Its that time of year again when emails flood in from people asking “Pastor, is it ok for us to participate in Halloween?”
I love it. Typically, the tone is “please say yes because I love halloween pastor.”
Instead of arguing about this (a non-issue for me) can I just let my wife, Amber, share what our family does and why? Then, tomorrow, I’ll share my take on Halloween. Take it away Amber…
Guest post from Amber:
In short, yes, we participate in Halloween. At the White House, we feel that the holiday is a great opportunity to build some values into our kids. If you choose to simply bar your family from Halloween the only thing you will do is raise their curiosity.
I want Zak and I be the ones giving our kids values and ideas of a what a good time looks like rather than letting the world show them. You can try to keep your kids from Halloween…for about 18 years or so. But then you won’t be able to do anything about it. We would rather be proactive parents.
Here is what we do each Halloween:
- We pray about it. We don’t do anything without praying and seeking God.
- We come up with an idea of what we want to dress as and make our own costumes. We don’t go spend tons of money on Halloween.
- Usually, we dress up together as a family. We never do anything scary, gory or dark.
- We all go Trick or Treating as a family.
- We usually invite neighbors over and have a party at our house. We make it a fun opportunity to love on the families that we live around. I plan on having a party at my house if the kids want one as long the kids are in my house. I guess I would rather know that they are safe and what they’re up to.
That’s how we roll on Halloween at the White House. Hopefully it helps you some as you process what is right for your family. Ultimately, cover it in prayer. Come back tomorrow and see what Zak has to say about Halloween.
GREAT answer !!!