Halloween Bag Dinner

If you were to ask my four darling daughters what their favorite holiday traditions are, chances are that the Halloween Bag Dinner would be at the top of their lists. Many, many years ago, I wanted to encourage my children to EAT dinner before going out trick-or-treating. I knew what would happen if they didn't--they would gorge on sugar when they got home, end up with horrible "stummy-aches" and then we would ALL be miserable. Yet, for some reason, the thought of actually enjoying a healthy meal on Halloween night was nearly impossible when there was so much exciting action waiting outside.

As I thought about my not-so-serious dilemma, I decided that if I could make the Halloween dinner FUN, that perhaps they would actually eat the food, thus consuming less sugar, and alleviating the potential "stummy-ache." (Yes that is a real word in our family--a combination of stomach and tummy.) Thus, the Halloween bag dinner was born!

The Halloween Bag Dinner is ready to be served!

I decided on a menu that has twelve items--including utensils, napkins, and some type of beverage. Then I come up with Halloween names. Rolls might be called "tumbled tombstones." Baked potatoes could become "Revenge of Swamp Thing" and orange Jell-O could become "frosted pumpkin." Even the fork, knife, and spoon have new names. I typed up this Halloween menu, made enough copies for each member of the family, cut the names into slips, and then placed them in individual paper sacks. Over the next hour, each member of the family would draw three items at a time and wait to see what Black Cat's teeth really are (corn) or find out if they would be eating their first course with their hands because they didn't get a fork or a spoon (a family favorite) or if they would get dessert first! (Another family favorite.)

Ron clearly didn't have any utensils for this course...

Neither did Emily...

Ahhh...but Jennifer has a knife to stab her pork chop! Good times!

We always eat our Halloween bag dinner by candlelight which adds to the spooky fun. Best of all, the Halloween Bag Dinner became almost as popular as trick-or-treating. When Jennifer left home, Emily was very concerned that we would stop this tradition. I told her we weren't getting rid of it anytime soon because Ron and I enjoy it, too.

You know you have a successful family tradition when your adult children continue it. I know Christie and Tim have carried it on. Heather and Jennifer have introduced their college roommates to the messy fun. It wouldn't surprise me if those roommates don't introduce it to their OWN families someday!