How 2020 Changed Halloween

Usually, September and the first week of October is my second busiest time of the year for Unique Young Mum, it's usually the time I spend getting everything ready for my Halloween feature. Although Halloween isn't my favourite time of the year - it's one of them, and my Halloween features are special to me as it was the first-ever feature I done, when I started blogging back in 2012. 

I started blogging in August 2012, and by the middle of September, I was planning a Halloween party for the beginning of October! I remember my bedroom (we lived at the flat back then) was full of boxes, each box held various Halloween items, already to be featured in my blog's first-ever Halloween party - that took place at the beginning of October.

I didn't know it then in 2012, but that very first Halloween party would be the start of an annual event, my son and my nephews loved UYM's (Unique Young Mum's) Halloween parties, and by July every year, family members would ask if they were going ahead. 

Before I had my own house, my dad would kindly let me use his house to host the feature Halloween party. My family would help me decorate, and the children loved getting dressed up in their Halloween costumes, weeks before Halloween! We played Halloween themed games, enjoyed Halloween themed food and drink, and the children got to be models for various different costumes.

The adults got ideas for their own Halloween events, and the children won prizes for various games, and of course year after year the most exciting thing for them was taking home a full to the brim Halloween pumpkin full of different sweets - both edible and non-edible.

This year though - none of that is happening. My door is not constantly being knocked by different courier firms, delivering box after box of Halloween products, my house is not decorated, ready to show off 2020 Halloween buys, there is not a single fake spider in sight (thankfully!) and not a single Halloween themed foodie item in my kitchen. 

I actually skipped a few years of doing my annual Halloween feature, due to ill health. Last year I had a mini Halloween party for a few family members in our newly built summerhouse/2-in-1 bar - and I remember saying back last year how next year (as in this year - 2020) would be so amazing, I had big plans.

Then the current situation came along and ruined so much. 

It's ruined birthdays, births, weddings, Halloween, graduations, Christenings, and even funerals (I couldn't attend my cousin's funeral back in March - instead I had to wave goodbye to him on the street, as the hearse drove on by). I won't let it ruin Christmas, but Christmas won't be the same, and the same goes for Halloween. We will celebrate Halloween in our own special way - but it won't be the Halloween we are used to. 

We sadly won't be answering the door to trick-or-treaters this year, nor will the outside of the house be decorated for trick-or-treaters to know they're welcome - something we always do, because of the situation we all find ourselves in. 

Halloween this year will be the quietest we have ever known it to be, there will be no family members here to celebrate with us. I won't get to see my nephews or nieces dressed up in their costumes, I won't get to see them laugh together, and play games together, and I won't get the annual photograph of them altogether.

We will still celebrate, in our own special way, and I hope to be able to share some posts with you over the next few weeks to show how you can enjoy a different Halloween at home this year. I have a few ideas up my sleeve, I just hope I haven't left it too late to get my plans into action! Keep your eyes peeled and don't forget to check back on UYM!

We don't know when this situation will do one, but what I do know, is that when this journey is over, I will be planning the biggest of celebrations for everything we have missed. I will never miss a family event again, and I'll never take for granted all the times I took for granted before!

Until next time,

Jada x