Halloween decorations gone too far? - Page 3

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by wishin'&hopin'

Also, something I had not seen before, the local police and fire department had cars out and were handing out candy and saying "hi" to folks. I thought that was a nice way to ensure that nothing got too crazy and nice public relations too!

I like that. It would be good to see that here, too.

I do think Halloween has gotten over the top--trying to scare littles is not something I think is EVER appropriate.

This is the part I really dislike. I don't get why people want to scare little kids. A bit of spookiness - the house that kids take a couple years to work up to - is okay, imo. Plus, ime, the people who do that kind of house (lots of atmospheric spookiness...fog machines, spiderwebs, some flying bats, etc.) are usually very friendly with the kids, and very understanding of the ones who are overwhelmed, etc. Some people really obviously want the kids to be scared, and I don't get that at all.

[meemee]

hmmm i dont agree with R L Stine.

halloween is not just for children. its for everyone. and today i truly enjoy how young adults and older people enjoy halloween today.

on our street actually halloween has become less gory because the gory people have moved.

when dd was younger our tot was much different than it is today.

in fact my 2 year old who was even scared of clifford, this year at 8 was choosing specifically ToT at really scary houses and come out saying oh that was COOL. her same age friend refused to go up certain houses.

our TOTing at 8 looks much different than it did at 3. her costume - choosing to go as a vampire shoudl have clued me in. there are houses and stores i wouldnt go in when dd was 3 as opposed to today.

[laila2]

Ok this would bother me. Freak

Originally Posted by nmbutts

For the last few years, it's been hard for me not to grump around Halloween, because my NEXT DOOR neighbor loves the gore. He seems to think, the more shocking, the better, so it gets worse and worse every year. It's hard to hear my young child ask why that man's head is in the lawn mower, even if it's just pretend. He points to a graveyard where there are little demons (?) eating body parts and asks what those babies are eating (they really do look like babies). There is also a little demonic-looking skeleton about the size of a baby, riding in a baby stroller! It's just sick. And you can see it all from my front window. He has some really neat, scary stuff, too, and I wish he would just stick with that, which is way more creative and interesting than the let's-see-how-gross-we-can-get-just-to-shock-people stuff.

I would be suspicious of this

[Storm Bride]

Originally Posted by laila2

I would be suspicious of this

What do you mean "suspicious"? I'd hate the yard described and wouldn't even look at it, but I don't get "suspicious".?

[newbymom05]

Originally Posted by laila2

I would be suspicious of this

I dunno, last year our neighbors across the street actually dug up their front yard and made a graveyard, and I'm in a part of TX where people are really into their lawns like Hank Hill or something. They have 2 teenage boys and the whole family made an outdoor haunted house w/ graveyard, "seizure room" (have no idea what that was about) and they all dressed up like ghouls, hanging out in the yard eating fake body parts and such. Strange? To me, absofreakinglutely, totally not for kids IMO but they say they just really, really, really like Halloween. Luckily this year they moved it to their place of business, b/c I had my 4 y/o pretending to be a ghoul (pretending to eat a severed foot) for almost a year afterward. He was afraid to even go up to the house, we could see the action from across the street. But anyway, I don't think my neighbors are bad people nor am I suspicious of them.

ETA and oh yeah, every other neighbor I talked to HATED it (and some complained to the city), but the teens who came seemed to have a great time.

[jeslynn]

In my area we have a big mixture. They either have the really cutesy decorations or they go all out and it's beyond creepy. I actually remember a few years ago hearing about a woman who killed herself by hanging herself in a tree and now whenever I see those type of decorations I get physically ill.

[kittykat2481]

Originally Posted by Storm Bride

My personal hate this year is for the zombie babies. As the mother of a son who was stillborn at term - and who I was in prodromal labour with on Halloween - I just can't handle them. They disgust me...but they also hurt me. I saw them in every store this year...but, thankfully, nobody in my neighbourhood decorated with them.

OMG the zombie babies... Ugh. Terrible in every way. DS was not terribly bothered by all the random skeletons and monsters in the stores. In fact we made up a fun game of dramatic, overly exaggerated hugs every time we saw one, but DH and I nearly died ourselves when we saw those babies. I didn't even want to look at them. DH tried to make a game of DS looking up at the ceiling until we could high tail it out of the store. So tasteless and inappropriate.