Hallowe'en?

It's my favorite holiday. It's my birthday. It's candy and costumes. It's my favorite colors. It's my favorite season and time of day. The mystery and electricity in the air. The smell of fake cobwebs! The low quality "scary laugh" sound effects of front door-step decor. Glowing pumpkins with ghastly grins. The knowledge that something might jump out and scare you, but you will be okay.

Did I mention the candy?

Oh yeah, I did.

Well anyway, I've been planning a Halloween party on and off for a couple months now.

1. I get to planning, I have a moral crisis. (Why am I spending money on this party when I could feed an African village/orphan/refugee with it instead?)
2. I get back to planning, I have a self-esteem crisis. (Eight-thousand people are having Halloween parties, why would anyone choose mine!?)
3. I get back to planning, I have a spiritual crisis. (How can we make light of the dark when real evil is taking place all around us?)
4. I get back to planning, I have an existential crisis. (Why am i spending my time and effort on this when we could all be dead tomorrow?)

First, I just wanted to have a Halloween party. Then, I told myself it was for my birthday- that's a good reason to have a party, right? Next, I told myself it's for our class at church to get together and fellowship. Now I'm trying to extrapolate/interpolate/interpret (Something!!) some sort of meaning into the holiday. "How can I use this party to help, teach, inspire, etc." Because if I can't do that, then there is no reason to have this party and having it would be wrong. (Or would it? Does everything have to have an explicit purpose?)

Am I wrestling so hard with this because it is wrong? Or because it is right? I realize there can be a blessing for someone, even if I am unaware completely. Am I just making excuses, or am I slowly deducing a true reason to have a party?

The reason I enjoy throwing parties at our house is that I like a certain amount of order to a get-together. I'm not a fan of the parties where everyone just stands around and makes small-talk and gets drunk for four hours. A time of that is fine, but I like to also have some planned activities. If it's not a huge group, I think it's nice for everyone to get to know who all the other people are with which they are sharing a room. I like at least one game. Even a short, easy game. Just to divert attention for a while, and maybe for a good laugh. Something like pin the tail on the donkey.

I like for parties to have some small vestiges of a purpose. If it's a Christmas party, how about sharing the Christmas story, or an interesting Christmas experience someone had as a child? (Like, one Christmas our house burned down and we had to spend it with our crazy Uncle Ed, who literally went driving until he hit a deer for us to eat for Christmas dinner.)

I guess I like a little creativity and imagination in a party. I think that creates bonding experiences, which are more important than free Long Island iced teas. Not that I'm against those.