Good-bye, Halloween

What has happened to the Halloween that I remember? As a kid, this was the one of the best holidays...candy, costumes, staying up late on a school night. I remember houses with large candy buckets sitting in the open on the front stoop with a note saying, "Sorry we couldn't be here. Take one and leave some for your friends." And that's just what we did. I remember creative costumes, huge costumes (like the Karate Kid in the shower curtain), scary without begin gory costumes. I remember fun parties at school that always included a fun "haunted house" put on by the student council or 4-H or some other club.

The past costumes donned by my own children have been fairly creative, slightly crafty, and all-around fun. But the schools now say no to make-up and hair color and no to props that might possibly be used as a weapon (including wands). That takes some of the fun out of it, but fine. Try to purchase a ready-made costume at the local retail store and parents choices are limited to goth princess, goth vampira, goth cheerleader...Dora, a few movie characters, or Hannah Montana (all of which are simply a thin one-piece outfit devoid of any props or true character)...And all at a cost of over $30.00. What?

After numerous discussions and debating over what the girls would like to be and what I feel is appropriate and economical, they came up with three final thoughts. #1 Secret agents (black pants, trench coats, ear pieces and brief cases), #2 Monkey Ninjas (black turtle-neck and pants, black ski mask and knit gloves with tips cut off, and monkey ears and tail, and #3 Velma and Daphne of Scooby Doo.

I opted for #3. We took a trip to Goodwill where we easily found a purple dress for Daphne, orange turtle neck and brown skirt for Velma. The rest we gathered from around the house. Fully dressed and side-by-side, the girls' characters were unmistakable!

However, the excitement was short-lived as we received a memo from the school stating that the "student council" voted to have a Harvest Party in lieu of a Halloween and that the students would be dressing for miss-match day in lieu of costumes. I must admit, I have my doubts as to whether the idea was generated by the student body or an adult influence. Seriously, what 9 year old is going to say, "Hey, guys, wouldn't it be great if we didn't wear our costumes to school and instead just wore all miss=matched clothes. That way, everyone can participate...like the kids that don't celebrate holidays." Right.

We live in the state of Wisconsin. Trick-or-Treating is often interrupted by rain, sleet, or snow and therefore requires the appropriate outer gear which covers up the majority of most costumes. The in-school party/parade is the only time that the children have to actually see one another in costume. It's a time of oohs and ahhs over Timmy's costume, amazement over the creativity of Sally's costume, and wondering what exactly Mikey is supposed to be. But like the Christmas programs of years passed, Halloween is now removed from our school.