How to Ensure Your Child Has a Halloween to Remember

Time Magazine recently released the most popular Halloween costumes for 2018. At the top of the list are characters from popular video game Fortnight. Other popular costumes this year include Spider-Man, Wonder Woman and characters from the movie The Incredibles.

Being just a week away from Halloween, I know some of you parents already have the perfect costume picked out for your child. You ordered it weeks ago and now you’re preparing for the perfect photo-worthy moments as your child is trick-or-treating. I also know that some of you parents haven’t even thought about a costume for your child yet, and you are beginning to stress out about it.

Halloween marks the beginning of a long, fun and often stressful holiday season. But parents, I encourage you not to stress about Halloween this year. The point is not for your child to have the perfect costume. Far from it.

A friend of mine shared this Halloween story with me, and I think it’s a great reminder to share with parents this time of year.

When my friend’s now-adult daughter was a little girl, she wanted nothing more than to be a fairy princess for Halloween. She must have been about 7 or 8 at the time.

Her mom pieced her together an outfit out of her leotards from gymnastics and her father went down to his woodshop and put together a wooden “wand” complete with a star on the top. She loved it. She felt beautiful and twirled and pranced around the house.

On Halloween night, the mother and daughter went to a Girl Scout party where all the other little girls would be dressed up and showing off their best costumes. When they got to the party, her mother immediately noticed that the other little girls were princesses, too! But their costumes were not homemade.

They were the nicest money could buy, complete with tutus, flashing battery-powered wands and gossamer wings. She looked down at her daughter, slightly embarrassed and steeled herself to explain. But her daughter didn’t say a word or even notice. She twirled and proudly showed off her outfit and the wand her Daddy had made for her by hand.

Mom realized that it didn’t matter to her daughter that her costume wasn’t as nice as the other girls. What mattered was the love that went into the making of it.

Your children will not remember the store-bought, beautiful things you buy them. That’s not what makes children feel loved and secure. It is the way you make them feel that counts. My friend’s daughter felt loved and cared for by her parents because they listened to what she wanted to be for Halloween, put a costume together and spent time with her by taking her to a party.

Your children will not remember the store-bought, beautiful things you buy them. That’s not what makes children feel loved and secure. It is the way you make them feel that counts.

On Halloween, what will matter most to your child is not whether or not they have the nicest costume, but whether or not you are with them when they’re wearing it.

Parenting is easier than most of us have made it out to be. This Halloween, keep it simple. Don’t stress. Be present with your child. That will mean more to them than all the candy in the world.