In the Blink of an Eye Halloween Changed

For as long as we have had children, my husband and I have had the same routine on Halloween. I stay in and hand out candy. He takes the kids trick-or-treating. We have had minor variations in the years the baby or toddler stayed home with me, but for the most part our Halloween does not change.

My kids love trick-or-treating with Daddy...he's the fun one, of course. Daddy takes them to every single house even though the houses are not close together. Mommy is a meanie and makes the kids wear turtleneck sweaters AND hooded sweatshirts underneath flowing Princess gowns. Horrors! In my defense it was cold that year and perhaps I did chuckle a little at my pair of linebacker-like Tinkerbells! 

This year our plans went in to a tailspin. My teen who has shown little interest in trick-or-treating in years past, was invited to a Halloween party at our neighbor's house. The party was a -- gulp -- boy and girl party. Wait, where did the time go? Wasn't she just wearing her Winnie the Pooh costume and carrying an enormous plastic pumpkin? No, the teeny tiny little thing is now old enough to decide that she didn't want us to spend money on a costume. Nope, all she needed was a hat to go with her sailor's outfit. I could hear the screeching from the party as the boys and girls chased each other around the yard. They may be teens, but they are still little kids to me.

With the teen set to go to a party, my husband planned to go trick-or-treating with the preteen and the kid. But, wait the preteen came home with an invitation to a Halloween party. Oh no, two kids going trick-or-treating elsewhere. What about the kid? What about our cozy, "we do the same thing every year" Halloween tradition?

So began my worry session about my kid's Halloween night experience. I was worried he would be sad trick-or-treating without either of his sisters. My husband told me not to worry. He assured me our son would love trick-or-treating with him. Because of course, he is the fun one. Mommy would probably require him to wear a raincoat over his G.I. Joe Snake Eyes costume.

I contemplated inviting a friend over to trick-or-treat with my husband and son. But, how would that work if the family I called had more than one kid. Commence worrying, handwringing, and overall stressing out about Halloween. I told you I could suck the fun out of anything!

The logistics were proving to be too cumbersome. My husband insisted that the two of them would be just fine trick-or-treating alone. Both set off in the rain without a raincoat or an umbrella. Both returned happy and in the case of my son with a plastic pumpkin full of loot.

I think I have another couple of years before my son will want to go out with anyone, but his dad. He's only 6, when all is said and done.

When not fretting over this and worrying over that, Jill blogs at Musings.