Bringing the Spirit of Halloween Back

What ever happened to the good old fashioned fun Halloween dress up?  I went with the blondies to look for Halloween costumes and felt a bit of sadness at how icky gross and gory Halloween has become.  The stores are all full of bloody nasty dead figurines.  The costumes are all gory and scary - even for the younger kids.  

When I was a kid.....

Haunted Houses were supposed to freak you out and scare you with surprise - now it seems like all blood and guts.  Rather than spooky or eery, it all just seems blechy.

Our moms all made our costumes until we were old enough to get creative and make them on our own.  My mother made us awesome costumes.  I remember a bunny costume, southern belle costume, scarecrow, whatever we wanted to be she made it happen. One year my mother turned an old bedspread into a clown costume for me.  I remember how ugly that 70's spread was -- I was one funky golden clown that year.    Costumes now seem to be all about blood and gore and horror.  Creativity and originality doesn't seem to exist in choosing one's Halloween costume anymore.

Next year, I'm bringing the true spirit of fun Halloween back into my home!  I'm not buying costumes for my kids.  I'll give them a budget and they can pick out whatever supplies they need to create a costume.  Notice that I didn't say I'd be sewing - I'll provide glue gun support but we are all better off if the sewing machine remains in storage.