When I was growing up (in a town full of houses and tree lined streets and public schools you didn’t think twice about attending), Halloween was a very big deal. I grew up in New England, and we had those archetypal Halloween nights with cool temperatures, leaves crunching under our feet, the distant smell of burning wood stoves and of course, Mom or Dad following us in the car.
Now that I’m a mom, I want my kids to have the same magical, exciting experiences with Halloween that I remember so fondly. But how do you do that in a city of cement? Where are the crunching leaves? The wood burning stoves? And there’s NO WAY I’m letting YOUNG LADY and LITTLE GUY go ringing door buzzers or roaming around apartment buildings asking strangers for candy while I wait outside in a cab!
Sure, here in the city we have options. The park near us has a party and a Halloween parade. There are many well-known city blocks that deck out their building fronts in full spook on October 31st, and thank goodness New York Kids Club is inviting all the kids to wear costumes to class all this week! And of course, if you are lucky to live in a huge, doorman building (we do not), you may find at your front desk a list of participating apartments where you are welcome to trick or treat while all the children in the building roam the hallways in costume.
My kids don’t really know any different. But I can’t help being a little bit disappointed. It’s just not the same. I guess it’s what you give up by living in the city. For all the benefits, this is one annual experience that is best enjoyed in the suburbs. At least in my humble, costumed opinion.
I really do love being a New York mom. I love stroller walks and concerts in the park and classes at the New York Kids Club. And my kids will have a great Halloween….we plan on trick or treating our way up Broadway to a friend’s big, doorman apartment building and then (if everyone is still awake), hitting a family Halloween party being hosted by a family from LITTLE GUY’s preschool. It will be fun, it will be spooky and everyone will eat WAY too much sugar.
But maybe next year I’ll call one of my friends from high school….one of the friends who decided not to leave, and became a home town mom with a house and family in the same school district where we grew up. Maybe my kids would like to experience a classic, country Halloween with fresh air that smells like fall and chills your excited bones. Then again, they’d probably rather spend Halloween with their friends, doing what they’ve always known and considered to be the FUNNEST night of the year.
What do YOU think?
heya, good article, and an amazing understand! 1 for my book marks.