Tricks are for Kids?

There has been a lot of talk this year on how "adult" Halloween has become. I can probably vouch for this based on the fact I celebrated Halloween twice over the weekend and have at least one hundred pictures to show for it. My nieces and nephews, on the other hand, got a few snapshots taken before going off to trick or treat for a few hours. While I can't speak for all kids, I think I was more excited to go out to Halloween parties in costume with my friends than some kids probably were about going out trick or treating. It seems that Halloween has become more sexy than scary and more about cocktails than it is about candy. At least from my perspective, I saw a lot more mermaids and cowboys drinking martinis this year than ghosts and goblins with pillow cases full of peanut butter cups.

Dancing the night away among girls dressed as naughty nurses, kissing bandits, and sexy sailors, I couldn't bring myself to wear a Winnie the Pooh costume, yet I wasn't quite ready to break out my bikini top and wrap my legs in cellophane. I figured I could find a costume that would, at the very least, be cute. After scrounging through some old boxes, I found an authentic band jacket, which my 10 year old nephew wore a few years ago for Halloween. While he wore it with formal black slacks and the big Major cap, I sassed it up with a white mini skirt, sequin tube top and opted for the cute ponytail over the hat. And I even got the baton stick to boot! I was a Majorette. But as far as energy and creativity put into my costume, I was definitely on the low end among my peers.

Some costumes spotted were: A male body builder dressed as a Packers cheerleader, a couple dressed as a "Brick House" and a "Brick layer", a well endowed blonde woman with a tool belt and an apron that read "Home Wrecker", a man with a huge foam horseshoe wrapped around his head with baby chicks stuck to the end (chick magnet), two men each dressed as a boob, a stewardess arm-and-arm with a pilot who had lipstick kisses all over his face and a ruffled shirt and tie, Elmo, pirates in full face paint, Steve Irwin, and the list goes on... Show me some kids with costumes that elaborate!

Last night, still in my Halloween spirit, I went to visit my nieces and nephews. Halloween is a kids' holiday after all, right? Since I couldn't recruit them to trick-or-treat at my place, I went to them. The younger kids, all dressed up by their parents, looked adorable. Who can resist Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion? Or Cookie Monster and a Bear? Or the 7 year old American Idol with press-on nails? The older kids, however, are getting to that stage where they find one item in their closet and make that their costume. When I held out the treats I brought over and asked them to say, "trick or treat" the little ones sang in unison, while the older ones kind of shrugged their shoulders and said, "no thanks." The fact that they were "100 calorie packs of cookies" from Trader Joe's is beside the point. Treats are treats!












There must be a lull in the life cycle in terms of Halloween enthusiasm. I think there is that awkward age when you are getting too old to trick or treat and start to care less about the costume, as illustrated by my 12 year old nephew, who was dressed as Santa Claus and his friend (no picture) who was a Paper Bag. Yep, Santa and a Paper Bag...classic costumes. Can't you see it? Didn't your Santa wear a black face mask and a red polo sweatshirt? We'll cut him some slack considering his mom is 8 months pregnant with twins.


My conclusion is that, yes, Halloween is becoming more adult. I think the times you enjoy playing dress-up and getting treats the most are when you are 10 and under...and even more so when you are 21 and older.