Kid-friendly Halloween
Does anyone even take their kids trick-or-treating through the neighborhood anymore? I’m seriously curious about this. I live in a neighborhood with very, very few children so it’s no suprise that I don’t see trick or treaters but a suburban friend of mine told me she can’t even remember the last time a costumed candy-seeker came to her door. Maybe door-to-door trick-or-treating is a thing of the past?
In any case, if you are looking for something to do with your kids this weekend to celebrate Halloween, I’ve got a few suggestions for you.
- Seattle Parks is offering evemts like a carnival, pony rides, a flashlight hunt and much, much more at parks all over the city. Check out their site for detail because, seriously, there are tons and tons of events on both Friday and Saturday and they all look like fun.
- Trick or Treat on the Waterfront: This Sunday event starts at 9:30 and runs til 5:00 and gives chance to dress up and go door-to-door in the waterfront getting treats from local merchants. Pay regular Aquarium admission gets you entree into a special party featuring live music and visits by JP Patches and the Seafair pirates.
- From 5 to 8 pm every night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Woodland Park Zoo hosts the Pumpkin Prowl, a special event featuring glowing pumpkins, live music, family entertainment, and, of course, candy for costumed visitors. This is an after-hours event so you have to buy a special ticket for it, $9 for adults, $7 for kids at local Bartell’s stores.
- If you can’t make the afterhours event, stop by the zoo during regular business hours for the Pumpkin Bash, a fun event during which zoo animals are given pumpkins as treats along with the rest of the regular meal. The animals really enjoy them and it’s super fun to watch them play with the pumpkins before they eat them.
Dia de Muertos is completely different from Halloween but it just so happens that Seattle Center is the location of a Dia de Muertos festival this weekend. It’s a lively, vibrant and fascinating festival, totally worth checking out.
Like most traditions from our childhood (playing outside by ourselves until Mom called, biking around town by yourself, basically doing anything by yourself as a kid) door to door trick or treating is becoming a thing of the past. I live out in Woodinville where we get a few kids, but from all the parents I’ve talked to they generally take them to some sort of function or the mall. All in the name of keeping out kids safe. While I’m all in favor for keeping kids safe I sometimes wonder what kind of affect these safeguards are going to have on the future of this country. Are we raising a bunch of kids that couldn’t fight their way out of a wet paper bag, or know how to fend for themselves. My dad made us take survival training from him when we turned 13 and left us alone in the woods for a weekend that summer of our birthdays. We would spend a few months going over and practicing survival practices in the backyard first and when were ready Dad planned the trip. Nothing ever bad happened to us and according to my brothers we all pretty much did the same thing. Hiked in about a half a mile and waited until Sunday for Dad to pick us up at the road. Because of it though I never feel like I’m going to die if I’m alone or stranded somewhere and I feel like it’s made me a more confident person in general. We should let our kids get bumps and bruises and know that life isn’t always easy and usually hard.
Wallingford is a trick or treating bonanza. We’re taking our kid out, along with the rest of the neighborhood.
The new fad of trick or treating at stores is LAME LAME LAME.
Trick or treating is alive and well in Greenwood!
it really depends on where you live. if you don’t live in a very residential area or a place full of apts and condos you generally go to the mall for an easy trick-or-treating experience. i also liked it because you stayed out of the cold weather. i took my son real trick-or-treating for the first time last year and we had to drive to a large residential area near by to do so. as long as it doesn’t rain this year we will do the same thing.