Newsgroups: misc.kids
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 14:31:25 -0400 
From: Judi Mancuso <jm5p+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Halloween(Chris Whitley)


I have tried to e-mail you, Chris--it keeps bouncing back--sorry I had
to post such a LONG post for everyone to read!
 
Chris--I was attracted to your post at first because I am going crazy
looking for ideas on cute Halloween costumes for my kids.  But,
interestingly, I do have a few suggestions for you--since I have been
down your road a few times.  We give out juice boxes/containers (I
collect whatever is on sale for about a month) to our
trick-or-treaters--so leftovers  are actually nice to have around and 
by the timethe kids and parents to get to our house (at the top of a
hill)they  think it is super.  One problem my husband keeps moaning
about---every year on Nov 1--are the empty containers in our front lawn
(actually, there are probably only a dozen or so!)
A friend of mine does not give out anything edible--she buys little
gifts to give out (she buys them in bulk from Oriental
Traders--1-800-228-2269 to get their Halloween catalog--real cheap
things!) and then saves what she has left for the next year.  Kids love
to go to her house!
As for trick-or-treating---my son was exactly 2 (his birthday is Sept
20) the first Halloween he went out--and it was so wonderful for all of
us.  He loved dressing up--he was a football player--and he just loved
going door to door and having people give him something and talk to him
(in fact the next day he wanted to go around again!).  We spent almost 2
hours walking around visiting--it is a great memory. To this day (he
will be 7 this week), my son just LOVES this holiday and the neighbors
now look forward to his visit--some of them give him special treats.  As
for the chocolate and other  candy those first few years--we were lucky
in that he didn't care about it--he was so exhausted and just talked on
and on about all the neat costumes he saw and all the neighbors and
stuff.  I think we make it such a fun holiday that the candy is
secondary to everything else.  We do love Halloween at our house and it
is so exciting for him, I guess.
My daughter is now 18 months and will officially go trick-or-treating
with us this year.  She slept through the walking last year (although
she was a ballerina).  Since she may not get caught up in the
excitement, the candy may hold some interest for her but she is at an
age where she won't be asking about it every ten minutes once we get it
out her little hands (but, Mom and Dad will have fun eating it! Sigh). 
This year--since Hallowen falls on a Saturday--we are planning to have
an open house for all the trick-or-treaters and their parents.  We are
now planning our decorations and party favors (Oriental Traders is great
for this too--really inexpensive favors for your daughter's little
party) and our son is all caught up in all the plans. So, the focus is
off the candy and on the event itself.
I hope some of my "novel" helped you out.  I am still in search of
Halloween costumes--I had thought of Peter Pan (for my son) and
Tinkerbelle(for my daughter) but my husband doesn't like the idea and my
son wants something more repelling, I guess.....enjoy it all!  Judi  
 
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Newsgroups: misc.kids