I love Halloween. Can I say that? Can I admit that? I do. Not in the way I love Christmas or Easter but I do love it.
Usually this time of year there are all kinds of debates about “should Christians celebrate Halloween?” As soon as I twittered something last night about heading out with my kids I immediately started getting the “you celebrate Halloween?” tweets back.
One tweet said, “This is an admonition pagan culture -Deuteronomy 18: 9-14 – do u really celebrate this day?”
Please note, I believe this is a personal decision. If you and your family don’t celebrate Halloween, then I totally respect that decision.
Our kids dress up, we carve a pumpkin and take ALL the candy we possibly can from our neighbors. You could say we celebrate Halloween but I think we celebrate our kids, friends and neighbors.
1) My kids. My kids love to dress up. Jett was Satan, Gage, an evil spirit, and Brewer, the angel of death. Just kidding!! They were fired up all weekend about designing their pumpkins and running around the neighborhood. We had a blast.
2) My friends. We usually have two other couples and their kids come over and enjoy the evening with us. We’ve actually gone trick-or-treating with one couple for 11 years in a row. It’s kind of become our little tradition.
3) My neighbors. This is an awesome chance for me to build a bridge with my non-Christian, non-church going neighbors (In fact I met a lady last night who just moved to Nashville and visited Cross Point last week). Think of it as Tuesday night visitation, only this time they’re coming to you. Many will drop by the house and we’ll get a chance to talk about all kinds of things that might serve as a bridge to future conversations and future opportunities to build relationships . I’m probably not going to drop a “Christian tract” in their kid’s bag, but I do want to drop a little sincere Christian love their way.
So if you did a little trick or treating last night, you might end up with a cavity, but I don’t think you’re going to hell.
I know I’m probably opening a can of worms but what do you think about Halloween? Did you have fun last night?
We in York PA not only enjoyed it this weekend but we did it in 9 inches of snow!!!! That was a new experience for the little guys.
That’s amazing Tracy. So much fun.
I’m with you. We don’t celebrate “Halloween”..but we thoroughly enjoy celebrating our kids, friends and neighbors. We had so much fun last night…especially because our youngest son, with Down syndrome, finally got engaged in the activities. He approached every door with a smile on his face…he tried to give away a lot of his candy…and he said “kankoo” to everybody he saw. It was really sweet.
I would have loved to seen that Melissa.
Halloween is interesting, in the way that its one of those few things that started bad but got twisted into a mostly light hearted fun thing.
Instead of being the other way around, as it goes for alot of other things that start off good and get twisted to the other.
Good point.
Great post Pete! I opened up a firestorm yesterday on epicparent w/ a similar post. Team Sprad sees it the way you do…and we had a blast last night. I’ll check back later today to see all the feedback….it will be an interesting day on withoutwax!
Lets see. Its a night where potentially hundreds of kids (and their parents) might knock on our door and give us a chance to be nice? Or we can tell everyone how opposed we are to such a blatant celebration of Satan and keep my house dark so no one comes by. Ill go with the first one, and enjoy every laugh, giggle and growl that comes from all those kids. Including my own.
I’ve always loved Halloween – the costumes, the candy!
My son liked handing it out when he was little as much (or more) than collecting his own. He and his 3 college buddies were at their house handing it out last night.
I grew up trick or treating in my neighborhood with a friend who went to school with me. Our moms would walk behind us and we would get a lot of candy plus the walking as a form of exercise was not bat either. I have such fond memories of Halloween getting dressed up and then having hot chocolate and eating some candy before the night was over.
When I was in my high school band each member dressed up in Halloween costumes for the halftime show on Friday night. I was Raggady Ann and it was the best costume ever. So, everyone has an opinion on celebrating Halloween, but for me it brings back special memories of my childhood.
I had an interesting conversation with the tweens and teens in our family this year (not mine). The eldest suggested it was foolish to try and scare away bad things with bad things and so he didn’t want to “celebrate” halloween. Knowing he had happily participated in events with school friends and other groups before, I was able to ask him a little more about why he felt he had to take a stand.
We reached an agreement in the end that bad things are with us all year round and are genuinely scary when they happen whatever day it is. I tried to emphasize the light in the darkness for him, although I’m not sure how much of this message he took away.
Pete we celebrated Halloween this weekend by camping with our family in Indiana. The whole campground decorates their campsites and everyone goes trick or treating. It’s a blast to check out all the fun costumes and watch the little kiddos. I think Christians that get all caught up in the “evilness” of the Holiday need to lighten up. It’s really fun to cut loose and dress up! Besides who doesn’t like candy? You’re right this is celebrating family and fellowship and there’s nothing evil about that.
I love Halloween. What other night of the year do you get to see an adult dressed as an elephant, pushing his child in a stroller??? Halloween is great!
It destroys me that I saw no adults dressed as elephants
First off, don’t sell yourself short…11 years straight of trick-or-treating with another family is no “little tradition.”
But, I’m in the same boat. It’s totally a personal decision & it is a great way to meet the people you live closest to (geographically) & begin to foster a relationship that could ultimately change lives.
As for my views on Halloween, I’ve never been a fan. Even as a kid I always thought I had to go trick-or-treating, don’t get me wrong I loved the piles of candy I ended up with. Until I finally asked my mom if I could not go one year, I think I was 10.
That being said, I don’t see anything wrong with celebrating kids, family, neighbors & community on Halloween. It’s almost as if it’s a day on the calendar where people are predisposed to spending time with their family, even if it is by acting like free-loaders. So, even though I’m not a fan, I’m sure when my wife & I have kids we’ll do the same thing my parents did with my brother & I on Halloween, spend the night out with the kids & neighbors & make some great memories.
When I was growing up, only the homeschooled kids in my neighborhood weren’t allowed to trick-or-treat.
They were always pretty bummed about it the next day.
I probably should have shared my candy with them, but I guess I didn’t want to incite an exorcism should their parents discover the contraband.
Shane, you’ll be happy to know this home school mom celebrated with her 3 zombies, that you know so well, spiderman, ninja and Barbie! Yea!! They made out like bandits with the candy!! You should ask them to give you most of it tomorrow night…(get the sugar out of my house!)
Baaa Humbug. The first empty nest Halloween, we opted for dinner and a movie out, so we wouldn’t have to experience all those other families celebrating the kids we no longer have at home. I know, sad, right?
But Pete, I love Halloween too. Not the Fall Festival, not Noah’s Ark, Halloween. Dress up and candy hording. Awesome.
I like these kind of conversations and how it gives us the opportunity to engage in discussion about Christ followers responses to things. Heatlhy things to talk about, to be sure. Like so many things we encounter today, Halloween is an opportunity to bring the light of God to something “worldly.” These things are all about how you approach them as a family and what your motivation is behind doing it. To the VAST majority of people that celebrate Halloween there is no evil intent or celebration of darkness. It’s something fun to participate in. And if your motivation behind your Halloween traditions is to spend time with your family, meet and talk to your neighbors for the purpose of building relationships and sharing God with them, keep on keeping on Pete. Let’s stop criticizing each other on twitter and start sharing the love!
AMEN! Well said!
You’re going to burn for this, Wilson.
Haha!!!
And this is why your church family loves you so much – you are a real Christian in a real world. Well said.
“You could say we celebrate Halloween but I think we celebrate our kids, friends and neighbors.” This is what we do too. I had to explain to my 8 yr old son this year why a few of the kids at his school don’t celebrate it. It is a personal choice. But, so many churches have alternative celebrations like Trunk or Treat…the kids dress up and get candy. Ummm…sounds suspiciously like Halloween…hmmm. I don’t promote witchcraft and evil…I promote going out and spending a fun night with my son.
Well said Eileen.
Halloween is AWESOME! Last night was my first time ever as an adult out with little kids with the Bults…phenomenal. When you see how much fun those sweet faces are having, and end with community laughing and chatting–you can’t beat that. There’s no devil worship. Sure, I saw Ryan’s 7 year old treating a pixie stick like an idol and go into a daze, but I’m sure it’s phase.
I think you are always going to have the people that take it to one extreme or the other. But evil things are going to happen on more than one night a year, and I’m pretty sure the 4 year old in a Cinderella dress won’t have anything to do with it.
Hope you all had a fantastic Halloween, Pete!
HAHA!!
We got to trick or treat with Piper for the first time, she just started walking a couple of weeks ago, and *guilty* she already loves chocolate at 13 months!
We did one into one big problem though, and reading your blog, I was wondering how people make it all work. We took Piper around to our friends and family’s homes and were only gone about an hour, but it seems prime trick or treating time is like 630-730 and by the time we got home, all of our candy we left on the front porch was gone but we didn’t get to see any of the neighborhood kids this year. =( We want to go out as a family when we take Piper, and next year Peyton, trick or treating, but we also want to open our door and meet our neighbors. AHHGIJERIGJWIGEIWJGEIG!
I too have stumbled about the idea of Halloween. On one hand I agree with those who don’t want to celebrate..but on the other I agree with what you said about spending time with others and opening the door for future visits and conversations.
We were able to go to our church’s fall festival and brought along one set of non believing neighbors. They enjoyed it and were shocked at how involved our church was in the festivities and games for the children. Yeah for our church! While we were there we ran into another set of non believing neighbors and yet again were able to share how great our church is, to invite them and get to know them better! (shocking since we live about 20+ minutes from our church)
How encouraging is that! Those seeds would not have been planted if we had just sat at home and revolted against the holiday and not LOVED our neighbors!
I will continue to reach out and show them that being a “christian” can be fun, loving and REWARDING!No matter what day it is because GOD made them ALL!
All to often we are judged for what we say & what we do. I have to ask myself often, why am I going & what are my real intentions. If I had 3 boys, I would just go live in the moment with them. There intentions were to get as much sugar as possible and dress up and be someone else just for a few hours. I doubt Christ prayed we would get so wrapped up in buying gifts for each other on Christmas. People that are so far in debt that they request to keep it cheap this year. I believe people rarely ask themselves why am I really doing this? It is a bridge of fellowship indeed..
More and more often I hear people say, “Halloween is my favorite holiday!” It made me want to take a few minutes and reflect on what people really do enjoy about Halloween.
1. It seems that it is “all inclusive.”
We give everybody a little something rather than just focusing on our closest family members.
What other holiday focuses on blessing strangers? Christmas should…
Maybe instead of spending huge amounts of money on things our own children don’t even need to ensure that they are overwhelmed on Christmas morning, we should be spreading the love and Christmas spirit to others. Evidently, our kids are happy at Halloween getting a little and love giving to others.
2. Dressing up is fun!
Our kids start playing dress up at a very early age, they love costumes. There is nothing evil about that. Being able to pretend you are something you’re not for a night is a fun family activity that your parents do with you. Maybe it is the ultimate family fun night because parents get involved with their children. When I think of Thanksgiving, I think BORING for kids. It’s mostly about eating, kids don’t care about that too much. As we grow into adulthood we know it is about being thankful and we are, but kids want to play and grown ups really do to. Maybe, we should dress up as the thing we are most thankful for or start some kind of fun family game on this special day to make it fun for all.
3. Big night, low stress
The Christmas season has become such a stressful list of to do’s. Unless you do some “Martha Stewart” like planning, you are going to be feeling behind, lost, guilt for what you should have done weeks ago…..It is crazy! You never hear people complain about how busy they are with their Halloween shopping and planning. It seems so fun and leisurely to string a few spider webs across the house and carve your pumpkins.. We need to get back to the basics. People used to put their tree up on Christmas Eve, decorate as a family, string popcorn on it, enjoy the process. What happened? Now, it must be done Dec. 1 whether your family is there to help you or not…..
I want Christmas to be everyone’s favorite holiday, especially my family’s. I am going to try to take these things we love about Halloween and make sure to incorporate them into our Christmas Family Traditions. I want the Spirit of Christmas, which is Christ, to be huge, bright and overpowering in this world that needs so much light. I think His love is actually spilling over into Halloween, like it or not, He is overcoming the world.
Just like when TV was considered bad a few decades back, the Christian singers started performing on air, churches would boycott them…until they realized it was actually God’s way of overcoming evil with good….Christian television has impacted the masses….
think about it….. God’s love will shine through the darkness!
Great points!!
Yes! And it was a great reminder about the character of God! http://awakemysoulblog.com/2011/11/01/waiting-at-the-door/
Beautifully said Pete. We absolutely enjoyed our Halloween. Our daughter is turning 13 in December and this was the first year we skipped the church activities and just stayed home for traditional trick or treating. She had a friend over and we had a blast. It is a great way to get out in your neighborhood and just meet your neighbors face to face in this otherwise busy world.
Great post! Really truly sad that the conversation has to happen every year… that someone can question my beliefs based on whether I choose to carve faces into vegetables or dress my kids up as clowns.
I don’t do either (my kids are older and I hate pumpkin guts) but I’d like to know I can do it without someone looking down their nose at me!
We had a lot of fun last night! Halloween doesn’t have to be about evil spirits and such, we’ve never focused on that kind of thing. It’s about getting together with friends, dressing up and getting/giving candy, that’s all.
Got an interesting Tweet from a pastor last night that said in honor of the anniversary of Martin Luther’s reformation, he was going to nail 95 Reesies to his door. Hilarious!
Hahahahah, love it!
I’ve always thought that any event to connect with some neighbors on their terms is a good leverage point.
Hi everyone, just to balance the discussion, check out my article here http://frasermurdoch.wordpress.com/2011/10/20/halloween-a-trick-or-treat/
my 2c worth.. why chose halloween to get involved with ur neighbours.. do it in June.. March.. what I get upset about is… christians who let thier kids get dressed in evil costumes… and hang scary stuff in thier front yards.. i know its an american cultural thing..but as christians we are to stand out from the world.. and not conform to the worlds standards… we are to let Christs light shine from us everyday..in our families..neighbourhoods..schools etc.. so why not as christians stand firm on Gods word.. and actually LIVE it.. and where in the bible does it say to celebrate halloween anyway?? i am sure Jesus wouldnt get dressed up.. yes..we are to let His light shine…but do it everyday.. and lets not conform to the worlds ways.. lets make a stand for CHRIST !
there are many views on this.. but if its not biblical..why entertain it??
Where does it say in the Bible to post your opinion on a blog? Is posting on a blog biblical? I don’t know but you still are doing it…
Touche.
Entertain it because it’s fun and it’s harmless and no, the bible does not tell me to go door to door collecting candy dressed as a pink elephant, but I don’t think His light shines less brightly in me if I choose to do so. God knows my intentions are not satanic. Not everything about Halloween is dark and evil. What’s wrong with doing this in addition to our activities in June and March? Just my 2 cents worth.
The reason you do it on Halloween instead of June is because people are open. Trying going through your neighborhood and knocking on strangers doors on some random monday night in June and chances are you are people are going to treat you like a salesman…not opening up to get to know them.
I spent last night on my driveway with a big pot of chili and apple cider and decorated it my TV so that the guys could catch up on Monday Night Football while the were out trick or treating. It was an amazing way for me to break down barriers and connect with people. Give me any other day in the year (june included…) when dozens of my non-christian neighbors are going to line up on my sidewalk to spend time in my driveway.
If that happened in June I would love it…but I will also love that it happens in Oct.
I agree. We should be doing it year around and our family certainly does. However, this is a night where it’s real easy to pull it off and we don’t even have to organize it.
I love Halloween too. It holds some of my fondest memories as a kid that I can now share with my children. I am so relieved to hear that you and your family celebrate it too…and have fun!!!
I can see the purpose of the church activities because they usually have guidelines about not dressing up in “evil” or costumes or carrying “weapons.” Some people don’t want their kids to be scared on Halloween and choose to spend time in a more controlled environment. Trunk and treat allows children to gather tons of candy in non scary environment. I enjoyed Halloween as a child, but we were not allowed to dress as vampires and witches, etc. Pete, I loved how you started with the costumes your boys wore and then threw in the JK….ha….clever.
How do you explain to your boys about all the haunted houses, and kids dressed as killers with blood and such???
The school where I teach has students dress as their favorite storybook character. They create their own costumes and carry the book during a little parade through the halls.
I think it’s admirable to have goals of meeting neighbors and spending time with your kids. Unfortunately, not all participants have that objective.
PS…what did your boys REALLY dress as????
I really don’t give that stuff any attention and my boys honestly never even ask about it. They know it’s all “pretend” and it doesn’t seem to really bother them.
We here in Iowa get two nights of Trick or Treating – one in Davenport and one in Bettendorf – and my 10 year old son took full advantage of the candy offered both nights. We also enjoyed some chili afterward with people in out faith community. I pass out full size candy bars because if a kid goes to the trouble of dressing up and coming to my house, they deserve it. And let’s be honest, there is nothing “fun” about a “fun-sized” candy bar.
For us October 31st is celebrated as my wife’s birthday instead. In 1980 we returned to the US after a tour of duty in Berlin Germany. There were 2 African American girls that were kidnapped, tortured, and ritualy sacrificed in our he town. We decided at that time to never celebrate Halloween.
Tragic!!
We love it! Our kids gear up for it and we get to show non-Christians that people who love Jesus know how to have fun! Our neighbors trust us to take their kids with us. Success!
Halloween is my birthday and yesterday I turned 40. (That was the downside of celebration!) My son always looks forward to dressing up for Halloween and we all look forward to the candy. It’s the one day that we can dress up and be anything we want to be “in public” and not get called crazy. I love it and will always participate. I think as Christians sometimes we take the lesser things way too seriously and the important things not serious enough.
I’m another one who’s all for enjoying the good parts about Halloween – kids, friends, neighbors. I think it would be much more beneficial if believers in America banded together to redeem the holiday for something good rather than just shun it because of it’s dark side. If we all transformed it into a good thing over the years, just think – in another generation or two or three no one would remember the real reason behind Halloween… kind of like a reverse on Christmas.
It could happen!
“So if you did a little trick or treating last night, you might end up with a cavity, but I don’t think you’re going to hell.” — well said Pete!
I got to trick or treat when I was a kid. I loved it. Every aspect of it. When I had kids of my own, I bought into the Christian line of “its satan’s holiday” and so for many years, I did not allow my kids to go. And they missed out, on some very fond memories. By the time I saw the light and came to some very heartfelt realizations, my oldest was almost too old to go trick or treating (according to her) but we went… and we went every year after that, and then the older two started going to Halloween parties when they really did get too big for the begging. This year my oldest is married. My middle away at college, and my baby is 16. Too cool for dressing up and begging when he can buy his own candy. I really missed it this year… I nearly cried. We live so far out in the country we don’t get trick or treaters…Pete, I would have loved spending the evening with your group… Someday…I’m gonna have grandkids and I’ll get to start over…
I’m already looking forward to taking my grandkids out.
Why hasn’t anyone mentioned the fact that Halloween (All Hallows Eve) is actually a Christian holiday? It’s the Eve of all Hallows (Saint’s) Day. It does have Celtic roots, but many Christian holidays and traditions have pagan roots. (Google: Easter and Sun God) You don’t HAVE to celebrate Satan to celebrate “All Saints Eve”.
Why? Because we’re not as smart as you.
Thanks for mentioning this Seth! Many of the celebrations and rituals surrounding Christmas, including it’s date, also have pagan roots … so why don’t we throw that out too while we’re at it!?!
Also, Pete… your blog readership is way too left leaning. No one really even disagrees with celebrating Halloween? When I was growing up we kept the lights off and sent kids away… why don’t any of those people read your blog??
Love this post. (Loved something along its line last year too!)
We choose not to take our son trick-or-treating, but not for the reason many would assume. I will not want my 16-year-old son out with friends on that night, so I am not even going to start it when he’s little. But every year he has a costume and helps his “Nana” give out treats at her house.
I have a lot to say on this topic, but I’ll leave it at that!
There are a ton of things you will (and should) allow your young son to do now that you won’t when he’s 16 but that doesn’t mean you ban those things now. I let my son run around the house naked as a toddler. At 6, he doesn’t do that now. Doesn’t mean I should’ve banned it when he was 2…
Activities and expectations of behavior change all throughout a child’s life.
Yes, Pete! I too want to know, how do you explain to the boys about people dressing up in evil costumes and the scary decorations on people’s porch?
I don’t think there is anything wrong with visitng with neighbors, letting your kid dress up as a power ranger, and getting tons of cavities. ( I mean candy )
But, how do you deal with the evil (costumes/decorations) that is in your neighborhood?
I don’t think my boys see it as “evil” but maybe “scary”. They know at the end of the day that’s it’s all pretend and just for fun. To be honest they never really ask about it so I don’t make a big deal about it.
Good question.
I don’t know if this will help, but my six year old daughter asked about the scary decorations in our neighborhood and why didn’t we have any? My explanation – some things about Halloween are good, and some things are evil. We celebrate the good things but not the evil things, because the good things bring glory to God, but the evil things don’t. She asks – what things are good? I explain – things that God made are good. Like pumpkins, and even bats and spiders – they serve a purpose. She says – so witches are evil, because God didn’t make them? I explain – God made people, but sometimes people do wrong things, even evil things, and become witches, which is not what God made them to be. So God did not make witches, people made themselves into witches, and that’s not good, that’s evil.
Anyway, she was fine with it after that, especially because she loves bugs and bats and creatures, so to her, at this age, Halloween is where we celebrate cool critters and pumpkins and meet all our neighbors and get candy. For now, it’s enough. Next year we may have to tackle “are people who have evil decorations evil too?” lol
In the mid 60′s in San Francisco our youth group did a hunted house every year and donated the money to UNICEF. Nothing evil, but lots of scary. Considering some of the things availible in Sxn Francisco it was tame and a blast for us teenagers
That IS tame… exotic erotic ball anyone?
Halloween is FUN! Especially for kids!
Some Chrtistians shield their kids from Halloween. THis could backfire in the long run.
Let them enjoy the harmless fun that all the other kids are enjoying!
Thanks!
I made sure all of the lights were out at our house last night and didn’t buy candy. Not because I am mean but because I wasn’t home. Chris and I were with over a dozen of our neighbors trick or treating. Picture this:
My neighbor has a big, long trailer that he attaches to his truck. All of the kids pile on the trailer, the moms sit in the bed of the truck in lawn chairs and the dads are in the cab of the truck and we go around the entire neighborhood. Thankfully, we live in a subdivision in the country. Yep, it’s a good ole redneck Halloween.
I don’t love halloween like you, Pete, but I don’t hate it either. I guess I’m sort of like Switzerland. My kids love it and have fun dressing up, getting sugared up and running from house to house before they “hop on the trailer”.
Good times.
I’m a pastor too. And I LOVE Halloween too! I love how we get to interact with our neighbors like no other night of the year.
Haha! I love that…Personally, I hate Halloween…teens and 20′s…people would get too weird with costumes on…freaks me out. Kid wise….we all had a blast. Went to friends, and so enjoyed all the kids running from one house to another. Rowan learning to only take ONE piece of candy. We had 3 zombies…(You can see my pic on FB…), Spiderman, a ninja, and Barbie Mariposa…
Good times!!! Blessed…
…In MY teens and 20′s…
I personally don’t celebrate Halloween because a lot of it is dark and I don’t do scary. It’s hard to even watch TV without witches or werewolves on the television. So, I’m not a fan. However, that doesn’t mean I shut myself out either. Churches in our area do community events where kids can wear their “happy costumes” (they can be non-Bible characters but nothing dark) and rake in all the candy they can have and play carnival games. What’s cool is a lot of the people who go aren’t Christians, they just want a fun activity to do with their family. I also think Christians can hand out candy even if they themselves aren’t dressing up and going crazy with all the other stuff.