Blood, sugar and explosives: hoping for a healthy, happy Halloween
Tonight I’ll once again be responsible for shepherding my wide-eyed children through a world of grim reapers, chocolate bars and firecrackers. Halloween has always been one of my favourite days of the year, but looking at what we’re teaching our kids and each other I start to think something’s gone wrong.
Hey kids, have some horror
At some point tonight, my kids will be scared. Not the fun roller-coaster kind of shrieking, but full-on terrified. Older kids caked in blood, over-zealous vampire adults, creepy organ music, ghosts flying down from clever front-yard decorations… the myriad inventions to strike horror into their little minds is truly impressive.
But my vampire neighbor won’t have to deal with the nightmares that will wake up my little ones for the next month. One night will seemingly undo a full year of careful monitoring of their exposure to television and age-appropriate media.
Remember those home-made costumes?
My wife and I were up until midnight last night sewing a phoenix costume with felt plumage, old African cloth wings and feathers, and a shiny bauble necklace along the shoulders just to make it a bit more regal. Our younger one woke up thrilled to find his shiny purple king’s cape and felted crown.
With three hours of creative, fun handiwork we’ve entered and fed our children’s imagination world. These are fun costumes that will be part of their dress-up play for years, leading to new made-up worlds that don’t involve violence or fear.
We’ve also modeled a hands-on, creative style fun and participation. They’re learning that people don’t have to rely on some costume company to create an expression of their imaginations. We each have vast worlds within us waiting to burst forth, not be contained by some off-the-shelf convention.
Hey kids, add some sugar to that
By the end of the night, our kids will already have eaten more candy than they ought to in an entire year. Their teeth, bodies, stomachs, energy-levels go wildly out of whack, and we’ll spend the next few weeks battling over how much sugar they can eat before school.
I’m all for giving out treats, but why does something that is bad for them have to be a treat? And why do we choose to reinforce that message that chocolate bars and suckers are a treat? Each time I hand out a peanut butter cup I’m contributing to the corporate brainwashing that this packaged sugar rush is a treat. Instead of my $75 outlay for candy, I should charge Cadbury for advertising.
If you kids come to our house this year, they’ll have a choice of bouncy balls, pencils, tattoos, and glittering things. Not the home-baked or home-made wonders I’d truly like, but your dentist and nutritionist won’t be cursing me tomorrow and it’s atleast a message that a treat doesn’t have to be chocolate-coated.
It’s no treat for the Colombian Cocoa Farmers
Where does all that candy come from anyways? There’s not enough room here to fully rant about exploitation of developing nation farmers, but suffice to say that less than .1% of the money you forked out for tonight’s “treats” will make it to the pockets of the people who toiled to produce it.
If we must give out candy, why not pay a fair price and buy Fair Trade chocolate? Again, we have an opportunity to model responsible purchasing instead of showing them that we support a system that unfairly treats the people doing the real work to produce those “treats.”
A truly happy Halloween
By all means let’s go out and be crazy and creative and treat each other. Being ethical and healthy doesn’t mean being boring. Here are some ideas:
- Create costumes that are fun and feed their imaginations, not terrorize them.
- Model creativity by making costumes instead of just buying them.
- Hand out treats that send a positive message – healthy, fair trade, toys, even home-made goodies for neighbor kids whose parents trust you.
That’s all from me. How do you handle Halloween?
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Photo by Uriel 1998.
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October 31st, 2008 at 9:41 am
We're not at fair trade chocolate yet, but we did go for little packets of Famous Amos cookies because we scrupulously avoid high-fructose corn syrup, and we couldn't conscience handing it out to the entire neighborhood.
By next year, we're hoping to live in a neighborhood where we actually know our neighbors. We live near a military base, and since my husband wears a goatee, people don't even have to talk to us to know we're not military. We're invisible…
October 31st, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Hi Rick
Enjoyed your Hallowe'en post! Just wanted to share one of my favourite Hallowe'en memories from a few years ago. A little boy – about 6yrs old – came trick or treating to our house in East Vancouver. He came wearing a home-made cape covered with dried leaves, and some kind of leaf crown. Amidst all of the store-bought vampire and monster costumes of the other kids, he exclaimed repeatedly “I am a friendly forest nymph! I am a friendly forest nymph!”… His eyes sparkled with pride, but I also sensed how desperate he was to be a “friendly” spirit in a sea of violent costumes. I was really impressed with him, and looked forward to seeing what the next year's costume would be! (We have moved now… so will look forward to meeting the new creative neighbourhood kids tonight!
On another note, a friend's (very sensitive) little boy took a toy gun to his show and tell at school several years ago. He was adamant that the gun shot “fur”… a nice variation!
Hope the evening goes well,
Glenys
October 31st, 2008 at 4:18 pm
Oh, Rick, I hear you!
At the little Halloween Dance at my kids' school today, I was shocked to see little guys running around in black robes and gruesome masks. They were freaking me out, and I'm 34 years old! Why would someone buy their 6 year old a mask like that?? I even got a little shocked by the costumes on some of the teachers now that I think about it. I grew up with the excitement and originality of homemade costumes, and in my family, a store-bought, generic one just wouldn't be any fun at all!
And thanks for the “treats” ideas…we're not home this year to give anything out (and last year I only got 6 knocks on the door…3 being uncostumed teenagers, and one being two adult women holding out their purses and wearing Hello Kitty masks) but I will keep those ideas in mind the next time I am wrestling with the financial strain of handing out organic, fair-trade goodies. I remember as a kid our neighbor would give us bags of popcorn and that was yummy! One of my favourite “goodies”.
I think that is one of the essential ingredients missing from Halloween for us these days…we don't know our neighbors in the way we did when we were growing up, even though we live in the home my husband grew up in! That, and the overload of commercialism. It doesn't feel like a homemade, imaginitive, even spooky-in-a-fun-way holiday anymore, just a reason to get candy for free and dress up like the latest movie character. Basically, I build it up in my mind as October comes, and then I'm disappointed by it all.
Oh no, I am ranting! I need to get off the computer and find my happy halloween love…like the homemade caramel apples (mostly organic!) that are ready to wrap up for out friends tonight. That'll put me in the spirit!
Enjoy your halloween away from the big ol' city!
October 31st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
This is my first Halloween in a fully residential, family-oriented neighbourhood. I'm somehow managing to write this comment between knocks on the door. I must say that I too am disappointed by all of the corporate costumes. My favourite costumes have always been hand-made, and I'll always have a special place in nostalgiaville for the gorilla costume that my dad spent days and days making for me. I think he learned to use the sewing machine just for that costume. What a guy! What a dad!
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:30 am
I agree on most of your points, Uriel. I have never purchased a costume ready-made, I try to take the time to bake something that is a bit better for the kids than the store-bought chocolates, and also to make sure it's fair-trade and organic.
Your point on the problems of horrific costumes hits home and I would like to add another side to the argument. When I was out for my first Hallowe-en I went as a witch and had tons of fun. I recall loving the pageantry of the other costumes, scary, funny, beautiful. but the most salient moment of that experience is the man who answered one of the last doors on our route. Before me stood a huge man covered in tattoos. I was terrified. I stood with my mouth agape, but no answer coming to his friendly questions about my costume. He laughed and put some candy in my bag, at which I turned heel and ran down the walkway to my dad.
My dad, also laughing, told me he was safe and that I should go back and say thank-you for the candy. I was scared, but did as I was told. The man was very gracious, said you're welcome, and off I went, messages received loud and clear: “don't judge a book by its cover” & “being brave can make you feel great”.
It's hard to say what will scare a kid. Of course, bloody vampires and angry-looking werewolves are more likely to scare them than day-to-day stuff, but maybe it is also an opportunity for children to move to that edge of what feels familiar and safe while still having mom and dad close by for support and reassurance.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
My oldest went as an awesome elf, with the only purchased item being glue-on ear tips. All night long kids were saying “cool costume – where'd you buy it?” Now, I'm not above buying costumes (a frog bought as Superstore was a wonderful addition to our dress up box), but “found” costumes are so endearing. Remember the sheet-ghosts and hobos of our childhood?
We didn't manage to get to 10,000 Villages for Fair trade, organic chocolates this year… but for future reference, they sell bags of 50 pieces of individually-wrapped yumminess.
November 7th, 2008 at 11:13 pm
We live in a neighbourhood that really gets into Halloween, and as much as I love the pumpkin carving and making costumes for our children, I don't love the rubbish that comes home in the bag.
Our children pick through their candy keep 10 of their favourite items and the rest goes in the “magic pumpkin”, the Pumpkin Fairy takes the candy and leaves them each a book. I realize this can be an extra expense but it solves my problem of dealing with sugar ramped up monsters for the next few weeks. They have now begun forward to the pumpkin fairy just as much as the trick or treating.
And ditto on the gruesome costumes, I spend a few nights later talking them to sleep after the fright of some well meaning neighbour.
May 11th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
I agree that its not good for young kids that older kids scare them with adult vampire costumes, creepy music etc.I stood with my mouth agape, but no answer coming to his friendly questions about my costume. My favourite costumes have always been hand-made, and I'll always have a special place in nostalgiaville for the gorilla costume that my dad spent days and days making for me.
June 4th, 2009 at 10:31 pm
“Halloween” when i hear this word all that comes to my mind is “trick or treat” every Halloween some children gather to go to houses and say trick or treat this event started long time ago, I miss the old days when i was the one saying trick or treat.
June 16th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
nice post.