The Most GOURDgeous Time of The Year

Happy Fall Y’all

I am a summer lovin’ girl, the holiday season is my jam, spring lets us know that sun and fun are on the way, but dang, I really love the fall! During the dog days of summer, it is really hard to wait until September 1st to put up the fall decor. I make myself wait, but I have a lovely friend who puts those pumpkins out when she’s ready to make her pumpkin loving heart happy, as she should. Fall and Halloween are so much fun, I truly cannot wait!

Trick or Treat Dreams Come True

Halloween is neck and neck with Christmas as my favorite holiday. Please do not ask me to choose, because I can’t. I love dressing up, I love a theme, and okay, I love candy. One of the things I looked forward to the most as a parent was being able to dress my kids up and take them trick or treating. I have two fall babies, and I have passed my love for all things fall to them. My youngest has loved villains and Jack Skellington since I can remember, while my oldest took a few years to warm up to Halloween, but she got there eventually and now loves all things scary.

For years they allowed me to pick their costumes. Of course, I made sure their costumes were coordinated. The first Halloween I had two kids, my youngest was 2.5 weeks old and my oldest was almost 3 years old so I decided she was going to be Ariel and he would be Sebastian. Then, an ear infection and a cold hit our house, and The Little Mermaid was down for the count. We made up for it as a witch and her cat Tigger the following year. Now they pick their own costumes. The 16 year old usually as some theme with her friends (last year, they were Tinkerbell and friends), and the 13 year old throws on a scary clown mask and heads out with his friends.

 

While we are on the subject of Trick or Treating let me say this, if they come to your door with any sort of costume, LET TEENS TRICK OR TREAT!! My kids and their friends are taught to let the littles go first. To use your manners, and if it is a bowl of candy, only take 1-2 pieces and leave some for others. There are much worse things they could be doing than trick or treating, so let them be kids for as long as they can.

Halloween Food and Fun

As does every holiday, Halloween has food and fun to go along with the celebration. Some of our local favorite things to do during the Halloween season are: Ghost in the Oaks, Boo Carre, Boo at the Zoo, Krewe of Boo, Skeleton House, Ghost Manor and see all the local decorations. One year we wanted to take the kids on a ghost tour during October, but they were all sold out, so we took them on one ourselves, and they loved it. And we cannot forget the New Orleans Mom Snack and Shop event at Lakeside (I hope we can host our events again soon!).

We are used to hosting Halloween at our home. Our traditional Halloween noshes are mummy dogs, witch hands, and fingers with eyeballs and mold. Pinterest is full of Halloween food and drinks I want to try!

Last but not least are the movies. I mean there really are some good Halloween movies for the family: Hocus Pocus (did you hear they’re making a sequel?), Halloweentown, Nightmare Before Christmas (this one works October-December), Spookly the Square Pumpkin, The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, Casper, and so many more.

Pumpkin Love

So every year on September 1st, I take down all of my summer decor and replace it with pumpkins and footballs. The brown sugar syrup gets the boot for pumpkin spice syrup in my Starbucks and the floral candles are replaced with Autumn scents. So instead of making some “basic fall girl” comment, let me live my best fall life. Happy Fall, Y’all!

Nikki
Nikki was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, she has lived in Seattle and Portland. After visiting New Orleans, she fell in love with the city, and she and her husband decided to take a chance and move from the PNW to NOLA. Nikki has two kids, Amaya (16) and Tyson (13), she and her husband Dave have been married for 16 years, they live on the Northshore. Nikki works full time as a NICU nurse. Nikki and her family have fully embraced the culture of New Orleans, while they live on the Northshore, they play in New Orleans as often as they can. As a member of New Orleans Mom, she hopes to bring the perspective of the veteran mom and life with big kids and teenagers.

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