Courtesy Leslie Kemelgor

Drew, 15 months, as an old-fashioned strongman.

In a few hours, neighborhood sidewalks all over will come alive with Halloween hoopla. We hope all the candy-seeking trick-or-treating is equal parts spooky, safe, and sinfully sweet. For such an occasion, we wanted to toast your darlings in their costumed finery. The photos were submitted as part of our TODAY Moms Facebook contest. Happy Halloween to Drew, the adorable, old-fashioned strongman (shown above) and all the pumpkins, butterflies, vampires, iPads, and more (shown below)!

Courtesy Gina Capizzi

AJ, Mia and Dean are ready for Halloween.

Courtesy Rachel Mavity

I''m a tiger! Rawr! Alex, 4 months

Courtesy Andrew Kasten

Do not defy me! Eli Mitchell, 4 months

Courtesy Miriam Horgan

Free mini pumpkins! Liam, 9 months

Courtesy Jimena Duque

Emilio the spider and Mariana the butterfly.

Courtesy Kellie St. Bernard

Mia the garden gnome.

Courtesy Jessica Lawrence

Thing 1 and Thing 2, aka, Gavin and Dimitri

Courtesy Samantha Smith

Harper, 10 monhts, is a little vampire.

Courtesy Karen Hill

Brooklyn, 8 months, flower child.

Tara Cavanaugh

Three-month-old Layla's first Halloween.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

How far would you go to keep your kids safe on Halloween? How about scanning their candy with an x-ray?

Across the country, some parents will be doing just that. Dozens of medical centers and sheriff's departments offer free candy screenings so parents can be sure that nothing dangerous is lurking in all those Milky Ways and Snickers.

Paranoid, or justifiably cautious?

While reports of poisoned Halloween candy have inevitably turned out to be hoaxes (or murder plots by parents, yikes), Halloween candy studded with pins, needles, razors or glass is actually a real thing. It doesn't happen often, and there have been no reports of deaths or serious injuries. But, it happens -- and that's enough for some parents to haul their kids' loot to the nearest x-ray machine.

But if we're getting paranoid, it's worth noting that kids are way more likely to be hurt by cars than by spiked candy. Halloween is the deadliest night of the year for pedestrians, and kids are four times more likely to be hit and killed by a car while out walking on Halloween night than on any other night of the year.

Joe Imel / AP

What's really in that candy? Some parents will go to great lengths to find out.

What do you think -- are candy x-rays a good idea, or should parents quit worrying about that and pay more attention to the real dangers of Halloween on the roads? Click here for safety tips for drivers and kids.

More Halloweeny goodness from TODAY Moms:

What kids think Halloween is really about
Seven worst costumes for kids
Confessions of a Halloween hater
Got costume guilt? You're in good company
Who ate all my chocolate? Candy confessions from the TODAY Moms-iVillage poll.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Halloween is believed to have roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, marking the last days of autumn. And trick-or-treating may have grown from the medieval practice of "souling," in which poor people would go door-to-door and get food in return for saying prayers for the dead on the Christian holiday of All Souls Day.  

But don't try telling kids that. To them, it's all about the candy. 

"So kids can be happy and have a lot of candy" -- that's how one smiling skeleton sums up the holiday.

Sounds good to us! Well, at least until the inevitable sugar high sets in, followed by the tearful "just one more piece!" tantrum. TODAY.com's Katie Quinn asked kids for their thoughts on the meaning of Halloween, then turned to an expert for some coping strategies to avoid sugar overload. Check it out, and share in the comments: What's your Halloween sanity strategy?

More Halloweeny goodness from TODAY Moms:
Seven worst costumes for kids
Confessions of a Halloween hater
Got costume guilt? You're in good company
Who ate all my chocolate? Candy confessions from the TODAY Moms-iVillage poll.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Fewer women give birth on Halloween than on Valentine's Day, finds a new study. But this may not be a mere calendar coincidence. Researchers at the Yale School of Public Health suggest that pregnant women appear to be swayed by the cultural symbolism of the two holidays -- skeletons versus cherubs --  and this might influence their baby's arrival date.

They speculate that mothers-to-be may avoid delivering on the October holiday associated with death and witches. But scientists suspect that women have a more favorable view of Valentine's day, which is linked with love and romance, and may try for a Feb. 14 delivery.

Researchers raise the possibility that pregnant women may have some control over the timing of childbirth. Their findings suggest that a spontaneous birth (giving birth naturally) may be less spontaneous than doctors previously thought.

"The positive connotations of Valentine's Day may increase a pregnant woman's will to initiate birth and the negative connotations of Halloween may precipitate her will to resist giving birth," write the researchers. In other words, maybe a woman's mind is consciously or unconsciously influencing her hormonal mechanisms, and telling her body to speed up or slow down her baby's birth.

In the study, published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, researchers reviewed more than three million U.S. birth records. They looked at the number of babies born in the two-week period surrounding Halloween and Valentine's Day between 1996 and 2006, and considered the mother's delivery method.

Researchers selected cultural holidays with widespread participation, like Halloween and Valentine's Day, because unlike religious or national holidays, these would not affect hospital staffing rates. They found that births -- both scheduled and unscheduled -- increased on the holiday associated with hearts and flowers but dropped on trick-or-treat.

On Valentine's Day, they observed a 3.4 percent increase in induced births, a 3.6 percent lift in spontaneous births, and a 12.1 rise in cesarean deliveries compared to the seven days before and after the heart-themed holiday. 

And there was a noticeable decline on Halloween. There was an 18.7 percent drop in induced births, a 16.9 percent dip in cesarean deliveries, and a 5.3 percent fall in spontaneous births compared to the other days in this two-week timeframe.

During this 11-year period, a woman's odds of giving birth on Valentine's Day went up by 5 percent overall, but it went down by 11.3 percent on Halloween. Although researchers admit they don't know the exact mechanisms behind this birth-timing pattern, they suspect that psychological factors and cultural beliefs can impact when women go into labor.

Of course, birth records don't reveal what may have been going on in couples' minds or lives nine months earlier.

Halloween and Valentine's babies, let's hear from you. Is it fun to share your birthday with pumpkins and costumes or hearts and romance? Others who have holiday birthdays feel free to add your comments.

Related:

• Three days after birth, newborn has teeth. What?!
• 'Baby fever' is a real thing -- and not just in women
• Cravings for baby powder, and more tales of pica

It’s time for me to reveal a deep, dark secret. I’ve repressed it so long, even I had trouble owning up to it. I hate Halloween.

Maybe it all started the year someone singled me out in a pack of trick-or-treaters and shouted, “Oh, who’s that cute little boy in the cat costume?!”

Maybe it’s the annual wasting of money better spent on anything but candy and overpriced costumes.

Read more: TODAY Moms-iVillage poll reveals one in 10 parents hates Halloween!

Sure, I’ve looked happy in plenty of Halloween photos. But it’s all been an act. And those rare occasions when I rallied and showed up at a costume party? Yes, I almost didn’t go because of my utter lack of desire to A) think of a costume or B) wear it.

I fooled everyone the year I rocked Madonna in cone boobs. I came close to enjoying myself the year my husband, who was fresh out of law school, and I dressed up as each other: he in a blonde wig and stuffed bra, and I in a ratty sweatshirt carrying a cardboard sign that read “Will Sue for Food.”

When I was pregnant with our first child, my husband and I flicked off our lights on Oct. 31 and went out to a bar. It was lovely, despite the pit in my stomach I felt as I realized it was going to be the last Halloween I could ignore without guilt.

For my daughter’s trick-or-treating debut, I naïvely hoped to avoid coming home with gobs of Sweet Tarts and Dum Dums by tacking a sign onto her candy bucket that proclaimed, “I’m collecting donations for the food bank!”

I was more than a little cheesed that not a single grown-up bothered to A) acknowledge it, B) give her spare change instead of candy or C) congratulate me for being an extraordinarily do-goody do-gooder mom.

It’s not the sugar highs and ensuing meltdowns that make me loathe all candy-crazed holidays (yes, I’m that awful – I hate Valentine’s Day and Easter, too). It’s the sun-up-to-sundown pleas for “just one more piece, Mom. Pleeeeeeeeeease!” My cold, frowny “Not until after dinner” replies touch off tantrums laced with zingers like, “I hate you! You’re a BAD mommy!!!”

Last year, I managed to lighten the load of candy we brought home by supplying my kids with candy buckets the size of coin purses. They were astonished at how quickly they filled up. I was delighted.

Maybe this year, I’ll try to get them excited about donating their Halloween loot to one of those buy-back deals where they’ll get a toothbrush for every pound of candy they send to the troops.

Oooh. Yeah. That could be my ticket to Oct. 31 sanity.

I will say this much: Cheapskate that I am, I found it highly satisfying a few weeks ago to score a $5 Pet Doctor lab coat for my daughter, which looks awesome with her Fisher-Price doctor’s kit. And my son’s going to be the cutest $7 monkey ever. Together, they will be unstoppably cute.

Cute enough for me to pretend that I’m not already dreading Halloween 2012.

Courtesy Liz Murtaugh Gillespie

Liz Murtaugh Gillespie smiles through her Halloween pain with her daughter Sylvia (horsie on the left), son Tyler (Dalmatian on the right) and pug Pepper (jailbird who clearly wishes she were doing anything but joining the trick-or-treating "fun").

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Have you bought your Halloween candy yet? Perhaps a better question is, do you still have any of it left?

Dipping into the Halloween stash before Oct. 31 is a parent's perogative -- and if you're guilty of pre-Halloween snacking, you're not alone. An exclusive TODAY Moms-iVillage poll of nearly 500 parents showed that most of us are thinking of our own sweet tooth, not the kids, when we shop for Halloween candy: 83 percent of parents polled say they buy their own favorite candy, so they can enjoy it too (17 percent say they buy the cheapest kind because they're giving it away). And 71 percent admit to eating some of the candy before the trick-or-treaters arrive.

Full disclosure: There's a bag of mini-Snickers in my freezer right now that is so not going to make it until Halloween.

Related: Click here for more poll results from iVillage!
Related: Why is Halloween the scariest holiday for dads?

In other candy news, three-quarters of the parents in our survey say they ration out their children's candy, letting them have a little bit at a time. But one in eight say all bets are off on Halloween -- they let their kids eat all the candy they want, whenever they want it. Kids aren't the only ones up to Halloween mischief: One in five parents admits to eating their kids' candy and either lying about it or just keeping quiet and hoping their child won't notice! "Candy missing? Why, I wouldn't know anything about that, little Johnny...." Pretty sneaky, parents.

When it comes to getting into the Halloween spirit, 15 percent of parents say they give more candy to kids with better costumes. Most parents, 82 percent, don't make their children's costumes (though some feel guilty about it). And one in 10 admits to being a Halloween grinch: They'd rather turn the lights off and pretend they're not home!

How do you feel about Halloween? Have you dipped into your candy stash yet? (Just to test it, of course... have to make sure it's OK before you give it to the kids, right?!)

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

lorenkerns on Flickr

By Rita Arens for BlogHer.com

It's that time of year again. The time for matchy-matchy family Halloween theme costumes.

My personal opinion? Not for me. Like matching Christmas sweaters or matching silk bowling jackets, I reserve theme family Halloween costumes for the not-touching-me-in-this-lifetime category.

I bring baggage to the table. Full disclosure: As a child I did in fact wear matching dresses with my sister on more than one occasion, and I spent three days a week in high school in a cheerleading uniform matching my fellow crowd wranglers down to our little white socks. Then I went to college and joined a sorority and went through the experience that is sorority rush, and boy, with all the matching of the t-shirts and the perfectly unraveled cut-offs and Birkenstocks, I think I have experienced enough matchy-matchy for several decades to follow. Maybe, just maybe, I'm tired of matching PERIOD.

What do you think? Do you wear a Halloween costume? Do you match your costume to your spouse/partner/friends/kids?

Are you Ginger to your daughter's Mary Ann? Captain Hook to your husband's Peter Pan? The Swiss Family Robinson? If you do and want to fly your family theme flag, tell me in the comments. Happy Halloween, everyone!

More Halloween fun:

• Move over, vampires: Zombies are the new "It" creature
• How to protect black cats on Halloween
• Celebrate a month of pumpkins!
• What not to wear ... for Halloween
• How to make the Snooki pumpkin

Rita Arens authors Surrender Dorothy and is the editor of Sleep is for the Weak. She is BlogHer's assignment and syndication editor.

Reaching more than 20 million women each month, BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online with a publishing network of more than 2,500 blogs. BlogHer adds unique voices of women bloggers to the TODAY community. Read more at www.blogher.com -- and sign up for our newsletters to get the best of BlogHer in your inbox.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

JEWEL SAMAD / AFP - Getty Images

For some, it’s the fact that it’s happening on a school night. For others, the problem is that it’s a scheduling-conflict with a football game. For many, it’s the fact that it’s occurring on the Christian Sabbath. For a variety of reasons, the fact that Halloween is falling on a Sunday this year is causing a sizable amount of people no small degree of anxiety. What’s a candy-craving trick-or-treater to do?

The New York Times ran a compelling piece on this problem yesterday, highlighting the lengths to which concerned parties are willing to go. It’s a concern that’s motivated people to even suggest moving the traditional observance of the holiday, although a consensus on the issue seems elusive at best.

Parents, do you have a problem with the fact that Halloween’s falling on a Sunday this year? Would you be in favor of re-scheduling the trick-or-treating? How do you think your kids would feel about it? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

With little ones running around the house, some parents may choose to shy away from the messy and hazardous practice of carving conventional jack-o-lanterns. But who says you have to get the knives and candles out to have some seasonal fun with gourds? Jodi Levine from Martha Stewart Living came by the Plaza today to share some creative ideas for pumpkin decoration that don’t involve breaking out the blade.

How do you decorate your home at Halloween? Watch the video and share your thoughts in the comment section.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

Martin Gerten / EPA

The New York Times ran an interesting profile this week on Samira Kawash, the mastermind behind the Candy Professor blog. Motivated by a desire to untangle the “threads of control, danger and temptation” that are interwoven with the popular perception of these unabashedly non-nutritional foods, Kawash’s blog acts as a palpable blow against an empire of what she calls “candy alarmists.” Via scrupulous research into the history of candy manufacturing, Kawash hopes to dispel the guilt and stigma associated with these processed foods, especially when so many popular, purportedly “healthy” foods contain virtually identical amounts of sugar as candy products.

With Halloween just a couple of nights away, many households are steadying themselves for an undue influx of candy. Parents, what are you feelings about candy? Are you planning on rationing out your kids’ Halloween spoils? Have you researched which are the best and worst candies for health? Do you feel guilty about indulging in candy yourselves? Grab another handful of candy corn and leave your thoughts in the comment section below.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

By Mir Kamin for BlogHer.com 

I used to love Halloween. As a parent, I mean. What's cuter than little kids in costumes? Nothing! Little kids in costumes are awesome, and their joy over dressing up and getting mini Kit-Kats is its own reward! I even loved Halloween the year I decided I could easily make my daughter a costume, even though I really don't sew and am not crafty at all. I loved Halloween while I followed the "easy" costume directions, stabbed my fingers repeatedly, and swore a blue streak about the difficulty of sewing fake fur. I loved all four Halloweens that that homemade skunk costume was worn. (Twice by my daughter, twice by my son. With all of the hours that went into it, you bet I made sure we extracted the maximum value from that particular getup.)

I loved the Halloweens of licensed characters ("I'm Buzz Lightyear, Mama! TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!") and I even loved the more recent Halloweens of clever play-on-word costumes. (What do you get when you attach a bunch of fuzzy Easter chicks to a regular outfit? A chick magnet!) I have loved a lot of Halloweens, is what I'm saying.

But now? Now I am completely over Halloween.

Halloween is this weekend, and neither of my children have settled on a costume. My son (in 5th grade) wants us to make plans to go trick-or-treating with some friends of his, but he can't decide what he wants to wear. I'm not particularly looking forward to an evening of tromping around just so that he can get all jacked up on sugar. My daughter (7th grade) wants me to make her a costume, but she's not sure what, and also can't I please just drop her off with friends and then cease to exist?

"Aren't you a little old for trick-or-treating?" I ask her.

"What? That's like asking if I'm too old for candy. Which I'm not," she assures me.

I don't know what the accepted etiquette (if any) is, at this point; I do know that when kids my height come to my door begging for candy, I do think they're too old to go around begging for it, particularly as many of them don't even wear costumes once they get older. Some cities are banning teenage trick-or-treaters altogether. Call me a curmudgeon, but when a teen shows up with a bag and no costume, I always ask what they're dressed up as. And if they shrug or otherwise confess to not being dressed up, I tell them to come back once they're willing to work for their candy. I usually draw the line at telling them to get off my lawn, but c'mon. Put a little effort in, kids.

So I'm pretty much over it. I want to tell my son to make a decision and make it good, because this is his last year of elementary school and it's nearly time for him to give up this yearly ritual. And I want to tell my daughter to just buy herself a bag of Skittles and call it a day, but she claims that all of her friends still trick-or-treat, Mother, and I have no idea what I'm talking about.

Bah, humbug. Or perhaps it should be: Bah, gummy worms.

Other bloggers weigh in on Halloween and older kids:

• Amy Mullis waxes hilarious about the options for her and her grown children.
• Jackie Layer of Fowlerville High School states her case for high schoolers still trick-or-treating.
• Free Range Kids has a few things to say about The Today Show's advice to parents on the acceptable age for kids to trick-or-treat without parents.
• And just because babies on Halloween are always timely, and singing babies (and dogs) are way more fun than contemplating my middle schooler's costume needs, check out Annie's Halloween Quandary for an overdose of cute.

BlogHer Contributing Editor Mir is in your candy stash, stealing the dark chocolate. She blogs near-daily about issues parental and otherwise at Woulda Coulda Shoulda, and posts all day long about the joys of mindful retail therapy at Want Not.

Reaching more than 20 million women each month, BlogHer is the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online with a publishing network of more than 2,500 blogs. BlogHer adds unique voices of women bloggers to the TODAY community. Read more at www.blogher.com -- and sign up for our newsletters to get the best of BlogHer in your inbox.

Do you have older kids? Do they still trick-or-treat? Honestly, are you over it? Watch the video and share your thoughts in the comment section.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms

featurepics.com

Though considered the one day in a whole year when you’re allowed – if not actively encouraged — to try on a different identity, why even on Halloween are certain gender roles still so rigidly enforced?  Sure, it’s perfectly acceptable for little girls to dress up like pirates, but just watch the reactions when a little boy confesses his plan to be a princess for Halloween. It’s not as uncommon as you might think.

The Chicago Tribune ran a story this week by Julie Deardorff, who wrote about her 3-year-old son’s love of princesses. In every other aspect, her son adheres to conventional little boy norms – he wears a tool belt, is fascinated by construction machinery, plays with trains, etc. But this little boy also harbors a prevailing fondness for princesses. When he asserts his plan to dress as one for Halloween, Deardorff and her husband privately reach out to neuroscientist Lise Eliot  to get her take on the situation. Eliot, in turn, advises the parents to acquiesce and not worry too much about it. In the end, Deardorff’s son ends up recanting, concerned about how he’ll be viewed and judged by his preschool peers. It’s a sad lesson that speaks to a larger question. Why is our culture as a whole so uncomfortable with defying stereotypes?

Again, Deardorff’s story is by no means a unique one. In recent weeks, TODAY Moms has posted stories about a 6-year-old boy who wanted to get his ears pierced, Dyson Kilodavis, the “Princess Boy,” and another little boy’s fixation with Snow White. Parents, have you ever had to address a similar situation? Has your child ever expressed a desire to deviate from what is popularly perceived as “normal”? How did you react? Share your stories in the comment section.

"Like" TODAY Moms on Facebook, and follow us @TodayMoms