Trick-or-Treat

Halloween just isn't a holiday I really get into. I don't have Halloween decorations. I don't dress up. I don't handcraft my children's costumes. Heck, I don't even give them a say in what they want to be. They get whatever costume was 90% off after Halloween the year before. That being said, we did have a good time this year.
I had bought a ninja costume last year for $1.50, intending that Sam would wear it. Even when I bought it, he said he didn't want to be a ninja, but I figured when Halloween rolled around and it was the costume we had in his size, he'd acquiesce. He didn't. He chose to wear the same football uniform he wore last year. Nathanael changed his mind about fifteen times, finally settling on a hand-me-down Spiderman costume that was missing the mask. And Claire wore the sweet bunny costume Sam wore as a baby. But somebunny wasn't really interested in participating in pictures.

First up on our Halloween evening agenda, as has become our tradition, was grocery store trick-or-treating. Our local grocers offer a rather nice trick-or-treating experience. So, we like to meet up with cousins and hit 2-3 stores before doing the neighborhood thing.

 

At Publix this year, they had even set up games and face-painting. Spiderman doesn't have a mask? No problem; he had one painted on.

Truly, we could have called it a day after that, but once it started getting dark, the boys were ready to head out in the neighborhood. Little Scardy Sam was a little nervous at first, and had a couple nerve-wracking run-ins with trick-or-treaters in scary costumes, but he really got into it this year. We hit a handful of streets, briefly running into friends along the way. Then they were satisfied with their loot and were ready to head back home to hand out candy at our own door.