Is Halloween a Holiday For Kids?

I can already hear you saying "Of course!" But really, lets be serious here. Have you been shopping lately? If you haven't then I challenge you to go to a store that has a Seasonal section and look at their Halloween decor and costumes. You will probably find some cutesy plush costumes for kids in there, but look closer...I mean really delve in there and see what you find.

I used to work at Fred Meyer. The originator of One-stop shopping. Groceries, Home decor, Housewares, Automotive, Toys, Apparel, and more all rolled into one big store. Part of my job when I was working there was to do resets. Resets involve moving and rearranging merchandise on the shelves according to a planogram sent by corporate. This keeps all the stores under the corporate umbrella somewhat similar since they have to follow the same plans.

One of the ever changing things about resets is the seasonal section. Last year I got to help with the Halloween reset. Costumes and accessories was one of the first things we set. I decided right then that I didn't want to take my kids anywhere near that aisle. It was something that would probably give them nightmares. Monster masks, fake wounds, fake blood, etc, all with semi-realistic depictions of the wounds and etc on the packaging. Burns, bites, scars, and even bullet holes. Those are not things I want my kids to think are cool. Then the masks...I don't even want to go there, some of those things are just disgusting, and I don't find anything at all pleasant about them.
On the next aisle over we have Halloween decorations. These include a severed head in a crystal ball (not my idea of fun or appropriate), those candy dishes with hands that grab you when you try to take a piece of candy, and things that make shrieking or other scary noises.
I am NOT anti-Halloween. But I like celebrating it in a more toned down fashion. If people want to have a big scooby doo inflatable in their yard, or a fake cemetery...I don't really have a problem with that. Last Christmas there was a cool snowglobe inflatable with Santa in it and fake snow blowing around in there. I thought that was pretty neat. This year there is a Halloween version with the grim reaper, and fake leaves blowing around inside. I don't really know why anyone would fork over the money for something like that. Last year it seems like a lot of the inflatables for Halloween were on the tamer side. This year my three year old is afraid to go down that aisle. The giant skull with a pumpkin on top bothers him, as does the chest with a skeleton that starts to climb out, and then retreats back inside.
I am all for carving a pumpkin. In fact, its a family tradition to get together at my sister's house every year for a pumpkin carving party and to show off our costumes (optional). Its a fun family time that the kids look forward to. In fact, I think that this year we are going to make it our main celebration. They will get their costuming out of the way. As for Trick Or Treating, how many parents actually let their kids eat all that junk? I don't. I have been known to hide the candy and dole it out here and there, and eventually I forget about it and run across it somewhere around Christmas, then I usually end up throwing a lot of it away. This year we are going to just hang out at home. I will get some goodies, and we will watch some Halloween episodes of shows we have on DVD. Somehow I don't think my kids will be missing out on anything. We will have some good quality family time...and they will still get some candy (only I will have control over what kinds). I think that it may be the start of a new tradition. I am looking forward to it.