Saturday's Soap Box

One of my kids asked me the other day what the purpose of Halloween was. Every other holiday has a purpose right? At least that is what I try to teach my kids. Honestly, I didn't know how to answer her. Candy? Getting dressed up and parading down the street begging for treats? Getting scared? Umm, let me get back to you on that Sweetie.

It's no secret that Halloween is one of my least favorite holidays. And I'm not talking about the sugar detox that we go through with our kids for about a month after said holiday. Or the ever-growing number of pumpkins we have to carve with our children each year. I wasn't always Mrs. Halloween Grinch. In fact, when I was a kid the day seemed magical. "So what you're telling me is that I get to dress up as anything I want, go house to house and they will give me candy? Seriously?"

Something has happened in the last few years that has killed the innocence of the holiday. I walked into one of those seasonal Halloween stores the other day looking for a Jedi robe for my husband. Simple enough, right? Instead, as soon as I walked in, a heavy dark cloud circled around me and landed squarely on my shoulders and head, pushing me down, making me feel tense and downright gross. It was a store wall-to-wall in not just blood-covered knives and gore, but things that are disgustingly wrong. There were costumes touting the highest degree of sleaze I have ever seen. I'm not just talking about cleavage and garter belts. I can't even mention the sorts of pornographic costumes they have conjured for both men and women that throw anything sacred out the window and flaunt ALL for the world to see. The underlying message attached to each of these costumes (and there are several) was the worst part. I looked around at all the other un-shocked customers. Really? Is everyone else okay with this?

And then there was the huge center display of gory zombie babies. Green, covered in blood, red shining eyes, gargling, wickedly cackling, chewing their own legs down to the bone babies. I looked at my own baby on my hip (about the same size as these creatures) and wondered why people have decided to make the purest form of a person into demons meant to kill. One of the employees pointed to one of the red demons and said to another employee, "I want this one so bad!" Huh.

Who buys this filth? And yet, sadly, it sells. I left hell as fast as my legs could carry me, shielding my baby's eyes the entire way, feeling more lifted the farther I got from the place. And they didn't even carry a Jedi robe. Heavens no! That would be too good. Too right. Not evil enough.

Is this what Halloween has become? It seems like no matter where I go (Target, Walmart, etc.) the costumes for sale seems to push the envelope a little bit more each year. Just try finding a costume for a teenager that doesn't make her look like the downtown corner street hooker. In fact, I tried finding an Alice in Wonderland costume for my 9 year old this year--you wouldn't believe what raunchy Alice costumes retailers have conjured up! Isn't Alice supposed to be sweetly innocent?

I think it is because of these sorts of retail trends, that Halloween has lost it's enjoyment for me. It's the "it's okay to be the sleaze you aren't able to be the other 354 days of the year" mentality that is being forced into our kids' minds. I say forced because these costumes hang in every store you walk into. I feel like the "purpose" of Halloween is being warped and I'm helpless to fight it.

Yep. It's settled. If I had to choose to rid the world of only one holiday, it would be Halloween. Clearly. So c'mon people, let's bring back the fun, light-heartedness of Halloween! I know it's out there! It may be 6 ft under in some R-rated zombie-infested cemetery, but it's out there.