This year, Halloween takes place on a Sunday. That could make it extra-special for the kids, with more hours available to dedicate to showing off costumes and preparing spooky surprises. If you don’t specify in your parenting plan who gets the kids for Halloween, however, the kids will stay with whoever has them on that day.
If you want to make sure you get Halloween time with your kids at least some of the time, you should spell out in your parenting plan how the holiday will be divided. How you do that is entirely up to you, as long as you can negotiate a solution. Here are six ways you could handle Halloween:
- Plan Halloween events at other times
Many places, including churches and businesses, offer trunk-or-treat or other similar events on days besides Halloween. You could find these events and take your children to them when you have them if they are not in your custody on Halloween day.
2. Alternate years
You might negotiate to get your kids for the entire holiday every other year. If you choose this, be sure that the non-participating parent gets to see the Halloween costume and hear the stories.
- Give each parent an hour or two of trick-or-treating time
If both parents want to trick-or-treat with the kids every year, one way to handle it is to arrange to take the kids out for a couple of hours and then hand them off to the other parent for some trick-or-treating fun.
- Split the holiday
Let one parent spend the day of Halloween with the kids and the other pick them up just before trick-or-treating starts. The daytime parent could take the kids to a pumpkin patch or a Halloween parade.
- Trade against other holidays
A variation on the theme of alternating years, you could make sure you get at least one of the kids’ favorite holidays each year. For example, you could arrange to have New Year’s Eve each year when your ex gets Halloween.
- Celebrate together
If you get along reasonably well with your ex, it might make sense to do Halloween as a family. Make a day of it, with something fun to do before dressing up and then share the trick-or-treating fun.
If you’re going through a divorce or creating a parenting plan, work with an attorney who will go the extra mile to ensure your co-parenting relationship goes as smoothly as possible.
