Preparing for Halloween
Another year has flown by and last year’s Halloween celebrations seem like a recent memory, at least for adults, when it seems the party was only just cleaned up after and already its time to be preparing for Halloween yet again. So now, with just over 8 weeks to go until it all starts over again, what are you going to be doing to get the preparations underway this year?
Kids will remember things differently, of course as their concept of time makes it stretch out much better with a year feeling like a really long tome. The costumes they worse last year will most likely not fit this time and in any case, they will want new ones. This is more especially so if they are demanding costumes to emulate their favorite, up to the minute movie or cartoon hero or game character that is cool and popular.
For that reason alone, don’t even think about trying to pass down last years costumes from the older kids to the younger ones if they are clued up as most kids are to what is “in” and what is not. Even now, the hottest character may wane into insignificance within a few weeks if another, more immediately new and mega popular character hits the movie screens or games consoles between now and the October 31.
So you have to do a little balancing act with the time left to find out what they want, order them and take delivery. Often, especially with today’s totally informed kids thanks to the Internet, pre-guessing what they will want as character costumes for Halloween may be a bad idea. The best thing to do, even though you may feel like you’re setting yourself up to be exploited, is to ask them what they want!
You may well be asked for the most expensive, outlandish or downright unsuitable (for kids) adult-scary costume if its an evil computer game character, but you at least will know what they want and maybe be able to negotiate a second choice that is more suitable and less costly and still satisfy their need to be “hip” and accepted by their friends.
As for the adults who will doubtless want to party even more extravagantly than last year (always have to go one better), things are a little easier with regards to costumes as most will buy their own. But for teens and young adults in the family, you may still be expected to do the ordering even if you can recoup the costs somehow (although don’t hold your breath). The safest rule of thumb is, if in doubt, ask!#
Have a good planning spree and there will be more posts here leading up to the event itself!
