A Not So Scary Halloween {The Ordinary Moments #38}

A not so scary halloween

If you follow me on instagram you will probably already know that I don’t much like Halloween. Not in the passionate way where I stand my ground over the commercialisation of it,or the strange notion we are teaching our children of knocking on doors of strangers asking for sweets bit, or even the fact that due to having an allergy child these kind of holidays that are inevitably centered around food always feel stressful and can easily single her out as different. It isn’t really any of that but the simple fact that I find it all too scary.

Each and every year as Halloween creeps more and more into our calendar of events and more and more people get into the spirit of it, so do the shops, the big brands and the adverts splayed everywhere. Even social media, which is mostly a safe and happy place for me, would bring me out in palpitations should I come across the apparent insides of someones face or things even more awful. More and more it means that the scary, the gruesome and the freaky become the norm and despite collecting point horror books when I was a child (anyone else remember them? I think I had the whole collection by the time I was 10) despite that, I am now a big softy who would choose a happy ever after every time and it all scares me a little.

As does the fact you literally cannot get away from it. I don’t know where exactly it comes from or when it got as bad as it is now but I am afraid of masks, of anything that covers the face of the person underneath and it can instantly put me on edge, I am not even really great with dressed up characters or masquerade balls! And it seems Roma is too as even a simple supermarket shop made her cry as we inadvertently passed through the seasonal aisle to be greeted by rubber masks of life like animals. Seriously though I cannot think of anything worse than walking down the street in the dark and not knowing who I am going to be faced with, or not face come to think of it. It doesn’t matter that usually behind that mask lies the face of a cute smiley child I just cannot overcome it and this year I noticed so much more. I felt like I spent the whole time sheltering the children, telling them it was ok and praying for the countdown to Christmas to begin….the beard of Father Christmas I can get on board with!

So anyway rant over but safe to say I find it all a bit scary and I would rather not celebrate it at all, not that I really know what it is there is to celebrate? However with a school age child and, well any child I guess, there comes a point of them missing out and so although there are boundaries (like no masks) I pulled up my big girl pants this year and tried my best to get into the spirit, in a not so scary kind of way.

We didn’t visit a pumpkin patch this year like we did last year but after purchasing some from the supermarket we set about decorating them rather than carving. I did attempt to get my pinterest mum back out again (she’s been dormant for a good while) and use wax crayons we had hanging around to make them awesome rainbow pumpkins you see where you melt it with a hairdryer and it all drips down the sides. They look super easy and effective right? Wrong! It was almost comical the mess that it made as I tried to warm them up on top of the pumpkin with the hairdryer. They either didn’t melt at all or got caught in a gust of air and went flying half melted across the room!! When it worked it did look great but I will be honest it made a terrible terrible mess with melted wax crayons literally EVERYWHERE, I had to laugh about it but we most definitely won’t be doing it again!

Therefore for the children they opted to paint them and they had such an amazing time doing it. Eva put so much thought into her design it was lovely to see and Roma showed how far she has come with painting as she was so precise and delicate. We displayed them all on the drive and they were both so proud of their little creations. In fact, 4 days later and they are still in the hall as they cannot bare to part with them to the bin!

Eva also had a school disco that I took her too, dressed as a lovely little witch in a tutu and I scarpered when zombies and all sorts appeared. Eddy then took that same little witch trick or treating around where we live. I was quietly thankful that Roma was too tired after nursery school to go which meant I got to stay indoors with a sign out with a bowl of sweets asking not to knock! Eva had a lovely time though, she only approached houses with a lit pumpkin or decorations (an unwritten rule right?) She said her please and thank you’s and had a sweet when she got home whilst telling me all about who she had seen and the decorations before putting the rest in her tin for another day.

I know that it is these little moments in childhood that make it magic, and I will continue to give them that. But I also know that we all make our own fun, our own rules and traditions as families, to instill our own beliefs and thoughts into it too. For me, no matter what Halloween begins to look like for everyone else, we will always have a not so scary Halloween.

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Linking with Donna What the Redhead said for the Ordinary Moments

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5 Comments

  1. November 5, 2017 / 12:28 pm

    I do sort of get where you’re coming from with Halloween lovely! Although for me it’s something about the knocking on sgtrangers doors for sweets that unnerves me. The kids love it though! That’s such a cool idea with the pumpkins and the hairdryer, wish I’d thought of that! xo #ordinarymoments

    • November 5, 2017 / 10:30 pm

      Yes the children do enjoy it I guess that’s why I keep doing it! Although the pumpkin thing I will not be attempting again!

  2. November 5, 2017 / 6:03 pm

    This year was the first year we really got into Halloween and trick or treating and the reason is because we have moved to a small village. They go big for Halloween here! We had a party at our friends house before setting off trick or treating and thankfully at least one of us in the group knew the people in the house that we were knocking on. It’s a love safe environment and the girls loved it. And yes the lit pumpkin outside was the rule for us too x #theordinarymoments

  3. November 7, 2017 / 7:03 pm

    We don’t ‘do’ Halloween either – I’d rather have nothing to do with it so your reasoning makes complete sense to me but, like you, the children get dressed up, we decorate pumpkins and have fun around it – but with none of the spooky-ness. Your pumpkins look ace! x

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