Halloween Costumes: not so innocent anymore

As a mother of a 6 1/2 year old and an almost 4 1/2 year old, I find myself often appalled at the selection of clothing (especially for the 6 1/2 year old).  For some reason, once you are no longer a toddler the options of clothing turn to street walker.  School shopping was very irritating this fall, because the majority of options at local stores were very inappropriate for a little girl.  I really think fans of Flash Dance influenced designers, because so much of the clothing almost appeared dance costume-like (tulle tutus, off the shoulder shirts, and fish net tights to name just a few).

Speaking of costumes, Halloween is a week from today.  However, in the Martin household, we enjoy participating in a few Halloween activities.  Our annual visit to Hallowe'en at Greenfield Village was Sunday evening, and it did not disappoint.  Both girls had determined they would be versions of Smurfette: Evie, the demure, blond lassie and Zoe, the evil, brunette created by Gargamel. 

Evil on the left, Good on the right

However, last Wednesday evening, a VERY tired Zoe shared that she no longer wanted to be Evil Smurfette.  Okay, I said.  Then she began to explain the costume she would prefer.  Pretty much, I determined she wanted to be the guy from the Scream movies.

Zoe's new desired costume

My answer was an unequivocal NO!

Apparently last year there were children dressed in this costume who came trick-or-treating at our home.  Scream is a rated R movie, yet Party City has the mask as their mascot.  Each time we go to Kroger or a local eatery, Holiday Grill, Zoe is reminded of that scary mask. 

After a good night's sleep, and my explanation that she had to choose from something we already had in our home, Zoe settled for a witches costume donated from their babysitter, Hannah.

I still couldn't get the idea of a 6-year-old wanting a costume from a movie she couldn't even see.  Why this desire for a non-age appropriate costume?

I realize that All Hallow's Eve was not intended to be a holiday for children trick-or-treating.  However, that is what it has been for quite some time.  When I was a little girl, most people made homespun costumes.  If they were lucky, like me, they had a mom who sewed.  Most of my friends had plastic/garbage bags with a plastic mask purchased at KMart or other retailer.  However, nowadays there are tons of options for the treat-goer...and many are completely inappropriate for children.

Halloween Express, as well as other Halloween costume companies, start sending catalogs in summer.  I always marvel at the sizes offered in the costumes.  Basically if you are larger than a 4T you are forced into costumes which are very non-age appropriate.  So the assumption is if you wear a 5T (like my Evie) or above you no longer desire to be a cute teddy bear or cuddly zebra.  This is actually why I had to create Care Bear costumes for my girls last Halloween - they only went up to a 2T!

Of course that prude in me shakes her head at a lot of the costumes each year.  Here are some of the ones that offended because they were available in sizes for my girls:

Pink Leopard (i.e. street walker with kitty ears)

Every little girl needs fish nets, right?

Covered: Yes; Illusion that she isn't? Yes

I wish i had taken a picture of a young girl's costume at the village on Sunday.  My mother said, "Oh my!  She is a bar maid...what a lovely costume...sigh."  And though it looked like this costume (which is available in adult sizes online):

my biggest jaw dropper was that her mother was right there clicking the camera like all other parents.  So am I making too big of a deal out of this?  Yes the girl was probably 10, and maybe she fit in an adult costume.  But what happened to non-slutty costumes? 

I will now step of my soap box and say a prayer for our ever-deteriorating society.  Amen.