This is what Halloween is about… the creator of this video writes “My daughter jaws costume made by my mom Oooootiinniiii”
On Monday, we’ll all return to our jobs and likely pass around dozens of links to amazing costumes, they’ll all be different and unique but they will have one thing in common, they were homemade. They may have a pop culture references or something completely made up — Halloween is one of the few holidays where making something is more valued than buying something. So this year, it was a bummer to see Target poke fun at “mom-made” costumes.
Discouraging parents from making a costume and spending time with their kids isn’t good for anyone. Using advertising to convince kids that homemade isn’t as good as store bought isn’t good either. We are what we celebrate, and Target could celebrate something better. Target does great work in the community, arts, education — it’s likely why this ad seems off-brand for them.
Besides, the mom version in the ad is better than the Target one — her’s lights up on the chest and has a light on the arm (the Target one is a soulless plastic bib).
Target, how about next year we work together to help moms make amazing costumes for their kids? Drop me a line :)
CC:
Target.Communications@target.com
10 thoughts on “Halloween is a time to MAKE”
Comments are closed.
ADVERTISEMENT
Join Make: Community Today
Hear hear and well said! From the kids’ point of view part of the fun of Halloween should be looking forward to dreaming up any costume imaginable and making it with Mom and Dad.
Phillip’s well written argument hits home with me and I’m glad he sent it straight to Target.
Halloween is the evening before All Hallows’ Day, a Christian holiday, celebrated on the 1st of November.
How come a Christian and a pagan holiday are celebrated on the same day? Is it just a coincidence?
Christianity has a long history of co-opting pagan holidays. Christmas, Easter, All Saint’s Day… When missionaries moved into a place full of pagans, it was always much easier to convince the locals to just adapt their current traditions than to change them completely.
I don’t know the answer to your question, but it’s not really a debate to have here on MAKE. This post is about purchased vs. made costumes.
Ever since I had kids, Halloween is more fun than ever! My daughter and I make all of her costumes and I try to add a new prop or spooky decoration to my house and yard every year. I want to have one of those houses that the kids always remember as being the coolest one to visit on Halloween. I’m with Phil on this–spending more time making things with your kids is awesome. Just spending time with them and encouraging them to come up with ideas and try to make them reality–that’s a job all of us parents are trying to do.