From: cousins@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Kathy Cousins)
Newsgroups: misc.kids
Subject: Re: Halloween ideas 22 mo-LONG
Date: 10 Sep 92 18:05:10 GMT
Reply-To: cousins@oasys.dt.navy.mil (Kathy Cousins)
Organization: Carderock Division, NSWC, Bethesda, MD

In misc.kids, judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer) writes:
-In article <2226@ncr-mpd.FtCollins.NCR.COM> chrisw@chopin.FtCollins.NCR.com (Ch
-ris Whitley) writes:
--This Halloween my daughter will be 22 months old.  This
--is old enough to really enjoy most traditional Halloween
--festivities, but not old enough to eat most Halloween
--candy.  My thought is that most Halloween candy is
--too hard or too chewy for the limited eating capabilities
--of a 22 month old...i.e. it poses a choking hazard.

--Actually, I can't decide if it would be worth the
--potential trauma of taking away most or all of any
--loot she would get trick or treating to have the
--fun I know she would have trick or treating.  You
--can't really explain that sort of thing to a not-yet
--2-yo's satisfaction!  Any experiences to share?

-I see two choices here:
-
-        Sneak the offending items from her bag so she doesn't notice (lots
-        of people give out small toys anyway).
-
-        Begin what could become a valuable Halloween tradition of a parent
-        going through the contents of the bag and removing objectionable
-        items (like home-baked goods that come from a house you don't know).
-
-I'd vote for the latter since the same problem will hit at age 9 as at age
-2.  There could be something in the bag that should be checked (check apples
-for razor blades and needles, for example).  That's just part of the Halloween
-tradition.

I agree with Judy about inspecting what is brought home.  We are ruthless
about discarding any the LEAST bit questionable. And Christine has always
gotten enough (more than enough!) "loot" to care that some didn't pass.

I would add that at this age you really don't need to go to very many
houses for her to get the idea of trick or treating.  Three or four
neighbors/friends/relatives will probably satisfy her.  When my daughter
was six I took her early in the evening to her grandfather's (my dad's)
house (about 30 minutes away), parked down the block, and then stood
out of sight while she went to the door.  She was so thrilled that he
(honestly) didn't recognize her!!!

(deleted question about what she could hand out that would be ok for
her to eat)
Again, I agree with Judy about stickers and also
the really inexpensive things you can get from the Oriental
trading company)

(question about costume suggestions-deleted)

-I have found that young children do not like face masks.  They will tear
-them off.  Costumes that involve toys are really good.  For example, this
-year Mitchell wants to go as Batman (what else) and we got Erin a cat woman
-costume to go with his (getting old and worn out) Batman costume.  Erin isn't
-too big on the clothing part (nudist, you know), but she LOVES the long
-fingernails that come with the costume.  In fact, so do I.  I put them on
-and chase the kids around pretending to try and scratch them.  Great fun!

They DON'T like the masks (and some schools don't let them wear masks
for the school Halloween parade because it makes vision difficult) but
most really do like face painting and/or make up.  Christine's first
costume (at age 2.5) was a grey mouse.  I did not have access to a sewing
machine but I bought a pattern and felt and some kind of good fabric
glue and glued the whole thing.  (And a miniature costume for her doll
"Baby".  Baby is the Gerber doll we got when Christine was 5 months
and went EVERYWHERE with us for YEARS.  I felt like I had two kids!)
You can do a lot of animal costumes much easier with clothing, much
of which you can get from second hand stores.  A grey turtleneck, grey
pants, grey felt tail, maybe make little ears, some eyebrow pencil whiskers,
a little make up if she likes it--much easier than cutting and glueing
felt.  A cat, horse, dog, almost anything would be easy and could be
worn over regular clothes (always a plus in the DC area as the range
of possible Halloween night temperatures is pretty wide).

What Christine has come to enjoy very much is having ME dress up too;
I keep it to a cat or clown so as not to startle the little kids who
come around -- they seem to get a kick out of seeing the grown ups in
costumes.   You could make coordinated mother/daughter outfits for the
party and for handing out stuff.

HAVE FUN!
kathy