we use things from our dress-up bins or make simple costumes and accessories from fabric. It's pretty easy to do that when the girls often choose characters from books or history.
Although this year, my 11 year old wants to be "Sparkle Girl." That's a totally imaginary character based on the fact that she has a reputation for loving all things sparkley! I need to come up with a shirt, vest, or poncho from sparkley fabric to go with all the other accessories she'll be wearing. 
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~Irene (Mom to 6 girls, ages 7-19)
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LisaR
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 9:18pm | IP Logged
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Molly, I do not think it is fair that you did not share what YOU do!! 
We used to be really anti halloween. we would help to run an All Saints party wherever we lived. However, one year we let the kids go door to door in their Saints costumes and they, and we were hooked!! Since then, we have alternated as to what costumes they wear, saints or non scary costumes. All Saints Day- actually the 3 days- are all celebrated!! I like incorporating the Dia de los Muertes stuff in there too- we might make Mexican Sugar Skulls this year!!
Dr Regis Martin had a good quote about Halloween- or All Saints Eve, and why we should dress up and go door to door- even in the scary costumes- something about mocking death and our fear of it?? I'll have to ask dh...
We will pass out candy. sometimes we pass out all Saints day cards too. Our neighborhood is 85% Catholic- all the Catholic schools around here have All Saints Day Dress up parades as well- which I personally think is very cool!!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
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Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Mare
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| Posted: Oct 19 2007 at 10:25pm | IP Logged
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We go out on Halloween. It was always a fun time for me and my dh when we were kids. We make it fun for our kids too.
We live in a very family friendly neighborhood. It's a great time for all the neighbors to come outside and talk with everyone. I think Dawn's response sums up the essence of our Halloween.
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LisaR
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I too, HIGHLY DISLIKE most of the decorations out there for Halloween.. However, I do like autumnesque decorations, pumpkins, gourds, etc.
but then again, all the Christmas stuff is up now in the stores, etc., and I am already thinking it all looks so junky and trashy! what a mockery of His birth!
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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Angie Mc
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cactus mouse wrote:
Yes, 'cause it is fun, and it is one of dh's favorites.
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Us too. We decorate with some Halloween stuff the morning of...dh and the children go trick or treating around the neighborhood at night...I stay home with littles and hand out candy. Sometimes we have friends join us for cider and protein (before the big sugar surge.) First thing in the morning, we take down the decorations. That's it...no more, no less  .
When I moved to AZ 3 years ago, I couldn't understand why Halloween was the most decorated holiday. October 1st, the first decorations go up...it was a little concerning at first. This year I finally figured out that right around Oct. 1, the heat FINALLY lets up here and I think folks are just so happy to be outside that they decorate galore...but I digress 
Love,
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Angie Mc
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Angie Mc
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Oh...and we do scary costumes when the children get older and have a desire but limit them to the classics...ghosts, skeletons,...no gore for mom's sake  .
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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chicken lady
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| Posted: Oct 20 2007 at 8:55am | IP Logged
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LisaR wrote:
Molly, I do not think it is fair that you did not share what YOU do!!
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Picked up on that hey Lisa I am being mysterious
Regis and MArk Miravalli have great talks available about celebrating Halloween. It is a Catholic Holy Day! I just like hearing others reasoning, I personally love All Hallows Eve. We attend Mass, have an All Saints day party in the church hall, then go Trick or Treating. We only dress as Saints, albeit a few years they have been some of the lesser known Saints. ie only known to God, because we found a really cool Oriental dress at the Mission (local thrift shop). Then I take all the candy, make my dc hand over all the Reeses peanutbutter cups and give them the licorice Ok not really, but I do take the Reeses Our dentist told me to let them just each eat all, as it is better for the teeth to have the sugar all at once, as opposed to some each day!
Interesting how my dh's like this Holy DAy, it is one of my dh's least favorites. He "lets" us do it, but he would perfer if we only attended MAss and had a bonfire or party here. I say no way I am goingfor the free Reeses
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LisaR
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you know, something that IS sad to me, is that in the secular world, Halloween, and really all holidays- have spun out of control. You know, not to be one of those "back when I was a kid" type of mom
but remember when candy was a HUGE deal, and was cherished and treasured?? We'd make that Halloween candy last til Christmas, then the Christmas goodies last all season, and so on...
Now, it seems like most kids eat candy all the time. I think that is one of the reasons that the adults now spend way too much on elaborate costumes and blow up yard decorations. Candy is not a "WOW" factor anymore.
well, it is for my kids, and I know for all of you on here, but just yearning for more simpler times....
anyone have a good source for the sugar skull molds/recipie and or mix???
lisa
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Lisa
dh Tim '92
Joseph 17
Paul 14
Thomas 11
Dominic 8
Maria Gianna 5
Isaac Vincent 9/21/10! and...
many little saints in heaven!
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dollylima
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My son's Halloween candy usually lasts until I throw it out at Easter. :-) We go to a friend's house for a party every year and do some limited Trick-Or-Treating (if he gets ten pieces of candy he still thinks he has hit the jackpot!), the children play games and just enjoy being together "on a school night" and the adults socialize and answer the door and hand out candy. We leave a basket on our front porch at home, but it is almost always still full when we arrive home after the party because there are not many children in our neighborhood, the houses are not close together and there are no sidewalks.
We also celebrate All Saints with a church pageant and Mass (My son will be St Francis of Assisi this year, last year he was St. Michael the Archangel...despite the fact that the CCD teacher insisted there was no such Saint), but then he dressed up as St. Michael the Archangel pretty much every day that fall. This year, St Francis is the "best Saint ever", so I will be sewing a very simple costume in the next few days. He wanted me to cut his hair "like St. Francis's" but I had to draw the line there.
We also make sugar skulls for the Mexican Day of the Dead. I love making these because they are so colorful, but they are PURE SUGAR and even my son, who oooohs and ahhhhhs at them while we are making them, can't stand to take more than one bite because they are just too too sugary sweet. I think that this year we will also visit a cemetary and do a little bit of leaf clean-up, and spend some time talking about family members who have gone on before us and how they still touch our lives.
We do decorate inside with gourds and other things from nature, and we hang a flag from the front porch with some friendly-looking spiders on it. We don't decorate with anything gory or evil looking, and like many of you, we don't do the gory or evil costumes.
I have been troubled by the attitude with which some children come to the door. Some other neighborhoods actually drive their kids to the neighborhood where the party is because there are a lot of houses and the kids sometimes come to the door in a manner that is really quite demanding and greedy...Basically, the idea is "get as much candy as you can".
I gently address each child (or adolescent, as sometimes they come around when they look way too old to be doing so IMO) and ask them what it is they are dressed as, or offer a compliment about their costume, to make the interaction about more than just them demanding candy or my tossing candy in a bag and them running off to get more more more. I also don't allow them to just grab it from the bowl.
I got the sugar skull molds from a website...www.hearthsong.com
If you want to stock up for next year, they go on sale after the holiday every year. :-)
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Heather
instantkiwi
Wife to Tim
Mama to Ian 2/27/00
Mama to MaryElise 7/22/08
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donnalynn
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We have always done more of a "homemade" Halloween - very similar to what others have already said.
I like to whisk away every Halloween related item before morning - it just doesn't seem right to have Halloween things hanging around on All Saints Day and it drives me crazy when I see Halloween decorations up well into December!
But my thirteen year-old she really wants to do something *scary*. She wants to go on a "Haunted Hayride" but they seem too much about gore. So instead we are working on an Eerie Evening with Edgar Allen Poe. She is reading some tales ahead of time and I have ordered "The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection 5 CD set" that I found at the online store, here. It is narrated by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone. I'm thinking about a movie - but we'll see. I should make a separate Rabbit Trail Post - that's what we are on right now! I haven't ironed out all the details so any suggestions would be welcome.
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MaryM
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chicken lady wrote:
| I say no way I am goingfor the free Reeses |
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Me too!
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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Angie Mc
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donnalynn wrote:
| So instead we are working on an Eerie Evening with Edgar Allen Poe. She is reading some tales ahead of time and I have ordered "The Edgar Allan Poe Audio Collection 5 CD set" that I found at the online store, here. It is narrated by Vincent Price and Basil Rathbone. I'm thinking about a movie - but we'll see. I should make a separate Rabbit Trail Post - that's what we are on right now! I haven't ironed out all the details so any suggestions would be welcome. |
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Please do! I'll add some movie suggestions there:).
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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JuliaT
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we, too, have angonized over this decision. When my oldest was 3, we decided to take part in Hallowe'en. This has caused some dissension in our church. I think we are the only ones that do participate in Hallowe'en in our church. We do not do the scary thing. Hallowe'en is just a time for fun.
This year, though, my oldest has decided that she doesn't want to go out for Hallowe'en this year. She has asked to have a party at home so she can dress up. She has also asked for a special treat (not necessarily candy.) We will hand out candy, though. My dd is looking forward to that.
Julia
mom of 3(8,6,4)
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Elena
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We emphasize All Saints Day, and make All Hallows Eve, or Halloween fit in with that. My children dress as saints. Sometimes our homeschool group has had a party sometimes the church has. If neither of them do, then I try to find some otherway to celebrate that does not concentrate on the scary evil aspects, because this is not supposed to be an evil holiday!
This year, my mother's retirement home is having a Halloween brunch next Saturday. We will go to the brunch and then trick or treat at all of the resident's homes. It's all indoors and that will be nice for us too!
As it works out, our stillborn baby was born on All Saints Day, so that day we really do go to the cemetery and decorate his little grave, and if it is nice we usually bring balloons and have cake too! In other parts of the world it is a tradition to have a feast at the cemetery on the fest of all souls day which is November 2.
I've blogged a lot about that too. Here are some of my articles and some pictures of the costumes we have done in the past.
Praying for the Dead
All Saints/All Souls
All Saints Day
All Saints 2007
All Saints 2002
All Saints 2005
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Elena
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My Domestic Church
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Martha
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We do! We do! We do!
I LOVE Halloween!
Here's what I wrote about it last year.
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Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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chicken lady
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Great pieces Elena! Is that a picture of your house on your blog? Way cool
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organiclilac
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We've been pretty picky about what we allow for Halloween, but we are trying to loosen up a bit. I really liked this article. (If someone already posted this one and I missed it, I apologize!)
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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SuzanneG
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MaryM wrote:
chicken lady wrote:
| I say no way I am goingfor the free Reeses |
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Me too! |
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Yeah, baby! All the Reeses are for mom and dad! They can have the rest...WE get the Reeses!
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Suzanne in ID
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Mom of 7 (Girls - 14, 12, 11, 9, 7 and Boys - 4, 1)
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Halloween Yes or No?
