Halloween Party

So Halloween is just around the corner (16 days and counting) and my town's official stance is they are posting hours and it is up to individuals to determine if they want to participate.  So yep that is pretty standard since even pre-COVID it was up to individuals to decide if they wanted to participate.

I was kind of bummed because I don't like Halloween, I don't like taking my kids out and I don't like handing out candy, so I was really hoping that the town could be my fall guy.  But no we are going to have make a grown up decision about what we are going to do, the HORRORS! (BTW that is sarcasm in case you didn't pick up on that).  

My kids go to school and they wear masks, and quite frankly I am ok with that.  There are certainly extenuating circumstances that influenced our decision to just say no this year, even though I think it is perfectly fine to go out.  I don't feel that families that participate this year are doing anything wrong, and if it weren't for those issues we would be there too.  I am honestly glad that town is treating us like adults and giving us the option to do what is right for our family, and that is certainly going to mean that some families don't participate and some will.  And I think that should be celebrated.

I would want anyone to stop and think before they criticize a family for not participating because you 'know them and they are healthy', remember that you probably only see the highlight reel of their family.  That family may not want to disclose their health issues, so a seemingly healthy person could be in a compromised state.  You also don't know if a family is expecting to visit or receive a visit from family members that need to take extra precautions.

I like to think the best of everyone (even if I don't always success in this endeavor), so if I see a family that I think is 'healthy' I will assume that they are taking precautions so that they can visit a loved one, not that they are worried about themselves per se.  Or I will think that this person might have health issues that I don't know about and I don't want to pressure them to disclose something they want to keep private nor do I want them to feel guilty for their choice.

This is a stressful time and we all have different comfort levels with risk and we need to respect that.  If your risk tolerance is low then yes you are likely going to be missing out on some opportunities but you will be gaining some level of sanity. For those with higher risk tolerance they may be doing more things out, but that doesn't mean that they are bad people or doing something wrong, and their gain will be some sanity because they need to be out.  

There needs to be a better balance, and how we achieve that is tricky and messy, and it won't look the same from place to place or family to family. There is no one size fits all approach and I have found that regardless of which way you come at this the more dictatorial you are the less receptive people become and just want to rebel.

So long story short I went back to my frenemy Pinterest, and came up with some ideas for our own little family party. We will watch some Halloween themed movies from Charlie Brown's Great Pumpkin, and possibly some Scooby Doo and Alvin and the Chipmunks.  Have some silly food, I don't need to do a ton for our family of 4 and I am gearing it mostly to snack and dinner foods, not necessarily an all day affair.  We will do an Easter Bunny inspired candy hunt inside as well.  I had tried to take a bunch of our old Christmas lights and make a string of all orange but we have so many different styles that when I tried to put the bulbs all together they all had different bases, so frustrating but at least that is one thing off my To Do List!