Fun times around Halloween

Trick-or-treating, decorating the house and carving pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, just some of the fun things my kids enjoy during Halloween. Ever since my daughter Randi was just a few months old we took her to a pumpkin patch. I have a picture of my husband, me and her sitting on a hay stack surrounded by pumpkins.

It has been a tradition since than to take our girls now 9 and 7 to the pumpkin patch each year to pick out their favorite pumpkin. We usually dedicate one night a few weeks before Halloween to go and search for that perfect pumpkin at the local church pumpkin patch. The girls take their time walking up and down the rows of pumpkins trying to find the best pumpkin that they think would be good for carving.

When my girls were younger, my husband would carve the pumpkins for them. Now that they are older, they can do it.

We have a tradition for carving the pumpkins that our friends the Iovinos started a few years ago at their house. It’s called a carving party. Everyone brings their pumpkins, we dress up in costumes, we sit outside and carve the pumpkins. Last year they got high tech and let us use power tools to help carve out parts of the pumpkins. It is always a lot of fun!

One other tradition started a few years ago was a Halloween party on Halloween night that my parents throw. They started it to celebrate my nephew’s birthday which is very close to Halloween. Because we have a pretty big family with lots of little ones, it is a way to get everyone together. We have dinner and the kids get to trick-or treat around my parent’s neighborhood. It seems to get bigger and bigger each year. Last year my nephew decided to make a haunted house in my parent’s garage. It was a big hit with the trick-or-treaters and the neighborhood kids.

Halloween is a great time for block parties and a great time to get to know your neighbors by taking your kids around in their costumes and meeting those you live next door to. 

What is interesting to me is the origin of Halloween. I recently looked up Halloween to find out how it originated and found out that it has been around since 1745 and is of Christian origin. Since then, Halloween or All Hallows’ Eve has been observed on October 31^st  the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Hallows’ Day or all Saints’ Day which is on November 1^st and All Souls’ Day which is on November 2^nd. The three days are collectively known as Hallowmas and is a time for honoring the saints. I bet most people would have never guessed the origin with the way Halloween is portrayed in today’s society.

 

It is funny how things change over time. I am noticing though more churches having Harvest Festivals for kids and their families. A lot of churches incorporate trunk-or-treat into their festival. Trunk-or-treat is when people decorate their vehicles and line them up in a parking lot and kids go around from trunk to trunk and get candy.  Halloween can be a fun holiday for kids between all the pumpkins, festivals, candy and costumes.

Corn Maze and Pumpkins Ready at Sweetfields Farm

(This is a previous post during the sunflower maze back in June. Now the corn maze and pumpkins are in season. They are open now until November 3 & 4th on the weekends from 10am-5pm. Click on Sweetfields Farm to find out more information.)



Lisa Kessel of
Sweetfields Farm

What a great time we had on Ted and Lisa Kessel's Sweetfields Farm at the Sunflower Maze. We took our family for an adventure on the farm. It was a full day of fun. The farm is about 30 minutes north of Tampa in Masaryktown. The sunflowers were beautiful about 10-12 feet high covering about five acres of land.

This is the last weekend it is open June 2 and June 3. It may be open one more weekend depending how how good the sunflowers look.

You will want to get there early before it starts to get hot. We got there around 10am and it was perfect weather. It is open from 10am to 5pm.

There is a lot to do. We started off with the storyteller.

He was fantastic!

We watched the pig races. Yes, real live pigs racing around the pen. Their names were Peanut, Butter and Jelly. I won’t tell you who won!

We did the sunflower maze. It took us about an hour to do because we got lost at the end of it. It really only takes about 15-20 minutes if you get it right. It was fun even though we got lost.

We fed the cows. We bought the homemade organic lemonade to refresh ourselves. You can bring your own picnic lunch or you can buy lunch there. There are plenty of picnic benches.

We decided to take the hayride around the farm. We also had the girl's faces painted. This was $5 for both of them. The lady did a great job.

There are a few swings and a beautiful wood playhouse for the kids to climb on.

There is also a place where you can paint sunflower pots and stones. The painting will cost you between $3 -$5. You can also plant your own sunflower seed in a rolled up newspaper. This was free to do.

After all of this, we decide to go and pick some organic vegetables for dinner. Let me tell you, I have never seen such huge vegetables. The girls loved doing this. It was a lot of fun.

The vegetables were a dollar a piece. Well worth it!

Our day was so relaxing and calm. It was just a great way to spend time with the family outdoors. What a beautiful farm! We can’t wait to go in October for the corn maze!

For more information click here for Sweetfields Farm

The cost is $8.50 per adult (over 12) and $4.50 for kids (3-11years old). Under 2 free

The price includes almost everything except for the food and the painting.
Everything is weather permitting.

Address: 17250 Benes Roush Road, Masaryktown, FL 34604

Phone: 352-279-0977