For the first time ever, my son–who’s 11 years old now–suggested that he might be a bit tired of Halloween. At first, I was gripped with a fear that he might be getting “too old” for the holiday–until I realized that this didn’t make any sense, considering plenty of adults–myself, included–still love Halloween as much as they ever did, if not more.

I’m not a mother who would force their child to go trick-or-treating just because it happens to be Halloween, and that’s what they’re “supposed” to do. So instead, I had a little chat with my son–and I soon got down to the bottom of his washed-out feeling about the holiday this year.

Last weekend, we spent several hours on Saturday trekking out to a farm in the countryside to visit “Casper’s Castle”–a haunted house, of sorts, for younger people, designed to be fun rather than scary. During this trip, we also went on a hayride, petted (and fed) a bunch of animals at a petty zoo, picked our pumpkins from a pumpkin patch, and had our faces painted with Halloween-y pictures.  This weekend, we drove three or so hours each way to visit Busch Gardens, where we spent the entire day walking through a Halloween-decorated park, fled from actors pretending to be ghouls, ghosts, and other creepy creatures, and went through haunted houses. We then spent most of the day Saturday baking and decorating dozens of cake pops to take to a Halloween party that same evening–for which we had to dress up. Then came Sunday–the day that found us baking up THREE BOXES of chocolate cupcakes for school and work. Then came today–Halloween, itself–for which my son had to dress up in his costume and parade around a quite cold parking lot before enjoying a Halloween party. Then trick-or-treating tonight. *Whew!*

 

I gotta admit, just jotting all that down has left me feeling worn out and exhausted! So I can completely understand why my son was beginning to question his enthusiasm for trick-or-treating this year.

When we try to do too much in too short a period of time, we can be left tired out, unenthusiastic, and perhaps maybe even a little resentful of the holiday we’re supposed to be enjoying. None of us does this on purpose, of course–often, it happens just when we’re trying to make things the most fun for our families. So what’s the solution?

How to Keep Halloween Fun

1. Spread out planned events and activities so no one is overwhelmed

2. Keep the number of  planned events to a reasonable level. Trying to do too much can make a holiday feel like a chore, rather than something to be enjoyed.

3. Get your family’s input on ways they’d like to celebrate the holiday. (Let each person have his or her say–and their way, once in a while.)

4. Stay flexible. If it rains, for example, on the day you planned to take the family our pumpkin-picking, consider rescheduling that festivity for another day, when everyone will be more comfortable.

5. Keep everything in perspective!  Remember, some of your family’s most treasured holiday memories may well come from unexpected sources–you can’t plan everything!