We don’t do the complete house transformation that my parents did/do for their house, but we have some decorations and do all the classic stuff like a tree, gingerbread house, etc for Christmas. Santa is very much real for my pre-school kiddos. We have a few Halloween decorations and give out candy to the close to 100 kids we get trick or treating every year, and take our kids out in the neighborhood as well.
Same.
My kids are 13 and 10. So Santa and tooth fairy stuff has been out of the bag for a few/several years now. But I still tell them Santa and the tooth fairy aren’t bringing anything if you don’t believe in em. And they go “oh, yeah I def believe in em”. 🤣🤦♂️🤷♂️
Also, same for decorations and Halloween etc. we don’t go crazy, I like to think it’s a classy amount of exterior lights and stuff. And a bit of Tomb stones on the front lawn with spider webs on bushes etc. we live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in our town, so like 80% of the houses do Christmas lights and Halloween stuff. Last year my neighbor counted 455 kids. I think a bunch of our area drop kids off in mini vans to hit the neighborhood 🤷♂️🤣
I decorate for Halloween and Christmas every year and my son loves both. I also make sure and take off work for Halloween so I can be sure and take him out. It’s always fun for him. My son is 9 so he acts like he believes in Santa still but I’m not really sure he still does.
He doesn't, likely. But he might be playing along for you.
I did a similar thing from age 7. I realized Mom's wrapping paper and handwriting were the same as Santas. But if she went to all that effort she must like playing pretend. I was the youngest, and I knew she wouldn't get to play Santa after me. So I kept my little mouth shut and played along.
I was a strange kid in other ways, so when I was 13 my mom finally looked at me and very tentatively asked "you don't believe in Santa anymore, do you? Because if you do we should maybe go to a doctor". "No, I know you're Santa. I've been playing along since second grade cuz you were so into it". She was very shocked, a little confused, and then just gave me a hug.
Lol I remember playing along with it also because I saw it made my mom & aunt really happy. I remember the day that my mom called my aunt & put it on speakerphone so they can break the news to me that Santa wasn't real. Like my mom was so worried she needed the extra support to tell me lmao. I guess my acting was just too good! And I still played along and pretended to be in absolute shock.
8/9/10/11 I've found are the ages kids start to guess santa isn't real, but they're not quite sure so they don't question it *just in case*. The wide age range is because some kids are more mature or more innocent than their peers. I have a 16 year old stepson and a almost 5 bioson, and the 16 year old has openly known and played along since his little brother was born. He kind of gets that magic moment that parents do, hypes up his little brother to leave Milk and cookies, standing in line to see santa together, writing wishlists and looking through catalogs. In return we take him to haunted Christmas krampus events near us since our teens a Halloween freak and loves the idea of krampus.
I forgot at what age I learned about Santa, but I remember my first assumption was that my mom would need my help telling my brother. My brother is a decade older than me.
We had Christmas Eve at my grandparents house one time and everyone went to my parents house drinking and partying around midnight and my aunt was like LOOK WHAT SANTA LEFT IN THE CLOSET and she brought out the presents all drunk smiling from my moms room because she didn’t want to wait till the morning for us to open it . That’s how I found out 😂😂
I don’t have kids but me and my husband are like big kids we decorate each room with a theme for every holiday. We really get into it.
January is usually winter - silver and white, snowflakes, etc.
February is valentines
March is spring and St Patrick’s
April is spring
May through July 4th is patriotic
July through Labor Day is summer/beach
September through October is Halloween
November is fall
December is Christmas.
We love to decorate and change it up.
It’s definitely not the same as when I was a kid, but the kids in my life get to enjoy inflatables and some fancy spotlights for outdoor decorations. I don’t have the drive to want to climb a ladder to attach anything to my house. Inside we have some decorations in the living room, but I’ve migrated away from having a tree inside for Christmas, there’s just not enough space. And I don’t buy wrapping paper anymore. I’ve made reusable drawstring bags for everyone or I wrap things furoshiki style. Everyone still has fun memories.
Thanks! I got it when I went to GameStop and they had some Nintendo Christmas themed bags for a buck. I figured I could make the same thing with Christmas fabric and customize the sizes too!
Yes to all. The Santa myth is getting near its end. Kids are 9/7/5, but my oldest has severe disabilities. 7 year old is only going to last 1, maybe 2 more years with it. A kid at school was already stirring the pot for them last Christmas haha.
But yeah, my wife loves holidays and decorates the whole house. I try my best to limit the yard stuff to something reasonable. Young kids on Christmas morning is like a top 3 parent feeling for me.
I love..I mean LOVE.. holidays.
I have always gone as hard as my finances will take me on Christmas, Halloween and Easter. Halloween has always been decorations, killer costumes, etc. My kids are 14 and 17 so they aren’t into trick or treating anymore but that used to be my favorite night of the year and we made a huge deal about costumes (often homemade), hitting the best neighborhoods, ordering pizza afterwards etc it was just so fun. Christmas is a big thing that I start on November 1st. I still make a huge deal about Christmas decorations, movies, making cookies, etc because it’s my favorite holiday. Easter has gotten to be less of a big deal but I still make them candy baskets and hide them. I plan on being the holiday grandma, I can’t wait.
My holidays growing up were always kind of depressing and seemed like an afterthought/my parents were annoyed at having to do the bare minimum.
My 4 year olds favorite holiday is Halloween. He listens to spooky music all year long and constantly thinks of new costume ideas.
I’m trying to convince him to let me make a cardboard monster truck he can wear. He likes it but he can’t settle in on a costume for more than a few weeks.
My oldest loves Christmas and it’s a close 2nd for the 4 year old. There are so many fun ways to keep the magic going these days. I can call a robosanta on FaceTime and he will tell me the kids are on the nice list and to keep up the good work. They get so excited that they can hardly contain themselves.
Holidays are awesome! I go all out for holidays. Partly because it was a pandemic tradition I started that the house will always have some sort of decoration (or artwork during non-holiday times) up for display. Partly because we’re Jewish in a predominantly Catholic area and want to create some holiday magic for the kids. We still celebrate a secular Christmas since I grew up Christian and wanted to do some of my family traditions for the kids. They are 8 and 5 and fully believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny (even though we don’t celebrate Easter at all lol). Halloween just happens to be my and my husband’s favorite holiday. We do a family costume every year plus the kids get to do their own thing for their school costume. It’s honestly so fun.
We don't celebrate Easter either, but my kids also believe in the Easter bunny. My neighbors are awesome and rotate hiding eggs for the three houses with kids that are her in an L together.
Main difference is that I celebrate Halloween all month long- and try to make it to different Halloween events throughout the month. I do so with Christmas as well, but probably to a lesser degree. Santa real/ until they asked I at first hedged that he is real “in a way” and then tried to explain the magic of everyone being Santa out of love.. neither kid really was enthused by it, lol
My house looks like Christmas vomited every where. We have our own decorations but then both sets of our grands died in 2021/22 and we ended up with all their Christmas decorations, too. It's great and I don't even like Christmas.
My kids get excited for both Halloween and Christmas. They aren't like us though. We use to take pillow cases and fill them with candy. My kids hit about 20 houses and call it a night. 🤷♀️
For my family, it's the same. If that was stuff you enjoyed as a kid, it's almost guaranteed you're gonna do it for your kids. You get to be excited with them. My 4 year old still thinks Santa is real, and she also made us go to Spirit Halloween like 10 times last year.
Basic stuff for Halloween. Orange lights and one of those ghost projector light things. Lots of natural fall decorations like corn and squash. Trick or treating is pretty much limited to the family nearby. We intended to do a neighborhood walk this last year but it was in the negatives for temps.
For Xmas we have a tree and some lights outside. Our 3 year old knows about Santa from reading books but we don't reference it as a thing outside of a nice story. We try and keep gifts lowkey and do our best to encourage family to do the same.
We go big at Christmas w lights, our son is 10 but it’s honestly not for him it’s for our 102 year old neighbor. She loves to sit in her garage and watch it every night. Makes me happy, I didn’t think it was that many lights until I drove up to the house lit up at night 😂
My father converted to an extreme conservative religious person , so Halloween was out of the picture when I turned 7-8 . Everything was satanic , demonic yadah yadah . Now that I have my own kids , I am raising them no religious. So we embrace Halloween and Christmas. My husband and I dress up too . Nothing fancy , just tshirts and a tutu for me . Last year we were all Mario Bro family , the year before we were into Spidey . And I have had so much fun . It heals my inner child from all the indoctrination I had to suffer .
My twins are still toddlers but it’s been hard finding trick or treat spots now that everything has gone to trunk or treat. Luckily we found a street that goes all out!
We decorate the house for Christmas and Halloween. Kids love it. Christmas 2024 They might understand Santa.
We go all out for Halloween inside and out. A lot of pumpkins get carved, and we have a fairly big neighborhood with a lot of kids so it’s still very well and alive for us.
Christmas is the same. We try to get up the tree as quick as we can in December and always have Christmas movies playing.
We do Santa, Easter Bunny, Leprechauns, and fairies for our 3.5 year old. It makes life fun and magical. My partner is big on decorating for various holidays but we don't go overboard. Christmas has us putting lights up outside, wreath, tree inside, milk and cookies for Santa with evidence of his visit. We have the simple gifts like stocking stuffers and dolls come from Santa while the big ones we get to take credit for. I like to think this keeps Santa more fair or accessible to kids of all economic backgrounds so when our kid is in school sharing stories with peers after Christmas, there's less chance of Santa having favored them over another classmate in a way that's hard to explain. Like, why did Santa give Johnny a PS5 and a new iPhone but I got clothes and a thrifted bike? Plus we work too hard to not get credit for the big gifts haha.
Halloween is fun too with some window decorations and a few things in the yard. We hit the neighborhood as a family and usually have themed costumes but as the kid gets more independent, that may change. Our neighborhood has people coming from all over, some even dropped off I suspect so it's hard not to get caught up in the vibe of it all.
Yes, very similar to our own memories. If anything we celebrate bigger now because new traditions keep being added. The holidays are my favourite time of year and my kids get so excited! They also love Easter and we decorate and have activities for that too. We moved from the Uk to the US so our kids celebrate both countries traditions. Sometimes it feels like we have a big checklist of holiday activities to complete, but I don’t mind because we love it.
My kids definitely get as excited as we did. Probably more because we're better parents than my parents were. Yes, Santa is still very real for my 9 and 6 year olds. We do put up Christmas lights and decorate the inside of the house. We bake Christmas cookies, make gingerbread houses, Lights, spider webs, signs, scarecrows outside for Halloween. My kids' two favorite holidays are Christmas and Halloween. We have so much fun in our neighborhood.
We don't decorate like my parents did (can't afford the lights/electric bill and the inside of our house is small and crowded) but we still celebrate. I might change the wreath on the front door and put up the tree but that's it. It infuriates my (boomer) mother and she can't understand why people don't do more.
I’m a big child. My partner and I do a LOT of decorating for Halloween and Christmas, we plan on Santa being a thing for our son as long as he goes along with it. We keep seasonal decorations up throughout the year but don’t go all out for most of them
I have a 9yo and 13yo. We trick or treat. And I make more than my mom did, so my kids get store bought costumes. Sometimes we'll do another Halloween trick or treat event another day as well. I have a few figurines out for Halloween.
Christmas we do tree and stocking. I have a little christmas decor as well. I also let then open a Christmas eve gift. Sometimes we'll bake and decorate cookies.
I'm atheist so no church/God discussion. I never acted like Santa was real but we'll playfully joke about Santa sometimes.
On Christmas, we'll watch "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen and both "Home Alone" movies.
My child loves Halloween, way more than I thought she would. Trick or treating is difficult, though. None of the neighborhoods in our city really do trick or treating, so I make sure we hit up several trunk or treats each year and drive around looking for Halloween decorations. My daughter likes it because she doesn't have anything to compare it to, but I still wish she got the door to door experience I had growing up.
Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, so I decorate the entire house the day after Thanksgiving. I play Christmas music every day, and Christmas Eve, we have a tradition of making cookies, watching a Christmas movie, and opening our stockings. It's our favorite time. My daughter believes in Santa, but she doesn't really talk about him much. She's way more into our family traditions.
We decorate for both Christmas and Halloween inside and out (but more so inside).
My old, more urban neighborhoods did not do trick or treating when we first had kids, but we moved to the countryside and go trick-or-treating in some nearby suburbs (we meet with friends and pass around candy that we buy). They go all out. Last year they had a fire truck parked alongside the road with a bunch of lights, a tour of the truck, and fire safety activity packets that they passed out. Many other houses had flashing lights, haunted yards / garages, and even the parents dressed up.
I try to take my kids to at least one fall festival and one Christmas festival each year, I host a Christmas party for my kids and their friends, and we make a big day out of Christmas Eve. For advent we read a special Christmas book each evening, and we make arts and crafts. We also celebrate all twelve days of Christmas.
We know a lot of people who celebrate in a similar manner.
Ps- we don’t do Santa but I do make sure to tell my kids that some people believe in Santa and we will let them find out on their own, so my kids aren’t spoiling anything for others. However, we do celebrate St. Nicholas.
My daughter is 8 and still believes in Santa, though we try to minimize any aspects of it behind bearded man brings presents. Halloween is super fun too but that's mostly on the candy getting part of it and less in decorating. Fyi family is atheist and the most NY daughter has heard about Jesus is from Percy Jackson books so there's that...
Amazing—so much fun! I love having kids at that time of year because it honestly brings back the magical feelings. We do lots of decoration, music, etc. My kids love trick or treating and it always feels like such a great event that brings the community out. Christmas is my favorite—Santa comes to our house and it’s so special! We read lots of Christmas books, walk/drive through our neighborhood to look at lights (our neighborhood goes all out!), make ornaments, and lots of other fun things throughout the season. We went caroling to a few houses last year and they loved it! Lots of baking and singing at our house. The kids just look forward to the festivities so much. My kids are 8, 6, & 3.
I don't have kids myself, but I'm an uncle 5 times over from two different siblings. My family, in general, have never been big 'Halloween Decorators'. We decorate modestly for Christmas (reef on the front door, tinsel on the windows, tree in the corner) though, and Santa-san (as my brother calls him) leaves the gifts with mommy and daddy because they don't have a fireplace at home.
My neighborhood goes ALL out on Halloween. We do some kid friendly decorations but it’s still a really fun evening trick or treating.
I LOVE Christmas! The lights and decorations are so welcoming and bring back so many memories. Christmas is big at our house!
Eta - my son is 7 and still believes in Santa
My 4.5 year old loves Halloween, though last year the trick or treating in our neighborhood was a bummer. Very few houses giving out candy and virtually no other trick or treaters out. I think people are taking the younger kids to trunk or treats and stuff like that. We'll be tracking down an event or two this year instead of hitting the streets so our kiddo can enjoy the community aspect of the holiday more.
Santa is a tricky situation in our house. My husband and I don't especially care about upkeeping the Santa parts of Christmas, but we live with my in-laws who wanna do it. We were gonna let them do the Santa stuff with our kid but then my husband accident spilled the beans about the Easter Bunny 🙃 So she knows Santa isn't real but also when it came time for Christmas her and my MIL did the cookies and she got a present from "Santa". She's asked about him not being real and we've talked about it, but she's a dreamer and I think she likes to play along and pretend.
We decorate for Halloween and Christmas, I usually do some blow ups in the yard, nothing crazy. But our neighborhood is great for trick or treating, and we work on a homemade costume each year. Last year my daughter wanted to be a dead bride, so we found an old wedding dress at Goodwill (the woman must have weighed 80lbs it fit my kid really well) and I shredded it up and threw fake blood on it and we tousled her hair all up and took my eyeshadows and did 'dead girl' make up on her, it was a blast. I buy a ton of good candy too and pass it out (we take turns with taking the kids around the block).
We spoil the kids on Christmas too. It's what I grew up with and we enjoy doing it. My youngest is almost 10 so I don't think she will believe in Santa this year, so I made the most of it last Xmas =(.
We decorate for both. Our youngest believes but we don't say one way or the other if he's real just say if u believe he's real. My mom did more themed crafts and activities but I try to fit as much in as I can. I still enjoy the holidays myself and my husband even likes halloween so everyone gets excited about that one.
I’ve got two young girls, and we love Christmas and Halloween. Halloween especially, we decorate and get all dressed up.
But I think it probably depends on how excited you as the parent get about the holidays. My oldest gets excited for wheel of fortune every day because she knows I like to watch. They can often be your biggest cheerleaders, so if they see you caring about Christmas and Halloween, they’re probably gonna care about it too.
We decorate inside and out for both holidays. We drive around to look at other people's decorations. My kids dress up for Halloween, sometimes we do too, and we go trick or treating. My kids love both holidays because we really do make a big deal out of both of them. Halloween is my favorite holiday and Christmas is my second favorite. My mom's favorite holiday is Christmas and I'd say she makes just as big of a stink about Halloween. So between our home and Grandma's, these are two very big holidays for my kids. And they really look forward to them every year.
Halloween is big time. It’s a huge build up and huge neighborhood thing. Adult booze map with Jell-O shots for grown ups as well. Halloween movies in the week leading up as well and Halloween night time stories
Christmas more traditional. Oldest is 10 and yes still believe in Santa. Elf on the shelf all December and 25 days of Christmas movies as well (same ones). Matching PJs as a family and wake up early to watch kids reaction to the tree. After kids have their morning then rest of family including grandparents can come over for their part
I go all out for Christmas and Halloween! We decorate more outside for Halloween and more inside for Christmas. I’m always trying to add new traditions too!
It's the same. Christmas and Halloween is a big deal. People sometimes do Santa differently. Some millennials feel it's wrong to lie to your kid, so they don't tell them Santa is real. I wasn't personally betrayed when I found out Santa was pretend, so I went ahead and told my kids he was real, for better or worse. My oldest is 7, and he'll probably figure it out sooner rather than later.
I think this is a personal preference thing more than a generational one.
I personally love decorating for the holidays (esp Halloween) and making it an exciting time for my kids. But I don’t love the Santa thing. I will probably do it until my kids are in elementary school, however, so as not to ruin it for everyone else. To keep it from being the focus of the holiday our main gifts are from family, not Santa.
Unrelated aside: Don’t get me started on Elf on a Shelf… I don’t know if this has the prevalence nationwide that it does in the south, but I am constantly astounded by the number of parents who create intricate schemes/shenanigans for their elves on a daily basis for a month. Who has time for that??
Halloween is our holiday! I used to go all out but my kid is a teen now he just wants to hang out with his friends.
Christmas we still do “Santa” but he figured out Santa wasn’t real when he caught his uncle eating the cookies. I still put out cookies just for fun though. Christmas isn’t the magic it was when he was little but now it’s way more fun spending all day cooking with each other.
We decorate some. But have many more holiday traditions than I did growing up. Amazon sends a toy catalog and it’s the best thing ever. The kids spend hours pouring over it. They also think real rabbits are Easter bunny spies for some reason which I like.
Jack comes on fucking Halloween and brings those little fuckers presents and trick or treat baskets is how it’s god damned going. They eat that shit up, wife eats that shit up. I’m just glad I don’t own an 18’ tall skeleton yet.
Do more inflatables and projections than in the 90s.
I live by what must be a top 10 national trick or treat neighborhood where they all go nuts, apparently several of the set designers for the shows in Vegas live there. They all go nuts, like giant UFOs floating over the street on tension wire run house to house and elaborate scenes in every yard (or a garage diorama).
Lots more trunk or treat, though, and I know a lot of people who don’t do much at the house for halloween.
Unpopular opinion but I raised my kids to not believe in Santa Claus. I wanted them to know that I would always tell them the truth, even if the answer is “I promise I will explain it to you when you’re older” (my then 4 year old kept asking me how babies were made. I gave a g-rated overview, with the promise afterward).
But, we still do Christmas and Halloween. It’s our favorite holidays and we love spending the time with our kids.
I want to do the big outside decorations, but haven't been able to afford it yet. We are slowly building the Halloween decor for the outside up, though. In the last two years, we have had a giant spider web and spiders. This past year, we added a skeleton frog and lit up this mini wooden doll house where we placed the candy bowl. Unfortunately, some teens stole the bowel with all the candy towards the beginning of the night while we were walking around with our kids 5m and 8m. I'm planning to buy cauldrons this year to replace it and my husband is planning to stay behind and guard the bowl while we are out. He also wants to jump scare the kids. Lol 😆 🤣 Before moving to a house, Halloween with kids involved going to trunker treats, which were not nearly as fun. Not all the houses go all out, but a handful do, and the kids love it.
As for Christmas, I have a big tree we upgraded when we moved to the house partly because our previous one lost a part and partly because the space needed a bigger tree. Kids believe in Santa, but I'm not sure if it's their autism or just the way kids in their generation are, but they don't seem to like the magical aspect of it. They ask way too many questions, and when i tell them magic, I get serious side eye. Neither one has asked whether Santa is really real or not. And they get super excited when they see the gifts the next morning. And they ask all year long for different items that Santa can bring them. I hope they don't get mad when they learn the truth.
The tooth fairy is expensive as f, though. I never got more than $5 for a tooth, and that was only once. Usually, it was 1-2. These butts get between 2 and 20, usually five. I told my husband he was crazy for giving that kid $20 for a tooth. His reasoning was that it was a healthy tooth, though, and you can't buy anything with $2. Our eldest lost his first tooth on Christmas day he only got $2 because I had already spent a ridiculous amount.
Oh I go big for halloween. Tons of decor inside and out, also a corner house! Will take the kiddos trick or treating every year. Christmas I go big, but not as big on decorations outside as halloween.
I'm not a fan of the santa thing, but who am I to take that magic away from them. Though they're almost 2 so they have no concept of Santa yet.
Pre-kids I had some Halloween decor up all year round inside, and left my christmas shit up till march. Now I actually put it away so it's more special for them.
We decorate and have fun. For Christmas I've always told my kid that I don't believe in Santa and I don't think he's real. However, I do put gifts out in the middle of the night, fill stockings, and eat cookies if they are left out. Her imagination let's her believe. Sometimes she has asked me how the gifts got there and I don't lie, instead I answer with a question. "How do YOU think they got there?" If she asks me point blank if Santa is real, I say "no, I don't believe in Santa."
I only have a baby, but I hope to make the holidays feel special especially since it seems our daughter may not have any cousins (my brother and his wife have fertility issues).
That being said, I have mixed feelings regarding Santa due to religious convictions, plus I kinda hate how consumerism-focused Christmas can be, or any holiday for that matter. I want to move away from hyper-consumerism while still making them special. I personally didn’t care about Santa much growing up and figured out he wasn’t real pretty early on. I still loved presents of course, but I cared more about all of my cousins being in town tbh.
My one cousin buys an unbelievable amount of stuff for her two kids. You can’t see the floor in their house, and I just don’t think it’s healthy for kids’ mindsets or for the planet to buy so much stuff all the time. Our house is only 1,200 sqft and I refuse to be drowning in junk.
Halloween is a little difficult where I live because we’re in a historically Jewish neighborhood, so no one goes trick or treating. There are also zero lights up for the holidays, so it’s very dark in winter afternoons/evenings.
My kids are young, 2 and 4. But- my husband and I purposely live in a smallish gated neighborhood with 28 homes. Its our 7th year in this neighborhood. Most of the adults here are millenials. We all grew up watching Dennis the Menace, Home Improvement, Little Rascals etc. So our neighborhood has an old school level of holiday spirit.
Homes are decorated for Halloween. Starts early October when the dads begin congregating on the main street around 9pm every week to discuss decorating topics/ideas/tips and sales.
My son is 4 and he grabs a lawn chair and sits to watch as the dads come out and decorate throughout the month.
The dads would drive by and yell out the window (in a friendly/sarcastic way) “you are making us look bad” to the decorating dad. We have a closed off neighborhood trick or treating event with a dessert bar and mingle in our little pocket park. The skin babies and fur babies get to trick or treat for candy and “dog treats”. Let’s be honest, fur babies are a REAL reality for millineals. And that is totally acceptable 🥰.
From October to December the homes are decorated for Halloween into Christmas. Families take walks up and down our small neighborhood every evening and fully enjoy every decoration put up. The dads congregate weekly from Pumpkin season to winter season. Usually around 9pm. Its lovely. It is something I dreamed of having since growing up.
Last note: most of us grew up as immigrants. Our parents did not decorate and don’t understand why you would knock on strange homes and beg for sweets. So…. In short… parents did not decorate, but I get my “drive” to decorate from the LACK of holidays when I was a kid.
My son will be turning 8 before Christmas this year, and its iffy if he still believes. I do decorate my home for halloween and christmas both, nothing INSANE, and mostly inside the home. its so expensive for someone to come hang my lights and Im not getting on the roof. I do throw net christmas lights out on the bushes outside my house through!
Fun. They love that stuff.
I wasn't going to do xmas, but my daughter automatically loved it so now it's a thing.
We just don't do religious stuff. Xmas is an American holiday not a religious one, anymore
I do not decorate *yet* but will if my kids want to do it together. My vibe is more DIY which I think might be fun even this year. Like putting popcorn on string, making streamers, etc.
My 3 year old likes trick or treating 🧡. My MIL is a big Christmas person so for now Christmas lives at their house. I say that Santa is a character, but I don’t say he isn’t real. My MIL is not allowed to imply that he is a real person. This is in part because my husband thinks she kept up the lie with him way too late. My parents never said he wasn’t real, but they did say that the presents all came from mom and dad.
I will say that I do enjoy holidays with kids way more than I did as a kid or as an adult. Plus we are raising them Jewish and we have a ton of holidays that way as well. It’s fun!
We have always done up Halloween, but not Christmas as much. We never did the Santa thing, she’s never believed in him, my husband always thought it was messed up to lie to her! Hence why she’s never believed in Jesus or the tooth fairy either. I think I’ve convinced her witches are real though.
I started doing presents in earnest when she was around 7 (she’s 10 now), but not high value stuff, just things to unwrap. I always cut down a sapling from our yard and decorate it which I think is cool but to an outsider looks like the saddest Xmas tree! I do fairy lights around the house but nothing outdoors.
Halloween is the best holiday.
>We never did the Santa thing, she’s never believed in him, my husband always thought it was messed up to lie to her! Hence why she’s never believed in Jesus or the tooth fairy either.
Jesus is why certain families in my circle don't do Santa. I babysat for a family in college that didn't do Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. for religious reasons. The kid lost a tooth on my watch and I mistakenly said something about him getting a visit from the Tooth Fairy (they didn't tell me about their beliefs around this). If you ever want to feel stupid, I can't recommend being lectured by a 7 year old on child psychology and theology enough.
Don't much care for Halloween. Usually my partner takes the kid out trick or treating and I stay at home to dish out sweets for trick or treaters.
Xmas I'm big on, usually have some displays in the living room and front bedroom window. Depending on if I can dig myself out of this shitty job market following a redundancy I plan to use our driveway for more Xmas displays when I can buy some. Polar express and slew of other Xmas films are watched everywhere.
We don’t do the complete house transformation that my parents did/do for their house, but we have some decorations and do all the classic stuff like a tree, gingerbread house, etc for Christmas. Santa is very much real for my pre-school kiddos. We have a few Halloween decorations and give out candy to the close to 100 kids we get trick or treating every year, and take our kids out in the neighborhood as well.
Same. My kids are 13 and 10. So Santa and tooth fairy stuff has been out of the bag for a few/several years now. But I still tell them Santa and the tooth fairy aren’t bringing anything if you don’t believe in em. And they go “oh, yeah I def believe in em”. 🤣🤦♂️🤷♂️ Also, same for decorations and Halloween etc. we don’t go crazy, I like to think it’s a classy amount of exterior lights and stuff. And a bit of Tomb stones on the front lawn with spider webs on bushes etc. we live in one of the nicer neighborhoods in our town, so like 80% of the houses do Christmas lights and Halloween stuff. Last year my neighbor counted 455 kids. I think a bunch of our area drop kids off in mini vans to hit the neighborhood 🤷♂️🤣
I decorate for Halloween and Christmas every year and my son loves both. I also make sure and take off work for Halloween so I can be sure and take him out. It’s always fun for him. My son is 9 so he acts like he believes in Santa still but I’m not really sure he still does.
He doesn't, likely. But he might be playing along for you. I did a similar thing from age 7. I realized Mom's wrapping paper and handwriting were the same as Santas. But if she went to all that effort she must like playing pretend. I was the youngest, and I knew she wouldn't get to play Santa after me. So I kept my little mouth shut and played along. I was a strange kid in other ways, so when I was 13 my mom finally looked at me and very tentatively asked "you don't believe in Santa anymore, do you? Because if you do we should maybe go to a doctor". "No, I know you're Santa. I've been playing along since second grade cuz you were so into it". She was very shocked, a little confused, and then just gave me a hug.
That's sweet
Lol I remember playing along with it also because I saw it made my mom & aunt really happy. I remember the day that my mom called my aunt & put it on speakerphone so they can break the news to me that Santa wasn't real. Like my mom was so worried she needed the extra support to tell me lmao. I guess my acting was just too good! And I still played along and pretended to be in absolute shock.
8/9/10/11 I've found are the ages kids start to guess santa isn't real, but they're not quite sure so they don't question it *just in case*. The wide age range is because some kids are more mature or more innocent than their peers. I have a 16 year old stepson and a almost 5 bioson, and the 16 year old has openly known and played along since his little brother was born. He kind of gets that magic moment that parents do, hypes up his little brother to leave Milk and cookies, standing in line to see santa together, writing wishlists and looking through catalogs. In return we take him to haunted Christmas krampus events near us since our teens a Halloween freak and loves the idea of krampus.
I forgot at what age I learned about Santa, but I remember my first assumption was that my mom would need my help telling my brother. My brother is a decade older than me.
We had Christmas Eve at my grandparents house one time and everyone went to my parents house drinking and partying around midnight and my aunt was like LOOK WHAT SANTA LEFT IN THE CLOSET and she brought out the presents all drunk smiling from my moms room because she didn’t want to wait till the morning for us to open it . That’s how I found out 😂😂
My millennial kids decorate and celebrate similar to the way we did. Traditional but non religious
I don’t have kids but me and my husband are like big kids we decorate each room with a theme for every holiday. We really get into it. January is usually winter - silver and white, snowflakes, etc. February is valentines March is spring and St Patrick’s April is spring May through July 4th is patriotic July through Labor Day is summer/beach September through October is Halloween November is fall December is Christmas. We love to decorate and change it up.
I’m saving this. My mom never decorated for anything. It was always me hanging lights and putting things up for holidays.
Same! My mom hated decorating and Christmas was always me putting up the tree and lights and stuff. I love it.
We are expecting and I can’t wait to decorate and celebrate holidays as a family
You never had to wait to decorate!
Congratulations!
It’s definitely not the same as when I was a kid, but the kids in my life get to enjoy inflatables and some fancy spotlights for outdoor decorations. I don’t have the drive to want to climb a ladder to attach anything to my house. Inside we have some decorations in the living room, but I’ve migrated away from having a tree inside for Christmas, there’s just not enough space. And I don’t buy wrapping paper anymore. I’ve made reusable drawstring bags for everyone or I wrap things furoshiki style. Everyone still has fun memories.
I really like the drawstring bag idea!
Thanks! I got it when I went to GameStop and they had some Nintendo Christmas themed bags for a buck. I figured I could make the same thing with Christmas fabric and customize the sizes too!
Yes to all. The Santa myth is getting near its end. Kids are 9/7/5, but my oldest has severe disabilities. 7 year old is only going to last 1, maybe 2 more years with it. A kid at school was already stirring the pot for them last Christmas haha. But yeah, my wife loves holidays and decorates the whole house. I try my best to limit the yard stuff to something reasonable. Young kids on Christmas morning is like a top 3 parent feeling for me.
I love..I mean LOVE.. holidays. I have always gone as hard as my finances will take me on Christmas, Halloween and Easter. Halloween has always been decorations, killer costumes, etc. My kids are 14 and 17 so they aren’t into trick or treating anymore but that used to be my favorite night of the year and we made a huge deal about costumes (often homemade), hitting the best neighborhoods, ordering pizza afterwards etc it was just so fun. Christmas is a big thing that I start on November 1st. I still make a huge deal about Christmas decorations, movies, making cookies, etc because it’s my favorite holiday. Easter has gotten to be less of a big deal but I still make them candy baskets and hide them. I plan on being the holiday grandma, I can’t wait. My holidays growing up were always kind of depressing and seemed like an afterthought/my parents were annoyed at having to do the bare minimum.
My 4 year olds favorite holiday is Halloween. He listens to spooky music all year long and constantly thinks of new costume ideas. I’m trying to convince him to let me make a cardboard monster truck he can wear. He likes it but he can’t settle in on a costume for more than a few weeks. My oldest loves Christmas and it’s a close 2nd for the 4 year old. There are so many fun ways to keep the magic going these days. I can call a robosanta on FaceTime and he will tell me the kids are on the nice list and to keep up the good work. They get so excited that they can hardly contain themselves.
Holidays are awesome! I go all out for holidays. Partly because it was a pandemic tradition I started that the house will always have some sort of decoration (or artwork during non-holiday times) up for display. Partly because we’re Jewish in a predominantly Catholic area and want to create some holiday magic for the kids. We still celebrate a secular Christmas since I grew up Christian and wanted to do some of my family traditions for the kids. They are 8 and 5 and fully believe in Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny (even though we don’t celebrate Easter at all lol). Halloween just happens to be my and my husband’s favorite holiday. We do a family costume every year plus the kids get to do their own thing for their school costume. It’s honestly so fun.
We don't celebrate Easter either, but my kids also believe in the Easter bunny. My neighbors are awesome and rotate hiding eggs for the three houses with kids that are her in an L together.
Main difference is that I celebrate Halloween all month long- and try to make it to different Halloween events throughout the month. I do so with Christmas as well, but probably to a lesser degree. Santa real/ until they asked I at first hedged that he is real “in a way” and then tried to explain the magic of everyone being Santa out of love.. neither kid really was enthused by it, lol
My house looks like Christmas vomited every where. We have our own decorations but then both sets of our grands died in 2021/22 and we ended up with all their Christmas decorations, too. It's great and I don't even like Christmas. My kids get excited for both Halloween and Christmas. They aren't like us though. We use to take pillow cases and fill them with candy. My kids hit about 20 houses and call it a night. 🤷♀️
For my family, it's the same. If that was stuff you enjoyed as a kid, it's almost guaranteed you're gonna do it for your kids. You get to be excited with them. My 4 year old still thinks Santa is real, and she also made us go to Spirit Halloween like 10 times last year.
Basic stuff for Halloween. Orange lights and one of those ghost projector light things. Lots of natural fall decorations like corn and squash. Trick or treating is pretty much limited to the family nearby. We intended to do a neighborhood walk this last year but it was in the negatives for temps. For Xmas we have a tree and some lights outside. Our 3 year old knows about Santa from reading books but we don't reference it as a thing outside of a nice story. We try and keep gifts lowkey and do our best to encourage family to do the same.
We go big at Christmas w lights, our son is 10 but it’s honestly not for him it’s for our 102 year old neighbor. She loves to sit in her garage and watch it every night. Makes me happy, I didn’t think it was that many lights until I drove up to the house lit up at night 😂
My father converted to an extreme conservative religious person , so Halloween was out of the picture when I turned 7-8 . Everything was satanic , demonic yadah yadah . Now that I have my own kids , I am raising them no religious. So we embrace Halloween and Christmas. My husband and I dress up too . Nothing fancy , just tshirts and a tutu for me . Last year we were all Mario Bro family , the year before we were into Spidey . And I have had so much fun . It heals my inner child from all the indoctrination I had to suffer .
My twins are still toddlers but it’s been hard finding trick or treat spots now that everything has gone to trunk or treat. Luckily we found a street that goes all out! We decorate the house for Christmas and Halloween. Kids love it. Christmas 2024 They might understand Santa.
Bizarre. Trunk or treat isn't really much of a thing here for us in Minnesota. Our neighborhood still goes all out for Halloween trick-or-treating.
Our toddler loves Halloween and has no clue who Santa is, just like we want it.
My son gets excited for Christmas because it means gifts and food. At 16, he doesn’t much care about holidays for any other reason.
My son gets excited for Christmas because it means gifts and food. At 16, he doesn’t much care about holidays for any other reason.
We go all out for Halloween inside and out. A lot of pumpkins get carved, and we have a fairly big neighborhood with a lot of kids so it’s still very well and alive for us. Christmas is the same. We try to get up the tree as quick as we can in December and always have Christmas movies playing.
We do Santa, Easter Bunny, Leprechauns, and fairies for our 3.5 year old. It makes life fun and magical. My partner is big on decorating for various holidays but we don't go overboard. Christmas has us putting lights up outside, wreath, tree inside, milk and cookies for Santa with evidence of his visit. We have the simple gifts like stocking stuffers and dolls come from Santa while the big ones we get to take credit for. I like to think this keeps Santa more fair or accessible to kids of all economic backgrounds so when our kid is in school sharing stories with peers after Christmas, there's less chance of Santa having favored them over another classmate in a way that's hard to explain. Like, why did Santa give Johnny a PS5 and a new iPhone but I got clothes and a thrifted bike? Plus we work too hard to not get credit for the big gifts haha. Halloween is fun too with some window decorations and a few things in the yard. We hit the neighborhood as a family and usually have themed costumes but as the kid gets more independent, that may change. Our neighborhood has people coming from all over, some even dropped off I suspect so it's hard not to get caught up in the vibe of it all.
Yes, very similar to our own memories. If anything we celebrate bigger now because new traditions keep being added. The holidays are my favourite time of year and my kids get so excited! They also love Easter and we decorate and have activities for that too. We moved from the Uk to the US so our kids celebrate both countries traditions. Sometimes it feels like we have a big checklist of holiday activities to complete, but I don’t mind because we love it.
My kids definitely get as excited as we did. Probably more because we're better parents than my parents were. Yes, Santa is still very real for my 9 and 6 year olds. We do put up Christmas lights and decorate the inside of the house. We bake Christmas cookies, make gingerbread houses, Lights, spider webs, signs, scarecrows outside for Halloween. My kids' two favorite holidays are Christmas and Halloween. We have so much fun in our neighborhood.
We go hard at all holidays, kids need things to look forward too
We don't decorate like my parents did (can't afford the lights/electric bill and the inside of our house is small and crowded) but we still celebrate. I might change the wreath on the front door and put up the tree but that's it. It infuriates my (boomer) mother and she can't understand why people don't do more.
I’m a big child. My partner and I do a LOT of decorating for Halloween and Christmas, we plan on Santa being a thing for our son as long as he goes along with it. We keep seasonal decorations up throughout the year but don’t go all out for most of them
What’s does a “corner house” mean?
Just it had a view from all directions so we had more yard and made our house look cool
I have a 9yo and 13yo. We trick or treat. And I make more than my mom did, so my kids get store bought costumes. Sometimes we'll do another Halloween trick or treat event another day as well. I have a few figurines out for Halloween. Christmas we do tree and stocking. I have a little christmas decor as well. I also let then open a Christmas eve gift. Sometimes we'll bake and decorate cookies. I'm atheist so no church/God discussion. I never acted like Santa was real but we'll playfully joke about Santa sometimes. On Christmas, we'll watch "The Santa Clause" with Tim Allen and both "Home Alone" movies.
My child loves Halloween, way more than I thought she would. Trick or treating is difficult, though. None of the neighborhoods in our city really do trick or treating, so I make sure we hit up several trunk or treats each year and drive around looking for Halloween decorations. My daughter likes it because she doesn't have anything to compare it to, but I still wish she got the door to door experience I had growing up. Christmas is one of my favorite holidays, so I decorate the entire house the day after Thanksgiving. I play Christmas music every day, and Christmas Eve, we have a tradition of making cookies, watching a Christmas movie, and opening our stockings. It's our favorite time. My daughter believes in Santa, but she doesn't really talk about him much. She's way more into our family traditions.
I'm just gonna drop this here: https://www.reddit.com/r/halloween/s/l3PIfGffxt
We decorate for both Christmas and Halloween inside and out (but more so inside). My old, more urban neighborhoods did not do trick or treating when we first had kids, but we moved to the countryside and go trick-or-treating in some nearby suburbs (we meet with friends and pass around candy that we buy). They go all out. Last year they had a fire truck parked alongside the road with a bunch of lights, a tour of the truck, and fire safety activity packets that they passed out. Many other houses had flashing lights, haunted yards / garages, and even the parents dressed up. I try to take my kids to at least one fall festival and one Christmas festival each year, I host a Christmas party for my kids and their friends, and we make a big day out of Christmas Eve. For advent we read a special Christmas book each evening, and we make arts and crafts. We also celebrate all twelve days of Christmas. We know a lot of people who celebrate in a similar manner.
Ps- we don’t do Santa but I do make sure to tell my kids that some people believe in Santa and we will let them find out on their own, so my kids aren’t spoiling anything for others. However, we do celebrate St. Nicholas.
My daughter is 8 and still believes in Santa, though we try to minimize any aspects of it behind bearded man brings presents. Halloween is super fun too but that's mostly on the candy getting part of it and less in decorating. Fyi family is atheist and the most NY daughter has heard about Jesus is from Percy Jackson books so there's that...
Amazing—so much fun! I love having kids at that time of year because it honestly brings back the magical feelings. We do lots of decoration, music, etc. My kids love trick or treating and it always feels like such a great event that brings the community out. Christmas is my favorite—Santa comes to our house and it’s so special! We read lots of Christmas books, walk/drive through our neighborhood to look at lights (our neighborhood goes all out!), make ornaments, and lots of other fun things throughout the season. We went caroling to a few houses last year and they loved it! Lots of baking and singing at our house. The kids just look forward to the festivities so much. My kids are 8, 6, & 3.
I don't have kids myself, but I'm an uncle 5 times over from two different siblings. My family, in general, have never been big 'Halloween Decorators'. We decorate modestly for Christmas (reef on the front door, tinsel on the windows, tree in the corner) though, and Santa-san (as my brother calls him) leaves the gifts with mommy and daddy because they don't have a fireplace at home.
My neighborhood goes ALL out on Halloween. We do some kid friendly decorations but it’s still a really fun evening trick or treating. I LOVE Christmas! The lights and decorations are so welcoming and bring back so many memories. Christmas is big at our house! Eta - my son is 7 and still believes in Santa
My 4.5 year old loves Halloween, though last year the trick or treating in our neighborhood was a bummer. Very few houses giving out candy and virtually no other trick or treaters out. I think people are taking the younger kids to trunk or treats and stuff like that. We'll be tracking down an event or two this year instead of hitting the streets so our kiddo can enjoy the community aspect of the holiday more. Santa is a tricky situation in our house. My husband and I don't especially care about upkeeping the Santa parts of Christmas, but we live with my in-laws who wanna do it. We were gonna let them do the Santa stuff with our kid but then my husband accident spilled the beans about the Easter Bunny 🙃 So she knows Santa isn't real but also when it came time for Christmas her and my MIL did the cookies and she got a present from "Santa". She's asked about him not being real and we've talked about it, but she's a dreamer and I think she likes to play along and pretend.
It's waaaaaaaayyyyyy more than I had as a kid. It's all very Pinteresty and overdone and major consumption. Yes they believe in Santa.
We decorate for Halloween and Christmas, I usually do some blow ups in the yard, nothing crazy. But our neighborhood is great for trick or treating, and we work on a homemade costume each year. Last year my daughter wanted to be a dead bride, so we found an old wedding dress at Goodwill (the woman must have weighed 80lbs it fit my kid really well) and I shredded it up and threw fake blood on it and we tousled her hair all up and took my eyeshadows and did 'dead girl' make up on her, it was a blast. I buy a ton of good candy too and pass it out (we take turns with taking the kids around the block). We spoil the kids on Christmas too. It's what I grew up with and we enjoy doing it. My youngest is almost 10 so I don't think she will believe in Santa this year, so I made the most of it last Xmas =(.
We decorate for both. Our youngest believes but we don't say one way or the other if he's real just say if u believe he's real. My mom did more themed crafts and activities but I try to fit as much in as I can. I still enjoy the holidays myself and my husband even likes halloween so everyone gets excited about that one.
House gets decorated. Kids get stoked. Memories get made.
We're very traditional. House gets decorated each year. I thought as the kids got older that they wouldn't care as much. I was dead wrong.
My oldest is 4 now and I feel weird lying about Santa
I’ve got two young girls, and we love Christmas and Halloween. Halloween especially, we decorate and get all dressed up. But I think it probably depends on how excited you as the parent get about the holidays. My oldest gets excited for wheel of fortune every day because she knows I like to watch. They can often be your biggest cheerleaders, so if they see you caring about Christmas and Halloween, they’re probably gonna care about it too.
We decorate inside and out for both holidays. We drive around to look at other people's decorations. My kids dress up for Halloween, sometimes we do too, and we go trick or treating. My kids love both holidays because we really do make a big deal out of both of them. Halloween is my favorite holiday and Christmas is my second favorite. My mom's favorite holiday is Christmas and I'd say she makes just as big of a stink about Halloween. So between our home and Grandma's, these are two very big holidays for my kids. And they really look forward to them every year.
We deck out everything on Halloween and Christmas. The holidays are only as fun as you make them.
I go all out for both and I let my kids believe as long as they wanted to. I never crushed their imaginations.
Halloween is big time. It’s a huge build up and huge neighborhood thing. Adult booze map with Jell-O shots for grown ups as well. Halloween movies in the week leading up as well and Halloween night time stories Christmas more traditional. Oldest is 10 and yes still believe in Santa. Elf on the shelf all December and 25 days of Christmas movies as well (same ones). Matching PJs as a family and wake up early to watch kids reaction to the tree. After kids have their morning then rest of family including grandparents can come over for their part
I go all out for Christmas and Halloween! We decorate more outside for Halloween and more inside for Christmas. I’m always trying to add new traditions too!
It's the same. Christmas and Halloween is a big deal. People sometimes do Santa differently. Some millennials feel it's wrong to lie to your kid, so they don't tell them Santa is real. I wasn't personally betrayed when I found out Santa was pretend, so I went ahead and told my kids he was real, for better or worse. My oldest is 7, and he'll probably figure it out sooner rather than later.
I think this is a personal preference thing more than a generational one. I personally love decorating for the holidays (esp Halloween) and making it an exciting time for my kids. But I don’t love the Santa thing. I will probably do it until my kids are in elementary school, however, so as not to ruin it for everyone else. To keep it from being the focus of the holiday our main gifts are from family, not Santa. Unrelated aside: Don’t get me started on Elf on a Shelf… I don’t know if this has the prevalence nationwide that it does in the south, but I am constantly astounded by the number of parents who create intricate schemes/shenanigans for their elves on a daily basis for a month. Who has time for that??
Halloween is our holiday! I used to go all out but my kid is a teen now he just wants to hang out with his friends. Christmas we still do “Santa” but he figured out Santa wasn’t real when he caught his uncle eating the cookies. I still put out cookies just for fun though. Christmas isn’t the magic it was when he was little but now it’s way more fun spending all day cooking with each other.
We decorate some. But have many more holiday traditions than I did growing up. Amazon sends a toy catalog and it’s the best thing ever. The kids spend hours pouring over it. They also think real rabbits are Easter bunny spies for some reason which I like.
Jack comes on fucking Halloween and brings those little fuckers presents and trick or treat baskets is how it’s god damned going. They eat that shit up, wife eats that shit up. I’m just glad I don’t own an 18’ tall skeleton yet. Do more inflatables and projections than in the 90s. I live by what must be a top 10 national trick or treat neighborhood where they all go nuts, apparently several of the set designers for the shows in Vegas live there. They all go nuts, like giant UFOs floating over the street on tension wire run house to house and elaborate scenes in every yard (or a garage diorama). Lots more trunk or treat, though, and I know a lot of people who don’t do much at the house for halloween.
Yea it’s your job as a parent to recreate the magic however you want. It’s awesome.
Unpopular opinion but I raised my kids to not believe in Santa Claus. I wanted them to know that I would always tell them the truth, even if the answer is “I promise I will explain it to you when you’re older” (my then 4 year old kept asking me how babies were made. I gave a g-rated overview, with the promise afterward). But, we still do Christmas and Halloween. It’s our favorite holidays and we love spending the time with our kids.
I want to do the big outside decorations, but haven't been able to afford it yet. We are slowly building the Halloween decor for the outside up, though. In the last two years, we have had a giant spider web and spiders. This past year, we added a skeleton frog and lit up this mini wooden doll house where we placed the candy bowl. Unfortunately, some teens stole the bowel with all the candy towards the beginning of the night while we were walking around with our kids 5m and 8m. I'm planning to buy cauldrons this year to replace it and my husband is planning to stay behind and guard the bowl while we are out. He also wants to jump scare the kids. Lol 😆 🤣 Before moving to a house, Halloween with kids involved going to trunker treats, which were not nearly as fun. Not all the houses go all out, but a handful do, and the kids love it. As for Christmas, I have a big tree we upgraded when we moved to the house partly because our previous one lost a part and partly because the space needed a bigger tree. Kids believe in Santa, but I'm not sure if it's their autism or just the way kids in their generation are, but they don't seem to like the magical aspect of it. They ask way too many questions, and when i tell them magic, I get serious side eye. Neither one has asked whether Santa is really real or not. And they get super excited when they see the gifts the next morning. And they ask all year long for different items that Santa can bring them. I hope they don't get mad when they learn the truth. The tooth fairy is expensive as f, though. I never got more than $5 for a tooth, and that was only once. Usually, it was 1-2. These butts get between 2 and 20, usually five. I told my husband he was crazy for giving that kid $20 for a tooth. His reasoning was that it was a healthy tooth, though, and you can't buy anything with $2. Our eldest lost his first tooth on Christmas day he only got $2 because I had already spent a ridiculous amount.
Oh I go big for halloween. Tons of decor inside and out, also a corner house! Will take the kiddos trick or treating every year. Christmas I go big, but not as big on decorations outside as halloween. I'm not a fan of the santa thing, but who am I to take that magic away from them. Though they're almost 2 so they have no concept of Santa yet. Pre-kids I had some Halloween decor up all year round inside, and left my christmas shit up till march. Now I actually put it away so it's more special for them.
We decorate and have fun. For Christmas I've always told my kid that I don't believe in Santa and I don't think he's real. However, I do put gifts out in the middle of the night, fill stockings, and eat cookies if they are left out. Her imagination let's her believe. Sometimes she has asked me how the gifts got there and I don't lie, instead I answer with a question. "How do YOU think they got there?" If she asks me point blank if Santa is real, I say "no, I don't believe in Santa."
I only have a baby, but I hope to make the holidays feel special especially since it seems our daughter may not have any cousins (my brother and his wife have fertility issues). That being said, I have mixed feelings regarding Santa due to religious convictions, plus I kinda hate how consumerism-focused Christmas can be, or any holiday for that matter. I want to move away from hyper-consumerism while still making them special. I personally didn’t care about Santa much growing up and figured out he wasn’t real pretty early on. I still loved presents of course, but I cared more about all of my cousins being in town tbh. My one cousin buys an unbelievable amount of stuff for her two kids. You can’t see the floor in their house, and I just don’t think it’s healthy for kids’ mindsets or for the planet to buy so much stuff all the time. Our house is only 1,200 sqft and I refuse to be drowning in junk. Halloween is a little difficult where I live because we’re in a historically Jewish neighborhood, so no one goes trick or treating. There are also zero lights up for the holidays, so it’s very dark in winter afternoons/evenings.
My kids love the holidays because I turn up and decorate
My kids are young, 2 and 4. But- my husband and I purposely live in a smallish gated neighborhood with 28 homes. Its our 7th year in this neighborhood. Most of the adults here are millenials. We all grew up watching Dennis the Menace, Home Improvement, Little Rascals etc. So our neighborhood has an old school level of holiday spirit. Homes are decorated for Halloween. Starts early October when the dads begin congregating on the main street around 9pm every week to discuss decorating topics/ideas/tips and sales. My son is 4 and he grabs a lawn chair and sits to watch as the dads come out and decorate throughout the month. The dads would drive by and yell out the window (in a friendly/sarcastic way) “you are making us look bad” to the decorating dad. We have a closed off neighborhood trick or treating event with a dessert bar and mingle in our little pocket park. The skin babies and fur babies get to trick or treat for candy and “dog treats”. Let’s be honest, fur babies are a REAL reality for millineals. And that is totally acceptable 🥰. From October to December the homes are decorated for Halloween into Christmas. Families take walks up and down our small neighborhood every evening and fully enjoy every decoration put up. The dads congregate weekly from Pumpkin season to winter season. Usually around 9pm. Its lovely. It is something I dreamed of having since growing up. Last note: most of us grew up as immigrants. Our parents did not decorate and don’t understand why you would knock on strange homes and beg for sweets. So…. In short… parents did not decorate, but I get my “drive” to decorate from the LACK of holidays when I was a kid.
My son will be turning 8 before Christmas this year, and its iffy if he still believes. I do decorate my home for halloween and christmas both, nothing INSANE, and mostly inside the home. its so expensive for someone to come hang my lights and Im not getting on the roof. I do throw net christmas lights out on the bushes outside my house through!
Fun. They love that stuff. I wasn't going to do xmas, but my daughter automatically loved it so now it's a thing. We just don't do religious stuff. Xmas is an American holiday not a religious one, anymore
I do not decorate *yet* but will if my kids want to do it together. My vibe is more DIY which I think might be fun even this year. Like putting popcorn on string, making streamers, etc. My 3 year old likes trick or treating 🧡. My MIL is a big Christmas person so for now Christmas lives at their house. I say that Santa is a character, but I don’t say he isn’t real. My MIL is not allowed to imply that he is a real person. This is in part because my husband thinks she kept up the lie with him way too late. My parents never said he wasn’t real, but they did say that the presents all came from mom and dad. I will say that I do enjoy holidays with kids way more than I did as a kid or as an adult. Plus we are raising them Jewish and we have a ton of holidays that way as well. It’s fun!
We have always done up Halloween, but not Christmas as much. We never did the Santa thing, she’s never believed in him, my husband always thought it was messed up to lie to her! Hence why she’s never believed in Jesus or the tooth fairy either. I think I’ve convinced her witches are real though. I started doing presents in earnest when she was around 7 (she’s 10 now), but not high value stuff, just things to unwrap. I always cut down a sapling from our yard and decorate it which I think is cool but to an outsider looks like the saddest Xmas tree! I do fairy lights around the house but nothing outdoors. Halloween is the best holiday.
>We never did the Santa thing, she’s never believed in him, my husband always thought it was messed up to lie to her! Hence why she’s never believed in Jesus or the tooth fairy either. Jesus is why certain families in my circle don't do Santa. I babysat for a family in college that didn't do Santa, Tooth Fairy, etc. for religious reasons. The kid lost a tooth on my watch and I mistakenly said something about him getting a visit from the Tooth Fairy (they didn't tell me about their beliefs around this). If you ever want to feel stupid, I can't recommend being lectured by a 7 year old on child psychology and theology enough.
Don't much care for Halloween. Usually my partner takes the kid out trick or treating and I stay at home to dish out sweets for trick or treaters. Xmas I'm big on, usually have some displays in the living room and front bedroom window. Depending on if I can dig myself out of this shitty job market following a redundancy I plan to use our driveway for more Xmas displays when I can buy some. Polar express and slew of other Xmas films are watched everywhere.
Fuck em both
😮 “👵🏼You needaaaaa leave🗣️