Kids at a Halloween Wedding

Have you put any deposits down yet? I ask because it may be a silver lining to move it. It sounds good in theory, but one day you may have kids and your romantic day will be competing with one of the most exciting nights to be a parent. The kids will win every time. They're so cute! Put another way, my sister got married September 8th. She didn't calculate her future children's school schedule into the date and now she never feels she can go away for her anniversary because the kids would likely miss school a week or two after it starts because they would have to go to someone else's house. Just a thought.

If my son was still young, I would opt for taking him trick or treating over your wedding, even if it was a kid friendly Halloween party. It's a big night for young kids. I don't know how long he'll be into it, but I wouldn't make him miss it or ask someone else to take him out.Now, this doesn't mean you can't do it, but be prepared for some people to decline due to the date.

I would skip a Halloween wedding to take my child trick or treating, even if it was a costume party. Kids are only little for so long. You get what? 9 or 10 years of trick or treating with your little ones? I wouldn't make them give up one of those years to go to a wedding. I think this is really about priorities, similar to a destination wedding. Is it more important to you that you get married on Halloween or is it more important to you that all of your guests can attend without sacrificing precious time with their kids?

You could always make it fun for the kids. Encourage costumes and set up some trick or treating stations, perhaps also some fun games for them.

I definitely agree with PP. A lot of parents would skip a wedding to spend time with their kids on a holiday focused around kids. Really, I don't think you need to ask your guests. Even at a non-holiday wedding, most parents want their kids at weddings (or the option for it). If you really don't want kids at the wedding, consider having a Halloween wedding on the weekend before or the day before/after.

Kidding, even if you decide to have kids there, I'd consider switching the date around! A lot of parents would skip the wedding even if the kid was invited. I'm not a parent yet, but I would definitely skip a wedding to spend the day with my kids knowing how important it can be for them.

I'm not even a parent and I'd probably skip the wedding for Halloween. I like going out with my friends kids.
It's also probably going to be hard to find a babysitter on Halloween. It'd mean parents need to trust a stranger to be out at night with the kids or ruin Halloween by saying no trick or treating with a sitter. A friend probably won't want to keep someone else's kids all night for Halloween either.
I'd move the date to another night if you want adults only or invite the kids to keep Halloween.

As a mom, even if you invited my child, I’d decline the wedding to go trick or treating. My kid is 6 and even in kindergarten all her and her friends talked about after halloween was trick or treating and what they got for candy and the costumes they saw. I can’t imagine making her skip that or missing out on being the one to take her.

I wouldn't ask your guests. It's just not their call.
I'd skip a Halloween wedding too. But I work at one of those Halloween pop up stores and always choose to work and close on Halloween to allow everyone else the option to take their kids trick or treating.

I wonder if this is what you REALLY want to do, if you could make it a daytime thing and have everyone out by 4 in time to go trick or treating?

I’d skip the Halloween wedding too, but I’m biased because it’s my son’s and now husband’s birthday. But this is one of the fun kid holidays, I would not want to miss it, even for a family member’s wedding.

What day is your wedding on? Are you getting married in America? If so I know the common practice is for cities to schedule Halloween during the week instead of the weekend, so I would look into this! It might be a non issue as they wouldn't have trick or treat to miss then anyway!

If you have a lot of guests with kids, I'd assume they would have a harder time missing trick or treating with their kids so you may have more "no" responses than normal.

To a child, Halloween is the second biggest day of the year, after Christmas (if they celebrate that). No kid will want to miss it for a wedding and parents will want to share in their kids' joy. You wouldnt schedule a wedding on Christmas morning, would you?

View Quoted Comment I’ve never heard of this. In my area, trick or treating is always on Halloween, regardless of whether it’s a weekend or not.

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That's weird, in Ohio they specifically make sure it's on a weeknight even if the 31st is on a Saturday or Sunday!

It's a local call. I'm in Ohio too and if anything the move it to a school night

Whoops, posted that midthought...
Here the move it so NOT on a school night.

In my area, if Halloween is on a weeknight, different areas will hold Halloween on different days. That also gives kids a chance to visit multiple neighborhoods. However each township has different policies. That's important to research anyways when planning a Halloween wedding anyways because people coming from different towns may plan on celebrating Halloween on different days... I think that's why most October weddings I've been to are the Sunday around Halloween or the first two weeks of the month.

I do like the earlier idea of having the wedding earlier in the day. My family still wouldn't have gone when I was a kid because Halloween was a huge deal (about as many 'traditions' as Christmas: we had to make our pumpkins, set up for the mini-haunted house we set up for guests, and finish any last minute details on our homemade costumes!

I'd ksip a wedding to take my kid trick or treating. As PP stated, kids only want to trick or treat for so long, it's important to them and so fun for them. As a parent I would not want to miss out on fun stuff for them for a friends wedding, no matter how kid friendly.

You can totally have a Halloween themed wedding at any point in October!

If the theme is important then I'd change the date, if the date is important then you will have to be comfortable with a lot of declines from families.

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Nope. I checked. Halloween 2020 is a Saturday.

What about a daytime wedding? Like something that is over by 5pm, so that parents can still take their kids out trick or treating, without having to miss your wedding?