October Traditions

One of the reasons we wanted to get this blog started is so people can exchange ideas, especially fun ideas and traditions you may have for the holidays.  Halloween is just weeks away (wow, that came fast).  I have been trying out a few Halloween art projects, but they seem to go a lot better for those publishing magazines than they do for the 1st timer.  With that being said, what traditions or fun ideas to you have for this season that are tried and tested, that someone doesn't have to be a Martha Stewart to do?

Now since we want you to share your ideas, I will share one of mine:

My cousins and my family grew up doing everything together, but we found that as we have grown and now have families of our own, it is difficult to see each other very often.  So last year we started having our own Halloween Carnival.  We have this carnival before Halloween, giving us time to stretch out our festivities without having everything crammed onto Halloween night.  This year our family carnival will be on Saturday, the 18th.  The kids dress up and we go to a cousin's house for a night of home-made carnival games, face painting,  cookie decorating, and nacho, cotton-candy, corn-dog, snow-cone, and homemade rootbeer eating.  We even rent one of those jumpy bouncer things.  

I am looking forward to this year with much anticipation.  I love that my kids get to have a night of fun and festivities and it's a chance for me to share with them something that was a major part of my childhood: my cousins.  It is also nice that my girls get to see their grandparents and great-grandma in their Halloween costumes.  They get to go trick-or-treating to the grandparents so that way it leaves one less thing that we try to fit in on Halloween night.

Now although some of my family members have experience with concessions (those were fun teenage summers), this carnival is simple and is one that many families could add to their list of traditions.  It's the family time and being together that makes it so special.