This morning, the radio host was talking about today being a day for those who don’t celebrate Valentine’s, to stock up on wads of chocolate for cheap.
Alternative Valentines: February the 15th – Cupid’s Wake.
Our family created an alternative event of our own. I had been recently separated and it was going to be the first Halloween I would not be with my girls. I panicked at the thought actually but in the span of two weeks, a couple of community members and I created a fun alternative.
We planned the event for the weekend before Halloween. We started with a little gathering in the park where we played a couple of games, and later we ventured through the neighbourhood and trick-or-treated at a handful of homes that had agreed to hand out candy – that we supplied – to our kids.
By the following year, I had met Tara, and she jumped in with her endless energy, wonderful people skills, and creative smarts, and our little event grew three sizes that year.
Each year, up until our last in-person event in 2019, Pumpkin Prowl grew and in that last year, over 300 people were in attendance and around 45 homes participated. We also were recognized in the Globe & Mail, our local newspaper and television station.
In 2020, we ran two events. One for Easter where we drove around the city in costume delivering candy to immunocompromised families, and a Halloween event where we both delivered candies, and in the evening we created 4 hours of original Twitch programming, bringing together local and national kids entertainers, and a live DJ for the last part of the evening.
Having Halloween on whatever Saturday day October, means staying up later watching scary movies and all of Sunday to recover from the sugar crash.