What we do.

I don't like Halloween. It has never been a favorite of mine. I have several friends who go all out and love the day. Not me.
I grew up in a house with the belief that Halloween and everything dealing with it was bad. I agree with the majority of this, based on the origins of the holiday and such. I would prefer to pretend the entire day just didn't exist.
I also don't personally like the idea of scaring little kids. I don't like to be scared and I generally wan tot punch someone who makes my kids feel that way.
On the other end of that scale, I remember quite clearly how it felt to sit in the hallway outside my 4th grade classroom and do nothing ever day for a week because my class was watching a movie I wasn't allowed to watch.
I remember sitting in the classroom with no costume, while everyone else was dressed up. I remember the years of leaving school early, before the party started. That sucked.
So now I am the mom. Lonnie and I had to decide what to do about the whole thing. I think the idea of sending kids door to door begging is ridiculous. But my children LOVE to dress up. We realized when Wy was in preschool that if he found out that everyone got to wear a costume to school and not him, he would hate that. This is the kid who likes to have dress up parties for his birthday. In March.
So we let him. We have decided that our children are allowed to attend the parties at their schools. They are allowed to dress up for these. This has caused some interesting conversations in our families over the past few years, as everyone has a slightly different opinion on how the entire thing should be handled. This is what works for us.
We, however do not trick or treat. As a family, we go out and everyone picks their favorite candy. Then we come home and have a pj party with movies and the kids stay up too late and have a great time.
This year will be a little different, as Lonnie will be out of town all that week and will be getting back into town that night, but it should still be fun.
This was also the first year we have had to buy costumes, as they have always just worn dress up clothes they already had. I feel like I just got robbed. Wyatt id Batman, again, but a different one, Rylee is Tinker Bell, and Tyler, who doesn't have a class to go to, but won't be left out, is a knight, or spiderman, whichever he chooses, as he has both. They are all really cute, and I am sure we will be seeing much more of these costumes oer the next year or so.