It's Halloween here in Australia, and thankfully it isn't a huge a event, though it's getting bigger. I blame that on the Americanization of the world -- a process I abhor, and I AM an American!
All the same, I have made no preparation and the only candy I have in my house is hard-to-find and too-precious-to-give-to-children US import candy (Junior Mints and original Skittles). Dearest has to work late tonight so I will be on my own. Were I in the US, I'd go out to dinner with my family and once home turn off all the lights and head upstairs for a night of DVRed guilty pleasure tv. Here, I plan a similar evening, though I won't be going out to dinner. I'm planning on drawing all the blinds, turning off all the lights and spending the night with some guilty pleasure tv (gotta love Hulu!)
What I really don't understand is when Halloween became an adult holiday. When I was a child, children dressed up, had classroom parties, carved jack-o-lanterns, and went trick-or-treating in the neighborhood. That was pretty much the extent of it -- except for the candy-induced sugar highs that had the potential to last until Thanksgiving.
All of a sudden Halloween is all about adults. I see mixed-drink recipes for adult parties everywhere, complemented by monster- or gore-themed finger foods. I cannot load a web-page without getting banner ads for adult sexy costumes. Apparently as the Generation Xers have grown up, Halloween has grown out of being just a bit of childhood fun.
I don't know why we, as a society, have to keep everything from childhood well into adulthood. And why, after having kept it, we feel the need to sex everything up. The Playboy Bunnies of my childhood Halloweens have given way to sexy kittens, sexy witches, and even sexy Big Birds. If 60 is the new 40, will Generation Xers still be dressing as sexy cops when they are 60? Do we really need to see 60-year old sexy nurses at the door with a jack-o-lantern bucket begging for candy?
The time has come to put a stop to this madness. Halloween is a childhood celebration. It should stay there.
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