I need your help ladies. As Christians, we've always done Halloween, but we don't allow trashy or satanish costumes for dd. She is 12 this year and an only child and I realize she likes to get out and do this.

However, because she is 12 the more I look at costumes for this age the worse they get. She loves the flowing gowns and such (like...ahem...mother nature) and I'm not against fairy-ish type costumes, but they're all so trashy! They either have "look at me b00b$" or it's short or whatever. ACK! And if there is one suitable, then it's $60! So every year it's becoming more of a battle on appropriateness vs price.

If you don't do Halloween, what alternatives are there? (We've done church functions, but she's growing out of those.) Do you do anything fun at home? As an only child, I don't want to have her feel left out, but I don't know what to do with "12". When I grew up, 12 was too old. I mean it was for little kids and now it's becoming this forever thing with kids. And she's already thinking about Halloween last month already. YUCK!

Obviously if she's already thinking about it she is excited about it. My suggestion would be to let her create her costume. You could use "parts" of the fairy type costumes you find in stores and make it more conservative. Or she could look at skirts, craft stores ect for wings, it'd be easy to make her own flowery head piece. Sock tights would cover her legs.

My girlfriend has never celebrated Halloween. She buys candy, rents movies and they all stay home together and eat their favorite goodies. We have done both. Meadow likes to dress up and Trick or Treat so we let her.

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Making ones own costume can be lots of fun, even for the sewing challenged. There are so many ways to take what you have, or find some inexpensive tops/skirts/bottoms... at a thrift store. Don't forget old sheets can be cut up and repurposed into just about anything. Tunics are easy to make, My 13 dd made dresses for the Renaissance Fair this year. She made one for herself and one for her older sister. My youngest found a dress at the thrift store and added a belt... and they had a great time.

We completely stopped years ago.
To me a waste of time an money .
Churches have trunk or treat, and most people around here take their kids to that.

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When I was around that age, I wanted to be be an Egyptian princess. My mom took me to a thrift store and we got a cheap dress that wasn't too revealing and could pass as "Egyptiany" and a couple cheap items of jewlery. I did my makeup and hair to look "egyptiany". It was cheap, modest, fun, and I won the costume contest at church!

We stopped doing halloween last year and my kids didn't miss it because they just played with a couple neighbor kids who also weren't trick or treating. This year, I imagine we will just treat it as another day. We will have a brand new baby in the house, so we'll probably be kept really busy and entertained with that.

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Mom to Christian (13), Saphira (10), Xavier (5), and Adrian (2).

Since she's bordering on being too old to trick or treat (around here, we almost never see kids over 8 or 10), you might consider a transtitional activity. Dressing up to hand out treats to neighborhood kids. Dressing up to take treats to a nursing home or soup kitchen. Having a movie night in with caramel popcorn, apples, etc. (try old issues of Woman's Day- they always have themed-party snack ideas)

Also, you can make your own face paint by mixing 2 T crisco & 1 T cornstarch. add a few drops of food coloring, & voila! Paint away!

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Last year, my dd a few other girls went to one friend's house. They had a small party and then went around the neighborhood afterwards trick or treating. (The host mom went with them.) My dd is very small for her age, so no one knew she was 15!
She always makes her own costume out of whatever she finds. One year she bought a costume on clearance and cut it up to make it into what she wanted.
We've always added tights and tank tops underneath for modesty and warmth.
If you dd enjoys trick or treat, and you have no objections, then let her. Soon she'll be too big/old for this.

Thanks for all the great advice. I don't want to take away her fun. Especially since she shares her candy with Mom, LOL...but really am trying to get out of this Halloween thing. Maybe this year I'll plant the seed and next year stay home and do the ideas posted here. Otherwise, I think a thrift store could be a great idea, although AZ thrift stores are pricey. Certainly doesn't hurt to check. There's plenty of time, right?

Ann

The kids always got creative & made their own;
A box of popcorn, a laundry basket with laundry hanging out, little old ladies, fashionable vintage dressed ladies, Japanese ladies......

We always did halloween with family & friends.
We also, always struggled with whether we should partake in it.
Though, all of us do have very fond memories, of chilly evenings, hay rides, friendly neighborhoods, candy, & good times.

Because I'm not too tall, I've always told my dc that once they got as tall as me, they could no longer go.
My ds are way past that! They helped their cousins hand out candy last year. (they sat at the end of our shared driveways and handed out candy as the kids came by.)
My dd had her friends party.
I doubt we do anything this year. The boys will probably still hand out candy, but DD is still shorter than me, but she's 16 now and has stopped growing! My rule has to be altered for her, lol!
I dont' think she'll trick or treat this year. If her friend invites her over again, I am still undecided if I'll let her go. It was no fun having to pick her up and drive home after dark with all of the children walking and running across the streets. I don't see as well as I used to!