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?

I was ready to say YABU until I seen the photo 😳 Yeah that’s not ok!

Yanbu. We struggle to go out anywhere in October half term because everything is Halloween themed and my dc don't like it. I'm not a fan either. We are ok with pumpkins but not the scary stuff. We ended up going to the tank museum in dorset one year which was over an hour drive but the closest attraction that wasn't doing Halloween. It turned out to be really good actually and much better than I expected.

I would normally assume there'd be some Halloween theming at places like museums, but I would definitely expect this to be family friendly unless specifically advertised as otherwise.

I wouldn't expect gorey stuff!

I agree, it is madness. How is it okay to display such graphic horror, even on display in supermarkets, like something from an age 18 horror film?! Halloween is so popular with young children too, yet this is what stores do. I think it should be banned. We decorate with cute pumpkins, bats and ghosts cartoon witches, and little lights.
The skeletons and coffins etc are horrible.

Is there a reason you've posted this exact same thread on Reddit OP?

I've just remembered last year when I took my 2 year old to a soft play which was full of horrible Halloween decorations including a floating skull in a black robe hanging across the entrance to the baby play area, and realistic giant spiders hidden in the netting. My daughter was crying and some of the older kids were using the decorations to scare the little ones. I took all the decorations down and dumped them on the floor by the reception desk (because I'm mental I guess).

My DD still talks about the time she saw a 'scary monster' (Halloween cartoon cutout) in Sainsbury's. But she's a bit of a wimp 😂

I do agree events should be clear what ages they're catering to, as there is a line between fun-spooky for little kids and scarier, more realistic things - and the smallest thing can really scare a child (jump scares, fake blood, etc)

My youngest has always loved the more gory stuff, even though he’s very sensitive. He has always tended to be preoccupied with the meaningless of life rather than hideous zombie heads - which is rather disturbing to be honest. My eldest, though, hated anything gory when he was small. He used to get very upset and would have nightmares. I couldn’t believe the costumes some of the kids in their primary school used to wear to the Halloween disco. They wouldn’t have looked out of place in The Exorcist.

Is there any particular reason I shouldn’t?

It's a plastic zombie head. Zombies are a halloween staple! Halloween is about being scared.

Have you seen the Korean Folk Village - that's a genius use of childhood fear of folk characters to make them behave. We need a good dose of that here!

It's just a bit weird, there's so many fake AI accounts now it's hard to tell who's real.

I saw a wee video on social media the other day where they were doing outside decor and were making a dummy look like it was floating (not flying) but honestly from the other side of the street or walking by it looked like a floppy body of someone that had hung themselves, it was vile. That might be alright for adults who get the picture but young kids and triggered teens no so much .

Completely disagree - most places make it abundantly clear if there is a halloween theme/trail/activities on their website, social media etc. The overwhelming majority of kids will love it and I can think of a ton of places in our local area to go if we didn’t want any halloween theme - swimming, cinema, bowling, walks, country parks, national trust places etc etc.

If you had any question over anything scary, a quick check online or a quick phone call will let you know. Most children will love it (mine loved zombies chasing them round events from being toddlers upwards). If you go to any of the big theme parks (Thorpe Park etc), they all have ‘scarefests’ on at the moment - some areas will be scarier than others so you adjust according to your child or you go in the many other weeks of the year if your child doesn’t like it at all. They are packed out with thousands upon thousands of visitors daily and they can’t not do a halloween theme parks in case some people dont like it.

Back in the day, Halloween used to be about witches, ghosts and goblins and maybe vampires… now it’s about horror. I think it’s horrible.

There is nothing on either their website or Facebook to indicate this was going to be on. This is from their website which states the 31st only and I don’t think really reflects the scariness which was at every turn - there was no avoiding it and no warning it would be there when we visited.
For example, you’d be looking at the vintage cars, then the next one along would have a cut up body with bloody chainsaw next to it.

Thinking about it everywhere is Halloween themed at least where I live, the swimming pool, national trust places, the supermarket, soft play. Luckily it's for the most part the cutesy version that most kids don't mind.

There should be more transparency about what sort of Halloween event is taking place so that people can make informed choices.

It was mostly about witches in my day ! We made witch hats in brownies and my mum didn’t like it much.
It is more gory now too , it wasn’t as much back in the day ( but I am going back years )

I can still remember making a Guy one year and me and my brother refused to let him go on the bonfire, he ended up sat at the dining table for about 2 weeks before mum managed to get rid when we were at school 🤣🤣

Makes me wonder if anyone ever calls the police when they see these things? Because if anyone wanted a hide a body that would be the way to do it- in plain sight. Not talking about children here but adult size corpses. A house down my road has a 'body' wrapped up in a sheet and hanging from an upstairs bedroom. It's awful and goes way too far.

I agree. There should at least be some kind of heads up (pun unintended!) for kids under 12. No need to terrorise them

They should have made it clearer on social media and their website. The halloween trails/events I have taken my kids to over the years have always been posted all over social media.

The pumpkin patches and farm parks are usually alot more geared towards younger kids. Perhaps the museum thought it would be older primary children in for half term and wanted to make it abit scarier (they should have made that clear though).

Yanbu that head is too scary for children! I love Halloween it’s brilliant but it should be about cute stuff like pumpkin patches. I don’t like seeing little kids with pretend chainsaws covered in fake blood.

Am I the only one who thinks that skull looks like something out of a cartoon Scooby Doo?

‘Deeply disturbing’ Jesus wept.

I thought the same but assumed there was maybe more "graphic" things set up that was a bit more effective at scaring the kids??

When I first looked at it with the eyes of a 30(ish) year old I thought the same. But as a six year old that would be graphic. What it is, taken literally, is a partly decomposed head with the skin green as it rots, part of the skull exposed and the mouth open in a grimace of pain. As an adult I don't see that. I see plastic tat probably manufactured in China. But if you are taking it in the spirit it's intended it is gory. And children do are things in a literal sense. They also have less muted eyesight so are literally seeing things more vividly than an adult would. Some children love all that and I don't have a problem with Halloween events catering to them. But I do think its not great if it isn't advertised as a Halloween/scary event
There is a difference between spooky and scary and venues should be aware of which they are going for.