To think Halloween costumes don’t have to be spooky?

[JessieMcJessie]

In my childhood it was just about dressing up, so I remember my Mum dressing me as a Japanese Geisha, Paddington Bear, an alien, my brother as a Viking or a pirate- her only rule was that she had to do the costume with what she had at home (the Geisha was my Dad’s silk dressing gown!).

But I get the sense that these days costumes tend to be either spooky or a pumpkin, so Zombie Geisha would be OK but not trad geisha.

My DS is two, I don’t really want to put him in anything too gory, and I’d like to dress him as something he’d recognise, like a zoo animal or a Twirlywoo or something. Not a Zombie Twirlywoo.

jessie I think I might actually be you! Although I don't think I was a geshia until the 1980's, still had a swede and had to do a turn though!

My DC aren't having spooky costumes this year, I didn't grow up with having to do that although some did many didn't.

You think Dressing up as a zombie geisha as a Halloween costume is acceptable? That’s someone’s traditional cultural wear you know - not a Halloween costume.

I've bought my 1 year old dad the Paddington bear sleepwear onesie from M&S. I hate the proliferation of 'zombie' costumes for kids...11 year old has to dress reasonably not super gory or gross.

Dressing up as a caricature of another culture is racist. We were ignorant of it in the 1970s (actually I remember cowboys and indians being an issue even then) but we're hopefully not now.

I've been to places in China where tourists of all nationalities wear old Chinese costumes. I do feel that's different.

Sprout. I might nick my Mum’s Viking outfit idea (pan lid for a shield and a bit of an old sheepskin rug tied over the shoulder). My DS is half Norwegian so no cultural appropriation issues there.

One of my DC is dressing up as an Italian plumber and I have just realised we arent Italian or plumbers, oh dear..
I'm hoping the doctor who monster is okay because it's fictional.

Geisha is NOT traditional Japanese wear!!!!

So if I put on my kimono at home that my relative sent me for the hell of it, I am racist?

A black cat as an option?

What's so different about an Italian plumber? Surely a plumber is a plumber? (Genuine question)

Think she means Super Mario @Honeyroar

😁 ah!

Pretend play is an important part of growing up and I see dressing up at Halloween as part of that. No culture should be actively disrespected as part of that process but the costume my mum made was carefully made and my face was painted to look good. I do not see this as racist. There was no mocking or disrespect or looking down on others in the process merely the chance to experience being another person in another culture for an evening.

My dd has an south East Asian clothing set a family member from that culture has bought her. She wears it to school etc sometimes. If she wanted to wear it as a costume I don't see this as racist. Wearing clothes from other cultures isn't racist, and while I might think people look a little silly dressing up as Braveheart I don't see that as racist either.

My daughter was Belle last year and my son was Malfoy (I grew his hair purely for it)

This year they are both going to be power rangers haha!

I would buy them have something they can wear again anyway, and they do actually pick themselves.

So if I put on my kimono at home that my relative sent me for the hell of it, I am racist?

That’s not really the same as dressing up as a geisha for Halloween, is it?

This stuff shouldn’t be contentious anymore. We don’t black up for Halloween. We don’t wear Native American dress. We don’t wear bindis. We know better than this now. Other cultures aren’t our costumes.

I did Jelly, I know he is also fictional but my point was that dressing up is about taking on other identities, and they may be outside your own culture.

Willing to be corrected, but so far as I know Super Mario’s clothing does not represent an important part of Italian culture.

This stuff shouldn’t be contentious anymore. We don’t black up for Halloween. We don’t wear Native American dress. We don’t wear bindis. We know better than this now. Other cultures aren’t our costumes.
While I agree with your sentiment, unfortunately there are still plenty of people that wear costumes of those sorts.

Say I’m Scottish. If I saw for example a danish person dressed in a kilt holding a bagpipe on halloweeen would I be offended? Hell no.

Of course blacking up is wrong, but wearing another culture’s clothing or makeup or jewellery, unless it is something very sacred to them, I can’t really see the harm. what about little white girls dressing as Moana? Even if you do then add a zombie element, that’s just Halloween fun, it’s hardly going to be taken as a statement that a whole race are the evil undead. I strongly suspect that the Japanese in particular, with the whole cosplay culture, would be fairly relaxed about British people dressing as Geishas.

Quite LuckyAmy. Not even if he was a zombie Scotsman!

Likewise luckyAmy I am Scottish and this isn't offensive to me. What does annoy me is when Americans insist that MacKenzie has always been a girls name when that is factually wrong. But dressing up is play, there are a couple of examples that are likely to cause offence for specific reasons and I would steer DC away from them, blacking up and nazi costumes spring to mind.

But I can't imagine a conversation with DC that goes.dc, I want to dress up as Mario. Me, Okay. But he is Italian and you aren't so we need to check he doesn't wear culturally specific clothing to Italians or you won't be able to. Dc, no he wears no culturally specific clothing. Me, that's okay then but he does pronounce words in an Italian manner so watch that.

They don’t have to be scary per se but I don’t like seeing kids dressed up as a princess or fireman on Halloween. It should at least be Halloween themed so a pumpkin or witch if the child is young and afraid of masks.

Around that age, my kids liked doing skeleton animals - skeleton costume plus animal ears or bits from poundland or costume shops. Actually, they quite like years on - they were checking their skeleton costumes to see if they'd fit for another year just a week or so ago when discussing and my oldest is a teen.

I’m American, so used to dressing up as anything. Up to now I’ve dressed my children in Halloween-themed costumes - pumpkin, bat, skeleton, etc. This year, however, it happens that my husband will be working in America just before Halloween, so he’s bringing back costumes for them. One will be an astronaut and the other a fire fighter. Really, it’s because we had planned to get them some fancy dress things for their upcoming birthday, so I’d rather they have costumes they can wear again and use for play, instead of spending money on things they’re unlikely to want to wear in the future. As they are only nearly three, I don’t think anyone will mind much that they aren’t particularly spooky.