Maddie-the-Great will be spending the night here tonight, so I am hoping that she will help me put out the outdoor Halloween stuff. Doing it with her just might give me the inspiration I need. We'll see.
Last year I really expanded my "stuff" for this time of year, due, in fact, to the wonderful ideas I had seen on so many different blogs. I bought a lot of stuff and I really got into it. This year?? Not so much.
Part of the problem, I think, is I really don't care for what I am seeing in the stores this year. Have you noticed? I assume what is happening here is happening everywhere. The whimsy is missing! There isn't any "fun" stuff! The vast majority of things for sale this year are really scary! Skulls, severed, bleeding limbs, grave stones, rats (RATS!!), big (really BIG) hairy spiders and all manner of other creepy, crawlies, ghouls, zombies, vampires, fake blood....it's enough to give you nightmares!
It isn't that I think there is anything sinister about Halloween. I'm not worried about devil worship, or other such nonsense that some people are always ranting about. The origins of Halloween were a mix of superstition and religion and may have had some of those sinister elements, but that was a long time ago and now Halloween is about 99% about fun for kids! That's all. A chance for kids to dress up in costumes and go get free candy!! That's about as much fun as a little kid can have! I support that wholeheartedly.
This current trend toward the really scary stuff is all related to the recent success of books like Twilight and the flood of books and movies about monsters, vampires and zombies. I've never gotten the appeal of any of those, but then I'm not a teenager anymore. And lets face it, is there anything scarier than a teenager in general?? :)
A lot of it has to do with the companies that make or sell Halloween things. Manufacturers of novelties always are updating their line to come up with new, different, and very profitable merchandise each year. This year they seem to have focused on creepy. Well, no thank you....not interested. I hope they get over this scary stuff soon.
The only kind of "Monster Mash" I am interested in, is the song you dance to!
BOO!
One year for Halloween, I put my electric keyboard right inside the open porch window behind the lace curtain, and when my wife opened the door to treat, I would "bash" down on some creepy cord on the keyboard set loudly on "pipe organ." Some kids thought it was cool, but one little one, screamed, and ran down the steps to his/her?? mommy, crying. Needless to say, I shut off the keyboard.
ReplyDeleteI don't treat anymore. The fun has gone for me since my kids grew up and the grands are still too little to go.
Have fun!
I agree! We use the term "silly scary" at our house, and I think that's what Halloween should be. Sometimes the stuff neighbors do for trick-or-treating has really freaked my kids out!
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