For most Latter-day Saints, Halloween is a fun time focused on candy and festive activities. However, you may have had some misgivings about the scarier and darker themes that surround the holiday.
While it’s easy to focus on the positive aspects of Halloween, there are even more great ideas out there to help point your celebrations back to Jesus Christ.
Here are just a few you can try this upcoming Halloween!
Finding Faith in Spooky Symbols
Witches, devils, ghosts…there are a lot of spooky symbols that don’t represent good things. The Halloween season is a great time to address these subjects frankly and openly with your family. It’s a time to help our children find resilience and confidence when confronted with the things of the world.
There are a lot of different ways you can approach this process! Prayerfully consider how you might best address the symbols of the season based on your family’s individual needs. It could be as simple as talking about what is real or not real as you decorate your home or as in-depth as a special family home evening lesson.
If you want some lessons with ideas, we’ve got some!
- Halloween FHE Lesson – Whooo Is The Holy Ghost? – This lesson is all about the Holy Ghost. Instead of being scary, the Holy Ghost is a sacred and comforting influence in our lives.
- Finding Safety in a Scary World – Halloween FHE Lesson – The world is full of things that might cause us to fear. This lesson helps us know how the gospel brings us safety and peace in the midst of turbulent times.
It’s important to remember to focus on finding faith rather than tearing things down. There can be a lot of innocence and fun in Halloween if we approach it correctly. We want our families to be able to interact with their classmates and participate in activities based on true principles and the guidance of the spirit rather than fear or judgment.
Jesus and Jack-o-Lanterns
Carving pumpkins is one of the most delightful Halloween traditions! It’s also a great opportunity to talk about how we can be like a jack-o-lantern, changed and filled with light because of Jesus Christ.
Check out this fun poem:
I am like a pumpkin
Shining bright on Halloween
God picked me from the patch
Washed the dirt and made me clean
He wanted me to shine
So He scooped the bad parts out
Removing seeds of fear
Seeds of anger and of doubt
God’s love fills up my heart
It brings a smile to my face
The light of Christ shines bright
And the darkness is erased
Now I am full of light
Like the pumpkins that you see
I want everyone to know
That Jesus Christ is in me
Use the poem as you carve pumpkins with your family. You can also use this FHE lesson based on the poem for more guided directions.
This heartwarming poem is available in a cute FREE printout here. It prints on a piece of paper and is great for children youth, or other Church groups. Consider giving it to your ministering friends with a treat.
LDS Pumpkin Carving Templates
Speaking of pumpkins, why not try one of these free carving templates? Designed after inspiring Latter-day Saints symbols, they are a great way to bring a faith-filled flair to your celebrations.
Plus, they make a great conversation starter with the people in your neighborhoods during trick-or-treating and on social media.
You’ve Been Booed + Other Service Ideas
Service is one of the easiest and most rewarding ways to invite the spirit into any holiday.
One popular activity is to “boo” someone by surprising them with a Halloween treat. There are a lot of free resources for this online by searching “You’ve Been Booed.”
The idea is that you give them some free printouts and the person who receives a treat then passes along the fun to someone else.
Here are some other service ideas for Halloween:
- Send a Halloween card to brighten someone’s day
- Gift festive decor to someone who may be lonely
- Invite others to join you in your celebrations
- Decorate someone’s sidewalk with chalk
What are other ideas you have about how to make Halloween a positive, uplifting time?
