Until Laurie was born we didn’t really have any Halloween traditions.
Well, I kind of did, but they were more pre-NaNoWriMo traditions (stopping up late on Halloween so I could start writing at midnight mainly). We’d watch Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas. I’d dress up if I was at work. But that was it.
When I was pregnant we bought our first pumpkin to carve and I guess that’s our first proper tradition.
We almost didn’t get to do it this year; the big pumpkin we bought ended up going off before we could carve it. Luckily the spousal unit found a bargain one on clearance today for 50p so the tradition has continued.
At the moment we let Laurie choose what he wants the face on it to look like but in the future we’ll let him draw on it or even handle carving it himself.
We still watched a bunch of family friendly Halloween films. We’ve added another four or five to the collection this year so we’ll be well set for Halloween viewing for the years ahead.
And this year we started a brand new tradition.
Our local Co Op has a Halloween parade around the store. All the kids gather at the entrance then walk up and down the aisles in their costumes.
At the end they get a little gift, a hot dog and the best costume gets a prize.
We first heard about it last year but Laurie was a bit too little to do it. It completely slipped my mind this year, but Laurie came to meet me from work in his Halloween costume and we had to stop at the supermarket on the way home.
On the door was the sign for the Halloween Parade, so we hung around to take part.
Laurie was a little nervous of a boy dressed as a skeleton but he started the parade on foot and led me along the first aisle. He was absolutely thrilled with his Halloween pumpkin
. bucket with some sweets, crisps and (the crowning glory) a fruit shoot!
Neither it, nor the hot dog, survived the journey home. He devoured them! And we’ll definitely plan to do the parade next year too.
It’s so exciting to start these Halloween traditions with him. I can’t wait to see what others we’ll add over the years.