And I get asked a lot. So I’ll tell you what I think and what my family does for what its worth.
I’ve vacillated between the two extremes of participating and not participating for years. I don’t personally like the holiday, but I have a husband who doesn’t care about it one way or the other so the children have never really known what to do. 

Some years I’ve taken the reigns and said, “We’re not participating.”  That was hard because with one parent not convicted about it, the children were drawn to participate.

Some years I’ve let the children participate because their Dad said it was OK and I didn’t interfere with what they wanted.  I’ve tried to play along through the years but I couldn’t get my heart into it. So most of the time I just go through the motions by making snacks and treats and trying to open my home and heart to whomever my children invite over for parties. I’ve tried to view Halloween as an opportunity to be kind and friendly to neighbors and my childrens friends.

We’ve also gone the route of Halloween alternative parties. They’re fun, but kind of dumb if they are meant to be an alternative. I mean if you object to going door to door and asking for candy while dressed as a princess, then what’s so different about doing door to door in a Church building asking for candy, dressed as a princess? You’re not part of the world if you do that? Of course you are, you’re doing exactly what the world is doing. I’ve always enjoyed those kinds of parties though because of the fellowship and good fun. But I’ve never fooled myself by telling myself that I was holier if I participated in one instead of trick or treating around the neighborhood.

Frankly, I’m just glad that my children are all old enough now that they don’t care about it either. That doesn’t help you, I realize, I guess you are going to have to take your own journey through Halloween. What we do now is based on years of thinking and fretting and praying. I also realize that fretting and praying don’t go together, but I’m just being transparent here.

We pop some corn, buy a bunch of candy and when little ghouls and dinosaurs arrive at the door, we hand out candy, smile and talk to them and their parents and be neighborly. We eat candy, and popcorn and watch movies and have fun. Sometimes we hand out tracts with the candy but they are tracts that I make so I know what they say and agree with it 100%. Usually its simply “Jesus loves you and so do we!” And we refrain from thinking that we’re holier or better Christians than those who trick or treat, because we’re definitely not. We’re just stumbling through this journey trying to bring glory to Jesus.