Halloween: taking it to the streets

Halloween will never be the same. I know a lot of parents get their little ones out trick-or-treating as soon as they can walk, but in our house, things are different; or should I say things were different. Not to say anything is good or bad, but I think we always figured what’s the rush? The girls will have plenty of Halloweens to get cracked out on candy, so why rush into it? It wasn’t until this year that Keana even asked about trick-or-treating, so I think our timing was fine. We always had fun carving pumpkins and making Halloween music videos to Michael Jackson’s Thriller, but this proved to be the year to step things up.

I came home from work not knowing what to expect. Sarah had been trying to see what Keana wanted to do all week, but the concept of Halloween was still a little vague for her I think. As we debated what to do, we just asked Keana if she felt like trick-or-treating. She replied, “Is today Halloween?” and once we said yes, she lit up and went about busying herself with getting dressed up. Sarah had already gotten together a princess outfit, but of course Keana wanted to dress herself. Needless to say the white, men’s undershirt she chose for the dress had to be supplemented a little, but it was clear we weren’t winning any costume battles. This girl had been dressing herself up since she was one and it wasn’t going to change now, especially not on Halloween!

The funny part was Sarah and I didn’t know what to do. Should we dress up? Is it not fun to be plain-clothed, or is it better to just dress normal and not to be the lame, half-assed-costumed parents? Keana seemed to think we should all dress up, so we went scraping around for something halfway decent. I decided to be a cowboy, but once Keana saw that cowboy hat, she had to have it. With that, the princess thing was kind of out the door and my option was gone. Sarah couldn’t decide, so we opted out of the costume, leaving the limelight where it belonged- on Keana. And of course, through all this, poor little Maia was left out. To be fair though, she didn’t show much interest and Keana didn’t dress up her first Halloween either, so she wasn’t exactly left out.

Anyway, as we’re getting things ready, the group of little neighborhood kids come to our door and we pass out candy and jump on the wagon. Keana wasn’t quite ready, and having no cowboy boots, she decided any boots would do, so she slipped on her pink, kitty-faced rain boots. Pretty awesome. I throw Maia in the sling, grab the camera and flashlight, and follow Sarah and Keana out the door.

Overall it was pretty fun and Keana seemed to really enjoy it. She was a little shy ringing doorbells and saying trick-or-treat, but she was so excited and had so much fun. We were really glad that we ended up going out and it was another example of how your kids will let you know when they’re ready for something new, and you better be ready to jump to when it happens.

Of course there had to be a little exploration into the night’s spoils when we got home, but it was really fun to see her face light up at her first Snickers bar. Even though we’ve heavily moderated the sweets in Keana’s life so far, there’s something truly delightful about how a kid’s face lights up when that sweet, savory, sugary goodness hits the taste buds.