Halloween living rural is a whole different cup of brains to how it was in the suburbs.  Normally at this time of year the neighbourhood would be draped in spooky decorations and the kids excitement level would be at MAX.

But here, not so much.

We have two locations on the island where the community goes trick-or-treating, which means that 90% of the residents here have no need to “spook up” their properties.  It means that the pumpkins we tirelessly carve will be set on the front porch for only our eyes.

It also means that we have no need to hand out candy (which means mom and dad get to eat it ALL)

So, we find other ways.

We make halloween treats and snacks and take the spooky food thing as far as we can.

We dress up the chicken coop because. . . Um, chickens?

And we get spooky with Netflix.

No cable here in the house so the kids dive head first into ANY spooky show Netflix shares. Mysteries, and magical stories keep us in the Halloween mood. That includes watching ALL the SHREK shows (including the halloween specials) and re-running the Magic SchoolBus “Bat” episode dozens of times as well.

And on Halloween night we will pack the kids up in the car and head down to town. The kids will see their friends and hang with the community in a way we never could in the chaos of the suburbs.  We will end up standing in town watching our community fireworks celebration, and then come home to see our pumpkins glowing on our steps.

Halloween may be different here. I would also go so far as to say it is “better”