Get Your Halloween/Fall On

The Times had a pretty astounding list of things to do for Halloween/Fall. So take the kids to get a pumpkin, go through a haunted house, go to a carnival (I have a particular affinity for the Whittier Elementary Carnival - they have a cakewalk!); get out there and have fun!

Halloween is my favorite holiday because:
  • no presents
  • no relatives to visit
  • costumes
  • CANDY!!!
C'mon, what other holiday truly brings such joy?

Sadly, I won't be partaking in my recent favorite activity which is dressing like a zombie and doing the Thriller dance. It was big fun.

Conversely, you could stay home and watch a scary movie (although it would be hard to find a scary movie you could show someone under 10 unless you didn't care about their sleeping habits for the next several days afterwards). There's always It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or Coraline or Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were Rabbit.

Comments

Charlie Mas said…
My kids (and I) always liked Hocus Pocus, a halloween movie from Disney starring Bette Midler, Kathy Najimy, and Sarah Jessica Parker. Scary, but not too scary.

They also loved The Little Vampire starring Jonathan Lipnicki. I never saw the appeal. It's suitable for young ones.

Continuing in the category of mysterious appeal and questionable taste, there are also the Halloweentown made-for-TV movies with Debbie Reynolds. There are three of them. I think they're dreadful, but little kids like them. Again, not too scary.
Sue said…
The Seattle Symphony is doing Alfred Hitchcock's "Psycho" at Benaroya Hall OCt 29, 30 and 31.

They are showing the film and performing the soundtrack!

Not for the wee ones, but high schoolers might like it.
ArchStanton said…
We've always enjoyed going to the Olympic View ES carnival. Also, there is a regular Trick or Treat put on by the neighborhood along the paths at Licton Springs - it starts early so it works well for the wee ones.

I don't really want to turn this into a rant about observing holidays or about APP, but I do need to cement my reputation as a cranky old man, so...

I can't help but mention that Lowell is observing Halloween with class parties and costumes on the afternoon of the 30th, pretty much as they did last year, but I'm told that T. Marshal is not acknowledging Halloween. Will either have an impact on learning? Probably not. But it's the cumulative effect of little things like this (not to mention the lack of standardized curriculum) that will create different school cultures and prevent Lowell APP and T. Marshall APP from being perceived as equitable.
Interesting that you should say that Arch because I was talking with a friend who has a child at View Ridge and she said they couldn't wear costumes or have a party. She assumed it was district policy and obviously, it isn't. (Roosevelt allows the kids to wear costumes on the Friday before and some teachers hand out candy after school.

I can see not having a party because it is a school day. Back in the day, we had a "costume parade" after lunch around the playground so we could see all the costumes. I really don't remember a party per se. I get that when there is food involved it gets tricky because of allergies, etc. but either have a district policy or not.
Ben said…
Marshall teachers are free to have Halloween parties, but to be discreet about them. My son's teacher will be holding a 100% Halloween-free Halloween party, complete with no costumes or face-painting.

Why is this the policy at Marshall? From what we've been told, it's because Marshall didn't have any Halloween celebrations in the past, it's too intense for the kids in the autism classes, and because some religious parents objected.
Megan Mc said…
My kids (8 years old) are having friends over to watch Scooby Doo and the Goblin King then old fashioned trick or treating in grandpa's neighborhood (Fairwood).

One of the things that cemented our choice to move from Broadview Thompson to AS#1 when the girls were in Kindergarten was the way AS#1 celebrated Holloween - the kids were allowed to wear their costumes all day and there was a big Halloween parade in the lunch room where all the classes got to walk across the stage - even kids who were not dressed up (although there were hardly any who didn't). At BT, kid#1's class was allowed to bring their costume in a bag and share it as part of show and share and kid#2's class had a 1 hour party where they were allowed to wear their costumes and had treats. Kid #1's class had no parents involved and Kid#2 had 10+ parents around to help with the party. October 31st was the last day to transfer w/o appeal. I filled out the paper work that day (it was our 2nd visit to AS#1).

This experience really highlighted how much individual teachers made the difference at BT where as AS#1 had an all inclusive climate.
SolvayGirl said…
A bit of nostalgia...

I attended Catholic a K-8 in upstate NY in the 1960s. We did not celebrate Halloween, but instead celebrated Nov. 1 as All Saints Day. We got to come in costume dressed as our name (patron) saint or the saint of our choice if we had no official saint. My favorite was going as Joan of Arc, complete with sword and shield!

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