Free Favorite Halloween Story and Supercool Trick or Tr -EAT - ing Idea !

Witchamaroo is a well-loved, heart felt little story by Suzanne Down - I love making her little house every year - even at 9 and 12  my children think it's pretty cool to make a pumpkin house/village! I've put a free download on my website under the Healthy Families, Healthy Schools Section if you're interested in learning it - love the last image of this story which ends with the (SPOILER ALERT!) little witch in the front pocket of the scarecrow. (-:

Stories are such a lovely way to bring three (plus) essential ingredients of a healthy childhood to your growing family … warmth ….mmmm …, presence, imagination and wonder,  and connection. Stories are soul food for children and sharing fun stories about Halloween/Fall memories you have from when you were a kid or when they were younger is such a gift of connection. They LOVE it … actually. (-:

This year we're going to try something different on October 31st : It's called "Trick or EATING". Big love to whoever came up with this - in my mind - brilliant idea!  Basically you and your kids dress up and go trick-or-treating as per usual but instead of getting candy we ask for a non-perishable food item for the food bank! See what I mean?! Just at a time when our food bank is in need too. (-:

Now I get that this may not fair well with a lot of kids at first especially if they are older and have trick or treated already lots but gosh this makes sense to me.  Maybe they ask every third house?We'll see how this goes - my intention is in making this a win-win for everyone. My daughter and I have talked about how to do this - she's excited - she loves dressing up and going from house to house with her friends - in years past I would buy most of the candy from her - she keeps some - this year we'll get something sweet and special and maybe get a couple treats during the evening - our group is planning to head out to eat sushi together after to celebrate what we collect so far we're really liking this. (-: Trick or Eating…awesome!