Among the sidewalks full of cowboys, princesses, Olafs, and Annas you'll encounter this Oct. 31, there lurks another species entirely — the Halloween [1] mom. She may be incognito or lack a costume entirely. She may be scarfing down candy or slyly sipping a pumpkin martini. We've identified the 10 types of moms you'll meet while working the trick-or-treat circuit. Which persona do you relate to most?
She lives for this day.
This mama's so excited, she just can't hide it! Her attic is jam-packed with pumpkin-shaped lanterns, inflatable lawn decorations, and her signature larger-than-life witch. Her freezer is full of pumpkin-shaped sugar cookies, candy-corn-packed brownies, and other delectables. Her kids' costumes are plotted out months in advance, and her Halloween [2] Pinterest board is about to hit the quadruple digits. Yeah, we'd say she's pretty into it.
Oh crap! She knew she forgot something.
Somehow, Oct. 31 seems to have completely and totally slipped her mind until the night before this year. She prowls the aisles of Target an hour before it closes and walks out with a Freddy Krueger mask. For her 3-year-old. And prays that he doesn't get sent home from preschool.
As for the trick-or-treaters? Pennies are still en vogue as "treats," right?!
She's the "sexy mom." Every. Single. Year.
You head out in all black and a witch's hat. She's wearing a full-on Playboy Bunny costume that appears to have taken more effort than her kids' costumes. (Side note, isn't she freezing?!) The dads can't stop staring, the moms can't stop whispering. You'll know when she shows up.
She takes sidewalk safety very, very, very seriously.
As the president of neighborhood watch, she lives for this day. She and her kids all sport their reflective vests, and her industrial-strength flashlight lights the way for all in her path. Alongside her gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free candy bowl is a release that she requests that every trick-or-treater's parent sign. You can never be too sure!
She's literally gone batty.
The Halloween [3] hustle and bustle is just too much for her. She can't keep her kids' costumes straight, ran out of candy before 6 p.m., and is totally stressing that pumpkin spice latte season is nearing an end.
She's the master of ceremonies.
You watch in amazement as all of the neighborhood kids follow her lead. She's got the ultimate trick-or-treat route planned out for them (including intel on which houses have the best candy). After their loot bags are full, she invites everyone back to her house for hot cider and a homemade dinner. Wait — how did she do all of that?!
She's smug about her skill set.
"What, this old thing?!" she says when asked about her kids' insanely intricate Frozen costumes [4] (that's right, there's an Anna, an Elsa, and an Olaf). "My sewing machine is my guilty pleasure!" Later, you get a friendly email directing you to her Etsy shop — "Just in case you want to get planning for next year!"
She doesn't want to miss a camera-worthy moment.
Seriously, you'd think this woman had never snapped a photo of her children before. She almost wiped out three times while trick-or-treating because she wouldn't look up from her camera phone. She must have 600 photos on there — and that's just from the past 45 minutes.
She just knows she nailed it this year.
She's just bursting at the seams for someone at school pickup to ask her what the kids are dressing up as. Why? Because this year, she's reached costume nirvana. She's come up with a clever, one-of-a-kind, flawlessly executed getup for each and every member of the family. Just thinking about her hashtags for her Instagram of the big day makes her squeal with delight. Can you say #humblebrag?
She got some things right, some things wrong, and will live to tell the tale.
Her daughter's Sleeping Beauty costume was perfect. Not a single person correctly guessed what her son was dressed up as ("I'm Facebook, Mom! Get it?!") [5]. The pumpkin rotted before they could even carve it. Everyone still had a great time. There's always next year for everything to go as planned . . . but it probably won't. And that's OK too.