Next Monday is Halloween, which for many of us means streams of cute children knocking on our front doors.
Love it or hate it; it’s hard to avoid it. So the discussion topic for this week is:
How do you handle this difficult holiday?
As it’s Whiny Wednesday, there’s room for your gripes here, too.
I almost find Halloween harder than Christmas, as a face painter I would love to be able to dress up my own child and paint their face… I am having my third op for endometriosis – the reason of my childlessness- this Halloween too so expecting to be a hormonal mess on monday eve. However I have good people in my life who share their kids with me so lucky enough get to spend time with lots of little people..but its still hard.
My husband and I started our own “Halloween Tradition”. We get dressed up and go out to a nice restaurant. They are empty on Halloween because all the parents are home running from door to door. We have a good laugh that we were able to “Rent out the restaurant” for the evening. Seriously, last year there was only two other couples in the restaurant – it’s awesome. We stay for hours, sit, chat and enjoy each others company. Yes, some may say it’s sad that we get to go, but I try and look at the positive side (which I don’t often do!!) and say, – hey, there’s a great meal, drinks, and dessert ahead of me tonight… let me try and enjoy it without a 1,000 people around. — And just in case you are wondering there would be no way I could stay at home and answer the door to sweet adorable children, it would break my heart. – So bring on the food!!!
This is a great idea! Thank you!!! Halloween is the hardest day of the year for me. Starting a new tradition might help.
My husbands birthday is on Halloween so I try to focus on him. Its tuff because he is not a huge fan of Halloween, he doesn’t like to dress up or be silly, but I can’t help but think that if we had kids he would be all into and and we would dress up, do the pumpkin patch thing, have a big party, etc, etc. it makes me sad.
Magnolia, sometimes our what-ifs can make us sad. It is quite possible that he may have been equally not into Halloween even if you had kids. I had my last infertility treatment result 4 years ago on Oct 18. It’s still painful. My family doesn’t understand. Just yesterday my mother posted a meme on Facebook that said “children are a gift from God, can I get an amen!” Halloween doesn’t bother me as much this year because I re-joined a social running club that is adults only and we party the living daylights out of Halloween. I hope you can find a way to get through the occasion this year without too much sadness.
I’m usually alright with Halloween, I just ignore it, but I have just this minute endured an afternoon of two colleagues talking about their young kids’ costumes (“always Elsa from Frozen”, hahaha hilarious) and their friends’ kids’ costumes ad nauseum and have to admit I feel a bit churlish. I think I just feel a bit like a freak, being a 40+ married woman who never joins in the kid conversations. It doesn’t upset me but it makes me feel awkard. i don’t know. As for trick or treaters, I’m “lucky” enough to live in a rough bit of the inner city and I have never had any, thank god. I used to turn all the lights off when I lived in the UK. I think these things are much harder to avoid in the U.S.
I usually try to work late so I don’t have to be home for the trick or treaters. My husband doesn’t mind it and loves handing out candy to them so works better for me. I’m that crazy dog lady that will put my dog in a costume or halloween sweater.
I love Halloween, but honestly, it’s the scary, gothic, dark, more adult side that I love. Some years we find something to do and it is always something adult. My sister used to live in Salem, MA which is a blast for Halloween. One year she and I did Sleepy Hollow and their activities (less fun). I also know a lot of adults who have parties.
I am fortunate that I rent in an apartment complex that does trunk or treat the weekend before, so no kids at my door. Our vacation community does the same because they don’t want kids traipsing through the woods to trick or treat, so again no kids at my door. Our vacation community does a Halloween party the weekend before, but after a certain time it flips to adult only. I keep promising myself we will go then.
All that said, if I had been able to have a child, I would’ve gone all out for Halloween with him/her. Actually, if I had a child, he/she would probably have wound up hating Halloween or not wanting anything to do with embarrassing me on the holiday. I do dress up the dog and buy spooky t-shirts for my partner and I and his kids, who are never with us on Halloween.
This weeks whine an the one from last week make me feel happy living in Germany (not that I’m ever unhappy with this fact, but it points it out) – Baby showers doesn’t exist, and Halloween has no tradition. In our street there are one or two groups of children aged about 7 to 10 coming around – last year no one came, the year before just one group. As its no holiday, I come home from work, and later on quit for my evening program – if there are some kids just coming in this small time range, its ok for me. The cute little ones either don’t come around here, or are earlier in the afternoon, when I’m not yet at home.
Halloween used to be my favorite holiday. We’d decorate the house more than at christmastime! We always had pumpkin carving parties. I’d dress up to hand out candy. I so looked forward to the day I’d have kids to dress up, bring to the pumpkin patch, etc. I had even bought a couple cute Halloween costumes for babies, because I just couldn’t pass them up. Then 5 years ago I decided to stop – no more decorations, I kept the light off, and we decided we’d rather watch horror movies and cuddle up in the dark with hot cider. I don’t like this holiday any more, it’s worse than Christmas for me. But it’s fun watching movies that I couldn’t watch if I had kids!
Love giving treats to the little ones…when I worked I dressed up & won best costume many times…sometimes I participate in a Trunk or Treat & pass out candy or go with a friend who has a child to help them out.
Once even borrow a child & dressed her up & took her to a Halloween party.
I may be childless but not without a child!