Someone please tell me that I'm not going crazy and it's not just me noticing the fact that some pretty horrible Halloween costumes are getting smaller and smaller each year? Maybe I'm more aware of this because I have been searching for my 6-month-old baby's Halloween outfit for a while, but my husband and I have run into all sorts of craziness–for kids as young as 5 and even younger sometimes! I mean gory costumes of murdered people or horror movie antagonists, like Jason, Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers. Not to mention the ludicrously inappropriately sexy outfits for young girls, all readily sold in pint-sized measurements!
Now, I know I may be a little conservative, but is this right?
It turns out, I'm not imagining things. According to the UK's Daily Mail, more and more retailers are selling these crazy costumes in ever-smaller sizes. On some popular websites, boys' creepy, bloody, gory costumes start at size 4! I mean, I'm not sure I'd like my toddler son dressing up as some deranged killer doctor! And don't even get me started on the girls' costumes. It's a known fact that Halloween costumes have been getting riskier and more out-there, in terms of actual bodily coverage, but when it comes to little girls' dress-up options, I'd rather not see "skanky nurse" or "weird sexy fairy" (which are, sadly, available everywhere!).
I'm not sure where you all stand on this, but I would love for us to return to actually being creative and doing more DIY costumes for our kids (check out a cute option we showed you recently!). More importantly, though, we should really be careful about what costumes they're choosing, because what are we saying when we let them wear gross gory or sexualized costumes?
This year is my baby's first Halloween, and I know my husband and I had a bit of a hard time deciding. I didn't want him being anything crazy or demonic–but that's just me! We settled on a fuzzy dragon costume. I have to say he looks ridiculously cute in the little outfit! As time goes on, I know this fun holiday will probably become one of his favorites–a day to not only pretend you're someone else, but also get candy to last for a month (because that's how long it's going to last if I can keep him from devouring it all in one sitting).
Image via Party City
