Our son was a few months old when we celebrated his first Halloween. I was part of a very active group of parents and I was very excited to try out many new traditions to see what worked well for our family. We carved pumpkins, went trick-or-treating at the local university, and my Aunt made our son's first Halloween costume.

We moved to California before we celebrated Halloween again. And our celebrations changed. We went trick-or-treating at Stanford Shopping Center, joined the crowds in Palo Alto, checked out the Halloween parade in downtown Menlo Park, had a Halloween park play date, and enjoyed a day at Lemos Farm.

This year I decided to show our kids photos from their previous Halloween celebrations. Going through these old holiday photos reminded me just how fun it is to talk about the quirks from each year’s celebrations (even if they were not as fun to deal with in the moment). When a toddler refused to wear their Halloween costume. When it rained during the California Avenue Trick-or-Treating event. When we went to Stanford Shopping Center and the candy ran out too quickly. When a kid changed their mind and we made a last minute costume. When one kid lost a shoe and a dear friend helped us find it the next morning.

Over the years we’ve created Halloween traditions as a family, but each Halloween had its own special twist. And the twists can make some of the best memories.

Happy Halloween!