As of this week, the top-selling children’s costume on Amazon is the Grim Reaper. I suppose if any year’s most popular costume were to be a Grim Reaper, 2020 makes sense, but please. Let’s give ourselves a break from the scary this Halloween and have some fun instead.
You and your kids have been through a lot. These times are stressful for everybody for different reasons. As the holidays approach, it’s crucial that we focus as much as possible on gratitude, good, truth, and beauty. And this can start with Halloween.
Make Costumes Fun, Not Scary
Instead of the Grim Reaper or other creepy, scary creatures, encourage your child to dress as her favorite hero or heroine, or a character from her favorite T.V. show who spreads positivity. You don’t have to spend a lot of money on your child’s costume. That’s not an option for many of us right now anyway. Don’t stress about that.
One of my favorite Halloween stories is about one of my friend’s now-adult daughter. When she was a little girl, she wanted nothing more than to be a fairy princess for Halloween.
Her mom pieced 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 braced 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 and attention that went into the making of it.
This is what your kids will remember about this Halloween, not how cool or fancy their costumes were, but the love and interest you showed them.