What do kids' Halloween costume choices tell us? Win a Digital Thermometer

I feel much better when the kids do have masks on that prevent them from seeing well or prevents others from seeing their faces. It is easier to keep an eye on the child if you can see their faces. You just cannot be too safe these days.

There are great costumes that do not require a mask.

I dont let my kids wear masks. Our tradition is to make a big crockpot of chili, bring out the face paint and go trick or treating. My 7 year old has more fun helping me put on his costume face and when we get home, usually cold and tired he gets a hot bowl of chili and a couple of pieces of candy.

I alleviate some of the danger by making sure costumes are light coloured or at least have patches of reflective tape. I also give my kids flashlights to make them more visible more . To avoid minor bumps and bruises, I als opt for hypoallergenic, non-toxic face paints that don't block their eyes like masks do, and I stay away from oversized heels or shoes, long dresses, and capes that kids can trip over. Finally,this year is the first that my eldest will venture out on her own, and I feel OK with that. ) Yeah Right) You have to trust the kids and allow them to have some kind of freedom after all ,so that they become independent people. But I plan on being a hidden stalker following about half a block behind , stopping to chat with neighbourhood friends and then catching up with the kids later on.

I usually went in costume too, staying on the sidewalk, and letting the kids go to the houses alone. Sometimes, particularoy with my daughter, there was always a glggle of little girls going together, so we Moms would relay them. One taking each block, and the Mom left behind to pass out candy and drink hot cider on the stoop.

I think that a great way to "shadow" your kids while they are trick or treating is to dress up with them. You can act silly and have fun while they are going from house to house, and when they are up at the door, you can be on the sidewalk still being silly while keeping an eye on them at the door.

My children are still too young to trick or treat by themselves. We always go to their grandfather's house to trick or treat and there is alway at least 2 adults with them at all times. That's how we keep them safe for now.

I always felt the best way to "shadow" a child during Halloween was to dress up somewhat. Not so much as to "outdo" my daughter's outfit but just enough to fit in with the other costumed individuals. I also made sure there was something distinctive about each of my daughter's outfits so I could spot them ahead of me. They knew I was always right behind them and they always would show me what they got at each house.

I also like half masks or no masks. Luckily I and my kids grew up in a small town. Little or no traffic on halloween. I always walked with them, helping them up and down steps. When they got older and went by themselves I just didn't have to worry about bad candy or bad people. And then just that fast they was to old for ringing door bells but getting dressed up was still fun. In this town the real little kids come out before dark. The rule of thumb is not to go to houses that didn't have a porch light on. Don't walk alone and be back at a reasonable time to avoid the pranksters. The town also has a cerfew, that applies to kids under sixteen. It's also becoming more common that kids go to halloween parties with adults like at churches and such to keep them off the streets and out of danger. I think that takes the fun out of it but if you don't know differently you wouldn't be missing anything.

My son's elementary school always puts on a real nice trick or treat event for the children. They decorate the whole building with each room door done in a different theme, and they have props for us to sit in (like the one I work each year is the witches kitchen). The kids can safely walk through and get lots of candy and the parents do not have to worry about their children or the candy. All of the candy is purchased by the school with money donated and earned by their annual auction. After the kids are done walking through, they have the gym done up as a haunted house that the kids are allowed to go through. And for the grand finale, they go to the cafeteria for cookies and cupcakes. There are many volunteers that work the different booths to make this all possible for the children. Not only does my youngest child have a good time but my oldest one that is too old to trick or treat has a blast because he gets to work in the haunted house scaring the children and he also gets a bag of candy at the end. It is a family event that we all participate in and we all have fun doing it for the children of the neighborhood.

We dress according to the weather, either layers for cold or just the costume for warm weather. We go to a lot of halloween parties during the month and only walk to the first stop sign on our block halloween night. We also have the the kids trade us their candy for a medium size gift or snack. My dh then takes the candy to work to share with co-workers.

My son is ten this year, and wanted to go through the neighborhood with just him and his friend. Of course I said no...not alone. I imagine it's a night for ghosts and ghouls of the harmful sort to be wandering around as well, and I am not letting one of them get there paws on my child! Anyway...I I get him a reflective neclace to wear as well as those glowing brcelets..he thinks there cool, so no argument from him. Thi will be the first year that we are not doing our traditional halloween hayride. I have always taken him to my ,mother in laws neighbothood. She lives in a rural part right outside of town, and for the kids that live there, walking from door to door would take a very long time. So the neighbors get togeher and get four or five trucks to carry a trailor each. They put hay bails on the trailors, and the kids pile up on those. They take the kids all around to the houses to get candy. The houses that are participating put a windsock out by the road, so the trucks know wghere to stop. I think this is a wonderful way to keep the children safe! This year I am doing my own version. I am taking my son and his friend around on the golf cart.I will take them from driveway to driveway, and let them walk to the door by themselves, while I wait at the end of the driveway. This way they still have a little space, but are completly supervised!

Age appropriate precautions are the key words. It starts with holding your young childs hand as they walk across slippery leaves and up steep steps. As they get older, you keep an eye out from the street below, while warning them of lit pumpkins or other such obstacles they may not notice in their zest. Once they are even older, they can go in a group without parental supervision. But they do need to have "check in" times. But worth it for a little more freedom. And finally in their final years of trick or treating, total freedom.

No matter the age, all candy does need to be checked. If it is open, it goes into the trash. Too many of one thing? Well, then the checker gets a bonus. ;)

If my children decide they want a store bought costume and it comes with a mask, then I let them wear it on top of their head. This allows them to see AND they are able to pull their mask on for a few seconds at a time if they want to show off their costume to someone. I've found that when they wear the mask longer, they get hot anyway and that takes away from the fun.

To make my kids seen easier, I always have them wear a blinking light necklace. They have ones that boys can wear that isn't girlie and people always notice them and their blinking light. In fact, they wear it to all night time Halloween events. We usually go to a few before Halloween and we also go out on Halloween night.

I want to protect my children more then anything in the world so I want them to be safe on Halloween. They stick close to me when we're out on that fun night and other trick or treaters and drivers on the roads, see them because of their blinking lights.

I always inspect the candy, as you can't be to careful in this day and age.

I have never done masks for my children. We did face paint one year, but I will direct them away from that as much as possible from now on. With 4 of them, 1 of me, and the younger three being 5 and under... it gets to be a lot of work, and usually the younger ones smudge it before we are out the door. There are a lot of cute costumes that can be done without all that.
Glow in the dark stuff I like the most to give people visibility of the kids, because you can see those before the child steps in front of a car. Of course, the best all time thing to keep them from getting hit is to be walking close enough to them to stop them before they step into the road.

One thing that drives me crazy is seeing all the kids out riding bikes after dark on this night. No lights and no reflectors because most times these kids do not ride at night. Just because it is a holiday does not mean to not use common sense that is used every other day.... also if you or your child do ride bikes on that night, do not ride on the sidewalk because other walkers could get hurt or cause the rider to fall.

I have been really lucky the last two years. Where we live is a nicer suburb with only one street in and out, no through traffic.
We invited the sister in law and her 3 children over, got dressed up, went around the neighborhood, came home and checked out everyones "loots", and sat around visiting for a while before everyone went home.
It is lucky for me that I have younger children and that was my excuse for keeping close tabs on my 10 year old as well. I told her she needed to walk with her now 5 year old sister for me while I managed my now 3 year old. I also just had a baby last year so we did cut the walking shorter then usual. This year I think we will still do the big group thing, but let my 10 year old and her 9 year old cousin go a couple houses ahead of us. Afterall, when they are here playing, they ride bikes all over the place here and have been safe and never been approached by strangers or anything like that for the last couple of years.

I think the costumes reflect their current interests. My nephew who currently wants to be a scientist is dressing up as Einstein this year. My neice is going to be a sock-monster, whatever that is?

My favorite part about halloween as a kid was that my sister would trade all the good candy for the yucky candies. Mom always made our costumes, I feel sorry for the kids who have to wear those cheesy Walmart ones.

I get angry at the parents these days who will allow their children to go trick or treat, but not even take the time nor bother to help them dress up. Sad.

My children have chosen costumes based on characters or creatures that they love. My daughter was "Superdog" for years; a stuffed animal that she owned turned comic book character of her design. My son loved ladybugs because they were a bug that wasn't scary and therefore I designed a ladybug costume for him that he wore from three to eight. He was thrilled every year! Now they are choosing to be characters from their much loved video games. It all goes with what they like and can identify with.

I however, had a different view on Halloween costumes. I always wanted to be something I could never be in real life, a princess, a snowman, a clown, or a genie.

As a teacher I have noticed that my students, boys especially, are choosing characters that are scary, bloody, and violent which I feel they are trying to identify with. I find this rather disheartening. I would like it if my fourth grade boys all wanted to be sports heroes, policemen, or firemen. Wouldn't that be something for them to look forward too and identify with? Perhaps these professions are not as well liked anymore because they don't have a strong, often seen, positive influence on boys in poverty. Wouldn't it be great if we could change things back to include respect for people in these professions and have today's children look up to them and want to be like them?

My children are still very young, but my husband and I take them out so they can visit a few neighboring houses anyway. My daughter (almost three) thinks it's great fun. Anyway, we go out as a family, and I watch one child while my husband watches the other. I also always make sure that they're dressed in warm costumes - I figure if it's really warm outside, we can always change plans last minute and have some fun with face paint. Otherwise, it's still a fairly simple process for us.

We take the kids trick or treating every year in a nice neighborhood downtown where lots of people and their kids go. Fortunately, it happens to be in our area, close by since we live downtown too! The kids are 8 and 6, so there is not even the slightest possibility of them going alone trick or treating. My daughter lets them chose the costumes that they want and puts a glowing heart 'necklace' type thing around their necks. We get those free every year at the fair in September and she saves them for Halloween. My adult daughter, they are her kids, also dresses up and goes door to door with the kids. She takes a flashlight too. Since the boys father is not in the picture, we ask my male friend Mike to go trick or treating with us every year. He doesn't dress up though once in a while, he will wear a wig or something if we have it left over from a Halloween costume we decided against. We call Mike our 'bodyguard' for trick or treating. He's quite imposing to a lot of people. After the kids are done trick or treating, we come home and dump all the candy on the table. Everyone gathers round it and we go through each and every piece. We throw away any that look suspicious or weird and separate the rest into groups. The kids get to pick the ones that they like the best and we put those in a bag with their name on it and they get some everyday until its gone. We separate the rest of the candy into hard candy, suckers, chewy candy, chocolate and then we get rid of most of the hard candy by givng it to a friend who loves it. Then over time, the rest gets eaten. It's a system that seems to work for us. We've been doing it this way for several years now.

My children and I all walk together. They usually don't wear the mask that comes with their costumes. My rule is that the two oldest stay together when they go to a door. I don't let any of them walk off ahead of me since it's dark.

We walk around until they get tired. We go home and I check they candy. I usually let them have some the same night. Then they have some everyday. After a couple of days, they tend to forget about it and I will throw it out after awhile. I hate for them too eat too much candy anyway.

My daughter never picks "traditional girl" costumes. She loves to be Superheros...one year I made her into Wonder Woman. Another year, she was Batgirl. This year she wants to be Supergirl. Unfortunately, the store Supergirl costume is totally inappropiate for her. Too much skin and too little costume. My 10 yr. old should not look sexy...she is way too young.

My daughter has also worn NASCAR costumes...she wants to be a NASCAR driver when she grows up. That is fine by me...

I have three different methods that I have tried over the years for safe Halloween fun. I've done the trail method-walking a house or so behind the kids, or following in the car. The send a fun relative works well too- a favorite aunt or cousin who can supervise, but who isn't mom. My favorite way is to dress up and go with them.

This is a great article & it has helped me by reading all of the comments! The glowing bracelets or necklaces are a great idea! My kids are 3 & under. Last year my boy kept looking inside the people's houses that we would trick or treat to & act like he wanted to go inside LOL! It was FREEZING that year! I really hope it isn't that way this year! This year we are thinking of going with warmer costumes that we can get at a gently used kids store...We tried a gorilla costume that was ADORABLE on our almost 3 year old & he freaked out. He doesn't understand the dressing up thing yet I think. So even though we only have a few days left to figure out what our kids will be I am sure we will find something ;o). I always dress up & I go to the door with the kids. My husband & his family aren't big on dressing up & I think that is sad :o(. I LOVE it! When I was a kid my bro & I would come home & dump our pillow cases on the floor & sort through the candy. One year in high school I dressed up as a graduate & someone asked me if I was a little too old to be trick or treating LOL I was like NO. ;o) Another year I dressed up like an old lady LOL. When I was REALLY little I loved to be Wonder Woman! I dressed up like her for 2 years. It's fun being something you aren't, but love to become ;o)

Our son is not allowed to go trick-or-treating in the neighborhood for safety reasons. There are too many wierdos out there these days, and you just don't know who will open the door of the house when you ring the doorbell. Not to mention, you just never know if they've tampered with the treats somehow.

So, what we do is take him to our local malls for the safe trick or treating. There are usually 2 malls in the area that hand out candy and have arts & crafts and costume contests for the kids. The kids go from one merchant to the next getting their treats. Usually one mall will have the festivities in the afternoon, and another will have theirs in the evening, so you can take advantage of both if you'd like to.

My son is also NOT allowed to wear masks with his halloween costume. I want to be able to see his face, not a mask anyway. Plus, it's just not safe when you're in a crowded area with hundreds of kids. It's too easy to lose them when they have masks on. We usually take my son to the mall trick-or-treating with his stroller just to be sure he's in one place. If it gets less crowded, we will let him walk around, but he knows he has to hold either mommy or daddy's hand at all times.

We try to pick costumes that will be appropriate for different weather conditions, since in our area, it could be freezing one day and hot the next. We always bring a sweater or jacket with him as well. To us, it's more important that he be warm then show off his costume.

What fun to young again ! I like to use face paint it washes easy and it's safer

I see I am a day late and I wish I wasnt this i a great group!

I also do think to an extent kids dress as what they feel themself as such as my daughter has been a cowgirl and a few princesses.. on the other hand she is a wicth this year and I think she enjoys that because she gets to pretend and use her imagination! I can tell if my daughter starts acting a certain way and wanting certain things and wants that for a halloween costume also then I feel its more of a being something else situation and not play as much! My kids are young so Its hard to tell in a way!

This year will be my first Halloween with my sons. They are 2 and 9 months. Of course, I will be right there with them the entire time. We are lucky enough to have a new Boardwalk so instead of going all over the neighborhood, we will just be going there. It is a lot safer than going out in unlit areas.

My oldest son is going to be an Army man. He will wear a camo shirt and pants and we are going to paint his face. This is alot cheaper than going out and buying something that he will probably want to take off in 5 minutes. At this age, I think the celebration is more for the parents than the child.

Teens' costume choices often reflect inner fantasy needs, much like adult costumes do. This can be appropriate or inappropriate, depending on various factors.

We try to go to local events like "Trunk or Treat" at a couple of churches, where members line up their cars or golf carts and dress up and decorate their rides, passing out candy to the kids. It's well lit and safe, and we are right there with them. The local fire station and grocery stores have special events on Halloween as well. After all that, we go through a block or two of the local neighborhood before heading home, popping in the scary sounds cd, and passing out candy to other trick or treaters -- the kids love this part too! We use light sticks or bracelets for safety, and try to do most of the trick or treating before it gets too dark to see well.

My children are grown but now it's the grandchildren. This year it is warmer than normal but we still don't want to over do. We start our night with a hearty soup. Go out for a Hay ride at 6pm. and than shadow them in our neighborhood. Most of our neighbor's decorate the houses and we all stay outside with all the neighborhood till 8:30 pm than call it a night. For us it's a two day event because tomorrow we will continue the visiting into the cemetery and visit our dead on All Saints day. We light candles and share a snack and the children play as we tell stories about the past. It a way to educate our children on their heritage.