Halloween

When I was a kid growing up in the suburbs with the same neighbors for years and years in some of the houses, Halloween was basically a block party where you got to dress up and little kids got to stay up until midnight and older kids got to stay out later. And then the world changed, and that mostly doesn't exist anymore and didn't for my kids either.

We did the mall trick or treat thing once. I hated it.

I tried hard to find a kid-appropriate Halloween party on the 31st of October and a lot of years we went to a Halloween party instead of trick or treating. Halloween candy goes on sale the day after Halloween, so my kids got to pick out whatever candy they wanted the next day and I paid half price instead of buying a bunch of candy for strangers and then throwing out half the weird stuff my kids collected.

My kids were thrilled to go along with that. They had gone trick or treating a few times and it was usually not a great experience.

So costume party plus pick your own candy on November first was a win-win solution making mom and kids happy.

Sometimes, the school held a party. Once, a skating rink held a party.

And don't forget to roast the pumpkin seeds if you make Jack-o'-lanterns.