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Boo-tiful Décor
Rated by 4 members
I'm in the middle of a big-box store where I've let Grace, 6, walk around the corner to look at the Halloween costumes. A display of mini-pumpkins erupts seconds later when she comes tearing back around the corner like a bat out of you-know-where.
"Mama, I'm scared," she sobs shakily. As I rock her in my arms, my mind races for what could trigger such fear She finally calms enough to explain in a tremulous voice, "The mummy tried to grab me."
I restore the little pumpkins to their display shelf, then pick up my own scared little pumpkin. I try to lighten the mood by saying, "Mummy's no match for Mommy," as we round the corner to check things out.
Let's just say Mommy spoke too soon — this was not the white, neatly wrapped Halloween decoration I'd anticipated. Instead, I was met by a five-foot tall, raggedly-bandaged creature whose skeletal flesh peeped through his wraps and whose sinister red eyes glowed from deep within bony sockets.
"Wow, I see what you mean," I said to Grace as she covered her eyes and began to whimper. As we turned to walk away, a sensor triggered the mummy's arms to jerk up in mock attack.
In the car on the way home, Grace seemed calmed by our long conversation about what's real and what's not. I explained how the mummy was like a "big craft project" made of plastic and wired with gadgets and batteries to light up and move.
"I don't care what it's made of, I don't like it," she said.
When we got home, she still wanted to get out our Halloween decorations. I promised we could do it after school the next day, so that I'd have time to shop for some supplies with which to haunt our house in a more "friendly" manner.
The next day, Grace and I got down to Halloween business. With cotton balls and tissues we made baby ghosts, and for our fireplace mantle we made a gauzy ghost family to mirror our own — we even included our dog Buster.
We got out all her teddy bears and "costumed them" by tying orange and black bows around their necks, adding paper masks and party hats made from orange construction paper and Halloween stickers.
I grouped clear vases, votive holders, and candy dishes that we filled with candy corn, orange jelly beans, and black licorice. (If that's too tempting, I suggest dried black beans and fall potpourri.)
That night as we lit some orange candles Grace said, "Mama, Halloween can be sweet and not scary, right?"
That was exactly the spirit I was looking for.
Member Comments On…
Boo-tiful Décor
While my daughter hasn't had such a bad episode with Halloween, I can see how it happens. Just looking at some of the childrens costumes in our area. First I think its important to know your child and avoid potential problems. However I know its not always that easy. I help my daughter understand about scarey costumes by explaining it in a way she understands. "Your not really a ladybug are you?". Niether are the scarey kids. Then we look at the costumes in the store. They are alot less scarey on hangers. The same thing goes for decorations. I show her on the shelves. Its easier to show her that its just "pretend" when its in a box or on a shelf with 15 others. I don't think Halloween has gotten to scarey, I think its just gotten harder to prepare kids for what WE don't expect to see.
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My daughter had a similar moment just last week. Our neighbor thought it would be really funny to try to scare me by putting his 5 foot tall, very realistic corpse statue on my doorstep and ringing the doorbell, then leaving. Being pretty well desensitized to the whole thing by my (after-bedtime) vampire and zombie movie obsession, I was only mildly confused when I answered the door. However, my four year old daughter, who was on the couch where she could see the door, was crying and shaking and absolutely refused to go outside for the rest of the day. She even climbed over my husbands shoulder when he tried to carry her outside to show her that it wasn't there anymore. It was even worse than the Fourth of July! We explained that it was just a toy, and every day since she asks if we remember "that scary toy, mama? I don't like that" at bedtime.
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Rebekah is 21 months, I took her to a Halloween store without thinking, she quickly grabbed onto her moms hand and wouldn't let go. When we go to regular stores she will hold onto our legs whenever we go by the moving life like decorations. But she is the same one that doesn't like any of her Elmo toys that move. It is getting ridiculas when you cant go to a store without a kid getting frightened. Even I jump sometimes.
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I have a 20 year old son and a 7 year old daughter.
I can tell you that in my experience from when my son was young compared to now with my daughter, the difference in what is an acceptable public display for Halloween, "decorations" is every year getting just a bit more gruesome or violent. I wonder what the limit will eventually become ??
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That is a great idea! I will have to try it with my nephews.
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My daughter is not very sensitive to this, but I wonder how far it will all go. It gets more gruesome every year!
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My 5 year old has always been spooked by the stores' Halloween displays so we've tried to make it more fun than scary. A few years ago someone in our neighborhood started the Boo Bag tradition. During the month of October, the kids in the neighborhood take turns secretly placing goodie bags at each other's houses with notes saying that "You've Been Boo'd" and asking the recipient to make a goodie bag and "Boo" another neighbor. This tradition has run its course in our neighborhood so our family is doing something new this year. We're making cute Halloween cards that say "Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet, Give me something good to Eat. We're tucking in a nominal gift card to the local donut or ice cream shop and delivering our cards to our daughter's school bus drivers and our volunteer fire fighters. We think it will be fun to acknowledge some special folks rather than give more goodies to people who already have plenty!
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Last year we had a Halloween sleepover with my children and my neices and nephews all between the ages of 1 and 5(10 all together!) We played games, decorated pumpkins and all wore costumes. Everyone seemed quite happy until bed time. My nephew who is normally quite content was really scared. He told his mother he wanted to go home because of the big spiders and spider webs we used for decorating. What was okay to him during the day took a different turn at night. This year we will definately be more careful with the way we decorate and consider how the visiting children will feel. I think it was easier for my children because they helped with the decorating so they knew it wasn't real.
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For the last few years we have not been able to get our daughter into a store once the Halloween decorations go on sale. She is now 6 and doesn't seem any closer to getting over her fear no matter how we try to convince her. I can't really blame her since some of the decorations even frighten me. Things have gotten out of hand when a holiday that used to be fun for kids now terrorizes them. This year we plan a Halloween tea party with her dolls and stuffed animals as guests. We are going to make them and ourselves non-scary costumes, make non-scary decorations and bake cupcakes.
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I agree with EverbodysAuntLisa. I also think every kid is different and what's terrifying to one is thrilling to another. I don't think that Halloween's gotten too scary, because if you took the gross, freaky stuff off the shelves a lot of kids (and adults) would be disappointed. I do think it's great to find combinations of spooky and sweet decorations -- Target is one of my favorites for holiday decorating.
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