Halloween likely wasn’t at the top of your list of concerns when you and your co-parent were including holidays in your custody agreement and parenting plan. It may not be anywhere on that list, in fact.
Yet if you have a child who is still young enough to want – or at least need – parental involvement in their holiday festivities, it’s important to determine how you will both be able to participate.
Halloween is more of a season than a day
Halloween isn’t just one day of activities. There are plenty of things you can do now with your child. You can each spend time with your child choosing a pumpkin, visiting haunted houses or corn mazes, decorating and watching Halloween movies. It’s typically best when co-parents work out a plan so they’re not competing to do the same things “better” and having to do the same things twice.
When it comes to school and other Halloween parties where parents are involved, it’s best if you can determine who will attend various events – or at least provide transportation if that’s all that’s expected.
Celebrating the big night
Of course, Halloween night is the big event for younger children. If you both want to participate in trick-or-treating or Halloween night festivities with your child, you can do it together if you can do so amicably or split up the evening if you live close to one another, regardless of which parent is scheduled to have the child on Halloween (which falls on Saturday this year).
You can divide up the evening and each take them in your own neighborhood, with your child staying over with whichever parent has custody that night. Going out together as a family can work if you and your co-parent can do it without conflict. You may choose to take another child’s parent up on their offer to take your child.
If your child has expressed their preferences about how they want to share Halloween with you and your co-parent, it’s important to take that into consideration. The important thing is not to put the burden on them to choose between parents.
If your child still has some more years ahead of them before their Halloween celebrations don’t involve either of you, it may be wise to add some provisions about Halloween into your custody agreement and/or parenting plan. Having solid legal guidance can help you continue to celebrate these special times of the year with your child effectively and with minimal avoidable tension.