Viral Tradwife Loves Halloween, but Gets Backlash from ‘Very Sensitive’ Community for Spooky Content (Exclusive)

For 11 months out of the year, Alexia Delarosa doesn’t actively separate herself from the “tradwife” community online. Typically, the viral homemaker shares an audience with her fellow stay-at-home social media stars, who also cook up elaborate recipes made from scratch, homeschool their children and dress up in puffy sleeves and floral skirts

Not all tradwives give their videos the same comic flair that’s hooked Delarosa’s 648,000 Instagram followers, but her playfulness makes her stand out; it doesn’t cast her out of the tradwife world.

In October, however, it’s a different story. Delarosa, 31, loves Halloween, and her content proves her passion all month long. She posts videos of her decorations: “Let’s haunt the chicken coop,” she captioned a video hanging witch hats from her flock’s wooden ceiling and stringing faux spider webs from the wired windows.

She also shares the themed foods she cooks and bakes throughout the season, like the “spooky Halloween breakfast” — crepes topped with a spiderweb piped in chocolate — she prepared for her sons Archie, 4, and Arlo, 2, in a video posted on Oct. 7.

It’s not that Delarosa decides to separate herself from other tradwives when October comes around. Actually, she tells PEOPLE, it’s the other way around.

“A large part of my audience is the tradwife community, very Christian values-type followers,” says Delarosa. “There’s definitely a percentage of them that are just like, ‘Absolutely no Halloween. It’s evil, it’s Satanic. Why would you promote this?’ It’s a small percentage, but they’re definitely there.”

It’s not a surprise that Halloween content doesn’t fit with the more formal notion of a tradwife, since the lifestyle is typically based in religious principles. But Delarosa feels that her seasonal splash into spookier content is still generally in the realm of homemaking. All things considered, it’s less of a break from her usual output and more of a single-month break from the tradwife community.

“October’s kind of the only month [that] doesn’t really appeal,” says the San Diego-based parent. “The rest of the year, absolutely, because it’s Christmas, it’s homeschooling, stay-at-home mom — very general tradwife-valued things.”

From November through September, Delarosa welcomes the tradwife community. This summer, she told PEOPLE that she has friends who live the traditional lifestyle, and while she doesn’t identify with every aspect of the trend, she doesn’t reject the label.

If Halloween sets her apart from her viral peers for 31 days, it’s really not a blow to her online success. If anything, it’s a boost.

“Engagement is definitely higher on the Halloween content,” Delarosa notes. “I’m just inclined to just put that content out as much as possible, because I know people really like it, and it’s really fun for me to make those type of videos. And I think also the fuel of the people that don’t Halloween commenting on those videos helps too.”

And Delarosa understands why some social media users turn away from “gory” or “violent” Halloween content. She appreciates the creativity some creators put into their extravagant — albeit darker — content, but personally, Delarosa says she makes a point not to cross that line. The closest she gets to sinister might be her appreciation for witches, like when she made a midnight margarita mocktail inspired by the beloved 1998 film Practical Magic.

“When it comes to Halloween content, I keep it pretty light-hearted … It’s not gruesome Halloween. It’s more like Disney spooky vibes, something that a kid would enjoy,” she explains. “When an adult is like, ‘No,’ I’m like, ‘Okay, my kids are not frightened of the skeleton sitting at our kitchen table.'”

Even if Delarosa’s Halloween Reels and TikToks stray from the trad life, she doesn’t completely abandon the philosophy in her execution. With the exception of a few purchased items, she keeps up her dedication to all things homemade and makes her kids’ Halloween costumes herself.

This year, she says she wants to make pumpkin ensembles for the whole family, adding those to the ever-growing list of things she makes from scratch, like baked cereal and honey harvested from live bees. She once even made her own paper in a video that has 8.5 million views on Instagram.

Delarosa does acknowledge that “everyone has different boundaries” with Halloween, whether its just a preference for lighthearted content like her own or a complete rejection of anything otherworldly. But if she wasn’t aware of that fact, she’d certainly find out, since most of her displeased viewers have no problem letting her know that they’re upset and they’re unfollowing.

“Every time, every year when I start posting Halloween content, I inevitably get messages from people that are like, ‘I have to unfollow you. I didn’t realize that you supported this holiday. Our values aren’t aligned,'” says the content creator of her more vocal tradwife audience.

She clarifies that negative reactions don’t usually seem to come with malicious or hurtful intentions.

“They’re not being hateful because they did follow me at one point. So they’re like, ‘I typically enjoy your content, but I don’t like the darker stuff. I’m getting dark vibes from your content,'” says Delarosa. “It’s very sensitive.”

Not that she puts up a fight or tries to convince anyone to remain on her page. “But I don’t know why the feelings are so deep towards it. We can like different things, and that’s okay,” the California creator adds. “If that is the straw that breaks the camel’s back, you might not have liked me that much to begin with.”

Regardless, Delarosa says she doesn’t dive so deep into Halloween simply in the interest of going viral. It’s exciting to create fun, themed content, but making it special for her sons is especially important for the mom, who looks back fondly on such festivities from her childhood.

“I remember being little and really enjoying when my parents would decorate for the holidays. It just made the season feel so special,” she recalls to PEOPLE. “I think that’s why I enjoy it so much now, creating those memories for my kids and letting them be excited about the entire month of October because there’s something new hanging around the house.”