Halloween Observations

[debka_notion]

1. I've never seen so many store-bought costumes. I'd get behind Halloween much more if there were more personal creativity involved, and less consumerism.

2. Why must all women who dress up past the age of 15 need to make their costume "sexy [insert an actual costume idea here]"?

3. My young charge was dissatisfied with the costume his mother suggested (i.e. one he already had around). I nearly sold him on something based on "c'est nest pas un pipe", before he thought again and wised up... (and went as a college student.)

4. There was a real difference between kids who tried to grab as much candy as they could, willy-nilly, and the ones who carefully took one piece, and then said thank-you.

Comments

[margavriel.livejournal.com]

Re. 2: I've heard that same complaint made my Michael G.'s mom. Interestingly enough, she was talking about store-bought costumes.

[belu.livejournal.com]

2, because of 1. That's all that's available to buy for that demographic, as far as I can tell.

And sexy isn't that bad--heck, I remember hearing about some comic book/cartoon character recently (forget who) who got a canon costume change recently, such that the sexy costumes you can buy of her show less skin, not more.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Sexy isn't terrible- it's right for some contexts, and some people- just not all contexts, or all people. But when it seems to be all that's available for women, and people aren't making their own costumes... It's a weird sort of circular effect, reinforcing itself.

And well, one of the things that I used to like about Halloween was the creativity, so... I guess I'm a bit of a crank.

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

Are you familiar with Jill Sobule's "Halloween Song"?

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

No... Should I be?

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVaxnCDePoY

[shala.livejournal.com]

We only had one set of trick-or-treaters. I think they were just knocking on doors and seeing if people would give them candy, because one wasn't even costumed. We gave them some lollipops out of sheer admiration for their chutzpah. (Current local conditions meant nobody was expecting kids.)

None of my friends went as "sexy" anything and I saw some really good costumes on college women during my Friday shift. It's not as bad as you think! Still pretty bad, though. I saw a "sexy Wonder Woman" last year and it boggled my mind that anyone would think her costume needed to be sexified.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Well, you're one up on us. (They have an organized thing, in the building where I babysit- so I gave out some candy there- but home, in a building with some kids- nothing. They seem to trick-or-treat at stores, not apartments, in my neighborhood.) My charge tried to go sans costume- I wasn't going to let that idea fly, although the eventual costume wasn't much of one. (But it got him some exercise- he went as a college student, so he wore some gear from his favorite college football team, shorts and t-shirt, and carried around one of his mother's neuroscience books, which was plenty heavy.)

Thanks for the reassurance...

[tirerim.livejournal.com]

http://blog.jilliantamaki.com/2011/10/have-a-sexy-little-halloween/

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

Precisely. That's hilarious. Thank you for sharing.

[noam-rion.livejournal.com]

Ceci n'est pas une pipe is a great costume idea. I'm having trouble envisioning how it would look, though. Describe it?