Halloween Your Turn
An interesting question was broached to me over the weekend and I thought it was interesting enough to be put here for your input. Do you enjoy Halloween more as an adult or did you enjoy more as a child? So, start with that premise and then I would love to know what you are wearing or wore this weekend and what your favorite costume was ever. I enjoyed the costumes I picked out for myself. Whenever my mom would pick one out it would be some person or character who I had never heard of and then people would look at me funny. It was the same look you got when you brought your own lunch to school and for some reason your mom had gone on a vegetable kick and you showed up with a variety of bell peppers while everyone else had Doritos.
I'm afraid of spiders, I hate Hallowe'en. I like November 1st when all the mini chocolate bars go on sale.
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween. I always did. I loved dressing up as a kid and love for my kids to pick out thier own costumes. My 3 year old is a dinosaur (I tacked on a bow because it was funnier that way) and my toddler is a lion. I got a halloween book and let them "pick". To me it is the most whimsical time of the year and alot of fun. I even like handing out candy. I always ask the kids what thier costume is and even get them to act it out if it's a monster. They mostly love that since alot of kids really get into Halloween. The only thing I hate is gaining 10 lbs on Milkyway Dark chocolate and grumps who are rude to the kids. If you don't want to participate, cut off your outside light or don't answer the door. Most kids won't bother you.
ReplyDeleteI loooooove Halloween now even more as an adult, then when I was a child. We had all these rules, and limits, and my mother would pick up my costume, dressing me up all girly and cute.... bleuk.
ReplyDeleteNow, as an adult, we start Oct. 31st by wearing our costumes to work and competing with each other for the most creative. Then off to home, and competing with the kids, running in the street, for candy (no worries, we give it back at the end of the evening... well some of it, I keep all the candy bars!) then off to a party.
Yep, Halloween is one holiday we all look for now. It is a whole lotta more fun then the stress of buying Christmas gifts and receiving family for New Year's.
Halloween is new holiday for adult enjoyment. And yeah, seeing the costumes lately, it really has become for "adult enjoyment".
Well, if you don a costume and go trick-or-treating after the age of, say, thirteen, you're kind of a greedy dick, IMO. Adults can still have a great time with it, though -- I mean, look at Heidi Klum! A day of costumed debauchery is always fun, and I don't think Halloween is only for little ones at all.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I've noticed that kids nowadays tend to just get their costumes from the local big box store, and they often don't even say anything when you answer the door. They just hold their bags out, expectantly. I don't give anything to kids unless they demonstrate SOME manners.
It's kinda sad. I remember running around with my friends until well after dark on Halloween, and it just seems like the world is just too dangerous to even consider letting your kids do that anymore. I get why parents won't let their kids run amok and why they take them to the mall or some other well-lit area to go trick-or-treating, but still: it's depressing.
Back to the question: I'm pretty sure I enjoyed EVERY holiday more as a child. Especially Christmas. It used to be this cozy, sparkly, school-free time, and now it's just cold, expensive, and full of familial stress and other annoyances. Eff Christmas, honestly. My favorite day of the whole year is December 26th.
Sorry. This grinchy scrooge got distracted.
When I was a kid because it was more about how cool your costume was and less about how much skin you're willing to show. Plus, you get candy. The only candy you're offered when you get older usually comes with inappropriate conditions.
ReplyDeleteFor the second part:
Favourite costume as a child was a dining table set with Thanksgiving dinner made by my mom. Favourite as an adult would be the time I was one of the cheerleaders in the "Smells like Teen Spirit" video.
I didn't proof this, so je me excuse.
I worked in a pediatric hospital for 20 years - we always dressed up for the kids - it was a lot more fun as an adult!
ReplyDeleteLove Halloween! Halloween when I was younger made me feel less guilty (and sick) about eating loads of candy. Now I like that I can get craftier with my costumes and not worry about checking in with my parents.
ReplyDeleteThis year I went as a fab-meets-fierce HONEY BADGER! I wore a little black dress with white felt down the back, a big toy snake around my shoulders (like a boa), long velvet gloves with nails glue on the finger tips, a pot of honey purse and a handmade fascinator that looked like bees were swarming my face. It confused people, until I told them what I was then they were like, "Oh, awesome!!" To get the full effect, I pretended to gnaw on the snake, ran backwards, and generally didn't give a fuck the whole evening.
I loved Halloween when I was a kid. Now, Halloween consists of me getting off the couch 40x a night to hand out candy while my dogs bark furiously and I try to keep them in the house. I worry about my daughter (14) trick or treating alone in the dark, and I worry that my son (17) is up to no good.
ReplyDeleteIn short, I hate Halloween now.
@Karmen - that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteI'm more with Ida and Krab than with Rita on this subject.
ReplyDeleteWhere I live, no one really dresses up at work. We work. And there's no running through the streets anymore. Its either parents taking young children ONLY to houses where they know people, or older kids that just bought a cheap mask and threw it on for free candy.
I think adults that dress up get more creative with it than kids do, but that was this past weekend. No adults I know actually party ON halloween night, again because we have to work the next day.
I also cannot STAND parents that steal their kids candy. This for me goes along with Ida's comment that anyone that goes out after 13 is a greedy dick. Like really? You're going to steal your kids candy? Do you steal from their Easter basket too? When I was a kid I ate my Halloween candy in a very particular order. Eventhough I had alot of it I KNEW what I had in that bag. If my parents stole from it, I'd know. So instead of being a 16 years old, dressing up as something lame for free candy and being a greedy dick, you just send your kids out, then take their good (free) candy and leave them with the crap? how about you just ask for some? if they are good kids, I"m sure they'd share rather than you teach them its ok to steal. i never understood the parents stealing candy mentality.
Thanks, BigMama! I'm sending it as my reader photo for NYE reveals.
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween! As a young child I did not get to celebrate or partake in it very much because my parents are Russian Orthodox... so Halloween was a big taboo. They lightened up over the years, but by the time they were open to it I was too old to trick or treat.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to enjoy Halloween with my child in the future years though!
Karmen - so cool!
ReplyDeleteEveryone at work has been pinching their kids candy, so the kids don't get sick. We've had candy here for a week now!
I like it more now. I did go to a party over the weekend but nobody dressed up. And only one person brought candy. But we had lots of fun and ate some really good food!
I used to dress up in a burka and over the knee spike heel boots. It was cool because there was no prep time and nobody ever knew it was me. But I'm afraid those days have passed and sadly it's just not politically correct.
Now my main costume is Mary Kay Makeup Sales Lady. I have a pink skirt, MK pins and watch, MK makeup bags.
I also have church choir singer costume. That one is a bit more painful for anyone listening.
Yes, I like it much more as an adult!
@Bnl1016 -- LOL. My dad ABSOLUTELY stole my Heath Bars, but I didn't hold it against him. I just hid them more carefully. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI dunno. The way I see it, parents are the ones who buy the candy they dispense, and I'm SURE their kids shovel about a quarter of that stash into their pillowcases before they leave to go trick-or-treating. The older I get -- and the more spoiled and ungrateful the Children of America seem to collectively get -- the more I wish parents would start treating their kids as minors who need rules and discipline and less like autonomous free-thinkers who happen to live under the same roof. You want a Reeses Cup that your kid got from some stranger for free? Just take it.
As for teenagers who trick-or-treat -- my dad once answered the door to find three gangly boys with sheets lazily flung over their heads and plastic pumpkins in their hands. He told them that their lame costumes may have worked a decade earlier, but he wasn't going to waste any candy on them that night.
And no, our house did NOT get egged or TPed.
I love Halloween much, much more as an adult. I can't remember any of my childhood costumes and the only costume I remember was as a teenager, I dressed up as the Bride of Frankenstein. I won a costume with my boyfriend who was, obviously, Frankenstein!
ReplyDeleteI make my son's costumes every year and it is a labor of love (love of sewing, love of my son). This year he is going as Captain Jack Sparrow and I made everything except his dreads, fake beard/mustache, and hat. He looks darling! It is the best costume I have made yet but my favorite, for sentimental reasons, is when he went as a cardinal (the bird!).
My favorite costume was when I was a kid and Jaws was big...my mom made a paper Jaws costume with my face in the mouth. I have picture of it and we still laugh about it to this day! If there is ANY way to post the pics I will.
ReplyDeleteI love it! Always have! Over the years the costumes have become more elaborate. My favourite was the year I won a bottle of black Jack. I dressed in a plain blue dress, beret and I had copious amounts of frosting dripping from the side of my mouth (Monica Lewinsky)
ReplyDelete@Ida - I don't mind the parents that take a piece here or there. Its the parents that legit raid their kids stash once they are in bed and take like half of it (i.e. all the "good" stuff) and leave the kids with the bags of pretzels, lollipops and crushed up smarties. My dad used to love 3 Musketeers so whenever I came home I always used to find a few of them and just give them to him right away. That curbed the stealing a bit.
ReplyDeleteI also think, as parents, just buy what you like and buy plenty, so after its all over you have some left over candy to munch on so you don't HAVE to steal from your kids. Like I know its no big deal to some people, but to kids stuff like Halloween candy is serious business. Why risk upsetting them when you can afford to spend an extra few dollars to have some back up candy for yourself.
@Pilly, absolutely hilarious! and genius.
ReplyDelete@Karmen - Hope you'll share the picture with us.
Always grateful for holidays where you have fun with family and friends. Back to basics with innocent fun, and steering clear away from everyday life-sucking scrooges. I say have fun no matter your age, and if not, well let others do. Live and let live I say.
Eh, now that I have teenagers myself I have tolerance for kids who are teens but still want to ToT. It doesn't hurt anyone to give them candy too, and they probably have too much pride as teen boys to make an effort.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, I absolutely loved it. CANDY!!! I'm not a big sweets fan anymore, but I love decorating the house. I can barely wait for October. I do 1930's apothecary style decor. As far as costumes go, I dress up every year; I went to a party this past weekend as a vintage devil.
ReplyDeleteWhile I enjoy Halloween as an adult, I don't love it as fiercely as I did in childhood. My parents never bought my Halloween costumes as a kid, and as an adult I keep with the same theme of making my own. Last year I was a jellyfish (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/5183049915_f8fb910de5_z.jpg)and this year I went as David the Gnome. A lot of people mistook me for a garden gnome, so when they'd mention it I'd get to say, 'I'm David the Gnome, bitch! Recycle!'
ReplyDeleteAnd for the record, instead of stealing my candy out from under me, my parents would sort through it and ask/barter for tasty treats they liked.
I steal my kids candy. I admit this. However, they are 1 1/2 and 3 and don't eat the stuff I take so I don't feel bad about it. When my eldest was a kid I stole hers too, until she was about 4 then she got to pick out the cool stuff she wanted and the rest either got handed out to friends at school or taken to work and shared. I don't think any kid needs 2 lbs of candy. This year, our dentist is having a "take back" the day after Halloween, so I plan on saving my waist line and their teeth by taking in most of the candy they get. There will be plenty that they can eat and alot more that is too hard on little teeth.
ReplyDeleteAs to jerk kids with no manners, if they don't say "Trick or Treat" and thank you, then they don't get alot of candy. However, I rarely get kids that don't say Please, thank you and/or Trick or Treat. Guess it depends on the parents or something. I'm not rude about it, but I do ask them to say Please or Trick or Treat.
We didn't have Halloween in Sweden when I was a kid (they do now though, because of American movies..*L*), so I have no choice but to like it more now. But I also think most costumes these days are lame. Girls just go as a slutty anything and guys put on a fake mustache and are like "I'm a guy with a mustache!". Although a couple of years ago I saw a couple in the most elaborate robot costumes I have ever seen. They had even made headgear out of old computer monitors and they lit up and everything. I never get that creative. I don't really go out on Halloween anymore, and I live in a condo building so we don't really get any trick or treaters. I love makeup so if I get dressed up, it's all about the face - tomorrow I am going to a late Halloween party and I'll be a creepy doll - pale face, big googly eyes, tons of eyelashes, a wig etc. But I will not be a slutty creepy doll, TYVM.
ReplyDeleteHalloween is my favorite holiday EVAH! I'm dressed up as a Muerta right now! ;)
ReplyDeleteMy favorite as a kid? The year my Mom made me a Dutch Girl outfit, complete with waist-length yarn braids and a filled up GGG bra!
The only thing I can't stand about Halloween is women who make themselves up as a slutty anything... Just as long as it's slutty. WHY????
We had great trick or treat Halloweens as a kid, in my teens it was parties...if fact it still is.
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween, but I don't really dress up these days. We were very poor so I made my own costumes as a kid and by the time my daughter came along, I was able to put together some cool costumes for her once she told me who she wanted to be. I never stole her candy, but would find it months later stashed in her room and had to throw it out. She really wasn't into the candy part.
ReplyDeleteAlso, this is the first year I've been seeing the slutty meme all over the place. I hadn't really noticed a large number of women dressing provocatively on Halloween - ever. Mostly it's the opposite. Weird that it is all of a sudden an issue. Anyway, I detest slut shaming. DETEST it. And women tend to slut shame more than men and that is fucking sad. Women can dress how they damn well please. If men have a problem with it, and think they might rape a woman because of what she's wearing, perhaps they should be taking the drugs sex offenders are ordered to take.
I loved halloween as a kid! My parents used to order pizza for dinner, and we'd drive around in the car eating pizza and trick or treating. Mom would park every couple blocks, and my brother and I would go door to door, and then dive into the car to warm up and eat a slice:) This year I went to a dance as a zombie pirate wench, and won 2nd place! And my favorite is the little kids that come to the door in their furry animal costumes...nothing cuter than that! lol
ReplyDeleteI think I love it more now but it has always been my favorite holiday. Decorating is my favorite part: pumpkins, skulls, day of the dead figures and my devil mask go up October 1 every year.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed Halloween. My favorite costume as a child was when my mom made me my own princess outfit. These were during the days that all of the store bought costumes were a kind of a plastic apron looking thing and mask. I even got to wear real grown up make up.
ReplyDeleteI usually dress up in a costume for work and me and the hubby have been going to Halloween Costume dance for the past 3 years. A few years ago I made our costumes from scratch. We were Fred and Wilma (I was a very heavy Wilma because it was one month prior to me having gastric bypass surgery). Last year I was a hooker and he was a pimp (my first time ever wearing a sexy outfit) and this year we were roller derby chicks (he dressed in drag).
I also love to decorate the house for Fall. This year I bought those fake pumpkins that look real and you can carve. I carved one for each of my dogs and cat in their likeness. I've gotten so many comments from my neighbors and they have to take a close look when I tell them they are fake. I then bought battery operated tealights that flicker. As soon as tonight is over all I have to do is put them in a box for next year.
Halloween is my holiday, I have only had one store bought costume and all the rest have been homemade. I took over sewing mine when I was twelve and I haven't stopped. Now that I have kids, they have never experienced a cheap store one either. This Halloween I have made them my favorite ones yet. They picked Xena warrior Princess and Ares the god of war.
ReplyDeleteI love Halloween as an adult and loved it even more as a kid. Ida is right though--when I trick or treated (which ended maybe 15 years ago, so it wasn't THAT long ago), we stayed out well past dark, wandering around the neighborhood with my friends. Now the kids have to be IN by like 6. Complete BS! And I grew up in a super safe suburb that is still just as safe. I kind of feel bad my future unborn kids. Being a child now just wasn't the same as it used to be. Granted, they won't know what they're missing, but it's amazing how many awesome things we did as kids that parents now would never allow or think are too dangerous (like trick or treating in a safe neighborhood until 9pm...ooohhh risky!)
ReplyDeleteBnl, you kind of need to lighten up. :) You never shared candy with your parents? And they're the greedy ones? Sharing is caring.
ReplyDelete@jay la la, did you see my second post about it? i did share. i used to specifically pick out the stuff my dad liked and shared it with him. i'm good with people that have a few pieces. no harm in that. its the parents that take their kids bag after they are in bed and pilfer the shit out of it, leaving them with less than half. i just feel bad for those kids.
ReplyDeletealthough my parents did have a rule that we could only eat like two a day so a) we didn't gorge ourselves on candy and b) so it lasted awhile. that was always nice cuz months later everyone else's stash was gone and ours wasn't and its also a good way to let your kids keep what they collected.
I love Halloween more now than I did when I was a kid. My mom always made sure we had costumes, but she wasn't super into it so we had to be pretty creative on our own. My favorite costume I wore as an adult was 2 years ago. I was Rainbow Bright. I made it all myself, down to the snowboots that I painted to match hers. Sadly I made it through the night with no pctures :( this year I wrapped myself in bubble wrap and made my make up look like I had been crying. When people asked what I was I whispered "I'm fragile" and wander away. I'd say about half the people found it as funny as I did.
ReplyDeleteI always liked Halloween OK growing up, but now that I have a daughter it's much more fun for me. Even though she's not yet old enough to trick or treat, I've had fun making her costumes this and last year. Which is why she's Baby Gaga this year. :). Gotta enjoy dressing her up while I still can.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE Halloween! More now as an adult than childhood. I went as Debbie Harry on Saturday & had a blast! A 'Prized' Drag Queen offered me $$ for my wig (homemeade), so it musta been good :o
ReplyDeletei think that if you bare the cold, dress up, even in a 'lazy' costume, you get a treat. I don't care how old you are. What does a treat cost, a penny?! I also send one along for the mom/dad at the end of the driveway & tell the kids "Thanks for coming"
It's a treat for me too to have someone knock on my door & I don't think it's the most important time for kids to remember 'social grace'...they're too damn excited!
My fav costume was "Phylis Diller" when I was surrounded by Playboy bunnies & sleezy cats.
I love Halloween as a grandparent, my husband and I use to "help" pick out costumes and do our grand-daughter's makeup one year she went as a Evil Fairy. This year she is too grown up to take grandpa along with her and her friends - it's the end of an era. Tonight we sat on the porch and handed out candy we bought enough candy for more than 250 kids - last year on the same night a few hours apart some moron shot a teenage, and later killed two men in separate shootings. No arrests have been made so for safety reasons children from that area have been travelling to other neighborhoods - so we starved for attention grandparents got to laugh, smile and let all those wonderful kids know they looked amazing the best were Princess Leia, little butterflies, and a tiny little kitten not older than six months old and the coolest little dude in a zoot suit. What I loved the most was overhearing one little guy dressed as soldier saying "I like this street they are so nice and they give a lot of candy" music to a grandparent's ears.
ReplyDeleteredronnie; You've got the spirit of the holiday all wrapped up, right there on your porch. Awesome :)
ReplyDeleteI go all out for Halloween! I got told by almost every trick or treater I had tonight that my house with a full (fake) grave yard, fresh grave, victim and crypt keeper was " The best ever!"
ReplyDeleteI was too busy and it was too freaking cold to stand out there in my costume. My best costume I remember was an elephant with the full mask when I was ten. It was so different then every generic princess out there.
I think I enjoy Halloween more as an adult, but feel the same about Christmas as Ida does. Was way better as a kid.
ReplyDeleteI went all out decorating my house this year & we had a party. I went as Joan Holloway. The night ended with a pitcher of really strong margaritas & I am now not allowed Tequila anymore. ;)
I had more trick or treaters last night than I ever have before since living here, so that was fun. The majority of the kids said "Trick or Treat! Happy Halloween" and "Thank you!" so I guess some parents are doing something right. One kid actually said "That's too much, I'll give you one back." Bless his heart.
@krab - I have a bad barker, too. I feel your pain. He passed out on the floor from exhaustion as soon as it was all over. ;)
My mom would eat some of my chocolate, but I didn't care. She was a major chocoholic & I thought it was funny. I was pissed when she ate the head off my chocolate Easter bunny once, though.
@New Life and Attitude - I forgot to ask in my post...where do you buy those pumpkins!? I wanted something like that this year but couldn't find anything like that.
ReplyDelete