Too, too scary

Honestly, I hate some of it. Having a 3yr old daughter makes me very grateful that a house decorated like that isn't across the street. I cannot image what bedtime would be like if it were...

Pardon me: "isn't it a little over the top for Naperville?" "Naperville is known as one of the most kid-friendly places in America, but these Halloween houses don't seem to fit that mold." Ah yes, the pretentious Naperville attitude. Yah, move that house to Oswego where they're not as kid friendly. This reaction from a society that now spends millions on decorations for a holiday so abused by adults that parents no longer even allow their children to trick or treat for fear of being harmed. It's pretty obvious that Halloween has been expanded to be a more adult activity, an excuse for adults to party if you will, and is no longer just a fun activity for "the children".

Sorry..but I have to agree with Uncle Buckeye--"typical pretentious Naperville attitude". If you don't like the house, don't go there. If it's on your street, don't look at it. "But my baby will have nightmares!" Oh...puhhleeze. I am the mother of 3 children and I manage to figure out how to steer clear of things like a frightenly decorated house.

Give me a break. If you don't like it don't take your kids there. There are a lot of things unfit for kids in this world should they all be banned? No; don't be crazy. I'm tired of it being the worlds responsibility to look after kids ("oh but the childern"). If parents would do there job correctly this wouldn't be a problem and we would have alot better kids. If you don't like it don't partake. Please don't force your opinions or beliefs on others who don't want them. This "save people from themselves" reasoning is what alot of bad people use to justify there actions (think dictators, etc.).

Oh come on!! The house featured on the front page of today's Sun is 2 houses down from mine, and KIDS ALL LOVE IT!! Even if they're too scared to go when they're little, it's become a rite-of-passage when they finally insist that this is their year to summon up the courage to go up to Mr. Leo's door for treats. Two of the younger kids in our neighborhood have even started to compete with their own scary Halloween lawn scenes. Mr. Leo's house is on a cul-de-sac, so if parents think their kids will be too scared, they can easily bypass our street. But doing that will only make the kids more eager to go next year. I guarantee it!!

Kelly- You need to re-read my comment. Never said,"But my baby will have nightmares!" Give ME a break. When I left my comment, I was thinking about a home that's around the corner from us that has this screeching motion-detector thing coupled with a guillotine that chops a young person's head,a dog with a bloody arm in it's mouth, a baby doll with a bloody mouth holding knife-shaped paci, and a bunch of other gross "decorations". Really, wouldn't you hate to be across the street from that?

We lived in Naperville for over 10 years before bringing kids in the mix. I'm all about having fun just with adults, and not to ALWAYS have this town be kid-centric. My point is simply when the decorations get so gory and needlessly over the top- -I hate it.

Does the constitutional amendment addressing freedom of speech ring any bells? Naperville is a great place to raise kids....let's remember that teens are kids too, and teens love this stuff! I agree with Kelly. If you don't like it MOVE!

"Naperville is known as one of the most kid-friendly places in America, but these Halloween houses don't seem to fit that mold. Or, are we just over-reacting?"

Yeah you are, but it's Naperville, it's kind of what you do about everything.

I don't know about pretentious or overreacting. I do know I would be very worried that my little trick or treaters may well have nightmares after seeing a house like this. Maybe I'm being over-cautious but I think it's a valid concern.

I wonder why parents of really little kids, meaning kids who are between two and four, have incredibly gory decorations. Where are their brains? I can see witches and cobwebs and things like that as decorations. But skulls and decaying cadavers? I think some parents couldn't be given sense if you handed it to them on a platter.

Oh come on. It's all in fun. When I was a kid in the mid-late 60's some homes had scary themes. We loved them. One on Sunset had witches a boiling pot(dry ice) and raw brains (spagetti in a pot). I enjoyed Creature Features of old Universal monster movies. If your kids have a brain they can separate realility from make believe. I knew Daffy Duck getting his beak shot off was only a cartoon. I have lived in Naperville since 1959 and you newbeis just don't see the fun in anything

You are over reacting. Children as young as 3 yrs old are perfectly capable of discerning between make believe and reality if properly informed. I have watched with my own eyes my son and his many friends easily make these distinctions with only rarely a need for correction. Let us not mistake a child seeking confirmation of their initial analysis as their being incapable of making the judgment.

I find it hilarious that in the U.S. we go to such great lengths to hide things from children...even in the fantasy world. Our counterparts in Europe do no such thing and they do not have rampant murdering children or roving gangs of child predators. In fact, in most cases their crime and violence statistics are better than our own.

If none of that helps, just think of your own experiences. Did this stuff traumatize you as a child?

"I find it hilarious that in the U.S. we go to such great lengths to hide things from children...even in the fantasy world. Our counterparts in Europe do no such thing and they do not have rampant murdering children or roving gangs of child predators. In fact, in most cases their crime and violence statistics are better than our own."

Couldn't have put it better myself. I can't help but think of what a generation of total wieners and sissies we're raising from all this ultra-PC overly protective parenting that seems to be mainstream in our country recently. ;)

Though I agree the PC of American society at large has totally gotten out hand I think it's pretty obvious from your post, Eli, that you don't have any kids. So it's pretty easy for you to shoot off such a cavalier observation on this matter. Happy Halloween.

Are people actually trying to say that in "the good old days" people had gory Halloween decorations on their lawns? Because that's ridiculous. This stuff about how they do things in Europe is not only elitist-sounding, but getting a little off track. This is about really scary Halloween decorations in plain sight on lawns, which was not common before just a few years ago. The ones that are for sale in Halloween stores like "Spirit," that also did not not exist before a few years ago. That's all people are objecting to.

I agree, Wendy. Gory is the new scary. I remember the "good old days,", and I remember the house on Sunset, Jerry. How about the one on Sleight? A good scare can be all in fun, but some of the uck out there is a bit too much.

While there may not have been a large variety of pre-made (just spend $x.xx and take it home and plop it on your lawn) gory things to buy, people have been doing it for at least the past 30 years that I can remember. The only difference is that they had to use their own creativity in the past making their own blood, flesh-looking chunks and other 'parts and pieces'. What used to take days now takes a few minutes and perhaps more people do them because it's now 'convenient' to do it.. but it's always been done and it's not a new thing. Halloween stores also existed over 20 years ago for costumes and props. They lease out empty retail space starting on Oct 1, order a bunch of stuff from overseas, jack up the price by a factor of 8-10x and they have to vacate by Nov 1 when their lease is up. Perhaps one did not take notice that many years ago but the gore and stores were there.

If one does not like what someone has done on their own property for a temporary period of time then exercise the same choice you do when you drive by an establishment of a different religion than your own... just continue past and choose not to stop.

Back in the good ol' days I had gory things all over our yard and house. Every year for Halloween my family would put on a massive Halloween party and our house would be decorated to the extreme and everyone loved it. One year we even did a zombie prison theme where we had tons of dummies painted up like zombies in old ripped up striped prison jump suits- I learned the basics of carpentry and how electricity works as a kid helping my Dad build our overly elaborate fake electric chair, fake blood-drenched guillotine, fake firing range... and I even learned a lot about knot tying with the nooses we had in our trees! Every year it was a great time, and arguably right up there with Christmas in regards to holidays I looked forward to.

We would go to nearly every haunted house and drive through neighborhoods looking at all the decorations in the process- it was a great time. Granted, this was in Plainfield, a veritable slum when compared to the posh streets of Naperville, I know... but gory decorations are nothing new. Halloween, like any holiday, is nothing more than what you make it to be. I honestly feel deeply sorry for kids who are raised in such sheltered environments that even Halloween isn't fun.

It's my kids who don't want to go to the houses with the scary decorations outside. It gives them nightmares. Not everyone likes that stuff. Haunted houses are indoors. You can avoid them. We no longer go to Six Flags because the Fright Fest characters walk around the whole park, not just the scary areas and that's fine -- that's the way they do it. This isn't about all decorations -- I have a little motorized bat on my porch that some kids are scared of and I think that's a little much. It's just a little bat.
No, this is about the really gory ones that are outside, that you can't avoid. So now, if the kids are scared of the most grotesque decorations, they can't even trick or treat in their own neighborhood on Halloween? Is that the Halloween fun you are refering to?

Yes Wendy and tend to agree somewhat. Janie was obviously around in the same neighborhood during the same time. All I was trying to say was the low tech scare of the 60's was just as equal to todays. Kids today from a young age play horror and violent video games, have access to cable, internet, etc and other means of graphic horror. All things kids of my age didn't have access to except maybe B horror flicks on a snowy Channel 32 or the mentioned relatively tame flicks on Channel 9 on Saturday nights. For the younger kids, take them a block over if you have a concern. If you live next door or across the street, let the kids help your neighbor set up and have the couple explain what they are doing and show them it is harmless. I'm sure they would welcome this and show them hands on this is make believe fun.