How Many Christian Parents Here Don't Allow Their Children To Celebrate Halloween?

Question

and why?

I'm raising my child in the Christian faith, and we have a loving Christian home atmosphere, but I love Halloween - love the dressing up, candy and "spooky" fun. My daughter does to. Are there any of you who don't or who take issue with the holiday?

Interesting answers already. I do not promote the occult or murder or whatever. We dress up, we use blacklites in all the lamps, we make fogging punch, eat cake and chips and dips and she and her friends dance around to The Monster Mash, then we trick or treat. We have decorations of black cats, rats, etc. It's one day of the year and we just have a good time. Where exactly is the harm in this?

I do agree that unsupervised teens can create chaos. My daughter is preteen. She's been everything from Rapunzel, to a Sorcerer-ess, from a sunflower to a witch. We do do some spooky things - last year I made a "blood" cake - Red Velvet and we stuck spiders in the frosting. We do not call up or encourage demonic behavior for sure y'all.

Well, if I haven't told her that she's dressing up to hide from evil spirits then she won't know that will she? Hey, I didn't even know it until right now! I also will say this, I trust what I've taught her and I have faith enough in God that my celebrating Halloween with her every year - because it's fun - will not turn her "evil" or even turn her slightly away from her faith. I celebrated it my entire life, hasn't swayed my beliefs yet. Some Christians are more likely to make me second guess my faith than dressing up and having a good time on Halloween.

Answer 1

Hello sweet MELicious.. :)

All of my children are grown..but as for myself, I pass out candy and children Bible tracks and tell the children that I Love them and Jesus does too.. :)

After all it used to be called, "All Saints Day".. :)


In Jesus Most Precious Name..
With Love..In Christ.. :)

Answer 2

For some reason,"Sleeply Hallow" comes to mind? I would think, none or few children know the why of Holween. How we preceive it, I believe is the answer. I keep it simple, A fun time,It has been part of my life time, of happy child hood memories, Costumes were not of horror, I had a ball with my
children& grand, making costumes etc. One could question
Christmas celebration as well. To me, "Remember the reason for the season" The God of my understanding enjoys
celebration, for the right reasons. Enjoy! Blessings already are!

Answer 3

I see nothing wrong with Halloween. The word mean "Hallow Eve. All Saints Day is Nov. 1 there Oct 31 is the eve of All Saints Day. I just don't let my kids dress as demons.

Answer 4

I am not a christian, BUT it seems to me- A day in and of itself can not be evil or bad. It only has as much power as you give it. You seem to be celebrating it as a modern American parent- a fun day to dress up and get candy. No more. Those who give more meaning to it make it negative.
*Not a christian, but I DO run a strictly religious home, my kids go to Jewish schools, we do not generally celebrate secular holidays,etc. We do, however, celebrate thanksgiving, as americans, and my daughter dresses up for halloween. Just nothing gross or 'negative'- my only rule is keep it light and fun.

It sounds like you have common sense already; I hope you don't let those lacking in it ruin innocent fun for small children. Like I said- a day only has what power you give it. I don't see christians objecting to christmas because long ago it had a different, pagan meaning. So why the difference?

Answer 5

LOL at printninja. I was raised in a Christian home and we celebrated Halloween. Now I live in Georgia and have noticed that some of the Christians here are not happy merely not allowing their children to partake in Halloween. They don't want anyone else to allow their children to celebrate it either. A few years ago, they actually banned trick or treating on Halloween because it was on a Sunday. They used the excuse that it was a school night. Last year it was on a Tuesday (also a school night) yet no one complained. I don't mind if parents do not let their children participate, but I am highly offended when they lie about their motives and try to control everyone else. I also wonder why the Christians who make such a fuss letting others celebrate Halloween are so silent on the genocide in Darfur or the AIDS crisis in Africa. I choose to save my outrage for when it is justified, not to force others to conform to my religion.Most of what people commonly associate with Easter is pagan in origin and Christmas started as a pagan holiday. Why do Christians have no problems with these? I say raise your children how you see fit and don't worry about what others believe.

Answer 6

While it can be argued that "Christian" holidays like Easter and Christmas are actually secular and don't really have any significance to true Christian practice, Halloween is very much a significant holiday among pagans and satanists. It's not unreasonable for a Christian to avoid participating in it.

None of our children participated in Halloween. We just didn't do it and they didn't make a big deal about it because they never did it. We don't hand out candy. In general we treat it like any other night and go about our business. We just keep our porch light off to keep the trick-or-treaters (which are getting rare anyway) away.

I don't feel as strongly about it now as I did when the kids were younger. I think you could participate in the fun stuff without absorbing the "truth" behind Halloween. But I don't regret handling it the way we did when the kids were little.

Answer 7

Definition: hallow-to make or set apart as holy. ween-to think. Halloween- the eve of All Saints Day (short for Hallows even.) Children dressed up to scare evil spirits "away"

Answer 8

I never knew that people took issue with it until I was 16 or so. Halloween is whatever you make it. For some, it's a pagan ritual (which, incidentally, has nothing to do with candy or pranks). But for most, it's a simple, silly tradition of dressing up and getting candy. Celebrating it doesn't somehow make you pagan. I'd bet a lot of people who celebrate it don't even realize its pagan origins.

What about Christmas, then? The pagan holiday of Yule was celebrated long before Christians decided to celebrate Christmas on nearly the same day. It was done so as to ease the conversion of pagans to the Christian faith. It was the pagans who gave us the yule log, who gave each other gifts long before Christians, etc. Again, Christmas is whatever you want it to be.

Bottom line: it's a symbol, and symbols can mean whatever you want them to mean.

Answer 9

My church has a Trunk or Treat. The kids dress up as positive characters and go around to cars in the church parking lot, which has been decorated. There's also other activities for both kids and parents. It's a good alternative.

Answer 10

I participated in Halloween when I was a child, and at the age of 12 when I found out what Halloween represented I stopped participating in it. I have 3 children, and at first I wasn't going to let them participate, but my husband loves Halloween. I have decided to let my children enjoy Halloween, and decide for themselves like I did. I will pray that they are safe on that day, and then I feel fine.

Answer 11

I enjoyed Halloween as a poor kid who needed free treats.

There is a limit to how much you can limit a child's freedom. We tried, some years, to have our son involved in alternative Haloween events, but he grew up, and decided he liked that night of fun. Stopping him would be too extreme. God himself gave us freedom to choose.