I’m a huge fan of Halloween. The festiveness of the holiday just really makes me happy. From decorating, to free-flowing candy- it kind of has everything.
When my stepkids were younger, our Halloween involved making sure they had the best experience possible.
My stepdaughter started thinking about the perfect costume months before, so come the big day, you just hoped she was happy with her final decision. My stepson would get into the spirit too, but with a much more laid-back approach. Black outfit, scary mask, and he was ready to go.
And the evening of Halloween would always involve a kid-friendly event.
We don’t have a lot of kids in our neighborhood, so after a quick lap to the neighbors that we knew were passing out candy, we’d head to a local event. There was trick-or-treating at the mall or our local zoo’s Boo At The Zoo. Many times we’d just head over to the house of one of the kids’ friends for treat-or-treating, pizza, and a movie.
Now, both kids are in college and Halloween looks much different.
As DINKs (Dual Income, No Kids)- and also as two people over the age of 35- we aren’t hitting the bars and we also aren’t walking around with little ones. I also enjoy a sober Halloween, as I gave up alcohol about five years ago.
So where does this leave us on Halloween?
Ironically, we’ve found it makes a great date night.
For those that don’t have little ones at home, I can’t recommend it enough. Going out on Halloween doesn’t only have to involve getting trashed at a bar OR sitting at home.
After we get home from work, I’m a fan of handing out as much candy as possible. But again, due to the makeup of our neighborhood (lots of other DINKs), I’m lucky if five kids come to our door.
About 7:00 p.m. we turn off the lights and head out to dinner. In Sacramento, our midtown area has a lot of great restaurants and a solid nightlife. The ideal situation for us. The energy in the area is great, so we’ll walk around for a bit and then pick a nice place for dinner.
Almost without fail we have no wait, even without reservations. After a nice relaxing dinner, we’ll walk around some more, do more people watching, and maybe grab a coffee.
It’s funny, when I was younger a Halloween like this would have sounded so boring.
No Costume + No Bars = No Fun.
When we had the kids, we were so engrossed in making sure they were happy, we didn’t think about anything else.
Now, our Halloween involves some people watching and a nice dinner. As they say, change can be a good thing!
