Another Halloween has come and gone. When Halloween falls on a school night, the next day brings lack of sleep from a late and busy night, a major sugar crash from too much candy, and an early rise to get kids off to school. And currently, less than 10% of K-12 children have no school the day after Halloween.
What if it wasn’t like this? Well, I’m here to tell you… it doesn’t have to be this way.
It’s time to make the day after Halloween a national school holiday. This is an idea whose time has most definitely come.
Why now?
Halloween is exploding in popularity and participation. It also coincides with Dia de los Muertos celebrations, adding another level of celebration to an already busy couple of days.
In addition, random school days-off in early-mid November are gaining in frequency. On top of dealing with all the Halloween activities, inconsistent school days off are tough manage.
Finally, sugar-crashing, exhausted kids coming down off the emotional high of Halloween make for a listless, attention-challenged class the day after Halloween.
Growing Popularity
Approximately 175 million Americans will celebrate Halloween this year. US Halloween sales are expected to reach nearly $9B, almost doubling the annual spending from just 10 years ago.
Clearly Halloween is a holiday on the rise, and for many reasons.
It’s effectively non-denominational (unless you are a Druid). Both children and adults participate. Free candy! And it’s a reason to put “Ghostbusters”, “Thriller” and “Monster Mash” Spotify playlists on repeat.
It’s also one of the few reamining holidays that kids of all ages can realy get into. Unless you happen to live in Virginia.
Finally, as the last day of October, Halloween basically kicks off the entire end of year Holiday season.
Really, what’s not to like? No wonder it’s one of the fastest growing American holidays, and the popularity will only continue to grow.
Combining Holidays
In addition to Halloween, Dia de los Muertos is celebrated in the last days of October. Most often associated with Latino cultures, Dia de los Muertos, or something similar, is actually celebrated by many different cultures. The Latino culture, however, dominates in the US.
With nearly 60M Hispanics/Latinos in the US, almost 20% of the US population, this is a major holiday celebrated by a large chunk of the US population.
Often, these celebrations include extended family get togethers, along with more parties and festivities.
Between Halloween and Dia de los Muertos, that’s a lot of celebrating over a couple days. Kids, and parents get wiped out.
Confounding School Calendars
For many schools, the first teacher / parent conferences of the year occur mid-to-late November, resulting in random days off between Halloween and Thanksgiving as teachers prepare. I get the necessity, but I don’t agree with the random nature of the days off.
The random nature of these days off is especially troublesome for working parents. Many are left scrambling for child care on those days if they don’t think about them well ahead of time. And, who are kidding…. nobody thinks that far ahead.
Yes, schools may publish calendars at the beginning of the school year, or send emails notifying parents of the days off. However, calendars are often forgotten a few weeks into the school year, and emails can easily go unread.
Parents are going to have to find child care for a random day within a week or two of Halloween anyway. Why not just do away with those random days and make these prep days a scheduled part of each school year the day after Halloween?
Morning of the Dead
Halloween night means tons of excitement, going to a party, lots of walking, and staying up late. If your kids are like mine, it also means some fairly significant candy intake.
The next morning is like dealing with the undead. Blank stares. Slow, stumbling movements. Grunts instead of words. Maybe some drool. And that’s just at home.
This is definitely a day when teachers earn their keep. Motivating a classroom full of sugar-crashing kids and trying to keep them focused on the day’s lesson is a thankless task.
In many cases, lesson plans get adjusted accordingly, knowing that the kids just won’t be into it that day. This effectively turns into a wasted day for everyone involved.
Time for Change
The debate surrounding closing schools the day after Halloween has been going on for some time. I am now fully on board with this idea.
In one fell swoop, we can solve the problem of over-tired and unmotivated kids, scheduling issues for parents, especially working parents, and a wasted day for teachers who could be using that time more constructively.
It’s time to make the day after Halloween a little less scary for everyone.