Boo Baskets: The Halloween tradition I surprisingly don’t hate

When I first read about Boo Baskets, the little basket of Halloween goodies parents are giving to their children, sometimes under the auspices of a friendly family witch, I had an immediate knee-jerk negative reaction. I may have even uttered, “Oh, hell no.” 

The idea of giving your kids cute themed baskets every October violated two of my most cherished tenets of my parenting philosophy: kids have too much stuff and parents have too much to do. The latter keeps our home vehemently Elf-on-the-Shelf free and the former adds an “In lieu of gifts…” line on classmate birthday invitations. I adore Halloween, but the last thing it needs is more obligations—including financial commitments and the emotional and mental labor that parents (usually mothers) undertake.

But as spooky season progressed, I counted the ways we were celebrating Halloween, and found many of those were, in fact, material. We truly are living in a material world. Maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to have one big dump of all the Halloween bric-a-brac at once rather than spreading it throughout the season as our defenses gradually lower.

After all, if it were a one-time occasion, we could anticipate its arrival, calculate the cost and have a snappy “You already got your Halloween treats for the year” comeback in the checkout line. Think about it: Americans spend literally billions on Halloween, averaging more than $100 each. 

It wouldn’t hurt to be a little more intentional about that spending, creating a budget, making sure each kid is evenly represented and that our purchases represent our family’s values. While we’re on this topic, it also wouldn’t hurt if kids had a clear cut-off date to not change their Halloween costume demands. And if everything was accounted for before the season and all of its celebrations, harvest festivals and spooky alleys, were properly underway, would that be so bad? 

Maybe it would be good to have a clear kick off for the Halloween season. Consider analogizing from that other beloved holiday, Christmas. One thing Christmas has down pat is anticipation of anticipation. Many families chomp at the bit for the day after Thanksgiving to roll around so they can deck the halls and sing the “Fa la la la las” in seasonal appropriateness. Kids love schedules and predictability—putting a day on the calendar in early October lets them know that now, finally, it is culturally appropriate to hang skeletons from the front door and wear costumes to school.

But just because I’m on board with the idea of Boo Baskets, doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my principles. Here’s how I plan on implementing our family’s Boo Basket this year, while keeping things simple.

Kick off Halloween traditions with simple and intentional steps

Create a budget of expected expenses

Start with a list of what you expect to spend money on this spooky season. For us, that includes real pumpkins on the front porch, trick-or-treat candy, costumes and some seasonal extras like themed coloring books, socks or muffin-tin liners. Come up with a general budget and stick to it.

Create a list of hard no’s and yes’s

Decide what items you have strong opinions about. Want to give out something other than candy this year? Hate little plastic toys? How can your Halloween purchases reflect your family’s goals and priorities? Personally, I insist on costumes that double up as, you know, clothes, so I tend to assemble higher quality purchases into costumes. For example, the year both of my daughters were Kiki from Kiki’s Delivery Service, I combined red shoes, a big bow and a dark dress to make a great costume that now enjoys a robust post-Halloween life as wardrobe staples. Holiday magic plus clothing essentials? Win-win.

Choose a date to mark the start of the season

Mark a date on the calendar for your Halloween kick off. Go ahead and make it a thing, decorating the house or porch together, playing a spooky playlist and maybe even finishing with a spooky movie. Whatever works for your family. But you can make that date any day that works for your calendar because there isn’t one culturally mandated “start of Halloween” (yet). Maybe you want to make your start tied to a day of the week, like the first Saturday in October, rather than a date that may fall on a busy work day. In our house, we have an October birthday, so we’ll have the birthday party, give it a day and then lean hard into Halloween.

Spread the word 

Let your kids know when your spooky season kickoff will be. After all, anticipation is part of the fun.

Go all-in

Create a tradition that celebrates more than just the stuff. Ritualizing seasonal gifts takes pressure off the gifts themselves as the tradition itself takes center stage. Maybe that looks like Boo Baskets in your family or maybe it’s a special family trip to the pumpkin patch or making costumes together or just giving everyone $5 and heading to the dollar store together. Our family will not be creating a witch who drops stuff off because, frankly, it’s hard enough to keep one mythical gift-giving lie going and Santa has precedence. But if that’s your thing, go for it.

Keep the focus on your family and be flexible. Don’t worry about what Boo Baskets or traditions the neighbor kids (or Instagram moms) have. The point of your family traditions is that they are for your family and they are fun. If something is stressful, don’t do it. If it feels more fun, go right ahead.