lauracolumbus Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 And yes, I do believe there are dumb questions. My questions is if there are certain conservative Christian groups that are offended by Halloween. We're having a Halloween-themed birthday party for dd5, and I'd like to invite some of our new home-school friends from Classical Conversations, but I'd like to know in advance if this would offend some folks. We don't do gore or anything, just fun stuff. TIA And I hope I've asked this innocently enough not to cause any controversy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodland_Mom Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We are part of a CC group and I consider my family a conservative Christian family. We enjoy having some Halloween fun, but I will tell you that you may encounter some families that do not celebrate Halloween at all. I don't know that you'd offend them by inviting them, but they may opt not to attend your Halloween party. Happy Halloween! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daisy Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 There are plenty of conservative Christian groups who do not celebrate Halloween. Really the only way to know is probably to ask. You'd definitely get a bigger turn out if it was named a "Harvest Party" and didn't focus on Halloween specific themes like witches, scary monsters, bats, etc. If it focused on pumpkins, harvets, apples, etc. you'd probably be fine. Not that you need to adjust your plans, just giving you a heads up. Whether they would be offended by your invitation or not probably has more to do with whether they are jerks or not, to put it bluntly. We do not celebrate Halloween. We celebrate Reformation Day (same day). If I received your invitation, I would thank you for it but nicely tell you that our family abstains from Halloween festivities. I'd wish you much fun at your party & hope you were not offended by my turning down the invite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blueridge Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We're conservative, and although we have a small family party and take the kids to the local fire dept for their annual candy give-away, most of our friends do not even acknowledge the day as a holiday. :tongue_smilie: You might consider having more of a *harvest time* theme, and having games, a hay ride perhaps, caramel apples, fun snack foods, and maybe rubber stamp leaves on brown lunch sacks so they can take home some harvest treats. Have fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 Yes, there are some who are offended. There are some that will think that you are going to h*ll for celebrating it.:001_huh: Not me. We do Halloween. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DesertDweller Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 And yes, I do believe there are dumb questions. My questions is if there are certain conservative Christian groups that are offended by Halloween. We're having a Halloween-themed birthday party for dd5, and I'd like to invite some of our new home-school friends from Classical Conversations, but I'd like to know in advance if this would offend some folks. We don't do gore or anything, just fun stuff. TIA And I hope I've asked this innocently enough not to cause any controversy. I probably wouldn't invite someone without already knowing in advance their take on it. Many christians don't celebrate Halloween and won't do anything that is remotely similar. Since you're considering a Halloween theme, all the more reason to walk very cautiously. I have known people to be okay with a Harvest Festival or Hallelujah Party, where the kids dress up as a fun character, but I've also known people that won't participate in anything. I think this is something that you need to know the people well enough ahead of time that you're already comfortable with inviting them and there will be no question of offending. I hope it works out for you. It sounds like a fun way to celebrate your son's birthday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Remudamom Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We don't "do" Halloween, but I wouldn't want to keep others from doing it. You'll definitely find someone who will be offended. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heather in WI Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We don't "do" Halloween, but I wouldn't want to keep others from doing it. You'll definitely find someone who will be offended. This is us, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChristusG Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I consider us to be conservative Christian. We do not "go all out" for Halloween. We don't decorate, we don't do gore, we don't put it "high" on our list of priorities. But we do dress up and trick or treat. In fact, we attend Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party each year at Disney World. We don't dress as witches, bloody, gory, evil, revealing costumes. Just simple and fun and lots of candy. We would not be offended at a Halloween party unless it involved the things I listed above. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We are opposed to Halloween, but I would not be offended by your asking. I would politely tell you that my dc would not be able to attend. I would not be offended if all of the other dc were going, or try to make you change it, as my dc need to learn that the narrow road can be.. well, narrow. I want them to have to miss out on some things for their faith. You will undoubtedly find someone, though, who thinks that you are wrong to have a party that might exclude their dc. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meet me in paris Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We're in CC, and it has already come up in our community this year (last week was "favorite holiday tradition" week for presentations and there were some interesting responses to the kids who shared about Halloween! From my experience, you'll definitely offend some people (not our family!). A few tutors were really snooty about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hen Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 we don't do halloween, and don't like it, and don't even do church harvest things...but I wouldn't be offended to be invited. I might be a little unhappy to get to the party and only then realize it was a halloween theme. I know for me, I would appreciate some kind of heads-up, so I could decide to not attend. I wouldn't have been offended by the kids sharing about it in CC either, of course most families do celebrate it, so of course the kids are going to talk about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrsrevmeg Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 we don't do halloween, and don't like it, and don't even do church harvest things...but I wouldn't be offended to be invited. That would be us, too. I think most people would not be offended, but if they do not celebrate Halloween, they would simply not attend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna T. Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 (edited) And yes, I do believe there are dumb questions. My questions is if there are certain conservative Christian groups that are offended by Halloween. We're having a Halloween-themed birthday party for dd5, and I'd like to invite some of our new home-school friends from Classical Conversations, but I'd like to know in advance if this would offend some folks. We don't do gore or anything, just fun stuff. TIA And I hope I've asked this innocently enough not to cause any controversy. We are conservative Christians (fundamentalist Baptists) and we do not observe Halloween in any way whatsoever. We believe that Halloween is a commemoration of the deaths that occurred at the time of the Great Deluge (Noah's Flood). We believe it is a recollection of the pre-flood world. I would never be offended if someone invited us to a birthday party and the theme was Halloween. My children would probably not want to stay at a party like that if there was anything scary or gory (ghosts, witches, jack-o-lanterns, monsters, etc.), but if the decorations/costumes/whatever you have planned isn't scary, they would probably be happy to be invited and happy to honor the other child's birthday. In this area, we have always taught them to be gracious and kind and to understand that not everyone has our convictions. So, I don't think it would be a problem. If they were scared or offended I would help them to deal with it and I'd use it as an opportunity to remind them how important it is that we be gracious to others at all times. I think I would be grateful if the mother inviting us would let me know ahead of time that it was a Halloween theme. I'm assuming that we would only be invited to such a party by a friend, so there should be an openness in the relationship, atleast enough so that the person would feel comfortable telling me. I'd want to know that so I could prepare my children and let them know they needed to be nice and polite and not rude. Edited to Add: We would not consider a party like that to be a Halloween Celebration but a birthday party. So, we would probably attend and stay as long as the children were not scared. Edited October 8, 2009 by Donna T. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hillary in KS Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 (edited) We do not celebrate Halloween, but I wouldn't be "offended" that you do. We would probably not come to your child's party if it was especially Halloweeny (gory, scary, etc.), but we'd DEFINITELY make plans to do something party-ish together. But if your party was mostly pumpkins, black cats, etc. (You know - pretty tame) we'd probably feel comfortable attending. I agree with the poster who suggested that you're open with families who you think might be concerned. I wouldn't worry about offending them, though. Just be clear. :) Edited October 8, 2009 by Hillary in KS Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgiana Daniels Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 We'd never be offended by a friendly invitation, but we'd also never attend. I think the pp's have covered it pretty well--most people are gracious enough not to give you a hard time for a kind offer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coralloyd Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 There are plenty of conservative Christian groups who do not celebrate Halloween. Really the only way to know is probably to ask. You'd definitely get a bigger turn out if it was named a "Harvest Party" and didn't focus on Halloween specific themes like witches, scary monsters, bats, etc. If it focused on pumpkins, harvets, apples, etc. you'd probably be fine. Not that you need to adjust your plans, just giving you a heads up. Whether they would be offended by your invitation or not probably has more to do with whether they are jerks or not, to put it bluntly. We do not celebrate Halloween. We celebrate Reformation Day (same day). If I received your invitation, I would thank you for it but nicely tell you that our family abstains from Halloween festivities. I'd wish you much fun at your party & hope you were not offended by my turning down the invite. This is us also. We choose to celebrate Reformation day, instead of Halloween. However, I would not be offended at all by your invitation. We would just politely decline. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 When we lived in China, we attended a harvest festival each year which was a substitute for hallowe'en. It was run by conservative Christians and included non-themed games, sweets and children wearing costumes. There was a strict rule that no costumes could be scary. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danestress Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 (edited) They will probably politely inform you that they don't "do" Halloween and decline the invitation. But that doesn't mean they are offended. Hopefully. Edited October 8, 2009 by Danestress Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SwimmyKids Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 I can't imagine any family would be offended by a Halloween invitation. Some family may decline. If there's a family that truly is offended, you can't be responsible for its reaction to a social invitation. Obviously you would offend a family more by excluding its child from the guest list for fear of offending. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 I am so glad I asked. I really appreciate all of your responses. You've given me some great ideas. Thanks. Laura Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gretchen in NJ Posted October 8, 2009 Share Posted October 8, 2009 This is a great article on the history of Halloween and the history of those opposed to Halloween. It is written from the Catholic prospective. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted October 8, 2009 Author Share Posted October 8, 2009 Thanks Gretchen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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