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u/78RUSH 23h ago
I can literally smell the apple cider, construction paper, and cheap sugar cookies just looking at this picture
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u/Namika 22h ago
It's funny how essential construction paper was in elementary school, but then you never encounter it again for the rest of your life.
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u/Dragooncancer 9h ago
What are you talking about??? I use construction paper every day!
Source: I'm a teacher. 😄
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u/nochickflickmoments 1d ago
And being excited all day just to have it in 30 minute party at the end of the day. Then I became a teacher and understood. Haha but at least on Halloween nowadays it's a half a day because of conferences so that makes it easier.
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u/serendipitypug 1d ago
Also a teacher and I actually got up and danced when I learned Halloween is a Saturday this year.
I hate teaching elementary on Halloween. It’s the perfect storm of ridiculous expectations from leadership and children that are physically incapable of sitting and listening for any amount of time because HALLOWEEN!
I do love the holiday and this photo tho
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u/StrawberryKiss2559 19h ago edited 10h ago
That’s crazy. I remember the one year we had a big Halloween party. Kindergarten. And we literally had no idea it was going to happen.
I remember we left the room for whatever reason and when we got back, everything was decorated, some mothers were there (!), and we got punch, cookies, candy, and gift bags!
It was phenomenal.
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u/fujufilmfanaccount 14h ago
Worked at an elementary that had a fall field day on Halloween/the day after (whatever made more sense that year). Phenomenal idea for a variety of reasons - running and movement, games they’ve learned from PE beforehand, and it also really cut down on costuming issues - nobody wanted to play dodgeball in a mask, so masks just stopped coming with costumes (vs coming and needing to be put away, kids in tears, etc).
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u/IrrawaddyWoman 21h ago
People always think that the last day of school is the worst one to work for elementary teachers. We all know that Halloween is by FAR the hardest day of the year, with the day after a close second
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u/sweetnsassy924 1d ago
I remember loving these parties. In first grade my teacher made little jack o lantern hats for the kids who didn’t have/couldn’t afford costumes and it was the cutest thing. She made a lot of kids very happy! Then she had lots of treats and we all played games. Core memory unlocked
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u/FaithlessnessWeak800 1d ago
My kids have them but their call fall parties and all they do is make crafts and you as a parent get to pack a healthy snack and drink… it blows. I always make Halloween treats with my kids to make memories sweet.
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u/Im_really_bored_rn 23h ago
My nephew's school still has and calls them Halloween parties. I think it's a your kid's school thing
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u/FaithlessnessWeak800 11h ago
Yeah it’s our district and other larger ones in our state (very common). My sister’s kids live in a small rural community over an hour from a large city and they have traditional parties.
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u/Ok_Cat3434 10h ago
Orrrrrr.... hear me out here.
There isn't a universal experience in terms of schools!! Shocker, isn't it?
You're all over this post insisting people are "wrong" bc theyre experience is different.
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u/a-dog-named-pat 1d ago
And now schools don't even have holiday parties any more, or parties of any kind :(
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u/Phillippssk 1d ago
I was just coming to say this. If they do they have to call it a “celebration” & it has to be the last 20-15 mins of the day.
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u/NocturnalPatrolAlpha 90s 16h ago
And the public education institution still can’t figure out why kids hate school.
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u/travelniki 13h ago
Really? I don’t have any kids so don’t know much of how schools have changed. This used to be a highlight along with Christmas parties and then having the entire grade do a performance in the evening when your family came to watch. Do schools no longer do any of this stuff anymore?
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u/a-dog-named-pat 13h ago
Well according to this thread, they still happen. But not at my third grader's school
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u/theblasiangirl 1d ago
This is literally not true at all?? My kids have more holiday parties than I ever did. Do you even have kids?
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u/HighwayRegular604 23h ago
Our school district just 100% banned any and all outside food that is not provided by the company that supplies meals during lunch. No cupcakes, candy or sodas on campus. Full stop. Teachers who break this rule are subject to board review, and hourly staff who do it can be terminated on the spot. Really drains the fun out of the school year.
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u/Significant-Rush-129 23h ago
Right? Halloween (and other) parties are live and well at my kids school. They wear their costumes for the second half of the day and have a costume parade like we had.
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u/kimberriez 7h ago
Yeah same. I’m a room mom for my sons class, specifically to come in and help for parties.
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u/SamOfXanadu 23h ago
...You guys were so lucky. ...Every October my mom would call the school or send me with a note saying I wasn't allowed to participate because it's a "devil holiday"
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u/Madison__Bumgarner 23h ago
I remember in kindergarten, my teacher roasted pumpkin seeds for us. Sooo good. Like she actually did it during class. This was the 90s.
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u/Ok_Cat3434 10h ago
Same! We all got to scoop out our own mini pumpkins and then the student teacher and 3 helpers got to go to the staff lounge to prep the seeds.
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u/DeadSharkEyes 21h ago
The best. I remember the walls of our classrooms being decorated with those paper Halloween decorations, and my teacher would play a record of Halloween songs during class. It was the best time 🥹
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u/easterss 20h ago
This just brought back a memory of large trash bags made to look like jack o lanterns. My grandparents would fill them with all the fallen leaves from the yard and put them on the curb.
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u/magnusthehammersmith 23h ago
Now I work for headstart and we’re not allowed to have any celebration of holidays at all, no crafts or activities about them, etc. Same goes for birthdays. Because some families might not celebrate those same things, so no one gets to. Most of the kids are all excited and talking about Halloween and as teachers we can’t participate in discussions about it with them. It’s depressing as fuck.
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u/mikey_b082 22h ago
We had a whole Halloween carnival thing set up in the gym. We'd get a paper cut out of a pumpkin to wear as a necklace with numbers of each station written on it. Most of the stations were little games where you'd win a prize or candy and the person at each station would punch a hole through the number of the station on your pumpkin so you couldn't go through more than once. It was an absolute blast.
I only remember that happening up until like 5th grade though. Then we just had small class parties like in this picture. They were fun but it didn't compare to the gym carnival. I'm guessing it was easier for the school to leave it up to the teachers to have smaller parties rather than trying to coordinate one giant party for the entire school.
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u/BroadwayBakery 21h ago
I was lucky enough to be in a creative writing class in high school that continued this tradition. My teacher would ask each class to bring something in if they wanted, and he’d put on a good horror or autumn themed movie.
He was such a cool teacher. I think about him a lot.
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u/Calm-Poem-9279 20h ago
I remember in 1st grade our teacher did a halloween bingi where we put the cone candy on top of the numbers we'd get. It was so fun
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u/Usual_Difficulty_126 19h ago
the mason jar with tissue paper glued on is such a classroom craft classic. somebody's teacher stayed late for this
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u/Hellomynameisemily 19h ago
When I was in elementary school(late nineties-early 2000s) almost every holiday we had a party and it was soooo fun! We spent most of the day just having fun and hanging out and eating what everyone brought to share. Now they don’t do that for my kids and it makes me sad it was just so fun!!
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u/cissy_1992 19h ago
omg this is peek 90s era for me I really love seeing these pumpkin faced party bags its bringing back so many fun memories for me 🖤
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u/NPC261939 11h ago
Halloween parties were my favorite in grade school. Half the day was spent in costume shoveling down candy and cup cakes. I wish I still had the invincibility I possessed as a seven year old.
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u/SailorCrush 14h ago
My school program didn’t permit celebrating Halloween, so they would take us swimming instead.
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u/Ok_Cat3434 10h ago
Swimming would be fun too! Did you guys have a pool in the building? Or did you go to a public facility?
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u/KC21589 14h ago
Parents would send in chocolate cupcakes topped with vanilla frosting & candy corn! So much Halloween candy. I miss these school parties so much and wearing our little costumes, we would do a single file parade through all the classrooms to show them off and each class would file up at the end and add to the line as we went through.
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u/novapants 14h ago
2nd grade teacher here. Now everyone has an allergy, no one can sit still, and parties like these cause much to much chaos. Having kids in their costumes all day long is enough. It’s not worth the modern day classroom chaos unfortunately.
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u/friendpage_net 12h ago
the plastic jack-o-lantern bags on every desk got me. everyone trading candy at their seat while the teacher pretended to run a lesson was peak elementary school. the decorated jars in the middle are a nice touch too, someone's parent really went all out.
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u/punkass_book_jockey8 18h ago
Parents today go so over the top. One asked to bring in helium balloons with large goodie bags for every kid…
We’ve had to limit what parents bring in because it’s way too much. Like more than a child can safely carry levels of too much!
We celebrate Halloween in my area but the teacher lists all class celebrations and parents can sign up for ONE. Christmas is cut throat to get a spot.
Candy is so plentiful now, I buy berry trays from a grocery store and kids go berserk for them. Other parents do pepperoni and cheese platters. It also just helps too with kids who have T1D.
It’s going to be interesting seeing kids today be nostalgic in the future. I’m the millennial teacher pushing fresh berries and watching hotel Transylvania for the party.
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u/Appropriate_Bar_5233 12h ago
I was in a Christian school. We had a fall festival. Some religious people think Halloween is satanic.
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u/Anxious_fangirl1634 1d ago
I was sad when my mom told me they stopped doing them when I got to high-school. The costumes were still allowed though.