Halloween is just around the corner! Youngsters prepare in anticipation for the day when they can dress up as ghouls, goblins or princesses and receive an overabundance of sugar filled treats! For many of our families who have adopted children, this will be their first Halloween and these parents can watch as their newly adopted child is establishing new traditions and memories.
HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS
Halloween ushers in a new season, the beginning of autumn, the signal of harvest time, falling leaves and the coming of winter. Halloween is a decades old celebration tracing back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Later, Pope Gregory III designated November 1st as a time to honor all saints and martyrs, All Saints Day. The evening prior to All Saints Day became known as All Hallows’ Eve and as we know it now, came to be known as Halloween.
The month of October is a great time to start new family traditions and lasting memories. Besides Trick or Treating, attending costume parties or carving pumpkins, institute some new traditions of your own that your newly adopted child will remember years from now. Here are some ideas:
- Visit the pumpkin patch or apple orchid let your child choose their own pumpkin
- Go on a hayride and/or attend a bond fire, don’t forget the Smores and hot chocolate!
- For older children, spend an evening going to staged haunted houses
- Spend an evening reading Halloween related children’s stories
- Make handcrafted trick or treat bags and decorations
- Bake Halloween cookies and cakes
- Spend an evening watching Halloween classics such as “It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown”
- Go to King’s Island (or another amusement park) – Yes they are still open and have a Halloween theme!
Most importantly enjoy this time with your children and have a safe and happy holiday season! By the way, Christmas is just around the corner!
Sonja Brown
Sonja Brown works as the International Program Director for MLJ Adoptions’ programs in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Samoa. Sonja is also proud to work directly with our Individualized Country Program families who are adopting from countries where no adoption service providers currently operate.
Sonja Brown
Sonja Brown works as the International Program Director for MLJ Adoptions’ programs in Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti and Samoa. Sonja is also proud to work directly with our Individualized Country Program families who are adopting from countries where no adoption service providers currently operate.