to think places have gone too far with Halloween themed ‘fun’ for children.

[MapleTreees]

It’s half term for us and all the local attractions seem to be Halloween themed. My kids (aged 10&7) are very sensitive and hate anything scary. One is particularly scared of skeletons but cartoony ones might just be OK.
So we went out yesterday, not realising an industrial museum might be Halloween themed and they were just terrified. I walked round and could feel my daughter jump whenever there was a new surprise.
It wasn’t just cartoony fun, there were headless zombies etc.

Have places forgotten that children are children and not all like quite graphic horror? I don’t think the thought of showing such things to young kids a couple of decades ago would have been considered OK?

We had to abandon the visit as they would only look at the ground and were just hating it.

AIBU to think this is too much for a child themed event or do I need to toughen my kids up?

Someone near us has a decapitated man under their ride on mower. I genuinely thought someone was hurt first time I saw it.

It’s not age appropriate and i’d complain if I saw that head on a museum visit or if anyone jumped out at me u less it had been clearly advertised orior to me going into the venue. I’m all for fun Halloween and agree attractions need to cater for this these days however they need to consider who visits them. It’s there are a lot of families then their decorations should be on the mild side suitable for toddlers upwards eg cute pumpkins, friendly ghosts, a trail of spot the (cartoon style) skeleton. They shouldn’t have horror style decor or jump scares. It’s so inappropriate. If they want to go full on horror they need to advertise it as such and ensure families aren’t attending via age limit entry restrictions.

I agree that in general Halloween has shifted from mild ghosts, witches, vampires, etc into something grotesque. Why are people pretending to have dead childs bodies wrapped up in their garden for example (per PP). That’s not Halloween that’s just sick.

Gosh yes that’s a bit much for kids!
My eldest was quite scared of it up to about age 5 and going in to shops even this time of year was a challenge.
I think the gory violence stuff should be confined to pubs and clubs etc

I do love Halloween btw but it has to be age appropriate

Yeah, we have a 'body bag' outside a house right next to my kids infant school. With 'blood' decorating it of course. It's so unnecessary. We're Catholic and choose not to participate, but I have never taken issue with pumpkins and ghouls; which represent the season and the souls that Halloween is based upon. Homicide and murder is not Halloween.

I wonder about the mentality of people around here who plaster the scariest images on their house (there are many)... do they expect little Milly in her fairy costume to want to knock on their door for sweets?

Yes, the murder victim props are horrifying.

There is an old, big period property style house near us, that has a female mannequin propped in the window all year TBF, they have dark red wall paper so it adds to the spookiness but at Halloween time she is dressed up with masks. At first we thought it was a real woman.

I agree that skull is pretty unpleasant and quite out of place for young children without warning.

@MapleTreees if you haven't already, please do give feedback to the museum this was at. It does matter and they won't know if no one tells them.

Individuals in homes are going too far sometimes too as there is more and more Americanisation of decor. I saw one on social media that had a child mannequin suspended in a high up skylight arched fanlight type window. It was supposed to be some TV character I'd never heard of who levitated but honestly it looked like a child that had been hung. It was horrible to see and I can't imagine what passers by on the street outside that house would think.

Halloween was originally Irish and is called Samhain, originally a Celtic festival and then adopted by Christianity, All Hallows Eve and all that. Was also celebrated in Scotland and England. America changed it with its commercialisation but there was door knocking going way back in Ireland.

I think if you go trick or treating you can expect to be scared but in an unexpected place it’s not great. Being very sensitive in today’s world is going to be hard for your children, you did explain it’s just plastic tat and have a chat about it and why it’s just for show as they are plenty old enough to understand.

The butcher pig jump scare is massively inappropriate though, I would have complained about that. I have and know people with heart conditions plus that is scary and not much scares me.

I agree with this and have noticed a lot of attractions have gone more mature in their theming over the years. Even the pumpkin patches have started going more creepy skeletons/ more realistic zombies in their decoration rather than cutesty pumpkins for their photograph displays. I've been to several attractions over Halloween and noticed more mature theming. Our local country park is doing a Halloween trail of guess the films from scenes in the woods. The scenes are from mainly 15+ and adult films - think Chucky, nightmare on elm street, saw, Texas chainsaw massacre ect. Rather than more child themed films. An awful lot of teens and young adults were doing the trail and enjoying it and my friend who works there said they have sold more trails since doing the more mature trail. They have also put in a more suitable for younger guests trail on this year as well as the mature one. Another local attraction that I have a friend worked at does a Halloween scare maze - again much older in themeing. Again it is sold out and putting extra dates on whereas pumpkin picking and younger Halloween themed activities at the same place have spaces.

I also have some explanation as to why as I have many friends who work in tourist attraction/ leisure attractions as I did ask my friends about it - we had visited their attractions and noticed it was much more mature in theme. It is a demographics and best money making decision. Birth rates are higher in the teen/ older tween demographic. Lots of people are still doing the pumpkin patch/ Halloween days out with their teens and tweens. Also lots of young adults are also visiting. More mature displays - more custom.

Something we often forget about teens, underneath all those raging hormones, moods and too cool for school attitudes they are like giant, gangly overgrown 5 year olds. They enjoy a pumpkin patch as much as any pre teen but saying they are off to a scare maze or more mature trail is much more socially acceptable in the maze of teenage life and then they end up picking a pumpkin and doing other elements of the attraction and also tend to spend - adult size hot chocolates/ themed trinkets/ sometimes snack as they less likely to have mum dragging a water bottle and snacks round with them so food and drink is bought.

I absolutely agree OP. I had to complain to my local Asda a few years ago because they had an effigy of a scary man disembowelling a woman on a table with a massive knife, right near the toy aisle!! Again, I complained to a pub around the corner from my house which had dismembered limbs covered in blood hanging from the windows of the building - right opposite a children's playground over the road! We had to drive to primary school past it every day and DD would get upset.

What's wrong with putting out pumpkins, cobwebs and bats??? Why does it have to be horror film level gore?? Halloween is supposed to be about ghosts, not blood and guts?? It feels like the people who put this stuff out there are completely clueless about the fact it's not at all appropriate for young children. It really pisses me off.

I also have sensitive children and had to run through an autumn/Halloween walk in Belfast at it was super gory and really scary! They were terrified.

Also as someone who has worked in the leisure/ tourism/ family attraction industry for years. Please please feedback on these things. Preferably in writing! Decisions about these events are made by people in ivory towers with little to no consultation with actual boots on the ground staff. Those in the ivory towers listen to 2 only 2 types of feedback - written guest feedback and money! If it makes money it stays, if guests hate it but it makes money it stays. If guests don't like it and it doesn't make money it is gone. If guests love it but it doesn't make money it is on the table under the axe.

If you have teens who love the mature themed trails then feed it back. If you have sensitive ones feed it back.

I've fed back many times over the last couple of years, great for teens/ older but can we also have something for younger and more sensitive guests. A lot of attractions have listened and put on younger themed trails in addition but have kept their scare nights/ scare afternoons and more mature themes as well.

TL:DR: PLEASE FEEDBACK!

More parents /adults need to do this,and speak up.

I used to work with kids and organise trips during half terms and holidays over a decade ago. I don’t recall things aimed at children being overtaken by Halloween stuff during this month.

I worked with children in care and some of them had a lot of trauma and things like this could really have triggered them. So I’d definitely have said something if I’d encountered this kind of thing without fair warning.

When he was younger I had to leave soft play with ds because he was terrified of the skeletons hidden in the play frame .

Glad it’s not just me thinking this is too much.

We have sent an email to the museum outlining our experience. It’s made us think we have to avoid anything Halloween themed over this week which is a shame as it is everywhere. Or maybe phone to check beforehand.

Thats grotesque.

"Being very sensitive in today’s world is going to be hard for your children"

If we need to get primary aged children desensitised to beheaded bodies, stabbed up bodies, machete injuries, we really need to address what England has become and why.

Loving the suggestion that without the US, the U.K. would just not buy in to capitalism. Like we don’t turn things like the Jubilee in to a 6 month long extravaganza of Jubilee themed everything with more tat than you could shake a stick at. Turning shrove Tuesday into “pancake day”. Making Boxing Day in to a day where half the nation heads out shopping.

Halloween being linked with horror rather than the supernatural started way back in the 60s. The first Halloween movie with Mike Myers came out in the late 70s. I recall being at primary school in the 80s when they banned slasher horror type costumes. I don’t know about England but where I was in Scotland, guising was really common in the 80s, and having some decorations in the garden to show you were open to visitors was normal. They tended to be homemade round our way - we lived in a really poor area, but plenty of people did it. That makes sense as Halloween was a Scottish tradition, brought to America by Scottish migrants.

I agree entirely that young kids do need protection from the horrors of Halloween. There needs to be an understanding that not all kids are ok with it. Mine was terrified of dressed up people, particularly when they had masks on. For the first few years at school, she had the day off when they were all dressing up, it was too stressful for her and led to nightmares. In about P4, the school put a stop to any inappropriate costumes and banned the use of masks. Anyone turning up in horrific costumes were either sent home to change, or given school uniform for the day. Masks were confiscated at the door. It made the day more fun for everyone. We would have had to leave that museum, I’d definitely have made them aware it was an issue. We couldn’t even go to places like the Range or B&M during Halloween season. Right from the door they had really scary looking stuff. We can talk about kids being “oversensitive” and having to be “resilient” but really that’s just code for “I don’t care enough about kids to change my way of doing things”

This is actually a really good point. There isn’t enough stuff put on for teens. Having events aimed at them is a great idea.

YANBU.

If you choose to go to an advertised Halloween themed event then you expect a range of scary installations.

You shouldn’t be ambushed in an Industrial Museum.

I hope they gave you a refund or credit note for a future date.

I don’t know if anyone is saying without the US the UK wouldn’t buy into consumerism. But I think businesses here were definitely inspired by how profitable it was in the U.S. and of course some companies here are US based, so will be wanting to replicate that commercial success in all their locations where possible.

I grew up in Scotland too and it was very low key compared to what is was now. I mean some of us in my area went trick or treating in the 90s. We had that apple bobbing things in class and maybe an afternoon of Halloween crafts. And my primary school had a Halloween disco for older kids , but it wasn’t everywhere like it is now - in all the shops, museums, theatres, and it wasn’t really advertised aggressively to adults much.
And I don’t remember anyone bothering about it too much in high school.

It’s just another money spinner isn’t it.

Also it's different if it's going to an event not aimed at children with children for example. My son was very scared as a child of a statue in the high street and to be fair it was (modern art) grotesque but in that case I accepted he had to suck it up and learn to not look.
But with specific children's events/exhibits aimed at children there should be more awareness of what age appropriate is. I think it's easy to forget, if you don't have young children, that what is normal/funny for an adult is scary for a six year old. Apart from being impressionable and having more vivid imaginations they literally see the world in more vivid saturation. So visually a zombie skull is a lot more stimulating and horrifying than to an adult eyes.
It's not fair if there is no where they can go which isn't like that around Halloween. By all means adults and older children can enjoy gore if they want.

Yeah I'm sick to death of overly graphic Halloween decorations everywhere for the entire month of October and in shops from late August. Last year some houses near me had corpses hanging by their necks from trees and the skeletonised corpse of a baby. My daughter is scared on the walk to her Nan's house, a few minutes away, and buries her face in her hands in supermarkets. There's just no need and it's starting to really piss me off.

YANBU. We now avoid so many places in October half term as a result. I’m so sick of this contrived commercialised nonsense being rammed down our throats. Less than two generations ago Hallowe’en passed completely unnoticed in huge parts of the UK.

I love Halloween and it was fun when my kids were small - but it seemed to be smiley skeletons, black cats, happy little bats, that kind of thing. No gore.

The skull in the OP is definitely too much. Halloween should be fun, not a horror fest.