I’m curious — is trick-or-treating still popular in other parts of the world? Are y’all taking your kids around the block to knock on people’s doors tonight?

It’s waning in popularity here. It just doesn’t seem safe to let kids roam around knocking on people’s doors in costume and asking for candy. I remember we did this alone growing up — just me, my siblings, and friends. We’d come back with huge bags of candy. I remember even going inside a lady’s house where she told us to wait while she went and looked in her kitchen for some apples. It was fun — and she was nice. Now I wouldn’t want my kids doing that.

Churches in our area seem to be filling in the gaps. The new trend is to host huge “Fall Festivals” where the kids can come in costume or not. There are game booths, carnival rides, and cookouts. Our kids’ school had a fabulous petting zoo last weekend with horses, cows, sheep, goats, pigs, chickens, rabbits, and even a peacock.

Tonight, several big churches are hosting “Trunk or Treats” from their parking lot. So kids can go from car to car and get candy from people they know.

We’re continuing on with a tradition that just happened to get started a few years ago. My husband’s parents live right off the square in a historic section of town that attracts hundreds of trick-or-treaters. It’s really a safe, well-lit area, and it’s a great place to see people. We have just as much fun answering the door to pass out candy as we do walking around with the kids.

I can’t believe it, but I’m dressing up this year! My girls and I are all wearing Japanese kimonos — they’re really beautiful. I wore mine last weekend, and people stopped and bowed to me, giving me the chance to say, Konnichiwa. Hajimemashite. (Hello, nice to meet you.)

Yesterday, my three-year-old participated in his preschool costume parade — as a Storm Trooper, which he pronounces “Stoom Trooper.” He absolutely loved wearing his costume to school, and my husband even got off work a few minutes to come. While he and I were talking to a friend, we didn’t realize that our 18-month old daughter had escaped from her stroller and had joined in the parade. (It was indoors.) Oh my, she was adorable. We’ve found a hand-me-down cheerleader costume for her to wear tonight. And my oldest son, 10, has insisted on wearing a box, which he designed to look like a circuit board that lights up.

I’m not crazy about all the disgusting, scary things we see this time of year. I went to the grocery store yesterday and they had all these spooky green hands and ghoulish heads placed around the produce section. My youngest daughter looked scared and her eyes got big when some of the hands moved by motion sensors. That stuff is just plain evil to me.

But the costumes are fun. We plan on putting together some kind of play to perform at Christmas for the grandparents. It will be fun to see what we come up with that involves Japanese ladies in kimonos, a storm trooper, cheerleader, and a talking circuit board. Any ideas?