Halloween Wrap Up

Lisa Schiffren over at The Corner, in a general rant about Halloween, winds up with a positive observation that resonates with me:

But, on a happier note, the media has again misled me into unnecessary anxiety. I read, yesterday, in the Washington Post about all the local Virginia parents who are so upset because their young daughters want to be sexy witches, sexy maids, sexy nurses, sexy, sexy sexy…you get the idea. The claim was that it was impossible to find traditional princess, witch, and fairy tale costumes in mainstream stores — and anyway the cool girls don’t want them. I took the story at face value — because I live with three preteen girls and it's clear to me that one has to actively resist the cultural push toward early displays of sexuality (that the children themselves don’t always understand).

The good news, is that here on the famously liberal, progressive, non-judgmental, Upper West Side of Manhattan stores seem to have been selling far tamer costumes. In a 30 block walk home earlier I saw only Disney princesses, and fully covered witches, ghosts etc. Not one of the kids who have come to the door has worn anything remotely sexy.

So, either the Washington Post has overstated the sexy maid costume issue for prurient reasons — or my neighbors are more conservative on basic values than I thought. Either way… it works.

I happened to see that WaPo article, too, and duly shook my head over it. However, we took the two younger Llama-ettes around our NoVA neighborhood last evening (perfect night for a walk - cool and crisp without being outright cold) and I have to say that I certainly didn't see any young thangs flauntin' it. As with Lisa, it was the usual bag of witches, Disney Princesses and the like. The closest to teh sexy that I saw was a youngish teenager dressed as a flapper.

Incidentally, this was just about the easiest Halloween I've had. The seven and five year olds pranced from house to house with two little boys who live down the street, while their mother, the Missus and I strolled along the street quite pleasantly. About half way through, the five year old, who was dressed as a witch, suddenly decided that she wanted to be a cowgirl instead. She spent the rest of the evening cantering about doing a Slim Pickens "YEEEEEEE-HAAW!" imitation at the top of her voice. (The eldest Llama-ette had gone to trick or treat with her best friend. She was dressed in a long, black robe with some kind of trimming and a big hood and called herself some character or other from Harry Potter - Destructor? Destroyer? Summit like that. However, she could just as easily have been a Nazgul or Death itself. When she got home, she completely freaked the Missus by suddenly dropping a fairly life-like mouse into her lap.)

BTW, would anybody out there like some extra candy?