Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Halloween Costumes

Some denominations of Christian churches recognize November 1 as "All Saints Day" or "All Hallows' Day", where the word hallows is derived from hallowed meaning holy. The evening prior, October 31, was "All Hallow's Eve" or shortened to "Hallow E'en", where "E'en" as a contraction means "evening".

The practice of Trick-or-Treat is as separate from a holy day...
as a team of flying reindeer pulling a sleigh with Santa Claus is from the Nativity (both celebrated as Christmas).

Here are some links about Halloween and Trick-or-Treat, which may help answer your question why this exists - http://www.halloweenhistory.org/, http://www.history.com/topics/halloween, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating,
there are many more links, easily found through search engines.

As I posted somewhere else my DD9 is a Jedi Padawan Learner (she said she wasn't old enough to be a knight). It took me two months to make the costume because I am not great with sewing but hey it turned out really well.

The only costume I have ever picked out for her was her first one when she was barely big enough to walk, and I found a lady bug coat costume that was adorable.

After that we went through the Disney princess and Tinkerbell faze but this year she went a completely different direction (or at least I thought so until Disney bought Star Wars). We have been planning this for about a year and buying material when I could find it cheap.

And I was smart enough to make it so most of the parts of the costume could be worn for everyday just mixed and matched. So I didn't waste a whole lot of money on one night. If anyone's kid wants to do this later I can give you some pointers. And Simplicity has a pattern that works really well for the tunic and cloak.

One Harry Potter and one Jason Grace. We are a very literary family for costumes this year. Jason Grace was sick yesterday and will be taking his cell phone and if he gets tired I will go and rescue him. We live in one big circle of a subdivision and my dh would probably drive and pick him up and I would get out and finish us with Harry.

DS1 is sid the science kid, DS2 is snoopy. All DIY -- they don't make Sid costumes, but my 3.5 y.o. was insistent...plus DS2 is only 5 months so his snoopy is just white pants, turtleneck and hat with the ears and tail etc, sewn on. Sid would be super easy except for that ridiculous purple hair....let's just say it took a lot of time (and felt).

One thing of note is that my older DS is definitely a little weird about halloween...he doesn't really like the idea of being something different. even last year, (when he picked out his green crayon costume) he was upset at the end of the day because, and I quote, "I just want to be a little boy again!" similar issues this year...he didn't want DH to put on a wizard hat because "I want you just to be normal because I like you the way you are!" He ended up ok with it in the end,but anyone ever have anything like that come up?

DS6 is an alien of the morph suit variety. DS2 is a T-Rex/dragon looking thing. DS2 was really into his role as a carnivorous creature this morning. I would not surprised if he is written up for biting at daycare today.

Just a reminder to please keep this thread on topic.

Mine went out a while ago...8yo ds is Groucho Marx ready with a joke he made up....why did the pumpkin cross the road? To prove it had guts. Groan. DS10 decided to be Alexander the Great again as his propensity for ruling over everyone and calling the shots seems to also carry over into his costume choice! Following in his father's footsteps for his love of Greek military history.

Shannon L.

Sorry Mark. Mea culpa! Apologies to the OP for the hijack and for any offense I may have caused with my Rob Ford crack.

Oh I need for ds to read that!

We don't really do Halloween here (though when I had an American neighbour he was part of a small circuit). I did have to make yellow trousers last night for some school house competition today. That was enough for me though some of it sounds a lot of fun.