Halloween has always been my favorite holiday.<\/p>\n
As a child, it was all about the dressing up, the candy, the amazing Halloween cartoon specials, being creative, making people smile or getting spooked while staring at the moon and listening to the wind blow, imagining all the creepy, spooky, magical and awesome things that might be out there that I didn’t know about.<\/p>\n
Later as I grew up, it was the spookiness, the scary tales, the parties, the orange lights and decorations, seeing a neighborhood transformed … it’s just one more reason to get creative and have a blast doing something fun just for the sake of fun and sharing that creativity with your friends and family.<\/p>\n
Older still, Halloween became a spiritual time for me, as a practicing Wiccan. \u00a0I honored my ancestors, I cleansed and purified my home, office space, car and Self. \u00a0As it is the Wiccan new year, I prayed for renewal, casting off the negative, leaving my past behind so I could embrace my future and take hold of my true potential. \u00a0I sacrificed all that was no longer necessary so I could embrace my future. \u00a0Through my 20’s, it was customary for me to attend Halloween parties ON Halloween, but to celebrate Samhain on the actual date, which changed from year to year and was often a full week after the 31st. \u00a0On that date, I’d write down all the things I didn’t need anymore, basically making my “new years resolution” list of what I was going to leave behind, then I’d burn it in a fire while embracing all the goodness I was opening myself up to for the new year.<\/p>\n
Around my late 20’s and once I was married, Halloween became just another busy time of year. \u00a0In my minimal time off, it became a time to watch horror film marathons or\u00a0go to Scary Farm, make Halloween treats while watching 24 hour episodes of Ghost Hunters, inventing awesome costumes while decorating our apartment with as much Nightmare Before Christmas stuff as I could get my hands on. \u00a0I loved building props for decorations and creating themes for awesome get-togethers and in my early 20’s, my friends and I would turn entire houses into themed wonderlands… but now, we had small children and no money, so eventually it was bare bones and barely enough left over for costumes. \u00a0In fact, once we had kids, well… we pretty much gave up. \u00a0I would wear a Friday the 13th tee shirt and he would usually wear a Dracula one, and that was the extent of our “costumes”. \u00a0One year I wore a witch hat with a goth dress and called it a day, another year I put on a plaid shirt and put marks all over my face and arms and was Amy Pond from “The Silence” episode and last year… I honestly don’t even remember if I attempted to dress up.<\/p>\n
Needless to say, since I’ve had children it’s been a challenge to balance my love of Halloween and the broke\/child factor. \u00a0Horror movies, zombie night and paranormal hunting trips have had to battle with obligatory trick-or-treating ventures, princess\u00a0costumes and bed by 9pm with absolutely no budget for any of it.<\/p>\n
I will be honest, it’s kind of bummed me out the last few years because while there are\u00a0several Halloween options for children out there, none of them are ALSO for grown ups. \u00a0There are also a TON of things to do for Halloween if you’re an adult… but you must leave your children at home.<\/p>\n
It’s frustrating. \u00a0It feels like once we became parents, we only had one option; pretend we we\u00a0didn’t have kids, or submit to a holiday of g-rated, largely Christian-based carnival games that ended in tantrums and tragedy because of too much sugar and not enough sleep. \u00a0No one really goes the extra mile to make a truly magical Halloween experience that EVERYone can enjoy.<\/p>\n
Then it hit me – why not create what I’m looking for? \u00a0Something for both adults who love Halloween and all it has to offer, alongside their children to provide an event that could satisfy everyone. \u00a0A place where adults could have fun being crafty, showing off their costuming\/prop making skills, maybe playing with make-up or\u00a0building\u00a0something\u00a0for their front yards or learning how to make cool effects for their homes while the kids are safe and enjoying what they love about it; candy, trick-or-treating, costumes, stories and games. \u00a0Something that doesn’t cost a ton of money to get into, where you could pick and choose which event made sense for you and your family to participate in. \u00a0Somewhere where you know you are in good company with people who love their families and being creative.<\/p>\n
If it doesn’t exist, build it. \u00a0That’s what I always tell people. \u00a0So what do you think, parents? \u00a0Would you go to a place for crafty Halloween\u00a0lovers who ALSO have families? \u00a0A place where you could come in costume, geek out with others who love it just as much as you, go to Halloween prop or make-up workshops WITH\u00a0your kids that were age appropriate and safe, where you could let them trick-or-treat without fear of razorblades or hallucinogenics in their candy, have a responsible glass of wine or a few beers and maybe even enter a costume contest? \u00a0If it weren’t local, would you travel to get there?<\/p>\n
This is my early stage brainstorm brewing here, so feedback and insights are welcome, as well as ideas for how to fund a project this size.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Halloween has always been my favorite holiday. As a child, it was all about the dressing up, the candy, the amazing Halloween cartoon specials, being creative, making people smile or getting spooked while staring at the moon and listening to the wind blow, imagining all the creepy, spooky, magical and awesome things that might be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12272","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-and-reviews","category-lessons-from-the-mother-ship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1opIU-3bW","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":18223,"url":"http:\/\/forbiddenpanel.com\/PanelCast\/spooky-movie-month-day-15-the-halloween-tree\/","url_meta":{"origin":12272,"position":0},"title":"Spooky Movie Month Day #15 – The Halloween Tree","author":"Janelle","date":"October 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"We needed a fast, easy story that wasn\u2019t too scary and wasn\u2019t too long but still fun and spooky. 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