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Make Your Halloween a Day of Giving With Trick or Treats That Give

 

 

“It’s Halloween, everyone’s entitled to one good scare.” – Brackett,Halloween (1978)

Make your Halloween a day of giving. In just a few days, mighty little monsters and ghosts will be roaming the streets on a night-long hunt for candy—of course, with their parents by their sides! Needless to say, Halloween is fast approaching, and with it, the opportunity to give. While dressing up and eating handfuls of candy may be exciting (and delicious), it’s just as fun to give to others during the Halloween season.

Just like that merry feeling you get when you hand out candy to happy, smiling children, the same feeling builds up inside when you give on Halloween. It’s a warm feeling that will make you feel full and complete on the inside—and it’s not just because of the candy!

Below are some meaningful ways to make your Halloween a day of giving, one person at a time:

Donate Your Extra Halloween Candy

“Mom, Dad! Look at my bagfuls of candy, it seems like way too much candy right?” — said no candy-loving child ever. After a night of trick-or-treating, along with leftover hand out candy, families will certainly be outfitted with more than enough candy to last until next Halloween, with extra to spare. Instead of leaving it to the stomachs of your children or storing it in some dusty corner in the cupboards, invest the candy in a good cause. Programs like Treats for Troops work wonders.

Make Sure Your Home Sends the Right Signal to Trick-or-Treaters

For safety’s sake and the sanity of parents, make sure it’s clear that your home welcomes trick-or-treating if you do choose to hand out candy. Turn on the porch lights, put out some spooky decorations, or play some Halloween music. This indirect give will reassure parents that their child is safe, making their nights all the more easier. After all, their child is indeed going to a stranger’s doorstep and asking for candy!

Try Out Reverse Trick-or-Treating

In recent years, one tradition my family has taken up is “reverse trick-or-treating.” In this hybrid form of trick-or-treating, instead of going out asking for candy, you dress up and visit the less-fortunate (like the homeless) and give them food or basic essentials. In my experience of giving out food to the homeless with my family, reverse trick-or-treating is something extremely rewarding that left my whole family feeling content and positive—even if we didn’t get any candy that Halloween. 

Purchase or Donate Costumes To Others

Whether we like it or not, costumes are expensive. Even at second-hand stores like Value Village, where items are supposed to be dirt cheap, prices are insensibly high. For some families, spending a large amount of money on a costume is simply not feasible. So instead of condemning unused costumes to your closet, donate them to programs that try to support these families. No child should be left costume-less on Halloween!

Look at Halloween Differently This Year

Halloween a Day of Giving

In every sense, Halloween is an amazing holiday. It gives us all the chance to binge on candy and dress up as our favorite characters, letting us have a full night of fun. Unlike Christmas or New Year’s, there’s no intense pressure to have everything perfect.

So to make sure everyone can have as good a Halloween as anyone else, go out and try reverse trick-or-treating, donate your unused costumes and try to make the lives of parents easier. Everyone deserves the best Halloween possible—especially the mighty little monsters and ghosts in our households. Make your Halloween a day of giving—not just a day of candy!

For more holiday-inspired gives, sign-up as a member at 365Give to receive updates on our blog and participate in a daily giving practice that will change the world!

 

What people are saying about 365give

“I wanted to express my gratitude for the teaching you provided today. Your message was delivered eloquently, compassionately, and without judgment. The kids were engaged, and now have knowledge with which they can change the world. We all appreciated how you took the time to help us learn to build positive mindsets and practice happiness.”
Shelley Gardner, Grade 6 Ridgeview Elementary (West Vancouver)
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Cristina Peters, School Counselor (New York City, USA)
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Cella Adriana, Special Needs Educator /The Holliswood School (New York City, USA)
“The 365give Challenge helps students understand their impact on others. It opens avenues for introducing and discussing global and local issues in classrooms. It is powerful to watch students of all ages think about how they can make a change in another person’s life with one small act.”
Jessica Hall, Primary Teacher, French Immersion at École Pauline Johnson (West Vancouver, Canada)