On Halloween, kids can be whatever they want to be: From astronauts, to ghosts, to red-nosed clowns, all of their costume dreams can come true for a day.

But we have a secret: There’s a little Halloween magic happening all year round. Quality early care and education gives kids the foundation to be anything they want to be when they grow up. Halloween gives them a day of dress up, while early education gives them a lifetime of possibilities.

Budget numbers are flying around like bats on Halloween night right now--and we need to make sure Congress understands how important early childhood education is in their budgets.

Don't let the bats scare early education out of the budget this Halloween season. Can you take a quick moment to use our interactive Halloween card station to send a note to your members of Congress?
http://www.momsrising.org/halloween_message/national/

*The link above will take you to our Congressional-Halloween-Costume-Creation-Station! It only takes less than a minute (really, we timed it) to create a card complete with a costume of your choice and send a unique message to your Congressperson that will be sure to break through the noise on Capitol Hill. (Now if it were only this easy to make a costume for my kid…)

Why early education?

If we don't invest in quality, affordable early childhood education for kids today, then we'll be in even bigger debt tomorrow. Early childhood education helps all of our children, benefits taxpayers, and helps working families get to work.

Leading economists agree that prioritizing funding to early childhood education will provide taxpayers with returns of 7-10% per year for every dollar invested due to future reduced costs in remedial education, health, criminal justice system expenditures, and the tax revenues generated by increased earnings. That's a higher return rate than my savings account!

Early learning is a win-win-win.

We all know that kids need more than costumes this Halloween: They need a strong education foundation to help them achieve their dreams. With quality, affordable child care and preschool we can make sure our kids are ready for school and life (and we can get parents back to work, while their children have a safe, enriching place to be during the workday).

Send your unique Halloween message urging Congress to prioritize kids today!

http://www.momsrising.org/halloween_message/national/

And please pass this Congressional-Halloween-Costume-Creation-Station along to your friends and family by forwarding this email now--and by posting the Congressional-Halloween-Costume-Creation-Station link above on Facebook--so we can work together to make sure the U.S. budget does not get any spookier for families!

Together we are a powerful voice for children and families