When my son was in pre-K they had a "Bookoween" where all the children dressed up as a character from one of their favorite books. The books were regulated to what was available through the "library" at the establishment.

They had a blast and everyone seemed to have a great time.

Just a thought

I totally agree with President Jim. I really respect your religious beliefs re:Halloween that is fine but you need to respect the feelings of others also. With change comes alot of complaining ,especially when it comes to yearly traditional events. People come to expect certain traditions and look forward to them. Have the VP or other officer lead the event and just get a report so you know what exactly is going on and that it will run smoothly and you know what is going on. How about a Harvest festival? My nephew's school had one a few years ago that was great. A cake walk, square dancers who performed, games, a chili contest, they sold bandanas and sheriffs badges. They also made cardboard cut outs the ones you put your head in and took pictures. It was awesome and not specifically Halloween themed. best of Luck with your event and have a great fall!

At our harvestfest, we have the following:

Last year we had a huge tv plugged in with a few kids movies, but this year I will replace that with someone reading harvest-october based books.

We have 3 tables with a different craft at each table.

3 tables with games. a pumkin toss (bean bags tossed into pumpkins) for instance

a table for tattoos (pta volunteers applying 1 tattoo/student)

a table with a guessing contest (a jar full of candy corns) each class together puts in one guess and the classroom closest wins cookies and cider

a table with donut holes and cider

a table to decorate a paper bag so they can carry all of their things.

This year we are having the 6th grade, because they dont participate in the festivites for the day, each homeroom is givin supplies to decorate a scarecrow and they will be voted on by the kids.

everything is decorated with a harvest theme. Hay bales, apples, pumpkins, scarecrows and decorations made by kids.

I think it is absolutely an appropriate idea to change your theme to include only fall related activities. I don't think any kids (including your own) should be excluded from public school related activities based on their beliefs. I don't think that you are pushing your ideas onto someone else. I'm guessing your school (like most) does not have celebrations around religious holidays such as Christmas. You wouldn't hold a Christmas celebration and exclude Jewish or Muslim, etc children in your school. I don't see this as any different.

I also think that a "fall" theme affords itself to some educational opportunities as well. It could be a tie in to units in the classroom on the seasonal cycles of trees, plants, animals and insects for example. It could be used as a history lesson to talk about how Early Americans or Native Americans prepared for fall/winter or as a lead into discussions around Thanksgiving.

I would also share your concern with your principal. It sounds like there a lots of issues around the activities your school has traditionally done. The idea of having to sign a waiver before participating suggests that the principal has some concerns as well.

We also do not celebrate Halloween. I am glad to hear someone is taking this issue to the school. I have to keep my children out of our public school on Halloween and do not attend Halloween related events at the school. I think these types of event are more appropriately celebrated in the home or after school and should not be exlusionary.