We Don't Trick or Treat! Why and the Alternative

Halloween is a super fun holiday for kids of all ages, but with toddlers, it isn’t so simple, and even less so when one of your children has Autism. Confession: We’ve never taken our boys trick or treating, and we don’t plan to this year either!

Why would we deprive our children of such an awesome experience? Well, it has to do with the age and the personalities of our kids. I honestly don’t think it would be such an awesome experience for them. They’d mostly just be confused about what the heck we were doing!

On top of that, there is the spooky factor to Halloween. A lot of the decorations and costumes for Halloween are fun and lighthearted, but some are downright terrifying to a kid who doesn’t understand real from make believe, and even the lighthearted decorations can spook a kid with Autism.

Of course, we will take the kids trick or treating eventually! In fact, I hope next year our boys are old enough to participate fully, but if not, we will wait it out until they are ready, or, we will happily host fun, non-spooky Halloween parties at our home for our kids and their friends.

When it comes down to it, if trick or treating isn’t fun for my kids, then it isn’t worth doing just because everyone else is doing it or it’s what people expect of us.

Don’t worry! We don’t let Halloween pass us by! We have tons of fun leading up to Halloween, and on the day itself, we plan out 2 or 3 visits to family and neighbors. We dress the kids up and have them trick or treat at Grandma’s house early in the evening before the spooks come out, and we get home in time to hand out candy. Occasionally, someone in a scary mask will appear at our doorstep. I hand over fistfuls of candy and send them on their way as quickly as possible! Because Drake is in the well lit comfort of his own home, the scary costumes haven’t been much of a problem. The kids still get to have the fun of dressing up and visiting people without the spooky bits.

If you want to do a more traditional Halloween outing with your toddler…

• Be prepared to carry them.
• Give them their own flashlight.
• Pick a costume you can put layers under.
• Start on the early side.
• Start out small with only a few houses to see how your little one handles the experience.
• If you want to avoid spooking your tot, pass the houses with crazy decorations. There’s usually something or someone waiting to scare you!

All of this is to say, if you don’t think trick or treating is the thing to do with your children, you shouldn’t feel bad about it. You know if they are ready or not!