Our Monthly Tip: Throw a Celebration of Life for a Teen Who Loves HalloweenDraw on traditional Halloween decorations and traditions to honor the teen’s personality, passions, and love of the spooky holiday
Halloween may seem like an unusual backdrop for a Celebration of Life, but its roots are deeply connected to remembering the dead. Long before costumes, candy and carved pumpkins became part of the holiday, cultures around the world marked the changing seasons with rituals honoring ancestors and acknowledging the boundary between life and death. For…
Halloween may seem like an unusual backdrop for a Celebration of Life, but its roots are deeply connected to remembering the dead. Long before costumes, candy and carved pumpkins became part of the holiday, cultures around the world marked the changing seasons with rituals honoring ancestors and acknowledging the boundary between life and death.
For family and friends grieving the loss of a teenager, drawing on those traditions can offer a meaningful way to celebrate a young life while embracing the things they loved about the holiday. Incorporating favorite costumes, spooky decorations, music and food, and emphasizing the sharing of memories can set the stage for a Halloween-themed Celebration of Life that feels personal, joyful and true to the teen being remembered.
Halloween is also a unique opportunity for a terminally ill teen with a dark sense of humor to be the guest of honor at their own (SevenPonds coined) DeParty. This relatively new concept — a Celebration of Life while the honoree is still alive to enjoy the tribute — could take on a tongue-in-cheek tone the teen could revel in.
How-To Suggestions
For a teen who loved Halloween fun, invite guests to join an evening of traditional activities and spooky special effects.
Throw a pumpkin-carving contest, providing ample pumpkins and carving tools, so that teenagers and adults alike can enjoy participating in this time-honored ritual. Then, place the newly carved Jack-O-Lanterns all around, displaying guests’ art and adding to the Halloween-themed decór.
Taking a cue from fall harvest festivals, use hay bales as both decoration and extra seating. Arrange them in small semi-circles in different areas, providing guests with the perfect place to gather and share memories.
To honor the spirit of a teenager who loved Halloween, encourage guests to come dressed for the occasion. Depending on the honoree, this could range from elaborate Halloween costumes to a more sedate, gothic vibe, a la “The Addams Family.”
No Halloween celebration would be complete without a few special effects. Colored LED’s, special effect smoke, or fog machines and dry ice can be used to create mystical clouds and thick, atmospheric gloom. Place low-to-the-ground floodlights and aim them up into trees or decorated corners of the room, using uplighting to add long, dramatic shadows. If the teen was into music, create a playlist with their favorite seasonal songs to play throughout the evening.
At celebrations of life it is important to remember that guests might vacillate between feeling joy and sadness, and all expressions of those feelings should be welcomed. Grief often arises when recalling fond memories and honoring a young life lost, but laughter and joy should never be squashed in the name of propriety. Encourage your guests to participate in traditional Halloween party activities, like bobbing for apples or pumpkin carving, and provide a welcome atmosphere for celebrants to honor the departed teen however they feel comfortable.
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A celebration of life can be as unique as the person being remembered. Honoring a teen through the traditions, humor, and Halloween fun they loved can create space for both tears and laughter and keep their personality at the heart of the farewell.
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So true. Even in the heartbreak of losing someone so young, celebrating what made them unique can bring moments of joy and comfort. Sometimes laughter is just another beautiful way of remembering someone we love.
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