My grandma's being a party-pooper this year

[Nostalgiascape]

Now you have the oportunity to get creative with your brain power. You gotta figure out how to respect her wishes, but still keep Halloween for you.

[DemonSlayerMau]

Well she has yet to stop me from decorating my own room for halloween XD;
I may not even need to decorate the house for halloween...although I may still get away with putting the leaves into pumpkin bags and getting a pumpkin.
However, there's actually a pretty good reason to not decorate...le gasp! Is this blasphemy you speak of Mau? Nope. Let me explain...this house is over a hundred years old. People have actually died in this house...and people have asked if this was haunted.
The house itself can naturally be spooky without the fake decorations ^^; (of course if I owned this house and had lots of money to blow I'd get the most realistically scary ones money could buy...but my name isn't exactly on the cover of "lifestyles of the rich and famous" either.)

[angel222]

I'm sure I can. The idea of saving Halloween kind of makes me feel like some kind of Super Hero. XD;
Now let's just hope that I don't lose either of my jobs between now and then, but in any case, Halloween must go on!
Of course I will admit...she hasn't even been very excited about Christmas either since Grandpa died...
But the way I see it, Holidays exist for a very good reason... to have special days throughout the year to do something out of the ordinary that you wouldn't do any other day. Every holiday is special and unique, and Halloween is no exception. I look forward to each holiday, and I'm not letting Grandma ruin this one for me. XD;

the holidays are there to make everyone happy and to cheer up. good luck to you.

[RckyMtnmomx3]

PM,
I can soooooo relate. I am the youngest. As an adult it's become a title I enjoy.

[Desdemona]

What if you were to ask your grandma how she celebrated Halloween when she was a child - did she enjoy making decorations, can she remember what her favorite treats to give out and receive were - see if you can't get her to remember how much fun it was back then and act on it. Perhaps you could overcome her objections by getting small boxes of raisins, bags of peanuts, corn nuts, or halloween pretzels to give out (believe me, moms appreciate it when they find these more healthy alternatives among all the candy, and if the packaging is Halloween themed the kids usually go for them too). Maybe there was a special meal she remembers her mom making, or a story she liked to hear/read. What did she dress up as, what was her favorite costume. There are lots of ways you could try to engage your grandma's interest in the holiday, but even if all these fail, you can still enjoy the holiday in your own small way.

[Pumpkin_Man]

You know something, Desdemona makes an excelent point. Older people tend to be set in their ways, and don't like a lot of the changes to the traditions that they enjoyed when they were young. I'm pretty close to being old enough to be a grand parent, so I can relate to how they feel. I see a lot of my most beloved Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas traditions going the way of the proverbial dinasaur, and it makes me angry, and I tend to be a bit of a "party pooper" myself at times when I hear that another tradition is going to be done away with this year fopr such and such a reason. Please don't get me wrong. I am not trying to "knock" young people, but some times us older folks need a break from all the "new-fangled" encrocahments on our beloved traditions.

Perhaps your grandmother needs a break. Perhaps she needs to revisit some of the traditions that SHE knew and loved. It's worth a try at any rate.

Mike

[Ghoul of the Graves]

My mum dislikes Halloween A LOT and as I am at my dad's this year she isn't even bothering to open the door, or buy sweets/candy.

[Hallow's Queen]

BLASPHEMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ghoul of the Graves]

Tell me about it.

[Pumpkin_Man]

There's really not much to tell, Goul. I remember feeling really bummed out the year we got our first artificial Christmas tree. Before that, we had a tradition of going to the Christmas tree lot, picking out our tree as a family, and then having a tree trimming party, usualy on the 2nd Saturday of December. When we got that fake tree, that beautiful tradition was gone for good, and all in the name of convenience. The tree went up the day after Thanksgiving, and there was no more tree trimming party, either. Since moving to my house, I have revived both the Christmas tree search and the tree trimming party.

It's the same deal for Halloween. When I was a kid, I went TOTing to all hours of the night, and then to the Halloween Party at the park house. Today, TOT is limited to 4 hours, and non traditional costumes based on tv show characters, instead of the tradtional monsters, ghosts and the like. It's sad in a way, but again I have to admit that I am set in my ways, and I hate it when something I love gets shoved aside in the name of progress.

Older people, in general, tend to be difficult around holidays because they have seen all sorts of unwanted changes made over the years, and it depresses them. I understand that in the real world, changes do happen, many of which are unwanted, and one has to be realistic about these things. But knowing that doesn't make it easier for people who have had their favorite traditions taken away from them.

Mike