2019-2020 was an exercise in teaching our elementary school-aged children personal finance, driving independence, and encouraging them to make constrained resource decisions.
I admit it. I’m a killjoy when it comes to Halloween. Sadly, I always have been.
I’ve never been particularly into the celebration. Dressing up doesn't appeal to me, and I was never the kid who started planning my costume in August. In this first vintage photograph, I’m the princess on the left; my sister is the panda. In the late 70s, all you needed was a plastic face mask, a plastic cape, and a bag to collect the loot.
Unless there was a brilliant idea to plan around, we mostly went with what was available. Two years later, my sister would be wearing the same princess face, while I had a homemade paper crown adorning my flowing royal locks. Lord knows where that gorgeous princess dress came from. You can infer that I come from a long history of homemade, reusing, and recycling. Even the plastic candy collection bags are the same year over year.
Spooky things and horror flicks are NOT my jam. I can live without candy, and I get annoyed when I find myself eating it simply because it’s there. Maybe next year I should just go as Uncle Scrooge – it would be fitting in so many ways.
My kids aren’t terribly different, except for the candy part. For them, candy is a gift from the angels above, and should be eaten in large quantities at every possible opportunity.
They don’t play much dress up throughout the year, and they don’t get terribly excited about planning their costumes.
As time ticked by, Little Man and I turned to Siri for ideas. “Siri, what should I be for Halloween this year” was a fun game to play. She offered many suggestions; some were better than others. When the S’more idea came up, he knew it was the one. S’mores around the firepit are a common family occurrence so it held some meaning.
I had recently unwrapped a large painting and held onto the mover’s packing cardboard. We have spare pillows galore. With a bit of elastic stitched on and a brown fleece jacket underneath, he made the sweetest human s’more I’d ever met. Better yet – it was free!
He started hemming and hawing with each time we drove past the Spirit of Halloween store. He didn’t have anything special he wanted to be, he just wanted to buy something which didn’t feel like the right answer. I laid out the now customary question.
“What’s it worth to you?”
I told him I’d budgeted $15-$20. He could go with what he already had and pocket $15, or he could buy something pre-made. He chose the cash. His older sister chose to buy a witch’s dress. We borrowed a great hat from a neighbor and grabbed the cinnamon broom from beside the fireplace. His younger sister asked to be a peacock, which I made for her using materials from the craft store. All three were happy.
What makes this interesting is that with each opportunity to spend or to pocket the money, the children have made situational decisions based on their individual values. Whereas Baby Girl (10) chose to keep a lot of her school supply money and regularly packs her lunch, she also chose to buy a Halloween costume. Little Man (8) overspent on school supplies but pocketed the whole Halloween fund. Wee One (6) buys a lot of school lunches but doesn’t shop much otherwise.
This is exactly the behavior that Husband and I are driving. Spend your money in alignment with your values. Splurge where it matters most, abstain where it means little. Unless and until you're fabulously wealthy, money is a constrained resource. When you make your spending decisions in a manner consistent with what you value most, you will maximize your joy or fulfillment per dollar.
By teaching them these thought processes while they're young, they will benefit from the lesson for the rest of their lives.
Stephanie Brooke Lennon is the author of Family Bank Blueprint, GoldQuest, and What Would Water Do? Simple Strategies for Navigating Life's Obstacles. Her titles are available in Paperback and Kindle on Amazon.com. Follow Stephanie Brooke on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, Amazon, and at BrookeLennon.com.