This is an issue that many families deal with, one way or another.  Do we "do" Halloween or not.  We didn't like the choices that presented themselves to us in our community, so we came up with our own traditions for this "holiday".  We get small pumpkins for each family member and the kids each design a pumpkin face on paper, then Dad carves the face or helps the kids old enough to carve.  Then we get nicely dressed up and go out for Chinese food at our favorite restaurant.  Sometimes we order in, instead.  When we return home, we turn out all the lights and watch the Charlie Brown Halloween video and the kids get a few pieces of candy from us.  Now comes the really fun part.  We line up all the pumpkins on the bathroom counter and put a small candle in each one.  (We get photos and video of the lit pumpkins - they look great!)  Everyone gets a bath by pumpkin candle light (including Mom & Dad but that's another story!)  We've been doing Halloween this way for about 5 years and it's really nice to look forward to.  Sometimes we answer the door and give out candy but usually we leave the porch light off so we won't be disturbed.  We spend a lot of time researching the reason Halloween even exists and discuss what God would want us to do.  Starting with last year, my two creative younger children wanted to decorate the house.  I allowed them to do spiders and webs inside the house and so they used string and made webs in the corners of several rooms, complete with spiders and prey.  This year, they have made at least 30 black widow spiders and stuck them all over the house.  We discussed why gory decorations are inappropriate and I said that God made spiders so that worked out well for all of us.  Some spiders are hanging here and there, I've gotten used to ducking at the right time.  So, that's what we do.  The kids look forward to it and we don't have to deal with too much candy or all the other negative things that come with this unnecessary holiday.

When Chad (our firstborn) was 3 months old, we dressed him in a baseball sleeper and took him to my in-laws for photos.  They had a huge pumpkin so, of course, we had to get the baby-in-pumpkin photo.  Mercy!  You should see the photos!  He screeched and screamed, don't blame him - it's cold in those things!  I'm laughing right now at the memory.  You look back and think, "How could I have been SO stupid?"  When he was 1 yo, we dressed him like a mouse, using a big black plastic bag for the body, stuffed with newsprint and added a tail.  He wore Mickey Mouse ears my neighbor got him from a Disneyland trip.  The drawn on whiskers made him look adorable (to us, you know) and the photos from that night were really cute.  But after that, we started wondering if we really wanted to go through this every year and the evil aspects of Halloween really started to bug us.  We didn't want to do anything we felt God didn't want us to do.  So, we didn't do anything for several years until we came up with our own tradition.  And that's what I think it comes down to.  What do you feel comfortable doing?  Nothing?  Everything?   Somewhere in between or something totally different?  As a homeschool family, we already march to a different drummer - should Halloween be any different?  Don't feel pressured by others to do one thing or another.  Pray about it and see how God leads you.  We see it as a good excuse to enjoy each others' company and it sparks a lot of spiritual conversation - for us, it's a good night!