Tyne's first Hallowe'en didn't exactly go to plan.
The idea all along had been that on Wednesday, the 3 of us would drive to Liverpool to my Mum & Dads to stay for a few days....so that Tyne could be there for Hallowe'en and join in with the annual kids Hallowe'en party that has been a tradition at my Mum's house ever since around 1982!!
I love Hallowe'en at my Mums house.
She goes all out decorating the entire house like a Witches Lair.... the children come dressed up, they play Hallowe'en games, they have Witches Broth and they all stir it together and recite the Hallowe'en spell before they tuck in, and they all go Trick & Treating on the Neighbours houses and then share out their loot before having a little Hallowe'en disco!
It really is so much fun.
But sadly, last minute we discovered that we weren't able to travel to Liverpool due to a problem with the car.
So we were left with no plans for Tyne's first Hallowe'en.
I know that a lot of people would think this doesn't matter because its just Hallowe'en and he's only 7 months old - but to me, that just doesn't matter.
I am the kind of person who likes to get into the spirit of things - in all honesty, I hate nothing more than miserable people who make excuses not to get involved in festivities and generally just don't want to celebrate events.
In my opinion - life is what you make it, and any events that you can take part in (unless, for some reason, they offend you or go against your beliefs) then you should. Its all about memory making for me.
One of the main things I remember about my childhood is that EVERY holiday was celebrated with vigour - every Bonfire night there was a family party at my Aunty Dot's house with fireworks and toffee apples and games of Rocket To The Moon, every Christmas there were LOADS of family get togethers with SO much to do!, every New Years Eve there was a party to go to, every Easter there was a get together with a big family dinner.....and every Hallowe'en, there was a spook-tacular party at our house.
There are endless photographs of the fun times we shared as kids, and I do think that part of the reason our extended family was so close and why I still consider my cousins to be very close and important people to me is because so much effort was made with us as children to bring us together for these holidays to enjoy them as a family.
So yes...there was never any doubt in my mind that when I had my own children, I would make every effort to involve them in family celebrations and make sure that they understood and got into the spirit of every holiday that we could celebrate.
Unfortunately - the family element was taken out of our hands this year.
My sister and her children were already in Liverpool for the party, so there was simply no family around and nothing we could do about it.
So we were faced with Hallowe'en alone - just the 3 of us.
After hours of endless online searches, and constant calling around to be told that events were all sold....we finally found something we could do!
We went along to Bygones Victorian Living Museum who were having a Spooky Day.
The museum was done out with lots of spooks and ghouls - Tyne wasn't too keen on some of the moving ones, but he laughed at the witch!!!
After our day at Bygones, we headed for a Spooky Soft Play session were all the kids were dressed in their various Hallowe'en costumes.
Then we came home, carved some pumpkins, Tyne ate his dinner of Pumpkin stew and we took him Trick Or Treating to the house opposite who were expecting him and gave him a little treat!
We spent the rest of the evening opening the door to Trick or Treaters, which Tyne also loved!
All in all, our first family Hallowe'en was a lot of fun - even if it wasn't what we had originally planned!
We're looking forward to the family being back in Devon this week for the annual Firework Party at my sisters house on Bonfire Night!!
How did you celebrate Hallowe'en? What are your plans for Bonfire Night? As always, I'd love to hear from you!
