I Didn’t Trick-or-Treat as a Kid

Halloween holds a special place in my family’s heart. We enjoy all the spooky decorations, costumes, movies, and, of course, candy. However, I have not always celebrated Halloween.

When I was growing up, my family lived in the deep south of the US, which is well-known for being religious and conservative. The church we went to believed that Halloween was a satanic and occult holiday that should be avoided. My siblings and I never went trick-or-treating or dressed up on the most evil day of the year. For many years, my parents didn’t even hand out candy. Once we got to know some other kids in the neighborhood, they eventually did hand out religious-themed bags of gross, 90’s organic “candy.” My siblings and I watched a movie in another room instead.

Fast-forward to college, and I started to really enjoy Halloween. There were events, haunted houses, and fun to be had everywhere. It was a blast! However, I still felt like something was missing. When my wife and I bought our house, we handed out candy like everyone else and had fun doing it. A few years later, when our daughter was born, I realized what I had been missing: trick-or-treating! As much as we had done with Halloween over the years since college, I had STILL never gone trick-or-treating. My wife, who already knew this was what I had been missing, graciously allowed me to take our daughter around our neighborhood first so I could experience it with her myself. My daughter was old enough to have fun but young enough that she didn’t want the candy, and I could have it myself.

Unlocking what had been missing opened an entirely new appreciation for the holiday for me. After that year, when I started making things more often, I started making some Halloween decorations. Now, there is a very long list of Halloween-themed projects that I want to tackle each year and run out of time for. It makes the anticipation of Halloween all the better for us, and there is always something fun to do and now make every year.

I hope you have a fantastic Halloween this year and get some ideas for what to make for next year’s Halloween.