Halloween Isn’t About Me Anymore.

It’s October. And October means everything gets spooky. And that means it’s all leading up to the final day of October, and my favorite of all the holidays: Halloween.

Halloween means something different these days. It hasn’t changed for me much since becoming a dad. For the past few years I’ve been able to do what I’ve always done during October: watch horror movies, indulge in some splattery monster entertainment, and find a gruesome costume for Halloween itself. But now my son is aware of Halloween. He knows the day means dressing up and getting candy. And he relies on someone to make Halloween awesome: me.

Halloween is no longer the month to indulge in gruesome, splattery horror for myself. Halloween is now about the more innocent side of the season, for the sake of my son. Gruesome horror makes way for playful spookiness and adorable monsters. Slow-burning dread and suspense make way for giggle-inducing games of shouting “BOO!” at one another. Freakish costumes make way for cute kid costumes, and an appropriate adult costume for me to accompany him… because I will be damned if I’m not in costume alongside my boy for trick-or-treating.

And you know what? I am loving this return to October innocence. It’s the passing of traditions that I grew up adoring. As my parents took me trick-or-treating, now I’m doing that for my boy. I can hope he’ll grow up to love Halloween as much as I do, but if he doesn’t, he’ll have pleasant memories of the holiday.

Finally, embracing the innocent side of Halloween makes for awesome family costumes. If our plan comes together, we’re going to have an amazing set of Halloween costumes this year. But more on that as the month goes on.

BOO!