We Asked, You Answered October 2018 - Growing Up in Santa Cruz

What Are Your Halloween Traditions?

We Asked, You Answered:

October 2018

By Ann Carin Niland

“We usually go to the mall and roam around there. We don’t do the usual traditional neighborhood way. It’s just the thing to do.”

Chris Ruelas, of Capitola, has two kids, Jacob, 12 and Anicia, 5

“We decorate our house. A little bit spooky but not too spooky because they’re still young. And then we do trick-or-treat at night. We usually go to the New Brighton area to trick-or-treat. We meet up with their cousin, who is Nathan’s age, we do a little bit of trick-or-treating and then we go home.”

Jillian Mickel, of Live Oak, has Nathan, 6, Isla, 4, and Mackenna, 1

“Every year we go to a friend’s house in Watsonville and have a pizza party. Then everybody gets dressed up and we go to a neighborhood that’s very compact where they can trick-or-treat a lot in a span of an hour and then we get to go home.”

Stacy Kyle, of Live Oak, has Aiden, 9 and Alexandra, 6

“We put out a table. We put out a table with food for the parents that have died. The food that they really liked. Because for Dia de los Muertos they come back to enjoy their favorite food.

Like, posole, or if they drink a lot of coffee in the mornings we put out a pot of coffee for them, Or a bottle of tequila. We put out a photo of everybody and one of the candles.”

Sergio Garcia, of Watsonville, has Freddy, 19, Jasmine, 14 and Sergio, 4

“We go to a pumpkin patch. We were living in Arizona, so we are back here for this Halloween and will probably go to Hollister. Gabriel picks out Halloween shirts for him and I and we where the Halloween shirts while spending the day at a fun pumpkin patch that has a bunch of attractions.”

Lena Bonds, of Live Oak, has Gabriel, 4.

“Currently, we don’t have a set tradition, because we may or may not have our kid on Halloween itself. When we do have her it is going trick or treating preferably in the good neighborhoods where all the best candy is and then getting home in time to get her in bed for school the next day.”

Joseph Rosa, of Live Oak, has Myra 6