Some Australians resist Halloween because of its very strong commercial nature. Even though it has its origins in a spiritual tradition, Halloween has become commercialised in the US and now in Australia as it gains popularity.
We had a think about how we could make Halloween a more meaningful celebration for our children and families and came up with some ideas:
1. Teach your children about the origins of Halloween
Halloween originated from the ancient Celtic festival, Samhain, and was brought to the US by Irish and Scott immigrants. Halloween comes from the original term “All Hallow’s Evening”. In the ancient tradition, Celts believed that the barrier between the living and the spirit world became thin at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and developed traditions including lighting bonfires and wearing costumes to ward off the spirits.
Read more about the history of Halloween:
2. Carve out your own jack-o’-lantern
The jack-o’-lantern is the most enduring symbol of Halloween, inspired from an Irish myth. Get the whole family together to carve out your pumpkin and have some fun in the process without having to purchase too many plastic decorations that end up in landfill.
Check out this page for tips and instructions on how to carve out a pumpkin to make into a Halloween jack-o’-lantern:
3. Reduce the sugar intake
One quarter of all the lollies purchased in the US are for Halloween!! Let’s try to avoid that by handing out little handmade toys (no plastic please!) to the visiting kids instead of chocolates and lollies.
At Artful Giving, we have some fun finger puppets that can be purchased as a set of five and distributed individually. Watch how their imagination takes off with a simple toy like a finger puppet.
4. Build community in your area
One of the positive elements of Halloween is how the children get out and about in their community. Spend time chatting to the kids that visit your house for trick or treating, compliment their costumes or ask who they are dressed as. Get to know the families in your area through the Halloween trick or treat tradition.
5. Use Halloween to help others
Encourage your kids to throw a Halloween fundraiser to support a local charity. Or perhaps instead of the kids collecting lollies from their neighbours, they can collect gold coin donations. Sacrifice their sugar intake for a social conscience!
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