Happy Halloween! Yes, I know that by now, it is past a couple of months. I just had some thoughts about this year that I wanted to share, plus, I can show you our costumes!

So first, as we took the kids out trick-or-treating, I noticed that less and less people are decorating their houses and handing out candy. To be fair, we don’t because we always go out with the kids. Our kids are still too young that we would never trust to have them walk around the city streets on their own. Not only that, but it was really fun to have all of us get dressed up and share the holiday together. The kids really enjoyed that part of the experience, and they were really excited. Mind you, we did have a secondary reason to get dressed up - our annual Halloween Costume contest was the same night as Halloween this year, so we attended that as soon as we were done walking around with the kids.

I wonder if this decrease in decorating is because it’s just getting too expensive to buy the candy and the decorations. As we all have experienced, the cost of living has increased exponentially and the tariff situation is still driving those costs up. Or, is it because people think, well the kids aren’t coming anyway; why waste our time? And if so, is it because of the new cultures entering our society? The increase in immigration has altered the way I grew up - we are no longer allowed to call Christmas “Christmas” in public schools in fear of offending other cultures. Is this the same thing that’s happening in our neighborhoods to Halloween? It makes me sad because when I was a kid, we were allowed to do those things - we could dress up as anything we wanted and it wasn’t considered offensive. Now you have to be careful what costume you wear. I think it’s over the top - sometimes a costume is simply a costume, and our family likes to do scary.

Because of the reasons stated above, we stayed away from certain neighborhoods and took a new route this year. We made our candy quota and the kids were really happy. I must say, we worked hard for that candy and have the 13000 steps in to prove it!

Our Halloween karaoke costume party was a success! My husband and I both won prizes - I came in first, and my husband received third place this time. It was very satisfying, because I did put in lots of effort to my costume.

Another aspect of Halloween is the makeup and the styling. I love this part! It’s a good excuse for me to break out the stage makeup and create something truly exceptional. All of my work is self taught and I enjoy learning through YouTube videos, and makeup tutorials. The more I do, the better my portfolio becomes. I don’t know if I ever want to turn my love of makeup into a profession, but I suppose it’s always a good backup in case I need it!

I hope you enjoyed our pictures from this Halloween and we’ll see you next week!

Sandra 🎃

Halloween 2025

The End of Another Summer 2025