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Adoption/Infertility Around Halloween: Tips for when it's hard to be around kids

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When you are trying to conceive or working on family-building, from infertility issues to pursuing adoption, holidays with a big focus on children can be painful. My clients often express that, with Halloween, seeing little kids dressed up in cute costumes is just a difficult reminder of what they are trying to achieve.

Luckily, Halloween provides many opportunities to be with adults only and avoid the kid scene altogether. Half of Halloween is geared toward adults. If you don’t want to sit at home on Halloween while a parade of costumed children rings your doorbell for treats, here are four great things to do instead.

Go see a scary movie

If you love watching scary movies but don’t want to be at home, go see a scary movie currently in theaters. There won’t be any kids there on Halloween. Even if there are no good scary movies playing, go see a bad one that will make you laugh at the horribleness the entire time. Some movie theaters will do marathons of all the classic horror movies — see if you can find one for an all-night creepfest.

Attend an adult Halloween parade

A lot of Halloween parades happen at the end of October during the day when there are many kids literally parading around in costumes. Instead of attending one of these daytime family-focused Halloween parades, see if your area has an adult Halloween parade. Essentially, these parades allow adults to dress up and walk down the street, stopping in at clubs and bars along the way for drink specials and fun. A good example of an adult Halloween parade is the famous Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in New York City.

Get into costume for an adults-only party

Many of your friends with families are planning on a fun-for-everyone Halloween party with plenty of kids. If you are not up for the family party, explore your area for an adults-only Halloween costume party. Dressing up is lots of fun, and everyone lets out their inner kid at the adult Halloween parties. Attending one of these parties will allow you to let loose for a night and forget about your worries of trying to build your family.

Host your own Halloween party

If you don’t have a slew of adult friends with kids yet, host your own adults-only Halloween party. Send out invites that explicitly say only adults are allowed. Provide a bar with spooky cocktails and tasty treats adults would love. Set the mood with scary lighting and an awesome Halloween soundtrack. Feel free to invite those friends with kids also — they might love an opportunity to get out for some adult time once they’re done taking their kids trick-or-treating.

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