Boat Trick-or-Treating

We are so lucky to have a great neighborhood at our marina. Not just the boats, but the little area around our marina is wonderful as well. We are tucked in to a dead end off of another dead end, and there are just a handful of kids back here. It's perfect for Halloween because all of the kids usually trick-or-treat together in a group, and everyone knows to expect them. Zach actually left a funny sign up in the laundry room this year, letting everyone know that the kids would be coming around on Halloween and exactly what time too. Wish I had snapped a picture of it!

For a few days before Halloween, treats were being left on our boat. Homemade brownies and bags of candy.

Because these are the only kids in the neighborhood, they get spoiled. rotten. Most boats don't just hand out a piece or two of candy, they hand out bags and handfuls of candy. The kids walk boat to boat, and know where to go because there are lights on or more than likely someone waiting with a big smile in the cockpit.

(SuperJen's daughter A, above as a mermaid)

 (2012 trick-or-treating gang, above and below.)

My trick is to keep a bag of slightly less junkie junk foods along for the walk. I stuff honey sticks, organic lollipops, stickers, whistles, play dough, baggies of popcorn, etc. As Naia's bag filled up with candy bars and such, I swap it out for the other treats. Then she feels like she is part of the big kid action without a struggle over candy she's not ready for yet. I also keep her in a life jacket. I went back and forth on this, but decided it was better to cover up her costume for safety, than worry fading daylight on the thin rickety finger piers next to each boat with cold water below.

After the boats, we walk around the block to the handful of houses around the marina and the same goody bags and armloads of candy are waiting for the kids. If you saw their haul, you'd think they hit a big city neighborhood when in fact they only go to about 10 places. By then it's dark, and chilly. The kids are happy, the parents are tired, and Halloween is coming to an end for another year.

I so love this time of year. I love seeing their little imaginations take flight, seeing the pure joy, and knowing that the night will be all about them. This year both kids had a firm idea about what they wanted to dress up as. Zach was the cutest Harry Potter ever!

And Naia was stuck. She either wanted either be a ghost, a hunter, or a skeleton. And NOT a nice, friendly skeleton mama... a mean SCARY skeleton. And so here she is, so very mean and scary.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!