Organized Trick-or-Treating: A Fun and Safe Halloween for Toddlers

It seems that organized trick-or-treating is more and more becoming the candy collecting activity of choice on Halloween. In a one block radius, we had the choice of 3 very active "trunk-or-treat" invitations. Trunk-or-treat is an alternative to door-to-door trick-or-treating, where church members will decorate the trunks of their cars in non-scary themes and hand out candy to the children from the church and any other members of the community. It offers a safe and non-threatening opportunity for churches to reach out to the community and their children in a way that is fun. And ... who doesn't want a bag full of candy at the end of the night?

My daughter was old enough to be able to participate for the first time in the yearly candy binge. We usually do a family themed costume where all three of us take on a role in a larger picture. Last year I was a USC football player, my husband was the uprights, and Mercy (at 4 months old) was a football (I made the costume, which was super easy and doubled as a bundling blanket).

This year, for the trunk-or-treat, Tim and I just went as we were and Mercy was the cutest little piggy ever!!! Her uncle gave her piggy ears and a piggy tail for Easter one year, so we just bought her pink pants and a pink shirt and then added the ears and tail. She was adorable (I'm biased of course).

When we arrived at Trunk-or-treat, there was an added safety measure that I personally appreciated. If, for some reason, Mercy became separated from us, she had a sticker on her back letting the security know who she belonged to. One suggestion that I might make for next time is to take a little cue from Chuck E. Cheese's method and make sure that a child doesn't leave without the correct parent as well. Matching numbers or arm bands with some identification would be my suggestion.

Still, the evening in general was a huge success and Mercy really got the hang of the concept that at each car she would receive a piece of candy just for stopping by. She would take the candy and then, with our help of course, would say a polite thank you to each candy giver. She really seemed to enjoy all the costumes and only got a little nervous when she came face to face with Mr. and Mrs. Batman, but I think it had more to do with the authentic appearance of the Bat-couple, because, ironically enough, a boy dressed as Batman was also quite afraid of them. She seemed to get over it really quickly and managed to take the candy on her own, and say her thank you. I was so proud of her. She didn't even try to eat the candy until we were done and at dinner.

Later that weekend we went to a Halloween party at a coworker's home. This is when Tim and I were able to dress up "our way." Tim likes to be extra creative and dress as an inanimate object. This year being a political year, and a big one at that, we decided to be political. Tim is a countdown poster ending on election day and, as some would argue, the beginning of Socialism and mine is a Dow Jones Industrial Average based on Obama's run for the presidency. It was fun to be controversial for a night. In general I try to avoid doing this, but for one night I could handle it.

Lesson Learned: If I am going to do Halloween with my family, I am glad that there are safe and secure places in our area to do the candy thing. Plus, I think Mercy had a blast. While Halloween is shrowded in scary images, there are ways to avoid this and still have a good time.