Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Trick-Or-Treating Isn't Always Such A Treat

I really don't want to sound like a Negative Nellie, but Trick-Or-Treating is my least favorite holiday tradition of any kind. 

Don't get me wrong, I like Halloween ok.  I like all the fun Fall displays.  I love to see little ones dressed in costumes.  I enjoy hay rides, costume parties, caramel apples, pumpkin carving, scarecrows and silly scary stories. 
 I like all of it.  Except trick-or-treating.

Trick-or-treating has always seemed like such a major hassle. 
An annoyance.
There has never really been any fun involved whatsoever.

Sawyer was majorly annoyed by the whole dressing up bit at this age. 
He was not digging the frog getup.
He never once put the head on.
Therefore, he looked more like Hulk gone angry than a cute little frog.


One of the most major annoyances with trick-or-treating is that costumes do not fit in car seats.
This poofy dinosaur costume that Carter was wearing this year absolutely would not buckle while he was wearing it.
Therefore, it had to be removed when we got back in the car.
Every.
Single.
Time.
Perhaps this is not so annoying if you live in a big city where you just walk around town, but here in this small town, you must drive to every house you go to.

The boys never really seemed to like it either.  This photo was taken before we even started driving all around the town to see all the Grannys.  They were all already irritated.


Not feeling it.
He also never wore these Mickey ears.
He pretty much pitched a fit for two hours while we drove around pretending to be thrilled that we were trick-or-treating.

See the mummy up there in this photo?
The wrappings stayed on for exactly one house.
One.
Then he was just a kid in a white under armour shirt and white sweat pants.
and he was not happy about it.


I am sure you are thinking, why do we even do it then?

Because, we love all our grandmothers enough that it just seems worth it when we walk in and they talk about how cute they all look.

Plus, it's getting easier each year.
The kids can buckle their own seat belts now.
Their costumes are much less cumbersome.
They don't whine and complain.
Trick-or-treating isn't interrupting nap time or bed time anymore.
And they actually like the candy.

Just when trick-or-treating becomes more of a treat, they begin to outgrown it altogether.
Now that's a mean trick!

3 comments:

Mom On The Edge said...

It's all the candy that gets me. The nagging for more, the sugar crashes. I can honestly do without.

Molly @thewaffler.com said...

You're not the only mom who has mixed feelings about Halloween. Last week Mari sent in a waffle about whether she should take her kids trick-or-treating or not -- like Mom on The Edge, she hates the struggle over candy. I think almost everyone voted that she should take them -- but I understand the hassle involved! (if you want to see her waffle if, go to Parenting Waffles in my sidebar www.thewaffler.com)

Joy said...

For me it's a love / hate thing. I love leading up to it. The kids are SUPER excited about the idea of wearing their costumes. That said, we live in FL and it's NEVER, I mean NEVER been cold! Some of these costumes get warm and you just can't advise a child! Also, for whatever reason my kids always want "accessories" for their costumes. They're boys, btw, so we're talking star wars guns, light sabers, ninja paraphernalia, etc. And because every year I'm a sucker mom and agree to buy it with the full disclosure that I will not under any circumstances be carrying them Halloween night! Uh-huh! Well, wash, rinse, and repeat sucker mom!