Halloween Traditions

Our first Halloween together as a married couple.  We needed a few traditions! 

There would of course be pumpkin carving and trick-or-treating (although not this year), but we created a new tradition for Halloween that neither of our families have done.

Coloring and Movie Watching

Even though hardly anything would please Chris more than sitting down with a box of Legos, some Hot Wheels, or blocks and act like a kid for several hours, there’s a bit of a kid in me too.  I love coloring.  Sit me down with some crayons and a coloring book and I’m set for several hours. 

This year was our first Halloween coloring Halloween pictures.  Our plan is to color pictures each year as a family, mount them on colored paper and hang them on the wall for the month of October.  Cheesy, yes, but I’m pretty sure there will be some memorable times down the road. 

It's an Elephant Bunny!

After coloring we got all cozy with our blankets and hot chocolate and watched Nightmare Before Christmas.  Chris was singing, “This is Halloween” for several days afterward.  We will most definitely be watching a different movie next year so I don’t have to hear that song again.

Carving Pumpkins

The Monday (or weekend) before Halloween has been designated as our Pumpkin Carving day.  I take great care in choosing my pumpkin.  It can’t be too big or too small, and it has to have a flatish side on it for carving.  I found the perfect one at Albertsons. (I can’t wait ‘til we have kids and take them to a real pumpkin patch). Chris insisted on getting a normal pumpkin and a “Big Bertha” pumpkin to “do something crazy with!”  Of course we couldn’t resist getting a small pumpkin for the little one growing inside of me. 

We had fun listening to Halloween music, and gutting and carving our pumpkins with our kitchen knives.  (Next year we’re investing in pumpkin carving knives so we can make more intricate designs). 

He did pretty good carving "Happy Halloween" with a kitchen knife

The baby pumpkin has a bow tie and a hair bow!  Cute huh? 

Other things we did this year:

Went to the Straw Maze with some friends.  The wives decided our husbands were like dogs.  They kept saying, “My instincts are telling me this is the right way to go.”  Well we did eventually get out, but not without some help from the wives.

 

We also had a Halloween party, where I lost miserably at Farkle, but dominated in Dominos.  And I got to play Dominos with a granny!  (You’d have to watch Julian Smith’s “Granny Games” to get it).

"Wanna play Dominos?" 

We had Minions, the Flintstones, and Little Red Ridding Hood and grandma

I think one of the best parts of the night was coloring Chris’s hair purple with wash-out hair coloring.  I let him grow out his hair for two months in preparation for being a purple Minion.  He spiked it and I sprayed the dye all over it. 

My costume wasn’t all too amazing.  I was able to fit into it, but it wasn’t all too flattering, and we couldn’t find overalls or a yellow beanie for me to wear L  Next year it’ll be better. 

Even though we didn’t get one trick-or-treater we still had a memorable Halloween J