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I can feel how things have changed. When you're a kid ALL your kid friends participate and get into the spirit and excitement, and I don't know if it's just a part of being an adult or if the feeling has just changed in general. But the adult part is difficult because not all adults are "into" it anymore. It's like pulling teeth trying to get some people in the spirit, so I'd just rather not associate with those types, LOL.

But yeah, I think it's just evolved, much like Christmas. That's why it's our job to keep the spirit alive and evolve with the times and make it as wonderful as we possibly can for as many people as we possibly can. I feel like that's my job, and all my friends and family appreciate it I think. They come to me with all their Halloween/horror inquiries and ask me for help with costumes and all those types of things!

I just drive the Halloween spirit as far as I can, push the limits!!! ^_^
 
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This is a Holiday that has been shunned throughout history but marches on, its 3000 years old. About the only thing many religions agree on is that it should be shunned. Most governments does not give you the day off so its not even officially recognized, yet 25% of all candy is sold for Halloween, it is second only to Christmas for money spent (LA Times estimated that Americans will spend 6.9 Billion in 2015). .
I agree with the $6.9 billion, but that still puts Halloween behind Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Father's Day and even the Super Bowl as far as spending goes. On the flip side, it probably doesn't include all the money spent at Home Depot and Lowes on wood and hardware and foam.
 
Discussion starter · #23 ·
I think it took a less shiny and grim polish to it because vintage Halloween was more "bright orange pumpkins and neon green witches" But today it's way more dark (figurative and literally)

Then:
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Now
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Oh yeah and you're right, Halloween has become 100% more commercialized
By grimy I guess I would mean older, dirtier and more vintage in feeling, not really looks, and how Halloween (Especially during the Satanic Panic of the 80's) was viewed as a more dangerous holiday with connections to monsters and the supernatural, later on it got more "safe" to parents, but still kept that vintage style and feeling that it had since the 1920's, later on I would say in the mid-90's it began to become more dark in looks but shinier in a commercial aspect like Christmas, the funny thing being that the ToT's of the age are in complete contrast into what Halloween is in looks now.
 
Change is inevitable and it applies to all aspects of life, music, clothing styles, hair, the list goes on, when we were young, vintage was not vintage, present day kids are going through their style of Halloween but we need people like you to keep vintage relevant, I myself like going forward, pushing the envelope, taking it to the next level.
 
It's both better and worse like most things. I do wish we had ToTs, but for the last several years we have been having a party for our close friends and it has worked to make Halloween different but still wonderful. I decorate for my own happiness, and aparently my friends love it too, I can't be worried about a lack of ToTs. The happiness I get when I come home at night and see everything in my yard, or when I go out and sit in my graveyard, that's enough for me I guess. In life often we have to make our own happiness and find joy in what we can do even when the rest of the world refuses to cooperate.
 
My grandma used to say that life was like the ocean tides. There is a high, there is a low, but it always goes back to normal. Halloween and the festivities are much the same!
I don't get any consistent TOT's (most has been @ 25), so we have had big parties with all my sons friends (and ours) through out the years starting when they started kindergarten and still up till now. Hopefully when they get older and married they will continue the tradition.
I always tell hubby that life has a way of being ironic at times - and I bet when we are 70+ is when our neighborhood will have a ton of kids for TOT.
 
I agree with the $6.9 billion, but that still puts Halloween behind Christmas, Mother's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, Father's Day and even the Super Bowl as far as spending goes. On the flip side, it probably doesn't include all the money spent at Home Depot and Lowes on wood and hardware and foam.
Not in regards to decorating
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Business/story?id=2617781&page=1

Also there are more things to factor than just spending per person - per person the average Joe will buy Mom something on Mothers day more than the average person will spend on Halloween, but it does not take into account the Halloween industry that goes on such as haunted houses, movie releases, building rentals, etc.
 
I'm reasonably sure that my grandparents opened the door for trick or treaters in the 1960s and said "I'm not into these store-bought costumes. And what's with the flashlights? We carried around a jack-o-lantern with a candle to see."

I'm a vintage Plymouth guy, and this is an issue we're dealing with on the collector car side of things. Guys like me who grew up in the 60s and 70s are all about cars from the 60s and 70s, but kids who grew up in the 80s and 90s tend to be all about cars from then. We look at a 71 Roadrunner as a must have, and a 94 Camaro as junk, and our kids have the exact opposite view. Folks form emotional attachments to what they grew up with, not what their parents or grandparents did, so it's not surprising to see kids today having a much different view of what is "Halloween" than we do.
 
I agree, it has changed alot....my kids personally drive me nuts, even when I'm very big into the classic look. Every halloween I try to get them into something scary monster like etc and they are always picking out batman, spiderman etc...and I'm like OMG...how about this creepy mask and tattered clothes...nope....I can't tell you how many freaking princess Elsa's rode my bus this year! Makes me gag with all the glitter lol
 
Discussion starter · #32 ·
I'm reasonably sure that my grandparents opened the door for trick or treaters in the 1960s and said "I'm not into these store-bought costumes. And what's with the flashlights? We carried around a jack-o-lantern with a candle to see."

I'm a vintage Plymouth guy, and this is an issue we're dealing with on the collector car side of things. Guys like me who grew up in the 60s and 70s are all about cars from the 60s and 70s, but kids who grew up in the 80s and 90s tend to be all about cars from then. We look at a 71 Roadrunner as a must have, and a 94 Camaro as junk, and our kids have the exact opposite view. Folks form emotional attachments to what they grew up with, not what their parents or grandparents did, so it's not surprising to see kids today having a much different view of what is "Halloween" than we do.
Indeed! It's unfortunate that the scary nature of Halloween is fading away when it comes to ToT'ers, but eventually it will, hopefully, come back!
 
THIS! SO MUCH LOVE FOR WHAT YOU SAID! <333

You just have to look at it like this: in the future all of the kids of today will probably be saying the same thing about Halloween as it currently is.
And that's true for everything...music, pop culture, etc. And pop culture plays a huge part in Halloween, always has since it started becoming popular so one can only expect to see ten thousand Elsa's and Olaf's running around. I don't live in a suburban neighborhood, but if I did get ToT's I would be sure to give the monsters some extra candy. haha
Ha! Glad to see someone else has "favorites" when passing out candy. I usually hand out the candy myself, but no matter how many Grim Reapers I see, I let them all pick out their own handful :) Yes, it's cute when a little princess or Spiderman shows up, but that Jekyll & Hyde costume down the street has earned more (in my opinion).
 
Discussion starter · #34 ·
Ha! Glad to see someone else has "favorites" when passing out candy. I usually hand out the candy myself, but no matter how many Grim Reapers I see, I let them all pick out their own handful :) Yes, it's cute when a little princess or Spiderman shows up, but that Jekyll & Hyde costume down the street has earned more (in my opinion).
I must agree with that statement, my neighbors child was a classic caped and make up Vampire this year, so I gave her some extra candy due to her deciding to be something scary and traditional.
 
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In regards to kids not dressing up as classic monsters, I think you can blame cable TV and child marketing to that. As a kid in the '70s, there was not Cartoon Network or Disney XD. On Sundays we got to watch the classics Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Twilight Zone and your local area horror guy (for us Son of Svenghoolie) would play all the classic black and white films. Because they were cheap for the TV station. So of course, us kids who were into that stuff couldn't wait to be scary characters from what we watch.

Fast forward to now. What kid is going to watch these films when there are Transformers and Disney princesses and all sorts of other cool characters on any number of kid themed cable stations. I went to Universal Studios last summer and there was barely any Universal monster merchandise or even anything touting the old monsters. What a let down. It is a bygone era. Of course us HFers keep it alive with our own kids, showing them the classics. But to me Halloween is about imagination and having fun. And if they want to be a transformer or princesses, then go right ahead. But I'll always have a soft spot for that one child dressed as Wednesday or other horror themed costume. Those are the future haunters, the ones who want to be scary. They get it.
 
Discussion starter · #36 ·
In regards to kids not dressing up as classic monsters, I think you can blame cable TV and child marketing to that. As a kid in the '70s, there was not Cartoon Network or Disney XD. On Sundays we got to watch the classics Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chan, Twilight Zone and your local area horror guy (for us Son of Svenghoolie) would play all the classic black and white films. Because they were cheap for the TV station. So of course, us kids who were into that stuff couldn't wait to be scary characters from what we watch.

Fast forward to now. What kid is going to watch these films when there are Transformers and Disney princesses and all sorts of other cool characters on any number of kid themed cable stations. I went to Universal Studios last summer and there was barely any Universal monster merchandise or even anything touting the old monsters. What a let down. It is a bygone era. Of course us HFers keep it alive with our own kids, showing them the classics. But to me Halloween is about imagination and having fun. And if they want to be a transformer or princesses, then go right ahead. But I'll always have a soft spot for that one child dressed as Wednesday or other horror themed costume. Those are the future haunters, the ones who want to be scary. They get it.
I agree with you completely on that one, its not that I am against children dressing up as superhero's or princesses (I was Spiderman when I was a child once.) , its just there so much of it compared to the kids dressed up as something that actually has to do with Halloween, but as you said it is a bygone era with children growing up with all this glittery and action packed films and shows what can I really expect. But indeed, it up to use to raise our children with classic monster movies and shows, and to install them with a love for these things so they may love the holiday just as much as we do.
 
Halloween has always been about change, but so is every other holiday. The Christmas that I remember as a kid is quite different the the one I celebrate today, so is Halloween. I still decorate with themes from my youth (witches, pumpkins...), but now I include props that I would never have imagined as a kid; animatronics, pneumatics, you name it. That's what makes it fun for me. Creating new traditions while respecting the old.
 
Discussion starter · #38 ·
I agree with you completely on that one, its not that I am against children dressing up as superhero's or princesses (I was Spiderman when I was a child once.) , its just there so much of it compared to the kids dressed up as something that actually has to do with Halloween, but as you said it is a bygone era with children growing up with all this glittery and action packed films and shows what can I really expect. But indeed, it up to use to raise our children with classic monster movies and shows, and to install them with a love for these things so they may love the holiday just as much as we do.
That is quite true.
 
I think letting the kids dress as they want is ok. I think as they get older and have US the halloween community by their side, the costumes can only get better. My sons were superheroes when they were young, then evolved to Star Wars, (my middle son was always luke skywalker year after year because as he puts it -" Luke Skyw. never dies"). Then scary stuff - ghosts, vampires, ghouls, etc.came in their 11-13 yr of age. Its just a matter of time.....it gets better and better, just different and I love it!
 
I don't have kids but have managed to get my nephews into all things scary, none of it involving gore. We go to the Halloween stores, watch scary movies (for kids) and do Halloween themed treasure hunts several times throughout the year. Unfortunately none of this overrides the desire to be a superhero come Halloween. I am always disappointed! lol. I think part of it is the new limits on TOT times, and kids these days are much more sheltered. I watched the Exorcist at age 9, and while I am not condoning that (I had evil teenage sisters) nowadays a scary movie is usually a Halloween themed episode of a favorite cartoon. I am dying to get my nephews into the classic kid friendly horror movies (classic for my generation anyway) like Monster Squad, Mr. Boogedy, The Worst Witch etc, but my sister (the one who made me watch the Exorcist at age 9) won't allow it. The closest I got was The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, and they are still talking about it a year later. Another factor is adult Halloween parties. Halloween used to be just about the kids, but now there are some crazy Halloween parties for adults, and I would say next to candy and haunted attractions, that is where the money (and fun) is going. We stole Halloween from the kids! ;-)
 
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