Making Macabre Now Trumps Making Merry!

I've noticed in the past few years that Halloween has become nearly as big a celebration as Christmas.  It seems that more people decorate for Halloween than put up Christmas trees.  Installing dazzling light displays with flashing black lights and special effects that even Tim Burton would envy, our neighbors convert entire front yards into graveyards. 

The stores love it, too!  Beggar's night has become quite an industry--an entire season rather than one fun night wearing homemade costumes going door to door, little vagabond voices chiming, "Trick or Treat," holding out pillow cases in which to gather the sweet loot!  I remember well how long it took, how many doorbells we had to ring to collect a pound or two back in the day when candy was doled out a piece at a time. If you lived in the country, you were screwed. 

Target devotes a huge section of their store to Halloween right after the school supply lists are filled. These days, making macabre supersedes making merry. Yikes!  The average cost of costumes in the stores today are the same as a decent pair of shoes. Star Wars storm troupers ($40 @ Target) are most popular this year in honor of the release of the new Star Wars blockbuster on Dec 18. Brilliant marketing!?!  Hmm.  At least it gives a boost to big box stores' profit margins and the sagging Chinese economy.   And we have plenty of Storm Troupers crisscrossing our neighborhoods to intimidate us into obeisance. 

And more big kids are getting into the action today as over half the costumes sold in stores are adult sizes. When I was a kid, 14 was the max, the year we all dreaded as being too "old" to step out the door in costume.  It's a new millennium, however!  Millennial Trick-or-treaters aren't growing out of it these days--they go door to door with their kids in costume but linger with the neighbor's opting for a toddy over a treat!  Halloween parties litter our iCals for the entire month! 

I still say homemade is best, however.  This year, when my niece Chrissy asked her little 4-year-old Emma what she wanted to be this year, she replied, "A clock."   LOLOL!!!  I challenge you to find a clock costume in the stores!   So not wanting to disappoint her simple request, Grandpa and Chrissy got busy with a little old-fashioned felt and glue and it turned out adorable!  One of a kind--and one she can wear over her coat!   And little Emma comes away from this Halloween with much more than a felted timepiece--she is blessed with memories of treasured time with her Grampy. So much better than post-traumatic flashbacks of Target trips to grab the latest trend in mass-marketed Chinese-made cellulose and plastics destined for a post-Halloween trip to a landfill near you!