Co-opting Halloween
Most kids find excitement on Halloween—with or without adult approval. Here are stories of two churches who've decided to upstage the negative aspects by providing something better. Each year, Pioneer United Methodist Church in Walla Walla, Washington, holds a "Happy Haunted House" for younger children. The youngsters enter the church by a "Thunder Slide" down a flight of stairs. A teen then conducts groups often through a Trick-or-Treat Room with miniature cardboard houses, a Maze room, and a Wax Museum where youth pose as the Statue of Liberty, a weightlifting champion, and other characters. Little ones can spend a while in the Coloring Room before proceeding to the Nursery Rhyme Room. Here scenes from favorite stories such as "The Three Little Pigs" are re-enacted. In the Game Room, children enjoy a cupcake walk, fish pond, and pin-the-nose-on-the-pumpkin. The tour ends in the Movie Room, where a popular cartoon is shown. Parents are invited to accompany their youngsters. Besides the physical labor, advance preparation for the junior and senior high includes a study of what the Bible says about evil. "I feel this is the most important part," says program director Janet Narum. "We discuss such questions as 'Would God approve of scaring little children?' " After cleanup, the young people have a Halloween party themselves. A modest admission charge pays expenses, with the balance donated to UNICEF. Attendance was up from 100 to 130 last year. "As parents of small children become more apprehensive about Halloween, we expect even greater numbers to attend our 'Happy Haunted House' this season," says Narum. Twenty-five hundred miles away, Calvary Assembly in Winter Park, Florida, stages a full-blown fair the Friday night and Saturday ...
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