It’s that time of year when my children are starting to plan their Halloween costumes. Every summer, I think this is the year I will do the right thing and make my child’s costume. One thing leads to another, and we are back to school, putting in a winter garden and preserving food.
I have to admit, I often take the lazy road and buy my children (gasp!) polyester costumes.
From a geisha to Cleopatra, my daughter has had some unique costumes, although she didn’t really know what they were nor did I want to give her a full explanation.
When my children were younger, I was a much better parent when it came to Halloween. I am still a stickler for organic candy and chocolate, but I no longer insist upon natural fiber costumes. Call me a hypocrite (I deserve it); call me lazy; call me cheap. Despite my unnatural costumes, I still held firm to no violent costumes, that was until this year.
After years of wearing fancy dresses and watching the boys be ninjas, this year my daughter has decided she wants to be one too (complete with a plastic knife). She hit me up when I was feeling down from a cold, and yes, I ordered it. Her father said I must be really ill.
What is a ninja anyways? According to Wikipedia:
A ninja or shinobi (忍者 or 忍び?) was a covert agent or mercenary of feudal Japan specializing in unorthodox arts of war. The functions of the ninja included espionage, sabotage, infiltration, andassassination, as well as open combat in certain situations.[1] The ninja, using covert methods of waging war, were contrasted with the samurai, who had strict rules about honor and combat.[2]
Well, this fits with my daughter’s fascination with Japan, but I wonder do violent Halloween costumes have the same effect as violent video games? I certainly don’t want her to pretend to be an assassin, but there is some historical significance to the costume. I mean really, is it any worse than pretending to be a female entertainer or a princess?
I think I have more of a problem with the polyester than the costume idea. Perhaps I should start sewing…How do you handle the synthetic, violent costume dilemma? Where do you fall short as an eco-parent?
Thanks Jennifer for the insight. As a costumes vender, I never thought consumer will go to the extreme and investigate the type of fabric. This is actually my first time hearing this concern. I heard lots of other issues every year (color, sizes, design, etc…) but never about a type of fabric – polyester.
So as we revamp our site last year, issues came up about how to make the customer experience for shopping costumes more enjoyable and meaningful. One thing I recalled as a high priority was the description of costumes being too generic. I guess the type of fabric can also be elaborated there.
Now, for those that address the issue by creating your own costumes. Well, I would say good except that we know in this fast pace world, it’s hard to find time to custom make something – that’s why our business exist.
For those that still worry about the fabric, come check us out. All the info about any costumes are describe on the product deetail page.
Thanks
Kit @ Pure Costumes
Oh good grief. The things we get our minds all in a tizzy about. Ninja’s are fun. I’m sorry but I wouldn’t stop my son from being a knight and shining armor because it’s violent. Maybe I’d draw the line at black trench coat and a fake concealed weapon or a army specialist with a sniper rifle. I’d be more concerned, really, about warplay or violent characters that were stolen from some stupid TV show or movie, as that would show a lack of creativity and imagination.
We have kids in our afterschool daycare who take out tons of books from the library on the Roman army, for instance, and then sit around for an hour or two crafting armor and swords that resemble (in the best way a 3rd grader can) the pictures from the book and then go outside, build forts and camps with sticks, pine cones, and pine needles and fight invisible goths or other enemies around the field. I’d feel criminal if I stopped them from doing this.
Sure, it’s not as lovely to watch as the Indian girls practicing their classical dance by the tree, the horde of kids playing wallball, or the 1st graders playing house, but kids are bombarded with this war stuff all the time, and according to most child psychologists, there are healthy ways of playing this way and it’s a good way for them to deal with the inevitable stress of being exposed to it all.
Love your blog!!
Can you please do a piece about the “sexy” Halloween costumes on the market for girls?
Especially the ones for little girls, it’s gotten so bad it’s scary, and how am I the only one that thinks that this is unbelievably degrading and offensive towards females???
Here is a link to a huge site for costumes and even on their front page there are plenty of trashy looks for mom too(are we dressing up for the bedroom or Halloween?)
:
http://www.costumesupercenter.com/sexy+costumes.html
A perfect example of what I don’t want my daughter going out as this year:
http://www.costumesupercenter.com/girls+costumes-pirate/R882887-punky-pirate-child.html
Love your blog!!
Can you please do a piece about the “sexy” Halloween costumes on the market for girls?
Especially the ones for little girls, it’s gotten so bad it’s scary, and how am I the only one that thinks that this is unbelievably degrading and offensive towards females???
Here is a link to a huge site for costumes and even on their front page there are plenty of trashy looks for mom too(are we dressing up for the bedroom or Halloween?)
:
http://www.costumesupercenter.com/sexy+costumes.html
A perfect example of what I don’t want my daughter going out as this year:
http://www.costumesupercenter.com/girls+costumes-pirate/R882887-punky-pirate-child.html
Between my children we all actually own various games consoles such as Xbox360, Ps3 and also own 3 Nintendo Ds between us.