The Gift of Halloween: Traditions, Treats, and Being a Kid Again 🎃

Some of my favorite Halloween traditions have absolutely nothing to do with buying gifts.

There aren’t beautifully wrapped packages waiting to be opened. There isn’t a birthday present with someone’s name written across the top. And unless we count the giant bowl of candy sitting by the front door, there really isn’t much traditional gift giving happening at all.

But the more I think about Halloween, the more I realize how many gifts are tucked into this funny little holiday.

The gift of childhood.

The gift of imagination.

The gift of family traditions.

The gift of a cozy meal waiting at home after trick-or-treating.

The gift of being together.

And, of course, the gift of coming home with a pillowcase filled with enough candy to last until Thanksgiving, especially if you ration it carefully.

Maybe Halloween belongs in my gift-giving series after all.

Halloween Traditions I Still Remember From Childhood

I have such fond memories of Halloween as a little girl.

Although there is one memory that wasn’t quite so fond at the time.

One year, I was dressed in a ballet costume. I was so excited about it. I felt beautiful and couldn’t wait for everyone to see me.

Then my mom did something absolutely terrible.

She made me wear a coat.

OVER my ballet costume.

The horror!

Never mind that it was probably freezing outside. Never mind that my mother was simply trying to keep her daughter warm. All I knew was that I was supposed to be a beautiful ballerina, and nobody could see my costume because I was wearing a coat.

Looking back now, especially as a mother and grandmother, I completely understand my mom.

But little ballerina me was not impressed.

That’s one of the things I love about Halloween traditions. Even the moments that don’t seem particularly funny when we’re children can become the stories we laugh about years later.

Halloween Traditions, Brothers, and a Little Mischief

Then there was my brother.

One Halloween, he walked up to someone’s door and proudly announced:

“Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat!”

Apparently my parents didn’t find this nearly as funny as he did.

He got in trouble.

I can only imagine the conversation afterward.

But isn’t that exactly the kind of family story that sticks around?

We remember the costume mishaps.

We remember the sibling who did something they definitely weren’t supposed to do.

We remember laughing about it years later.

Those little stories become part of our family history, and sometimes they are just as valuable as the photographs we saved.

The Greatest Halloween Gift Was a Bag Full of Candy

Do you remember coming home from trick-or-treating and dumping your candy onto the floor?

That was the BEST.

It felt a little like Christmas morning, except everything was chocolate.

I loved sorting through my candy and seeing what I had collected. There were the really good candy bars, the things I liked well enough, and probably a few pieces I was perfectly willing to trade.

And I didn’t gobble it all up in one night.

I slowly doled it out.

That candy could last a long time if you were careful!

My parents also went through our candy before we could eat any of it. I remember hearing that the Halloween before, candy had been found with small needles in it. My parents weren’t taking any chances.

Every wrapper was inspected before we were given the go-ahead.

At the time, I probably just wanted them to hurry so I could get to the chocolate.

Now I see something different in that memory.

They were taking care of us.

Even something as simple as parents sitting on the floor and checking their children’s Halloween candy can be an act of love.

Halloween Traditions Became Even Better With My Own Kids

Then I became the mom.

And suddenly Halloween became fun in a completely different way.

There’s something pretty wonderful about watching your own children get excited about their costumes. They count down until it’s finally dark enough to go trick-or-treating, then race from house to house before coming home with bags full of candy.

We hosted Halloween parties in our home, too, and I loved making the night feel special.

Our house would fill with kids, costumes, laughter, yummy food, and all the wonderful chaos that comes with having a house full of people you love.

Those are the kinds of memories I wish I could bottle.

At the time, though, you’re busy.

You’re cooking.

You’re cleaning.

You’re answering the door.

You’re helping with costumes.

You’re making sure everyone has what they need.

You’re wondering who moved the thing you JUST had in your hand.

And then somehow those years are over.

That’s something I wish I had understood a little better when my children were young.

Sometimes the ordinary Halloween traditions we’re rushing around trying to pull together are the very things we’re going to miss someday.

Our Halloween Traditions Always Included Yummy Food

I can’t talk about Halloween at our house without talking about food.

Food was a big part of our Halloween traditions, and I loved making yummy things for everyone.

We had scones.

Warm apple cider.

Apple cider donuts.

Pumpkin apple soup.

And so many other wonderful fall foods and treats.

Just thinking about them makes me want to put a big pot on the stove and invite everyone over again.

Food has always been one of my favorite ways to make an ordinary day feel special, and it doesn’t have to be elaborate.

Your family’s Halloween meal might be homemade soup and warm bread.

Maybe you order pizza every year.

Maybe it’s chili, caramel apples, donuts, mummy hot dogs, or pumpkin-shaped cookies.

It really doesn’t matter what the food is.

What matters is that someday one of your children might taste that same food and instantly think:

This tastes like Halloween at home.

I think that’s a pretty wonderful gift to give our families.

One of Our Favorite Halloween Traditions: Hocus Pocus

One of our favorite Halloween traditions was watching Hocus Pocus every Halloween night.

It became part of the holiday.

There are certain movies that become more than movies when your family watches them over and over again.

Everyone knows what’s coming.

You probably know half the lines.

Someone might fall asleep before it’s over.

And nobody cares because you’ve all watched it so many times anyway.

Those familiar little traditions give holidays their personality.

Halloween just didn’t feel quite complete without Hocus Pocus.

And I love that.

Traditions don’t have to be expensive or impressive to become important.

Sometimes all you need is the same movie, the same people, and a bowl of Halloween candy sitting between you on the couch.

Halloween Traditions Can Be Gifts Too

This is where I think Halloween fits perfectly into my gift-giving series.

Because a gift doesn’t always have to be something we buy.

Sometimes we give people memories.

When we make the special soup our children remember every October, that’s a gift.

When we decorate the house and invite everyone over for a Halloween party, that’s a gift.

When we sit on the couch and watch the same silly movie for the twentieth time, that’s a gift.

When we help a child put together the costume they’ve been talking about for weeks, that’s a gift.

When we open our front door over and over and tell little superheroes, princesses, witches, dinosaurs, ballerinas, and whatever else happens to be standing there how wonderful they look, that’s a gift too.

Nobody puts a bow on those things.

But people remember them.

And I’ve learned that some of the best gifts we give are the things people remember.

Little Halloween Gifts That Say “I Was Thinking About You”

Of course, I still love giving gifts.

So if you want to add a little actual gift giving to your Halloween traditions, there are plenty of sweet ways to do it without turning Halloween into another expensive holiday.

Put together a Halloween movie-night basket for your grandchildren with popcorn, candy, fuzzy socks, and a favorite movie.

Bring apple cider donuts to a neighbor.

Leave a bag of treats on someone’s porch.

Give a teacher or bus driver a little bag of their favorite candy.

Take warm cider and donuts to your adult children.

Send a Halloween care package to a college student who won’t be home for trick-or-treating.

Put together a pumpkin-carving kit for a family.

Or simply bake something yummy and share it.

I don’t think a Halloween gift needs to cost much at all.

Sometimes a little bag of treats left on someone’s doorstep can say exactly what we want it to say:

I was thinking about you.

And really, isn’t that what thoughtful gift giving is about anyway?

One of My Favorite Halloween Traditions Now: Give the Teenagers Candy!

I have to mention one of my favorite parts of Halloween now.

The teenagers.

I LOVE seeing teenagers come to our door trick-or-treating.

Sometimes people think teenagers are too old for it.

I don’t.

Give them the candy.

Give them the GOOD candy.

If a 16-year-old wants to put on a costume, walk around the neighborhood with friends, knock on my door, and say “Trick or treat,” I’m happy to see them.

I’d much rather have teenagers out collecting candy and laughing with their friends than feeling like they’re too grown-up to participate and finding something else to do that night.

Childhood disappears quickly enough.

There is absolutely no reason we need to rush kids out of it.

We’re all kids at heart, after all.

Besides, are we really ever too old for free chocolate?

I certainly hope not.

Halloween Traditions Change, and That’s Okay

Halloween looks different at our house now.

My husband and I aren’t walking our little kids from door to door anymore.

We aren’t helping everyone find missing costume pieces five minutes before it’s time to leave.

We aren’t hosting the same Halloween parties we once did.

Our house isn’t filled with our children’s Halloween excitement the way it used to be.

But we still enjoy Halloween.

Now one of my favorite Halloween traditions is simply opening the door and seeing all the cute neighborhood kids.

I love seeing their costumes.

I love the tiny ones who aren’t quite sure what they’re supposed to say.

I love the confident kids who already have their bags half full.

I love the elaborate homemade costumes.

And, of course, I love the teenagers.

Every once in a while, I see a little girl dressed like a ballerina.

Hopefully her mother didn’t make her cover the whole thing with a coat.

Although if it’s cold outside, I completely understand if she did.

Funny how life comes full circle.

The Best Halloween Gift Might Be Letting Yourself Have Fun

Maybe that’s the part of Halloween I appreciate most now.

For one night, we’re all allowed to be a little silly.

Adults decorate their houses with giant skeletons.

Kids become superheroes.

Teenagers walk around asking strangers for candy.

We carve faces into vegetables.

We eat donuts covered in cinnamon sugar.

We watch movies we’ve already seen dozens of times.

And somehow it all makes perfect sense.

Maybe one of the best gifts we can give our families is permission to enjoy it.

Make the cider.

Watch the movie.

Wear the costume.

Eat the donut.

Let the teenager trick-or-treat.

Give out the full-size candy bar if that’s your thing.

And if your child is wearing the cutest ballet costume you’ve ever seen but it’s 35 degrees outside?

Well…

Make her wear the coat.

She might complain about it.

She might even remember it decades later.

But someday she’ll understand.

Halloween Traditions They’ll Remember Someday

When I look back at all those Halloweens, I don’t remember whether my house was perfectly decorated.

I don’t remember whether every party went according to plan.

I don’t remember what every one of my children’s costumes looked like.

What I remember is how it felt.

I remember my childhood excitement over a huge pile of candy.

I remember my brother getting in trouble for his creative trick-or-treat greeting.

I remember my parents checking our candy.

I remember the food.

I remember my children running out the door to trick-or-treat.

I remember the Halloween parties in our home.

I remember warm apple cider, scones, apple cider donuts, and pumpkin apple soup.

I remember watching Hocus Pocus together.

And now I remember standing beside my husband, opening our front door and seeing another generation of neighborhood children experiencing that same excitement.

Those Halloween traditions are gifts.

Maybe that’s why Halloween really does belong in a series about gift giving.

Because some of the best gifts we give our families aren’t things at all.

They’re the traditions they expect every year.

They’re the foods that taste like home.

They’re the movies everyone can quote.

They’re the stories we tell again and again.

They’re the nights when everyone is together and nobody realizes yet how precious that ordinary evening will someday become.

So this Halloween, I’ll happily open the door.

I’ll admire the costumes.

I’ll give candy to the little kids.

I’ll give candy to the teenagers.

And I’ll probably think about a little ballerina whose mother made her cover up her beautiful costume with a coat.

Because sometimes the very moments that make up a childhood become the stories we treasure most.

And what a gift that is. 🎃

More in the Thoughtful Gift Ideas for Every Occasion Series

• Anniversary Gifts
• Wedding Gifts
• Baby Shower Gifts
• Housewarming Gifts
• Thinking of You Gifts
• Get Well Soon Gifts
• Sympathy Gifts
• Teacher Appreciation Gifts
• College Care Packages
• Retirement Gifts
• Birthday Gifts
• Valentine’s Day Gifts
• Just Because Gifts

🤍 Making every house feel a little more like home.