You know Halloween is approaching when your Instagram feed fills up with photos of bloggers’ kids in pumpkin patches …
Kara has outgrown last year’s pumpkin costume, so yesterday Heather went out shopping in search of a replacement for her to go out trick-or-treating in. She returned with the perfect item: a cat outfit that would probably also pass muster as a Catwoman costume. She’s quite taken with it.
When did Halloween become such a commercial money-making machine? Walk in to any supermarket and you’re bombarded with shelf after shelf of seasonal product as far as the eye can see: pumpkins, costumes, multipacks of sweets, buckets – if it can be painted black-and-orange, it’s for sale. Come October 31st, the streets will be flooded with excited, sugar-fuelled kids seeking to fill their boots (and buckets) with confectionery goodies.
It wasn’t always that way. But in the last 15 years or so, the UK has followed the US in turning Halloween into a major calendar event. For retailers, it conveniently fills a gaping hole in their promotional calendar between Back To School and Christmas. For kids, it’s something to enjoy just as the long nights start to draw in.
Anyhow, Kara’s new outfit gives me an excuse (albeit a tenuous one) to roll out this classic Tom Jones song. Just because.
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