Take them trick-or-treating Mama.

Take them out on Halloween night.

Feed them dinner a little early and let them stay up a little late.

Make an event out of it. Play Monster Mash, Thriller and the Addams Family song while you apply makeup and zip up costumes, with The Night Mare Before Christmas and Hocus Pocus playing in the background.

Dress up with them. Pull that old witch hat out of your closet that you used to wear before kids, on Halloween night when you'd go out and have fun drinking and dancing with your girls.

Visit that neighbor down the street - the one that has grand kids on the other side of the country, but will delight in seeing your kids dressed up in their costumes and dispensing the candy she bought just for this night.

Bring them to visit your old neighborhood - the one that you used to go to in Halloweens past, where porch lights are still kept on for trick-or-treaters that no longer show up.

Grab some friends and hit that pavement, show them which houses have the best candy bars or yummy treats.

Take a walk through the cemetery between houses. Tell them a ghost story that's just scary enough to light that fire that lives deep in the hearts of children on Halloween night.

Teach them the history of the holiday - from Samhain to All Hollow's Eve. From Salem to the Celtic countries.
Even the scary parts.
Even the spine tingling parts.
They are shielded from enough these days, a little bit of scary won't hurt them.

Go to the events leading up to October 31st, but don't forget to actual day.

Whether it's on a Monday or a Saturday night, go out on Halloween itself.

Eat too much candy - all of you.
Tell the stories.
Make it an event.
Carry on the traditions.

Stay out until they rub their little eyes and ask you to carry their tired bodies back to the car, with chocolate covered lips and a bucket full of candy and memories.

Halloween comes but one night a year. With that, so does the chance to create memories that will last a lifetime and instill the magic in their own hearts that they can carry on to their own children one day.

Originally published on These Boys of Mine's FB page.